The first museum dedicated to Palestinian art in the US opens its doors in Connecticut

The first museum dedicated to Palestinian art in the US opens its doors in Connecticut pic.twitter.com/DB0NiufrpF

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 28, 2018

Indonesian museum removes Nazi-themed exhibit after outrage

Yahoo – AFP, November 11, 2017

An Indonesian woman take a selfie with a life-size wax sculpture of Adolf Hitler
at a museum in Yogyakarta (AFP Photo/Henryanto)

An Indonesian museum that allowed visitors to take selfies with a life-size wax sculpture of Hitler against a backdrop of Auschwitz concentration camp has removed the exhibit following international outrage, the manager said Saturday.

De ARCA Statue Art Museum in the Javanese city of Jogjakarta drew swift condemnation from rights groups after details of the controversial display were published in foreign media.

The exhibit features a sure-footed Hitler standing in front of a huge photo of the gates of Auschwitz -- the largest Nazi concentration camp where more than 1.1 million people were killed.

The museum’s operations manager, Jamie Misbah, said the the wax sculpture had been removed after the building was alerted to criticism from prominent Jewish human rights organisation the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

"We don’t want to attract outrage," Misbah told AFP.

"Our purpose to display the Hitler figure in the museum is to educate."

The Hitler sculpture is one of about 80 figures, including world leaders and celebrities, at the wax and visual effects centre.

The Nazi-themed exhibit was a popular attraction for visitors to take selfies, and photos circulating on social media show customers -- including children -- posing with Hitler and in some cases using the Nazi salute.

Misbah said he thought it was "normal' for visitors to take photos in front of displays, but said the museum respected the exhibit had upset people from around the world.

Historians have blamed poor schooling for the lack of awareness and sensitivity about the Holocaust in Indonesia, which is home to the world's biggest Muslim population and a small number of Jews.

In January, a controversial Nazi-themed cafe in the western Javanese city of Bandung closed.

The venue, which featured swastika-bearing walls and photos of Hitler, sparked global uproar when reports about the unusual venue surfaced several years ago.

Indonesia to open first contemporary art gallery

Yahoo – AFP, Harry PEARL, November 3, 2017

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation of more than 250 million people, is home
to a vibrant art scene but lacks high-quality museums (AFP Photo/BAY ISMOYO)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia's first international gallery of contemporary art opens Saturday, bringing together works by Ai Weiwei, Mark Rothko and Indonesian masters in a freeflowing modern space overlooking the Jakarta skyline.

The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN) holds nearly 800 paintings and sculptures, and aims to provide a world-class gallery to a country starved of quality museum infrastructure.

The collection, mostly acquired by businessman Haryanto Adikoesoemo over the past 25 years, is showcased in an airy 4,000 square metre space on the fifth floor of a city tower.

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation of more than 250 million people, is home to a vibrant art scene but lacks high-quality museums.

"What we are offering is something very different to what already exists in Indonesia. We are one of kind in a sense of our international and national focus," museum director Aaron Seeto told AFP.

The opening underlines growing interest in Southeast Asian art and comes amid a number of high-profile gallery launches this year outside of Europe and North America.

Cape Town’s Zeitz MOCAA opened in September and the Louvre Abu Dhabi is set to open this month.

Seeto said Museum MACAN is uniquely positioned to boost the profile of Southeast Asian art.

"We really want to encourage cultural exchange, but also working relationships with other museums around the world."

Around half the museum's collection is Indonesian, and the remainder takes in international works including paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Willem de Kooning, and sculptures by Yayoi Kusama and Damien Hirst.

Designed by London’s MET Studio, the museum will also feature conservation and education spaces, which Seeto hopes will help boost the appreciation of art within Indonesia.

The museum occupies an airy 4,000 square metre space on the fifth floor of 

a city tower (AFP Photo/BAY ISMOYO)

Civic role

The gallery's inaugural exhibition "Art Turns. World Turns" features 90 pieces from Indonesian and international artists.

Works by Raden Saleh, the founder of modern Indonesian painting, hang alongside pop artist Andy Warhol and Chinese realist Luo Zhongli.

Several pieces tackle issues pertinent to current political debate in Indonesia.

