Portuguese mission in Yogyakarta

Portuguese mission in Yogyakarta

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A team from Portugal's Centro National de
Cultura (National Cultural Center, CNC) arrived here on Tuesday
to trace the influence of Portuguese culture on Indonesia.

Nusiaga Putri, a staff member at Indonesia's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs' Social and Cultural Relations Office who
accompanied the team, said the 28-member team led by CNC manager
Helena dos Da Silva would investigate Portuguese cultural
heritage in Yogyakarta.

"The team will be in Yogyakarta until Wednesday to visit Taman
Sari (the sultanate's Water Castle), the design of which was said
to be influenced by Portuguese architecture. The team will also
visit Sono Budoyo Museum in Yogyakarta's palace complex," she
said.

According to Nusiaga, members of the team will travel to
Jakarta on Thursday where they will stay until Sunday.

"They will enjoy a Keroncong band performance in Jakarta," she
added.

Keroncong Tugu, based in North Jakarta, has strong links with
Portugal as most of the players are descendants of Portuguese
families living in Tugu district, North Jakarta, which also has a
famed, old Portuguese Church.

The Indonesian foreign ministry's director of social and
cultural relations, Hupudio Supardi, said in a statement that
Indonesia fully supported the mission.

"We hope the mission will help promote Indonesian tourism, art
and culture in Portugal," said Hupudio.

Diplomatic ties between Jakarta and Lisbon were frozen
following the incorporation of East Timor into Indonesia as its
27th province in 1976.

Ties resumed after the ex-Portuguese colony officially
separated from Indonesia in 1999.(23)