[pp 411] - 426

60 Formatted: Font: 16 pt
Formatted: Centered

. Providing an Uplift to the National Museum Formatted: Font: 16 pt

Formatted: Font: 16 pt
Formatted: Font: 16 pt

When the director of the National Museum invited me in April 1993 to open a
seminar, I immediately said yes. Giving attention to the culture and literature was part
of my commitment when I was holding my position as a minister of education and
culture.

I was inspired of the awareness to pay attention to cultural issues when I was still
working under Governor Ali Sadikin. He made “bold” movements to drive the
awareness of cultural and literary issues despite priorities of the Jakarta government
at the time being placed on the development of city infrastructures and the people’s
welfare. Ali Sadikin started his movement by building Museum Fatahillah (currently
Jakarta Historical Museum) at the Staadhuis building in North Jakarta Jakarta Utara.

The seminar at the National Museum constituted a means of communication

between museum experts and museum enthusiasts. Another inspiration that I learned
from Ali Sadikin was the transformation of Jakarta from the Big Village into a
Metropolitan City, which motivated me to transform the humble National Museum
into an internasional museum that would not only be a national pride, but also an
international one.

It took a lot of doing to accommodate the collection of the National Museum that
comprised more than 107,000 artefacts and provide them with the proper “treatment”
for the sake of the people’s historical understanding and to introduce our cultural
diversity. Indonesia cultural diversity makes the museum an interesting and enjoyable
center of
[pp 412]

cultural activities, and transforms the people’s perception of museum as a collection

of old artefacts.

It’s interesting to learn about the history of museums. Although the Dutch came to
Indonesia by late 1700s, the economic and trade oppression had been started by the
trading company VOC (Verenigde Oast Indische Compagnie). VOC did not pay any Formatted: Font: Italic

attention to the social life of the people such as the religious, language, and cultural
education. It was the Portuguese who played a more dominant role in this regard. For
instance, in the 18th century the communication language used in Batavia was
dominated by the Mestize from Portugal.

Interestingly, in 1778 a group of Dutch people established Bataavsch Formatted: Font: Italic

Gemootschap vor Kunsten en Wetenchappen (Association of Culture/Literature and

Science, Batavia) that became the start of the National Museum. Numerous ancient
manuscripts such as those written on palm leaves were rescued by this association.

More interestingly, despite their original motifs of arrival in the colony as traders,
they conducted researches that remain to be treated as references until today. An
example of the translation of “Negara Kertagama” by Professor J.L.A Brandes from
the Netherlands had enlightened us and the world on Majapahit and its government
system. I wrote a paper about this topic in 1994 that was included in a book “The
Treasures of Indonesia”, 1995. In this paper, I also included a list of annual reports
regarding the establishment of the impressive Bataavsch Gemootschap voor Kunsten Formatted: Font: Italic

en Wetenchappen (BGKW). Unfortunately, there were not many researches conducted

on ancient Indonesian history, resulting in these valuable archives being useless for
scientific purposes as well as for enriching more historical materials.

The initiative of the Dutch officials in paying attention to the local culture and
literature, even during the commercial and colonial government of VOC was highly
beneficial for Indonesia in the future, considering the voluntary researches conducted
by the Dutch cultural experts constitute valuable archival treasures. In 1894 BGKW
established a library known as Museum Zooligicum Bogorinse dan Bibliothica Formatted: Font: Italic

Bogoriense.

It is not sufficient to develop a national museum in the capital city by just

renovating the old building, but we also had to make an extention. When I
communicated this idea to the director of the National Museum, I was presented with
a master plan that was made in 1991/1992.

However, the design of the building in the master plan was prepared based on the
existing land area owned by the National Museum. As a consequence, since the land
was divided in two parts, the National Museum building would need to be connected
by a pedestrian bridge above Jalan Museum.
[pp 413]

[photo caption] Minister of Education and Culture, Wardiman Djojonegoro, signed an inscription on
the inauguration of the ceramic collection room.
[pp414]

I disagreed with the design. How could a museum building be split in two by a road
and connected only by a pedestrian bridge? The risk was, with such connection there
would be transfer of roads and removal of entitlements of the local people’s land and
buildings. It would mean that the ministry of education and culture had to provide
them with compensation. It was alright as everything could be replanned and the use
of new plots and land reclamation of the local people’s land and building was
negotiable with the Capital City government of Jakarta.