FX Harsono weighs in on the treatment of ethnic-Chinese minorities in his painting "Wipe Out #1", while Balinese artist Dewa Ngakan Made Ardana addresses Indonesia’s 1960s anti-communist massacres in "A Father is Trying to Collect the Memories of His Family".

Arahmaiani Feisal’s painting "Lingga-Yoni", meanwhile, is being displayed for the first time since she was forced to flee Indonesia in the 1990s.

The painting, which overlays Hindu iconography of male and female genitalia on Arabic script, infuriated Islamic hardliners who threatened to kill her.

Seeto said the piece was an important acquisition for the museum and highlights the future role it can play in fostering discussion.

"Even though we are a private museum we very much consider that what we do occurs within the public sphere," he said.

"The museum has a civic responsibility".

Indonesia opens first contemporary art gallery #MuseumMACAN #Jakarta pic.twitter.com/7DjvZd7pwy

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 4, 2017

Pope opens private summer apartments to tourists

Yahoo – AFP, October 14, 2016

The papal rooms at Castel Gandolfo, a former summer favourite with popes
 hoping to escape the heat of the capital, have been turned into a museum which
will be officially inaugurated on October 21, 2016 (AFP Photo/Vincenzo Pinto)

Vatican City (AFP) - Who needs a summer palace? Not Pope Francis, who has renounced the delights of Castel Gandolfo outside Rome and opened his private apartments to tourists, the Vatican said Friday.

The Argentine has refused the traditional trappings of the papacy from the start, declining to move into the sumptuous papal apartment in the Vatican and plumping instead to live in a hotel inside the tiny city state.

His rooms at Castel Gandolfo, a former summer favourite with popes hoping to escape the heat of the capital, have been turned into a museum which will be officially inaugurated on October 21.

Francis has visited the palace some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Rome only a couple of times since his election in 2013, and has never spent the night there.

His predecessors John Paul II (1978-2005) and Benedict (2005-2013) often stayed at the site, which has been owned by the Holy See since 1596 and has expanded over the centuries to now sprawl over 55 hectares (135 acres).

Francis opened the estate's gardens to the public in 2014, with tours organised for groups and by reservation only.

Since last year, tourists have also been able to climb aboard a special white train for an express trip to the lavish estate and a tour of the papal villa, including past the pope's organic farm, which houses cows, free-range hens, cockerels and pontifical bees.

Related Article:

Pope Francis rejects rightwingers with US cardinals' appointment

Jakarta Gets Kota Tua Repainted for Free, Plus Four Public Buses

Jakarta Globe, Deti Mega Purnamasari & Eko Prasetyo, May 26, 2016

The Jakarta administration has signed an agreement on Wednesday (25/05) with
 a Dutch multinational company for the repainting of Kota Tua in North Jakarta
and several other public buildings and structures in the city. (Antara Photo/Aprillio Akbar)

Jakarta. The Jakarta administration has signed an agreement on Wednesday (25/05) with a Dutch multinational company for the repainting of Kota Tua in North Jakarta and several other public buildings and structures in the city.

Jakarta regional secretary Saefullah signed the agreement with Jun de Dios, president director of AkzoNobel, the company that produces the Dulux brand of paints.

The painting process will be divided into two phases, with the first involving the Jakarta History Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics and the Kota Intan Bridge in Kota Tua. The three structures will be painted in a livelier color and 50 trash cans made from the empty paint cans will be placed around the historic area.

The second phase will involve repainting of the Maritime Museum in Sunda Kelapa, North Jakarta, and the Wayang Museum, also in Kota Tua. This phase will be expanded to other parts of the capital and it will include the repainting of bus shelters, pedestrian bridges, overpasses and underpasses in lively colors.

"We are happy to see the program proceed, as it will maintain the historical buildings, which are essential factors in preserving a cultural heritage," de Dios said after the signing.

The Jakarta administration has also received four double-decker buses from the company.

"I am the most expensive model in Jakarta. For wearing a Dulux shirt and a hat, I get paid four buses and Kota Tua's revitalization," Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as Ahok, said jokingly during Wednesday's ceremony.

"You can have me wear these [clothing items] for a week, but then you must give me seven buses," he added.

