Yogya's museums in dire need of attention

By Anis Suryani

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Wayang or shadow puppets usually feature patriotic stories or characters taken from ancient stories like the epic Mahabarata.

But when one steps into Kekayon Puppet Museum located in Jl. Wonosari, some 15 kilometers southeast of Yogyakarta, and views the thousands of puppets in its collections, he or she will see how the wayang can also portray the contemporary history, such as the puppet of Indonesia first president Sukarno in the Wayang Suluh series.

According to the museum's guide, Mulyono, this particular wayang series was mostly performed in the 1950s, depicting how Indonesia won its independence from the Dutch.

Another collection, the Wayang Sejati series, was created by noted Javanese culture expert Wisnoe Wardana in 1975, featuring how Indonesians built the country after independence in 1945. The series' characters included officials from the new order era and the Armed Forces members along with military planes and satellites.

Wayang Kreasul series -- an acronym from the Indonesian words Kreasi Tanpa Asal or a creation of no origin -- is created by contemporary musician Sapto Rahardjo and his friends, and displays popular figures, including rocker Achmad Albar.

Other interesting collections belonging to the museum include Wayang Cah Angon featuring shepherd's puppets which are made out of small branches of cassava tree, Wayang Kancil which tells of smart mousedeer named Kancil, and Wayang Turis which reveals the story of tourists' arrival in the country.

The museum also has the collections of Wayang Golek Wahyu and Wayang Perjanjian series, which tell about how Christianity was preached, and Wayang Sadat series, which reveals the history of wali (Propagation of Islam) during the era of the Demak and Pajang kingdoms.

Apart from local puppets, the museum also collect puppets from other countries such as those from China, India, Thailand and the Netherlands.

However, Kekayon museum, which has been open to the public since 1991 and is privately managed by Kekayon Social Foundation, is only one of some 15 museums in Yogyakarta. Unfortunately, despite its remarkable collections, not all of the museums are well taken care of due to the lack of patrons.

Out of the 15 museums, only three: Yogyakarta Palace's Museum, Sonobudoyo Museum and Museum of Yogya Kembali Monument, receive many visitors. Every year, the three museums are visited by no less than 500,000 people.

According to a representative from Yogyakarta's museum board Baramus, Donny Surya Megananda, visitors' lack of interest to visit other museums was due to, mainly the lack of publicity and their miserable condition.

"Most museums in Yogyakarta face funding and management problems," said Donny, adding that most museums in other parts of the country also deal with the same problems.

Creative

Most of the museums in Yogyakarta do not have a fixed source of income they can rely on. The government, through the Directorate General of Culture, only provide assistance -- which is given in turn -- worth some Rp 500,000 to Rp 1 million a year for all of the museums.

On the other side, the income they generate from ticket sales is far from sufficient to fund the museums' expenses.

Kekayon museum, for instance, only has about five visitors per day. With a ticket of Rp 3,000 per person, it can only collect about Rp 450,000 per month.

"We can only use the money to pay for electricity," said Donny, who is also Kekayon's manager.

Due to its limited budget, the museum has to be creative. Kekayon, for one, is planning to provide a dinner package with a wayang performance to attract more visitors.

"We are currently preparing the package in cooperation with a local travel agent," Donny said.

Affandi's museum manager Helfi Dirix also expressed her concern over the condition of most museums in the country, especially Yogyakarta.

The daughter of painting maestro Affandi revealed the low appreciation most Indonesians have toward the existence of museums. At her museum, for instance, most of visitors were foreigners, she added.

"Our own people are not interested (in visiting museums). I'm quite sure that only a few Yogyakartans have ever paid a visit here," Helfi said.

She also criticized Indonesian schools for not making use of museums as an educational media for their students.

"Most of the students who ever made use of the Affandi Museum for their course work are from Japan and Australia. Only a few Indonesian students have done the same," Helfi said.

Located on Jl. Solo, the Affandi Museum is well taken care of, probably because the museum, which belongs to the Affandi Foundation, is creative in raising funds to finance the museum's expenses. The museum, for instance, sells a dinner package for tourists and runs a souvenir shop selling various gifts such as t-shirts or postcards with Affandi's pictures, paintings or the maestro's lithography works.

"Yet, frankly speaking, we are still in a deficit. We cannot yet fund our own expenses and still need a subsidy from the foundation," Helfi said.

An average of 50 visitors visit the museum -- which employs 22 people including curators and guides -- every day. Besides a main building, the museum also has a room where other artists can hold exhibitions of their works.

Affandi Museum currently has some 300 collections comprising of Affandi's original paintings and reproductions along with the works of other artists. The works of Affandi's wife Maryati along with the works of his three children and grandchildren are also on display in the museum.