The issue was the source of fund. The budget of the Directorate of Museum from
the State Budget was insufficient for the renovation and the uplift of the museum
building.

In a meeting at the ministry, I asked Prof. Dr. Edi Sedyawati, the newly
inaugurated Director General of Culture to replace Drs. GBPH Poeger, to think of ways
to increase the budget for the expansion of the National Museum, especially for the
expansion of the land by evacuating several houses located on either side of Jl.
Museum, which was on the north side of the National Museum.

In 1994/1995 the budget for the National Museum was quite small. I realized that
budget revision was not easy, but it was worth trying to approach Bappenas for the
increase of budget allocation for the National Museum.

The Director General of Culture made the first approach by setting up a meeting
with the Deputy of Budget Management. A proposal was made for the National
Museum Expansion Project to be made primary priority (a kind of on top project).
Unfortunately, the Secretary of the Directorat General of Culture reported to me that
the term “on top” project was no longer applicable at Bappenas, except for natural
disasters. As such, the National Museum Project could never be made a priority.

I was disappointed with the result of the first approach and insisted that another
approach was sought for the additional fund for the National Museum project. The
Director General of Culture went back to Bappenas with a proposal that additional
budget be allocated from the “saving fund”

What was referred to by “saving fund” is the amount of fund that originated from
the discrepancy between the amount of fund allocated from the budget in Pradip
(Draft list of Project details) and the list of project details. The discrepancy incured
due to a decrease in the budget after Pradip had been discussed with the Directorate
General of Budget, the
[pp415]

Ministry of Finance and Bappenas. As such, it would be pretty reasonable if the “saving
fund” could not be used to increase the budget alocation for the National Museum
Project, as pursuant to the new policy, the status of the “saving fund” had changed into
a “national saving fund”. It means that the “saving fund” that was collected from the
discrepancy between the budget allocation of Pradip and DIP of all the sectors nation-
wide and could only be used upon the approval of the President. So was the report of
the Director General of Culture to me. In other words, the second endeavour ended up
in vain.

Unwilling to give up after the two endeavours, I contacted Minister of Tourism,

Post and Telecommunication, Joop Ave, for his suggestions in gaining fund support to
expand the museum, as I considered the museum expansion project as a primary
priority. From Joop Ave I learned that the First Lady, Mrs. Tien Soeharto, had once
expressed her intention to assist with the expansion of the national museum builing.
Yet, the final decision of the First Lady constituted merely the transfer of the museum’s
library to the National Library that in later days was given a new building that was
located on Jalan Salemba.

I went to see Minister of Finance, Mari’e Muhammad. I informed him of the

insufficient fund that my ministry needed to cater for cultural affairs, and the
difficulties that we had in inquiring for additional fund allocation for the project of the
expansion of our national museum, an asset in terms of our national culture. I also
communicated to him about the two failures we experienced in approaching Bappenas
in this regard. After some considerations, Mari’e Muhammad checked with the
Directorate General of Financial Institutions at the Ministry of Finance and found a
fund that we could borrow from without any interest. It could be paid back in
installment through the budget of the Ministry of Education and Cuture. What a great
relief!

I got back to the office and contacted the Director General of Culture to ask her to
reapproach Bappenas with a repayment formulation concept for a loan to be applied
through Bappenas. The conclusion was
[pp416]

the fund to be borrowed was in the amount of Rp 21 billion to be used for the
reclamation of land on Jl. Museum and to be repaid in four installments.

The fund to be used for the loan repayment would originate from the allocation of
budget designated for the National Museum Project for four budget years. Initially
Bappenas had been hesitant in providing allocation addition to this type of financing.
However, eventually Bappenas opened the possibility for me as a minister to send a
letter to the Chairman of Bappenas.

On that very day, I asked for a letter to be concepted and sent to the Chairman of
Bappenas. After reading through the concept, I signed it and the letter was delivered
straight to the Chairman of Bappenas. In only a week, the Directorat General of
Culture had received a phone call that communicated the response of the Chairman of
Bappenas, and the need for inter-ministerial meetings to convene, namely of the
Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and Culture, and Bappenas.