Indonesian tattooists revive tribal traditions

Yahoo – AFP, Suryo Wibowo, with Sam Reeves in Jakarta, January 5, 2016

Ranu Khodir, a celebrated Jakarta tattoo artist who uses the traditional
 'hand-tapping' method, displays his Dayak tribe motif tattoo at the Bau Tanah
tattoo museum in Jakarta (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Men in tribal dress stand amid dense jungle on the Indonesian island of Java, their bodies covered in elaborate, traditional tattoos inspired by cultures in distant corners of the vast, tropical archipelago.

Many images on display at the recent tattoo festival that brought the men together were not applied with fast, modern machines, but using a centuries-old, tribal method that involves artists gently tapping a stick mounted with a needle on a subject's skin.

The practice known as "hand-tapping" had almost faded out completely, as modernity overwhelmed Indonesia's tribes and younger generations eschewed their ancestors' ways, but tattoo artists have in recent years been driving a revival as more and more people seek to reconnect with the past.

Esmat Sakulok shows off his body tattoo design from the Mentawai tribe origin 

during a traditional tattoo festival in the village of Maguwoharjo in Yogyakarta 

(AFP Photo/Suryo Wibowo)

"There is a growing trend now, there are more people who want to learn about traditional tattooing -- I am very happy about it," said Herpianto Hendra, a tattoo artist who uses the ancient method and is a member of Borneo's Dayak tribespeople.

"I am proud that my culture is being recognised."

The body art ranges from flowers inspired by Dayak tattoos that mark the coming of age, to narrow, black lines running across the body, like those of indigenous peoples from a remote scattering of islands in western Indonesia.

The festival earlier this month in Maguwoharjo village in Java's cultural heartland gathered people from across Indonesia and the world at the studio of celebrated Indonesian tattoo artist Durga, a leading figure in the revival.

A tattoo artist uses the traditional "hand tapping" method during a tattoo festival

in the village of Maguwoharjo located in Yogyakarta (AFP Photo/Suryo Wibowo)

Durga has championed tattoos from the western Mentawai islands, home to a semi-nomadic tribespeople famed for their body art and the practice of sharpening their teeth, which they believe makes them more beautiful.

Close links to nature

Mentawai tattoos, generally long lines looping over the shoulders and chest and more elaborate patterns on feet and hands, were long part of local culture and signified the tribespeople's close links to nature.

The other well known body art from Indonesia is found among the Dayaks, an array of semi-nomadic tribes who traditionally lived in the jungles and mountains of vast, biodiverse Borneo island shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Their tattoos featured thick, black lines forming images inspired by nature, such as flowers, leaves and animals, that mark a person's journey through life. Before head-hunting was banned, Dayaks also received tattoos on their hands if they decapitated an enemy.

Australian filmmaker and tattoo artist Rob Henry, sporting body tattoo designs

 from the Mentawai tribe origin, walks in the jungle where a traditional tattoo

 festival is being held in the village of Maguwoharjo in Yogyakarta (AFP 

Photo/Suryo Wibowo)

While not as well known, other indigenous groups also have tattooing traditions, such as those in the eastern Maluku Islands and the central island of Sumba.

But the tradition has been waning for decades, after Christian missionaries and the Indonesian government sought to discourage what they saw as outdated, tribal practices, and as younger tribespeople moved away from villages to rapidly growing cities in search of better jobs and education.

The revival has been driven by a small group of contemporary tattoo artists, some who have learnt "hand-tapping" methods from local tribes and have put a modern twist on ancient designs -- increasingly popular among the young and hip living in Indonesian cities and abroad.

Lars Krutak, an American tattoo anthropologist, said people are drawn to ancient Indonesian designs as they are "unique, beautiful and deeply spiritual".

"People living in big cities want to be rooted to something meaningful, especially if they plan to wear these tattoos on their bodies for the rest of their lives," said Krutak, who has written an entry on Durga for the "World Atlas of Tattoo", which features 100 tattoo artists.

