Steps to promote museums yet to be seen

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 01/26/2010 11:59 AM

The National Museum is on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta, three buildings away from the Tourism Ministry office.

However, on Saturday, the largest and oldest museum in Indonesia did not have any signs notifying visitors about Visit Museum Year 2010, the Tourism Ministry’s campaign to attract more visitors to Indonesia’s museums.

Agus, an employee of the National Museum, said he had not heard about the campaign, despite the museum being supervised by the Tourism Ministry.

The museum saw lots of visitors on Saturday. Hundreds of students from elementary and high schools swarmed into the museum along with local and foreign tourists.

However, this had nothing to do with the campaign. Siti, an elementary school teacher who brought her students to visit the museum, said that she had come to show her students some examples of Indonesia’s cultural history.

“I want them to see and appreciate our heritage rather than just reading about it in text books,” Siti said, adding that she also knew nothing about the campaign.

Firdaus, another visitor, said that while he was enchanted by the museum’s large historical collection, he was also disappointed because he could not find a toilet and a prayer room. “Where is it anyway?

There is no proper sign,” he asked.

The National Museum was not the only museum that was apparently indifferent about the campaign.

The Textile Museum, located in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, also did not carry any signs promoting it.

In fact, it was hidden behind street vendors who sell electronic tools and shoes, and almost completely out of public view except for its plain white sign.

“The museum is hard to find. The door was closed and when I visited the museum,” said Ita, a visitor.

“However, I do like the museum’s collection. There are so many beautiful textiles here,” she said.

During a visit on Saturday, The Jakarta Post observed that most of the many textiles and textile tools exhibited at the Textile Museum did not have detailed signage or provide visitors with explanations except for the size, name and the origin of items.

In each room there were only around five textiles on display, many of which had no signage at all.

According to museum employee Edi, the Textile Museum had 1,800 items in its collection, but most were kept off display for maintenance purposes. “We change the collection on display every two months,” he said.

Tourism agency deputy head Tinia Budiati said she had noted all the shortcomings of the city’s museums, adding that the city administration planned several programs to make improvements to them.

“First, we plan to let visitors see the maintenance process of museum items. Second, we plan to make a free batik painting course for poor children at the Textile Museum,” she said, adding that there were also other programs.

Tinia said the city administration was working on programs that would not require extra funding.

“We could do a lot of things that would need extra funding, but waiting for a disbursement from the city budget would take a long time.”

Tinia said the administration was looking at ways to promote the Visit Museum 2010 campaign. There was no plan to make ads for the campaign, however, because no funding had been allocated for it, she said.

“We must understand that there are many other priorities.”