Tinia shaking the dust off museums

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

What pops into mind when you hear the word museum? Collections of dusty and dull artifacts, manuscripts or statues, perhaps. Or long, quiet, dark corridors with display boxes on the wall containing uninteresting objects with uninformative notes pinned below.

What about the guides? Usually they look like they are part of the museum's collection of historical objects, more used to intoning dry facts rather than bringing to life history.

But if you want a new perspective on museums, just talk to Tinia Budiati, 43, an archeologist/museum expert.

"A museum is firstly meant to provide educational stuff, thorough information about history. However, it must be at the same time entertaining or have a recreational aspect," said Tinia, who currently heads the Jakarta History Museum in Kota, West Jakarta, more commonly known as Fatahillah Museum.

"Last but not least, a museum is a place to store collections of historical objects."

Based on these priorities, Tinia has redesigned the Jakarta History Museum to add new spirit and perspective to its setting, display systems, lighting, program schedule and administrative management.

She wants visitors to learn about history and to have fun learning. "Only through such measures can we expect people to participate actively in the development of the museum."

For Tinia believes that if people come to love museums, they will naturally come to love history.

This love for museums and history, Tinia said, must be implanted in people beginning in childhood.

She said most people here were unconcerned about museums because they were never involved in their construction or development.

"Most museums were erected by the Dutch government for their own purposes. Later, after Indonesian independence, the government took them over and continued managing the museums with, of course, financial constraints always clouding their maintenance."

When the museums began to fall apart because their was no money to maintain them and because of corrupt management, Tinia said, people thought it was just the government's responsibility.

"It is time to involve people in the development of museums, but, of course, we must educate people to feel that museums are part of their lives," she remarked.

Museums in particular and history in general are Tinia's life. This is rooted in her experiences visiting museums and archeological sites during her childhood, thanks to her parents' own interest in history.

Tinia was born in Bandung, West Java, on Sep. 30, 1959. Her father Soenarjo worked as a project head at the Public Works Agency, and her mother Sumiwi was a nurse.

At school, Tinia's favorite subject was history. She still recalls a challenge from one of her teachers. "This country only has an expert in anthropology, Koentjaraningrat. Be an expert in a field that is rarely chosen."

She went to the University of Indonesia and majored in archeology, in the hope that she would be given the opportunity to explore archeological sites and take part in excavation projects. To her disappointment, however, her time at the university provided her with a lot of theory but very little actual practice.

After graduating in 1985, Tinia became a civil servant in the Jakarta administration in 1986.

For nearly 10 years she did administrative jobs, as her desire to learn more about history withered away in frustration and confusion.

Then in 1994 the City Museum and Historical Agency began an 18-month project, in cooperation with the Amsterdam History Museum, to renovate the Maritime Museum here.

Tinia was assigned to assist the curator of the Amsterdam museum, Dr. Loedwig Wagenaar, in the renovation process. The project was a success.

Wagennar then offered Tinia an opportunity to study museum science in the Netherlands, which she gladly accepted. She left her family and eventually obtained her master's degree in museology in 1998 from the Reinwardt Academy.

Returning to Indonesia, she was assigned to head the Jakarta History Museum.

"I returned full of spirit and idealism, but what I had to face. I had to face strong opposition from the museum employees. For the first two weeks, most of the 15 employees failed to show up for work. I had to do all the administrative work myself, including picking up the phone.

"I sent out a letter summoning all of them to a meeting. I told them that I had been assigned here and I could not do it alone without their help and support."

The employees said they were not coming to work because their salaries were so small they couldn't afford lunch and transportation. Tinia told them to come to work and she would provide them a free lunch.

"I remember giving my cook Rp 20,000 (US$2.20) every day to make the meal and then I took it to the office."

As time went by, Tinia began to win the trust of her subordinates and the museum began to attract more people as it gradually made improvements.

"We paid off the museum's debt in two years after I took over the office. Now we are turning a profit," Tinia said proudly.

The number of visitors increased from 1,000 annually when Tinia took over to more than 5,000. And this does not include the hundreds of visitors taking part in the museum's monthly outdoor programs such as the Old Kampong Tour, and the many people who use the museum's grounds for picnics or who visit the museum's cafe.

"But what makes me happy is that lots of people have started to trust their collections to the museum. Last year alone we received some 200 collections of antique objects, such as beads and stones," she said.

There has also been a positive response to the changes at the museum by foreign governments like Japan, Portugal and Britain, who have historical links with Jakarta, she said.

Despite these achievements, Tinia is not in danger of becoming complacent.

"Many people are still far from appreciating the museum as part of their life. There is still a long way to go."

And Tinia is preparing the next generation to continue her efforts, teaching museography, the technical aspects of managing a museum, and museology, the science of museum organization and management, at the University of Indonesia.