Australian traditional tattoo artist, Brent McCown uses the "hand tapping" method 

at a traditional tattoo festival in the village of Maguwoharjo located in Yogyakarta 

(AFP Photo/Suryo Wibowo)

'Defend traditional culture'

In the capital Jakarta, a small museum dedicated to indigenous body art has opened, housed in a ramshackle building filled with tribal paraphernalia and photos of tattooed indigenous people.

"Hand-tapping" regularly takes place at the museum, whose name "Bau Tanah" refers to the musty smell that emanates from the earth after heavy rains.

At a recent "hand-tapping" session, tattoo artist Ranu Khodir knelt down and applied the image of a dragon in Dayak style on the stomach of Saman, a motorbike taxi driver, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

Basuki Wants More Money to Fix Museums, Less to Stage Festivals

Jakarta Globe, November 22, 2015

Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama says the bulk of the Rp 1.2 trillion ($87.7
 million) spent by the city's tourism agency on promotional festivals and events in
2014 went toward renting venues and hiring event organizers. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)

Jakarta. Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has slashed the budget for hosting festivals and events to promote Jakarta next year by nearly 60 percent, alleging markups and inefficient spending.

Basuki told Tempo that the Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agency spent more than Rp 1.2 trillion ($87.7 million) to host a series of festivals in 2014, the bulk of which went toward renting venues and hiring event organizers.

“So in 2015 we cut the budget [for festivals and events] to Rp 700 billion. Next year the agency might only get Rp 300 billion,” the governor said.

Basuki added that as of 2016, the agency could be barred from hiring private event organizers, particularly for events that the city has been hosting for years.

“Because it’s been employing event organizers, the agency has had to budget Rp 300 million to Rp 400 million to rent large Jakarta theaters. Imagine that – a government agency having to pay for buildings owned by the city?” he said.

“I’m not against festivals and events. What I’m fighting against are markups. After evaluating [the agency’s budget], there have been too many markups.”

Basuki said he had instructed the tourism agency to spend more on renovating museums.

“Our museums are damp. Some are leaking. Yet [the agency] continues to stage festivals and events for Rp 3 billion to Rp 5 billion each,” he said.

“Maybe the agency officials thought I wouldn’t scrutinize their budget. I’ve been very lenient for the 2015 [budget] because I don’t want trouble with agency officials, with the City Council and the Home Affairs Ministry. But I won’t be as tolerant for the 2016 [budget].”

Since he became governor a year ago, Basuki has tred to overhaul how city agencies apply for and spend their funding – a process that he said was riddled with “phantom projects.”

These efforts last year put him at odds with City Council members and dragged the budget deliberation process out for months beyond the year-end deadline.

For the past week, the governor has held meetings with his subordinates to discuss budgets proposed by all of the city’s agencies and has scrapped projects that he sees as wasteful and overpriced.

An Artistic Homage to the Awesome Powers of Nature

Jakarta Globe, Tunggul Wirajuda, Apr 26, 2015

Mount Tambora’s eruption, the ‘Kuldesak Tambora’ exhibit features performances
and works of art inspired by volcanic explosions.  (The Peak Photos/Tunggul Wirajuda)

Dancers from the Wayang Kulit Gunung Wong Urip troupe made their way onto the stage amid the din of the gamelan orchestra and modern drums.

Booming explosions from the instruments recreated the sensations of a volcanic eruption and amplified the sense of panic emanating from the white-and ashen gray-clad performers. Their bewilderment was palpable as they scrambled to get away from the implied threats of lava and volcanic rock.

Dressed and moving in a combination of Javanese and Balinese styles, the dancers wailed and vainly implored for their lives to be spared, before succumbing to poisonous gas and collapsing on stage.

The scene is part of the troupe’s fictional take on the destruction of the West Nusa Tenggara kingdoms of Tambora, and its neighbors Sanggar and Pekat, during the eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815.

The performance is part of “Kuldesak Tambora” (“Tambora’s Culdesac”) an exhibition at the Bentara Budaya cultural center in Central Jakarta, revisiting the disaster on its 200th anniversary. An epochal moment in Indonesian history, the volcanic eruption killed an estimated 70,000 to 90,000 people, leaving their remains and that of their kingdoms beneath layers of lava and volcanic ash, aptly earning them the nickname “Indonesia’s Pompeii.”

