UI and Ministry of Culture Strengthen Museum Law Draft

Universitas Indonesia’s Faculty of Humanities (FIB UI) organised a “Public Discussion on the Draft Museum Law (RUU Permuseuman)” at the Toety Herati Noerhadi Auditorium, FIB UI campus, Depok. The hybrid event was attended by over 400 participants, with the aim of gathering input from academics, practitioners, and the general public to ensure the Museum Law remains relevant to future museum challenges.

The Museum Law is expected to serve as a legal instrument that encourages Indonesian museums to transform into modern, accountable, and inclusive institutions. Discussion focus areas include museum standardisation, collection protection, institutional strengthening, and human resource development.

Culture Minister Fadli Zon emphasised the importance of this regulation and the crucial role of museums as information, education, and culture centres that showcase a nation’s civilisation and culture. “Indonesia needs clear regulations regarding museums. As a nation with megadiversity, we possess extraordinary wealth in artefacts, and museums are essentially places to display our treasures,” he stated.

Director General of Cultural and Traditional Protection Restu Gunawan added that the draft law review has been underway since early 2026. “We invite various parties to provide comprehensive input to develop a comprehensive plan for Indonesia’s museum development over the next 20-30 years, including the development of digital museums,” he explained.

Meanwhile, FIB UI Dean Dr Untung Yuwono emphasised higher education’s role in ensuring regulatory relevance with field practice. “The Museum Law is about how this nation preserves collective memory and cultural heritage. In this regard, higher education has a strategic role, where members of the academic community work daily with sources of knowledge about the past,” he said.

During the event, Professor of Archaeology at FIB UI and Chair of the Museum, Cultural Heritage, and Islamic Material Culture Research Cluster, Prof Dr Irmawati Marwoto, emphasised the need for stronger and more innovative legal protection. “Our challenge is to ensure this law can go beyond the provisions of previous implementing regulations,” she stated.

Input from this public discussion will be processed by the law drafting team as material for refining the academic manuscript and draft law before proceeding to the next legislative stage.