The nation's treasures are being looted

JAKARTA (JP): The monetary crisis afflicting the country for the past few years has contributed to the chronic looting and theft of national treasures, officials said here on Wednesday.

Chief of Documentation and Publication of the Ministry of National Education's Archeology Directorate, Junus Satrio Atmodjo claimed that the frequency of looting of statues and other artifacts from ancient temples and sites across the country has increased.

He did not elaborate on the specific number of thefts at the ancient sites, but in Prambanan temple, Central Java, for example heads of statues were recently broken off and stolen.

"There is this relief of three gods in Prambanan, and their heads have been chiseled and stolen," Junus said, adding that the heads are still missing.

Similer incidents, he added, have also occurred at several sites in East Java.

Earlier on Monday, Director of Archaeology Nunus Supardi said that seven ancient statues from Blitar, Probolinggo and Pasuruan in East Java were taken to Bali but recovered before being smuggled abroad.

"In North Sumatra, some 54 stone tables from Nias that are used for a traditional ceremony had already been loaded on a ship and were about to smuggled (before it was discovered by local authorities)," Nunus said.

It was done by Indonesian fishermen, he added, but they managed to escape even though the ancient tables were seized.

The tables have since been placed in a North Sumatra museum.

According to Junus, people these days are concerned merely with the economic value these relics can bring.

"Their appreciation for the relics as national treasures is very low," Junus said, adding that "up until the 1970s or 1980s" people still returned a large portion of the artifacts they found.

These days, Junus lamented, very few people return the treasures.

"This has happened because control and monitoring are weak," he added.

Law No. 5/1992 on artifacts contains many weaknesses, he said, and as a consequence experts are now discussing its revision.

According to legal expert Saiful Mujahid, the law does not stipulate specifically the ownership of artifacts found by individuals.

"It only specifies the definition of an artifact, whether it is a relic or not," said Saiful, who is also a legal consultant for the City Museum Agency.

Junus also expressed concern about the maintenance of many vintage buildings of which many are abandoned, especially in Jakarta where there is in abundance.

"There is a former immigration office in Menteng area that is now abandoned. Its posts, which were made of first class wood, and its tiles have been stolen," he said.

In Tanjung Priok, he added, a building constructed in the Dutch colonial period is laden with garbage.

"There are only a few old buildings like in the world," he said, claiming that a similar building in Jakarta is being used as a prostitute den.

He did not elaborate which building.

According to Junus, the old area of Menteng is the location of many old buildings that are protected by a bylaw.

"But the implementation of the bylaw is weak. Many of the owners renovate or restore them with new styles, but we can't easily give them sanctions as most of them are powerful people," Junus remarked.

According to Saiful, right now the City Administration is drafting a regulation which will provide incentive for owners to keep up the vintage buildings they own.

"Maybe we can give them incentive like reducing or eliminating their taxes," he said.(hdn)