Wayang Kulit Gunung Wong Urip’s performance then took a stoic turn.

“Its unfortunate that the [Indonesian] government and the public continue to be ignorant about the lessons of Tambora’s eruption. Our studies and research in volcanology are behind that of Western countries, making them more scientifically aware of the natural phenomenon,” lamented the wayang in his soliloquy. “Researchers from various Western universities flock to Indonesia to research the country’s volcanoes. On the other hand, most Indonesian universities don’t even have a volcanology department.”

 (JG Photo/Tunggul Wirajuda)

Bentara Budaya director Hariadi Saptono echoed the performer’s sentiments, noting that Indonesia has the world’s largest number of volcanoes with over 400 mountains, 127 of which are still active. He also pointed out that Western records of eruptions and their impact have been more comprehensive than those of their Indonesian counterparts.

“The West was far more advanced than Indonesia [at the time of Mount Tambora’s eruption], even as countries like Great Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal occupied various parts of country,” Hariadi said. “The eruption was heard by British army personnel as far away as Bengkulu, Makassar [South Sulawesi], and Padang [West Sumatra]. This also showed the inroads these foreigners had made in Indonesia since they looted the keraton of Yogyakarta under Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles in 1811.

“Western records also note that [1816] was a year ‘without summer,’ as volcanic ash from Tambora shot up into the stratosphere and blocked out the sun across Europe and the United States.”

While the disaster brought about widespread famine, failed harvests and other agricultural and economic hardships, the Tambora’s eruption was most felt in popular culture of the time.

“British writer Mary Shelley was inspired to write her classic book ‘Frankenstein,’ which came about from a contest to alleviate boredom due to the glum weather. Meanwhile, German inventor Karl Drais invented the bicycle as an alternative form of transportation after crop failures caused the widespread starvation of horses,” Hariadi said.

“Weather abnormalities caused by ash clouds inspired painters like J.M.W. Turner to create landscape paintings featuring never-before seen shades and hues of striking orange.

 “On the other hand, Indonesian sources are nearly silent about the disaster, except for a short story in writer Ganes T.H.’s adventure series ‘Si Buta Dari Goa Hantu’ [‘The Blind Man From the Haunted Cave’] entitled ‘The Werewolf From Mount Tambora.’

“Equally mystifying, particularly to Western researchers, is the habit of a volcano stricken area’s inhabitants to come back to the land instead of evacuating it, as is the custom overseas. While this might seem like madness to the Western world, it reflects the Indonesian people’s resilience and in the face of disaster.”

Nonetheless, the toll of volcanic eruptions that occurred after Tambora, like the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatau to the more recent eruptions of Mount Merapi in 2006 and 2010, play a prominent part in the exhibition. In one corner, a macabre memento of a volcano’s power is seen in the remains of a water buffalo that was stripped to its skeleton by the blast.

But the most ominous souvenir of all is perhaps a small portrait of the late Mbah Maridjan, a shaman who paid for his attempts to appease Mount Merapi with his life.

“Kuldesak Tambora” serves as a frightening reminder of both the calamitous impact of volcanoes and the awesome, destructive powers that brew in our own backyard.

Related Article:

"Eruption" - Apr 15-16, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New

109 Asian African Countries Flags Hoisted In Bandung

Jakarta Globe, aacc2015.id, Apr 21, 2015

AACC2015, Bandung – 109 flags from Asian and African countries and the
 flag of the United Nations (UN) were hoisted on Wednesday (4/15) at the
 Asian-African Conference Museum—Merdeka building at Jalan Asia Afrika
No. 65, Bandung.

The raising of the flags marked the beginning of the series of events of the Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of Asian-African Conference (AACC) in Bandung. The flags will fly for two weeks on April 15-30, 2015.

The 109 participating countries flags and the UN flag were hoisted by around 350 Bandung boy and girl scouts in a flag raising ceremony for the AACC at Merdeka Building or also known as Asian-African Museum in Bandung.

The flags raising ceremony was attended by the representatives from the Asian-African Conference Museum and a number of Bandung community figures, and led by the Leader of Bandung Scouts Deddy Darmawan.

