Museums lack professional staff, visiotrs saty away

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A distinct lack of professionalism on behalf of the civil servant staff members in Jakarta was responsible for the poor management of museums, whose role as cultural centers were on the decrease of late, according to one local official and another from Europe.

The poor quality of management has also resulted in the falling number of museum visitors here.

Tinia Budiati -- director of the Jakarta History Museum, popularly known as Fatahilah Museum on Jl. Fatahilah in West Jakarta -- revealed on Tuesday that the suspect recruitment procedures of the museum staff also contributed to the poor management.

"Most staff have neither professional backgrounds nor occupational experience in managing a museum," she said during an eight-day workshop on museums.

The lack of professionalism on the part of the staff as well as the lack of concern with the efforts to improve the management and appearance of the museums, was cited as a reason visitors were not coming.

The situation was also worsened by the lack of proper training for new staff, Tiana said.

"They (the staff) might have used their connections to be accepted as civil servants instead of relying on their professionalism or capabilities," she said referring to the nepotism that many here use to get government jobs.

She emphasized that a museum staff member must be able to provide better services to visitors rather than simply telling them where the collections are.

Kees Plaisier -- secretary of the Historical Museum of Rotterdam, the Netherlands -- was of the same opinion as Tiana, saying that professionalism was definitely necessary for a museum to survive.

It should be required for the management to meet certain standards that would attract people to visit, he told The Jakarta Post and Warta Kota.

Plaisier was in town to hold the workshops with directors of 10 museums under the auspices of the city administration. In total, there are 63 museums in Jakarta.

He called on the museum management to be more aggressive in promoting the museums by conducting activities that involve locals.

"A museum should also be a meeting place for locals," he said.

"The secret of success is making an emotional connection between locals and the museums' collections."

Changing museums into tourist destinations in the city will also attract more people to come. If it works, the administration will provide more attention and financial help from its City Budget to maintain the museum, Plaisier said.

He expressed optimism that the number of people would increase if the management is actively publicizing the museum's existence. "If the people know what they can get from the museum, they will pay a visit," he added

The management must also be able to convince the administration that museums can be profitable too, in addition to the fact that they are rich in cultural benefits.

This year, the administration has only allocated Rp 2 billion (US$200,000) of its budget to finance the renovation and management of its 10 museums.

Tiana admitted that almost all the city-run museums had suffered massive deficits in their monthly budgets. However, she declined to be specific.