The result of the meeting was satisfactory, and the National Museum project
received Rp 21 billion loan to be repaid in four installments through the fund from the
National Museum project DIP. Eventually, the approved four installments loan
repayment could be settled within two budget years.

The loan repayment acceleration could be achieved due to Bappenas’ assistance

by approving the transfer of unused project fund of Directorate General of Basic and
Secondary Education and Directorate General of Higher Education. So were the ups
and downs of the financing of the National Museum expansion project.

Afterwards, I had another meeting with relevant authorities at the ministry of

education and culture that involved the authorities of the Jakarta Capital City
government, since it was the provincial government that had the authority to issue the
building license should there be any need for expansion or use of the local people’s
land. The budget would still be charged to the Directorate of Museum Affairs following
multiple year method.

I immediately asked for a Master Plan to be prepared for the renovation and
construction of the new buildings which were known as Building A, Building B, and
Building C. However, the renovation and construction started from Building B that
covered a land area of 30,000 sq.m.
[pp417]

Following Building B was the construction and renovation of Building C that covered
a land area of 40,000 sq.m. The expansion and renovation of Building A covered a
land area of 25,656 sq.m. The building expansion project would result in the eviction
of the local people’s houses along Jalan Museum. The land area that was affected by
the evacuation covered an area of 11,360 sq.m.

After a prolonged negotiation between the National Museum team and the local
people or house owners along Jalan Museum, a solution was generated about the total
compensation to be rewarded to each owner of the houses along Jalan Museum.
Further measure to take was to prepare the design of the building through a
competiion that involved the participation of the Association of Indonesian Architects
with a panel of judges consisting of various intellectuals, cultural figures, leading
architects, and museum experts. Finally, five best participants were announced. I
reported the result to the President for the selection of the two best designs that were
submitted to our consultant, PT Atelier 6.

The construction work started in the budget year of 1996-1997 and continued in
the subsequent years. At the time, all the construction and renovation had been
planned to be completed by 2000. It was the first renovation and expansion work that
had been conducted on the museum building since the independence. There were 34
houses along Jalan Museum that was situated next to the museum building, that had
to be demolished and requiring compensation to be awarded for the owners. These
houses comprised antique buildings that had been built in the 1930s, including a
museum office, a villa owned by a doctor, and a Japanese restaurant, “Yoshiko”, the
owner of which I knew very well when I was working at the Jakarta capital city
government. We used to visit the restaurant for lunch or to entertain our guests. The
owner, Yoshiko Kondo, had initially objected to the demolition of his restaurant, as
the compensation was lower than its value. I promised him that after the completion
of the museum building renovation, he would be provided with a special or priority
location to open his restaurant in the public area of the museum building. Finally,
Yoshiko accepted the “demolition” negotiation.

The evacuation of the houses and the settlement of the compensation to all the
house owners was not easy at all. The leader of the project and the Head of Museum
reported that they had to deal with several threats and even law suits. I tapped into my
experience when I was working at the Jakarta capital city government, particularly in
dealing with the evacuation of the local people’s houses. I approached each house
owner and negotiated for a peaceful win-win settlement. The last house to be
demolished at the time was located on Jalan Merdeka Barat, and was occupied by an
officer who gave us quite a hard time during the evacuation process. As soon as we
succeeded in settling the problem with the owner, I instructed Nunus, Secretary of
Director General of Culture, to speed up with the demolition work starting from
Saturday afternoon when the traffic was rather quiet and completed before the
weekend was over. When I reported to the President about the progress of the project,
particularly the completion of the demolition process, the President commented in
half disbelief, “I’m impressed that it went by so smoothly.”

Following are excerpts of the impressions of Dra.Suwati Kartiwa, Msc., Director of

the National Museum at the time about the construction and expansion of the museum
building.

“……Pak Wardiman was very attentive towards the implementation of the Formatted

museum planning and construction, starting from the designing up to the meticulous Formatted

on-site calculations. Accurate, efficient and direct communication with Pak

Wardiman was conducted by cellphone.