In his brief remarks, Mr. Darmawan hoped that the young generation, especially the scout members, could take the positive lesson from the flag hoisting ceremony. “When a flag is unfolded, it means that a state’s sovereignty is raised. As scout members hoisting the flags, you shall take positive values from this historic event; that is freedom and human rights. Therefore, cultivate AAC values ​​in your attitudes and behavior in your everyday lives,” he said.

Head of the Asian-African Museum Thomas Siregar explained that in 2005—at the Golden Jubilee of the Asian-African Conference—107 flags were raised at Gedung Merdeka. “It consisted of 106 Asian and African countries flags and one UN flag. But now, there are 110 flags. Therefore, there are three additional flags of Asian and African countries, in addition to the UN flag,” he explained.

The flag raising ceremony was enliven by a marching band performance from the students of SMKN 6 Bandung vocational high school and speech musicalization performance that featured President Sukarno speech footage at the inauguration of 1955 Asian-African Conference entitled “Let a New Asia and a New Africa be Born” by Adew Habsta and his company. The speech was considered relevant to the current state because it contained inspiring messages. (Source: Asian-African Conference Museum, Translator: Penni Patmawati, Editor: Gusti Andry, Filmon Warouw)

Jakarta to Speed Up Kota Tua Revitalization for 2018 Asian Games

Jakarta Globe, Lenny Tristia Tambun, Oct 08, 2014

Visitors at Fatahillah square, the heart of the old town known locally known
as Kota Tua. (AFP photo/ Romeo Gacad)

Jakarta.  Revitalization of Jakarta’s historic town center Kota Tua will be fast tracked in order to be ready for the 2018 Asian Games, the company charged with organizing the renovation said on Wednesday.

Lin Che Wei, the CEO of Jakarta Old Town Revitalization Corporation, a consortium handling the revitalization, said the company had obtained consent from some building owners and had already started working on the project.

“The revitalization of Kota Tua has started. We are optimistic it will be completed within a relatively short time so that when we host the 2018 Asian Games, Kota Tua is a selling point for the tourism sector,” Lin said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Indonesia was approved to host the Asian Games (Asiad) last month after Vietnam said in April that it could no longer afford to stage them.

Already Lin said he had requested that the Jakarta City Council (DPRD) help regulate street vendors in the area.

“Hawkers will still be allowed, but only those who are registered,” Lin said, “this needs to be done so they won’t get bigger in numbers and are still orderly.”

Kota Tua, once revered as the “Queen of the East”, is now a crumbling relic and many of its heritage buildings are in a critical state of disrepair.

The DPRD has pushed for revitalization of the area in the hope it will become a tourist attraction, and this year it gave property owners a two-year deadline to restore buildings or face severe sanctions.

Of the 134 colonial-era buildings in Kota Tua, only five of them — including the Jakarta History Museum — are owned by the Jakarta Government.

Sarwo Handayani, Jakarta’s deputy for spatial planning and environmental protection, said acting governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama had contacted owners, including a number of state-owned enterprises.

Head of Jakarta Tourism Agency Arief Budhiman said the revitalization would not change the authentic design of the buildings. Restoration would adjust the function of the buildings by adding more facilities, such as parking lots and parks, he said.

“The design will stay the same because those buildings are the city’s heritage,” Arief said.

Other prominent buildings such as Gedung Cipta and Kerta Niaga would be renovated in 2015.

“These historical buildings will be returned to their original facade, however, there will many new activities inside. One of them is aimed to facilitate the hawkers,” Arie said.

A 19-Year Journey Into Javanese Folklore

Jakarta Globe, Ari Susanto, Sep 28, 2014

German archeologist and art historian
Lydia Kieven. (JG Photos/Ari Susanto)

Nothing exerts a pull on Lydia Kieven, 58, in life more than temple reliefs. For more than 19 years, she has searched for stone artifacts to reveal the mysterious story of the Javanese prince, Panji, and was astonished to discover a journey of spirituality rather than love.

Through her personal journey of learning ancient Javanese language, art and culture, the German archeologist became transfixed by the chronicles of Panji, which originated from the 14th-century Majapahit era. Kieven stumbled across the stories of Panji during a hike of East Java’s Mount Penanggungan sanctuary in 1996 to seek out reliefs depicting the epic Mahabharata poem’s Arjuna and Bima at Kendalisodo temple.

