Museums empty out with mall boom in capital

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It would be nice if there were a few good museums in Jakarta, so parents could take their children on the weekend and show them that Disneyland is not the height of civilization and Lycra is not the end all and be all in the realm of clothing.

When it comes to visiting the few museums Jakarta does have, there are plenty of problems. Now, if you want to hit the mall, the only problem you will face is deciding which of the many, many malls in the city you wish to visit.

In a survey conducted by the Jakarta administration, 50 percent of the 868 respondents said they regularly went to malls on the weekend. Only 5 percent of respondents said they ever visited museums or historic sites on weekends.

Another 34 percent said they went to parks and other recreational sites, while 29 percent responded that they chose to remain at home on the weekend.

But Jakartans are not really to blame for their questionable taste in leisure activities.

Sixty-four percent of the same respondents said they would visit museums more frequently if the quality of Jakarta's museums improved.

The city administration lists 20 public museums throughout Jakarta, with the Jakarta Historical Museum and the National Monument (Monas) Museum the most popular among survey respondents, most of whom were students.

Many of the listed museums are unpopular to the point where it would take an exhaustive search to find someone who has heard of them, much less made a visit. For example, for most Jakartans the M.H. Thamrin Museum does not exist. Where is it located? What kind of collection does it have? But it is among the 20 public museums listed by the administration. For your information, the museum can be found on Jl. Kenari in Kramat, Central Jakarta.

The head of the Jakarta Cultural and Museum Agency, Aurora Tambunan, is aware of these problems and does not blame Jakartans.

"We have done a lot of things like printing brochures and offering programs," she said at a workshop last week. "But apparently, our target audiences have not read the brochures."

The only conclusion she could reach was that the agency's efforts were ineffective and required some fixing.

Presenting the results of the survey to dozens of city officials and other guests, Aurora highlighted a number of comments on the current museum situation.

The respondents found much to criticize, from museums' inadequate facilities and limited collections, to a lack of information of the displayed pieces and poor customer service.

Very few museums offer regular program to attract visitors. And some of the museums that do have programs often fail to let people know about them.

The Textile Museum in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, for example, has offered a number of interesting programs, such as an exhibition of Madurese batik and Lampung cloth, which it held this year in cooperation with a number of private collectors.

However, the museum does not have adequate facilities or qualified staff to arrange the exhibitions. Consequently, first- time visitors will think twice about making a second trip to the museum, which is located near Tanah Abang market and a public minivan terminal.

Other museums are even worse. The Maritime Museum in North Jakarta faces the perpetual problem of its remote location, which hampers all efforts to get more people to the museum.

The front yard is taken up by a messy market and the anchors on the side of the gates are used by vendors to display their wares, putting off potential visitors who might otherwise have entered the building.

The most popular museum in the city is the Jakarta Historical Museum, or Fatahillah Museum, in West Jakarta.

Though the collection is limited, the head of the museum, Tinia Budiati, has put together several attractive programs like a night tour of the underground prison at the building that houses the museum.

Over the past three years, Tinia's efforts have drawn young people, students and professionals to visit the museum come and learn more about their city and its past.

Her and her staff's successful efforts prove that not all Jakartans are indifferent to history, culture and the arts.

Although we cannot expect Jakartans to be like Europeans, we can surely expect to see good museums receive a decent number of visitors.