Pak Wardiman did it anytime, in the morning, during the day, in the afternoon Formatted

and in the evening. He could call us anytime and anywhere. So, anyone should be Formatted

ready. We could be at the museum, indoors and anywhere, but we always had to be
available for him to contact. He often invited museum officials and supporters to see
the National Museum project for themselves to enable them to be more aware of the
completion of the expansion and construction plan of the National Museum building
that was the pride of the nation. Pak Wardiman’s unending enthusiasm in promoting
the project was sometimes reflected in his spontaneous actions.
[pp418]

One example was when he was trapped in a traffic jam on his way to the museum
from the State Palace. He got off his car, walked to the bus stop and hopped on a
public bus, to cross Jalan Merdeka Barat and arrived at the National Museum.”

Since my term of service as minister of education and culture had expired, I was
unable to participate in the inauguration of the new building. Nevertheless, I feel
happy to see the outcome, and it had not lessened my passion and conviction of the
significance of a museum.

I do hope that care for museums is given the attention it deserves, and that
museums as public facilities be supported not only by the state fund or by the founder,
but there would also be a concept of a bigger public concern for museums “This
concept helps to strengthen the respect for its collection of rich ethnic and cultural
heritage. For that purpose, it is important to maintain following aspects, such as:
cleanliness, appropriate lighting and collection layout, that is supported by sufficient
budget. It would be such a pride for us one day to see professional services being
delivered to all museum visitors. 
[pp419]

Our architecture also excelled in terms of cultural achievement. Indonesia stood

out in various cultural aspects as evidenced by the architecture of the Royal Palace of
Solo that received Aga Khan Award in 1995.

In my capacity as minister of education and culture, I was accompanying Mawlana

Hazar Imam (Aga Khan) and his wife, Princess Zahra, at the award presentation.
Previously, Aga Khan and Princess Zahra had been received by President Soeharto at
State Palace Merdeka, Jakarta, where the signing ceremony of the first edition stamp
of Aga Khan had been performed.

The beauty of the Royal Palace of Solo managed to charm Mawlana Hazar Imam,
Princess Zahra, and the invitees for its historical and architectural values.
[pp420]

The palace is also a witness of Islamic heritage, the local indigineous culture and
tradition, intertwined with the linguistic root from the Ancient Malay, Sanskrit, and
Ancient Javanese.

After Sunan Paku Pakuwono XII had delivered his welcome address before
hundreds of invitees from all corners of the world, it was my turn to present my official
speech on behalf of the government. I expressed a deep gratitude for the award
presented to Indonesia. I had expressed the same gratitude during the two seminars
that had been held in Yogyakarta.

I took the opportunity to communicate the need of enlightenment through

innovative and imaginative ideas that would allow Moslem countries not only to
overcome current challenges such as the aggravating environment, but also pursuing
progress and changes for the future.

To serve this purpose, we had to find resources that agreed with the foundation of
our faith, namely Islam. In my opinion, the Aga Khan award that was presented for
the architecture of the Royal Palace of Solo constituted a key motivator for the newly
resurfaced mindset.

In his speech, Aga Khan expressed that the Moslems had to be capable of finding
the challenges of the era in line with wise thinking and based on a spirit of competition,
particularly in urban development arena. The rehabilitation of the old part of the city
and the improvement of the people’s economy, the integration of various ethnic groups
that implied potential opportunity for people to upgrade their welfare were reflected
in various elements of the architecture of the Royal Palace of Solo.

The palace embodied various evidences of our success in battling against

destruction, wreckage, and deterioration of a city and its social life, and in
transforming the city by creating a friendlier environment.

Aga Khan had presented awards for numerous architectures all over the world. My
encounter and acquaintance with Aga Khan and Princes Zahra was a most interesting
and impressive experience.

***
[pp421]

Drs. Nunus Supardi, a cultural enthusiast who was at the time holding the position as
Secretary of Director General of Culture, Director of Historical and Prehistoric
Heritage Protection and Development, the ministry of education and culture, with his
last position as Expert Staff of the minister of education and tourism (2001), wrote his
impressions as follows:

During his term of service as minister of education and culture in 1993-1998,

Prof. Dr. Ing. Wardiman Djojonegoro often provided attention to various areas of
culture that were included as parts of the responsibility of the Directorate General of
Culture. However, in this article I will only elaborate those that are related to the
aspects of museum affairs, arts, language, prehistory, and cultural collaborations.