Unfortunately, her trip had been in vain as the panels were nowhere to be found. Instead, Kieven discovered four reliefs portraying a couple’s journey with the romantic backdrops of mountains, forests and the ocean. The woman had long, flowing hair, while her male companion seemed to be wearing a cap.

“[The reliefs] were beautiful; they caught my attention and reminded me of a photograph I had once seen of Panji,” Kieven says.

The archeologist returned to Germany and immersed herself in old literature about the prince written by Dutch authors, but none satisfied her curiosity, so she decided to return to Java, where she reconstructed the relief carvings that had captured her attention, instead of focusing solely on text.

The story of Panji can be traced as far back as the 1300s, appearing in various cultures and parts of Southeast Asia, including Kalimantan, Bali, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia. The tale was adapted in each tradition and given various titles but bore the same storyline. Throughout the centuries, the Panji epic has been developed into various artistic performance, including the shadow puppet show of Wayang Beber and the mask dance Topeng Dalang.

The series of stories followed the journey of Prince Panji (or Inu Kertapat) from the kingdom of Kahuripan and Princess Galuh Candrakirana (or Dewi Sekartaji) from Kediri. The two monarchies ruled in East Java prior to the Majapahit period. The narrative begins when the two engaged lovers are torn apart and must each embark on a journey — in disguise — to be reunited.

“The couple’s journey to find each other is not a love story, but rather a spiritual journey to seek sanctity, purity, and peace. In the reliefs, we could find Panji’s finger pointing at objects as if he is asking us to follow the path of spirituality, such as dipping in water — for purifying — and meeting the spiritual guru,” she says.

Lydia Kieven has dedicated nearly
two decades of her life to the ancient
Javanese folklore of Prince Panji and
his love, Princess Galuh. (JG Photo/
Ari Susanto)

What mesmerizes Kieven is not the story itself, but rather the symbolism found in ancient Javanese agrarian culture. Panji is a masterpiece that is completely different from both the Mahabharata and Ramayana, which feature gods and goddesses manifested in human forms.

“Panji represents a human, like us, who searches for [spirituality] through stages depicted in the reliefs. Both Panji and Galuh are presented as being modest and humble, leaving their royal lives for adventure,” she says.

Kieven’s mission to capture the lingering traces of Panji throughout Java, Kalimantan and Bali has not been without its challenges, but the archeologist says she gained inspiration from the ancient tale she has dedicated her life to.

“Panji and Galuh were very steadfast in their efforts to find on another. No obstacles could stop them,” Kieven says.

Two months after her first encounter with the reliefs depicting Panji and Galuh, doctors diagnosed Kieven with a malignant form of cancer that required surgery and chemotherapy. Despite her weakened condition, the German continued with her research paper on narrative sculptures and literary traditions of Southeast Asia, presenting a complete draft in September 1996, to the Netherlands’ Leiden University.

Then, while still reeling from the devitalizing effects of radiation, Kieven once again traveled to Java to complete her research. Back in the archipelago, however, she was faced with another obstacle: lack of funds. The resilient art historian didn’t let a debilitating illness stop her expedition, nor would she allow something as trivial as money to keep her away from Panji and Galuh’s adventures, so Kieven took up work as a travel guide, leading German tourists.

She continued her work, scrutinizing reliefs from temple to temple, including the Penataran, the largest Hindu temple complex of East Java and home to multiple intricately-carved reliefs and two statues of Panji and Galuh. In 2000 alone, she visited 20 sites for her research.

The two statues have since been moved and are now conserved separately: Panji is kept in the art library of the Bandung Institute of Technology in West Java, while Galuh is housed in Jakarta’s National Museum. Kieven hopes the two will once again be united, as described in the epic tale of their spiritual journey

FIFA finds field of dreams in China

iol Sport - AFP, Neil Connor, June 7, 2014

This photo shows a miniture model illustrating a traditional Chinese Cuju
football game at the Linzi Football Museum in Zibo, Shandong Province. AFP
PHOTO/Mark RALSTON

Zibo, China - Images of a beaming FIFA President Sepp Blatter and a small blue certificate in the Chinese city of Zibo proclaim it as the birthplace of football, to the fury of English experts.

