Museums want autonomy to improve services

JAKARTA (JP): The problems museums anywhere in the world face, including those in Jakarta, are budget constraints and small number of visitors.

But officials say the problems can be solved if museums are given autonomy to manage their own business, including their finances.

Museums should no longer be seen as nonprofit bodies, according Tinia Budiati, a director of the Jakarta History Museum, more popularly known as Fatahilah Museum on Jl. Fatahilah, West Jakarta.

As museums in Jakarta are classified as nonprofit organizations, Tinia said they could not collect donations from private institutions.

They must rely on funds from the city administration's budget or earn money from selling tickets, the rates of which are also set by the administration. The ticket prices range from Rp 500 (about 4 U.S. cents) to Rp 2,000.

"We have about 5,000 to 6,000 visitors per month. This is not bad. But we can't cover our expenses with our ticket sales or from funds from the city administration. But we try to find other ways of raising funds, like seeking sponsorships," Tinia said on Tuesday.

There are a total of 60 museums in the capital, with seven of them owned and under the tight supervision of the city administration, including the Jakarta History Museum.

The other six museums are Wayang (traditional puppet) Museum, Art and Ceramic Museum, Textile Museum, Bahari (ocean) Museum, Joeang '45 (Fighting '45) Museum and Prasasti (epigraph) Museum, all of which, except the Bahari Museum, are located in Central Jakarta. The Bahari Museum is located in North Jakarta.

The city administration, according to Tinia, has a series of detailed and limiting regulations over museum management, including employee recruitment, research and even decoration.

"We, the museum employees, are considered the same as civil servants. We also work on weekends. The regulations even forbid us to decorate the museum differently," she said.

"We want the decoration to be more appealing to visitors, especially the younger ones, but the regulations do not allow us to do so."

Meanwhile, head of the City Museum and Restoration Agency Nurhadi Sastrapradja, said his office was currently deliberating the possibility of granting autonomy to museums.

"We're just worried that museums won't be able to find regular revenue. There hasn't been any multinational company willing to fund museums," he said.

According to Tinia, there had always been some parties, foreign and local, who were willing to fund the museums.

"I'm very optimistic. But I must admit there are issues such as asset management and ownership that must be discussed for museums to become autonomous," she said at a media conference. She also disclosed a plan to hold a seminar on the Jakarta History Museum next week.

The seminar will be opened by former governor Ali Sadikin, and will feature a series of speakers such as historical building observer Adolf Heuken and Mona Lohanda from the National Archives. They will discuss about the old Chinese Jakartans.

The history of the Jakarta History Museum began on Jan. 25, 1707 when Petronella Willemina van Hoorn, daughter of the Dutch general governor Johan van Hoorn, placed the cornerstone of the building.

The building served many functions, such as City Hall and military headquarters, before the city administration inaugurated it as Jakarta History Museum in 1974.

With its classical Baroque architecture, the museum has around 23,000 collections of historical objects.

"Our furniture collection is the best in the world," Tinia said. (hdn)