Of all his dedication to culture, the most monumental one was his attention to
museum affairs. Although he had not revitalized all the museums in Indonesia, his
policies on the expansion of the land and the building of the museum, and the layout
of the exhibition hall of the National Museum had made the Dutch colonial heritage
museum appear more opulent and respectable.

The focus of his passion for the National Museum was specifically expressed by
Pak Wardiman in the reception of the Anniversary of the National Museum in 1997.
Before the invitees that were dominated by representatives of foreign countries, he
said “Ever since I became Minister of Education and Culture in 1993, the status and
development of our National Museum has been a key priority for me, as well as for
the Ministry. In this first place there is, of course, our task to care for, and protect,
the valuable collection present in the Museum, and make it available for the public
enjoyment. However, beyond this maintenance task, if I can call it that way. I feel
very strongly that it is our duty to greatly promote and enlarge the role of our
National Museum within our society.”

His serious attention in expanding and modernizing the National Museum had
been inspirational and often used as a model to promote other museums as well.

Nunus Supardi also wrote about Pak Wardiman’s attention to arts as follows:
[pp422]

His care for arts was reflected in his full support to the organizing of The First
Art Congress in 1995 as well as in the organizing of The First Contemporary Art of
the Non-Aligned Countries in 1995.

The Contemporary Art of the Non-Aligned Countries exhibition was the first
cultural collaboration that had been held since the establishment of the Non-Aligned
Countries in the summit meeting of the participants of Asia-Africa Conference in
Beograd, and the first one ever organized since the agreement on cultural
collaboration tha had been expressed in the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference that
generated The Ten Principles of Bandung.

The exhibition that was held at the National Gallery of Jakarta was participated
by 42 countries, and attended by the delegations of non-aligned countries that had
completed their sessions in Bandung. This exhibition served as a pioneer in the new
development towards the recognition of the diversity of world contemporary arts,
and a pillar that marked the presence of a new alternative from the universal
paradigm. Unfortunately, the exhibition program is discontinued.

It was also in 1995 that the Art Summit for Music and Dances was first organized.
This activity was fully supported by Pak Wardiman through his initiative in inviting
various countries to perform in Jakarta and in several other cities. Through this
event, Indonesia had the opportunity to present new creative works side by side with
the creation of various countries such as China, Japan, Australia, Germany, UK,
Russia, etc. Nowadays this event is still organized.

It was also in 1995 that the First Art Congress was convened. It was intended to
combine the ideas of artists and art experts about the development of arts in
Indonesia after 50 years of being independent. The Congress had served as a
historical pillar and a platform for artists, philosophers and art observers to discuss
the development of arts in Indonesia, in the past, at present and in the future. This
program was continued in 2005 with the organizing of the Third Arts Congress.
[pp423]

Furthermore, Indonesia also organized activities such as Hologram Exhibition,

France (1995), “Silver Mates” Exhibition from Argentina (1995), “Norwegian Artistic
Glassware” Exhibition (1995), Lithographs Exhibition from Canada (1995), Dance
Performance from Italy (1995), Indian Cultural Festival (1997), Fine Arts Exhibition
“Close-up of Japan” (1996), Asian Performing Art Festival (1997), as well as similar
events from Peru, Finland, New Zealand, Greece, Spain, the Philippines, Korea,
Australia, etc.

Indonesia had a cultural collaboration with ASEAN countries in prehistory,

including the participation in the renovation of the gate of Angkor Wat prehistoric
site. Pak Wardiman had the opportunity to visit the renovation. The delivery of the
renovation result in 2000 received special appreciation from the people of Cambodia
and also from UNESCO.

Prior to the execution of the renovation, Indonesia had trained several specialists
from Cambodia in prehistoric renovation in Borobudur that last from one to three
months. This initiative was positively appreciated by the Cambodian government,
technicians and workers.

