Political will vital in preservation of city museums

Political will vital in preservation of city museums

JAKARTA (JP): Head of the City Museum Office Dirman Surachmat
expressed concern yesterday over what he described as the city
administration's lack of attention to the preservation of museums
in the capital.

"There should be a political will on the part of the city
administration to preserve the city's heritage to enable the
museum office to do its job of protecting it," Dirman said at a
meeting regarding a plan to renovate a cenotaph and epitaph
museum in Central Jakarta.

Dirman strongly criticized the City Development Planning Board
(Bappeda) for not including the preservation of the city's
museums in its planning programs.

He said that the museum office was in an ironic situation: on
one hand it is instructed to protect the city's heritage but, on
the other hand, it is not given enough support in carrying out
the task.

Dirman said in one case his office had had to wait six years
to gain approval from the city administration to build a
preservation laboratory.

"This shows that it is hard for the municipal administration
to understand our projects unless we explain the details and the
importance of the projects thoroughly," Dirman said.

For that reason he asked his subordinates to prepare a
proposal for the renovation of museums with the greatest possible
care in order, he said, that Bappeda would easily be able to
understand the importance of the project and consequently approve
the proposal as soon as possible.

Dirman said that seven Jakarta museums needed to be evaluated
with a view to renovation work: the maritime museum, the wayang
(puppet) museum, the cenotaph and epitaph museum, the textiles
museum, the museum of the 1945 struggle for independence, the
fine art and ceramics museum and the Jakarta history museum.

Head of the cenotaph and epitaph museum M.R. Manik said that
the museum had not been renovated for more than 20 years and that
the city museum office had only provided small amounts of money
for minor repairs, such as painting the buildings and the fences
around the museum.

"It is time to carry out a major renovation of the cenotaph
and epitaph museum to help attract more visitors and to protect
the collection," Manik said, adding that the museum was visited
by only about 1,200 tourists per month.

He said the museum complex, which covers 1.2 hectares, also
served as a green area in the heart of the city and as a water
catchment area.

However, the growth of trees the grounds of the museum was
causing damage to most of the 1,200 tombstones there, he said.
"Hopefully, the renovation team will select the proper kind of
trees, suitable to be planted there," he added.

Among the tombstones in the museum's collection are the
tombstone of Olivia M. Raffles, the wife of the Nineteenth
Century English Governor of Java, Sir Stamford Raffles.

The city museum office held a competition last year to seek
plans for a change of the landscaping of the museum. The
competition was won by Trisakti University. (yns)