The renovation was performed by Cambodians under the guidance of an

Indonesian technician who also acted as a supervisor that oversaw the whole
renovation. The Cambodian technicians and workers showed serious, focused, and
dedicated performance during the renovation. Apparently, the system and
performance of the Indonesian technician during this renovation project in
Cambodia inspired other countries that were also involved in the Angkor Wat
renovation that was funded by the respective country.

While the project was still on-going, technicians who were working at the Angkor
Wat renovation from other countries, such as US, France, and Japan received double
salary offer to work with other projects, but none of them was willing to accept it.
[pp424]

Prof. Wardiman made time to visit the renovation and to motivate the team in
improving the motivation and work dedication in the transfer of technology and
development of collaboration between the two nations.

Finally, the result of this renovation was inaugurated in 2000 by Prince Ranarit,
that was attended by the Indonesian Ambassador and the Director General of
Culture, Dr. IGN Anom; the Director of Historical Remains and Antiquities, Drs.
Nunus Supardi; the Director of Social, Cultural and Information Relations, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Drs. Hupudio Supardi; and closed by a cultural dinner
gala with performances by the Indonesian artists team.

The Indonesian government assisted program was known as Indonesian

Technical Assistance for Safeguarding Angkor (ITASA). By the end of this renovation
program, there had been two transfers of technology taking place between Indonesia
and Cambodia. The first one was in 1929 when a renovation technician for Ankor,
Henri Marshall, came to Indonesia to learn about the anastylosis method which he
later called a Deuth Process and implemented it in a temple renovation project in
Cambodia.

Prof. Wardiman showed his high attention to the remains of the cultural sites
including those from the prehistoric era like Sangiran site, Hindu-Buddha, Islam,
and those from the colonial era. He materialized the attention by increasing the
renovation fund and establishing collaborations with other government agencies.

He had also visited several historical sites, such as: temples of Muara Takus,
Candi Brahu at Majapahit site, in Trowulan, Belgica fort in a deserted island in the
sea of Maluku, Plaosan Lor Temple, and Perwara Sewu Temple.

Prof. Wardiman set out a policy to boost Indonesian performance in

international forums by not only sending cultural delegation overseas, but also
inviting foreign cultural delegates to perform in Indonesia. This policy motivated
Indonesian artists and cultural experts to
[pp425]

have a better understanding of the masterpieces of our neighboring countries to

enrich and develop our own culture.

In 1990-1991 there was an Indonesian Cultural Festival (often known as

Exhibition) in United States of America known as KIAS. After KIAS, it was continued
with Indonesian Art Exhibition (painting and sculpture) in the Netherlands, known
as PAKIB with the agenda as follows: “The Sculpture of Indonesia” at the Neuwe
Kerk, Amsterdam (6 February-20 April 1992), “The Beyond of Java Sea” at Rijks
Museum, Leiden (27 February-1 January 1992), and “Court Arts of Indonesia” at
Kunstthal, Rotterdam (31 October-17 January 1993). PAKIB Exhibition also brings
positive effect on Indonesian image to the people of the Netherlands and Europe.

Pak Wardiman maintained and even promoted this policy. In 1995-1996, a series
of mobile exhibition of Indonesian prehistoric artefacts was organized in various
large cities in Germany, such as Hannover, Hildesheim, Mainnheim, and Stuttgart.
It did not only succeed to create the German public appreciation of the Indonesian
cultural potensials, but also promoted Indonesian culture to people of other
European countries who attended the exhibition.

Indonesian prehistoric artefact exhibition in Hannover was part of the

Hannover Expo that was participated by various countries, among others Finland.
Indonesia was invited by Finland to display the same exhibition in Tampere
Museum, Finland, right after the completion of the exhibition in Mainnheim. The
exhibition in Finland had special significance as it was the very first time for us to
promote our culture in the Scandinavian region, particularly our prehistoric
artefacts.

Prof. Wardiman’s full support for cultural activities did not only cover moral
support, but technical and administrative ones as well. The budget of the Cultural
Subsector that normally amounted in the range of 2.5-3 percent of the total budget
of the ministry, had an increase to 4-5 percent which served as a concrete support
for the cultural sector.
[pp426]

[Photo caption] The National Museum building in two perspectives, 2015.