A map in Zibo's Qi State History Museum shows a thin line stretching from China to Egypt, then to Greece, Rome and France, before finishing in England, commonly known as the home of football after the rules were codified there in the 19th century.

The track represents the path of football's development, according to the museum, with the certificate Ä signed by Blatter Ä honouring China as “the cradle of the earliest forms of football”.

But international experts are sceptical of such claims, pointing to a “tenuous” link between the ancient Chinese game of cuju and the modern sport, and questioning FIFA's motives.

Despite its long supposed footballing history China's national team failed to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil later this month.

China has only appeared at one final tournament, in 2002, when they lost all three of their group matches and went out without even scoring a goal.

But millions of fans will be watching the tournament and in Zibo Ä the modern city on the site of the ancient Qi state's capital Linzi Äfootball is booming.

Statues of cuju players stand on street corners and posters on bus shelters depict the supposed forebear of the modern game.

“I really like Sepp Blatter,” beams Zhu Shuju, vice director at the separate Zibo Football Museum, which pays homage to the sport's history and gives huge prominence to Blatter and other FIFA officials.

This frame grab taken from AFPTV footage shows a certificate - signed by FIFA

 President Sepp Blatter - honouring China as "the cradle of the earliest forms of
football" at the Qi State History Museum in the Chinese city of Zibo. AFP
Photo/AFPTV

“He is very popular here,” she added, surrounded by images of Blatter and with a video of his speech confirming Zibo's status continuously looping in the background.

Zibo has invited Brazilian superstar Pele to open a new multi-million dollar museum later this year.

Different types of cuju existed in ancient China, but the competitive game still played today involves keeping a leather ball stuffed with feathers off the ground without using arms or hands, before heading or kicking it though a hole above head height.

A gladiatorial version with much physical contact emerged in the Warring States period which unified China almost 2,500 years ago, and was popular with soldiers exercising their legs after days on horseback.

But experts outside China believe there are huge differences between cuju and modern football.

“I find it absurd to suggest ancient Chinese had comparable mentalities as football enthusiasts today,” Ellis Cashmore, professor of culture, media and sport at Britain's Staffordshire University told AFP via email. “So the link is tenuous.”

Historians say other ball sports existed around the same time as cuju emerged, including a Greek game known as episkyros.

An ancient stone carving at the Acropolis Museum in Athens shows a naked Greek athlete balancing a ball on his thigh, and some say episkyros evolved into a game played by the Romans, called harpastum, which was then transported to Britain.

There the modern game was born when the Football Association rules, drawing on a public school mob game, were written by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863, and have since changed very little.

For British historian Tom Holland, football began in the 19th century.

“I'm afraid I don't know anything about the classical origins of football, for the simple reason they don't exist,” he said.

“Kicking something around is an obvious human activity,” he added. “That various peoples, in various parts of the world, may or may not have engaged in such activities, does not prove that they were the originators of football.”

British football author Jonathan Wilson agreed, saying that the 1863 rules “were then spread across the world by British sailors and traders”.

“At no point did they come upon a local form of football that needed to be eradicated before the British game could take root,” he said.

“Rather foreign cultures took on those laws and interpreted them in their own way.”

Eyebrows were raised when FIFA came out in support of China's claims.

“Blatter sees his brief to make football the richest sport in history and he has already achieved that,” said Cashmore, whose book “Football's Dark Side” explores corruption in the game.

“But to maintain its commercial dominance, he needs to keep conquering new territories.

“China is obvious: huge territory, an economy that's been growing like a blur and a population that has already shown enthusiasm for the sport.”

FIFA and Blatter have been criticised for several decisions in recent years, most vociferously over the controversial award of the 2022 World Cup to a tiny Gulf emirate that has immense gas wealth but sweltering summer temperatures.

British historian Guy Walters, from London's New College of the Humanities, told AFP: “Frankly, I'm surprised he hasn't stated that the game kicked off in the ancient deserts of Qatar.”

Sapa-AFP

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Malang Becomes a Symbol of Heritage to Be Saved

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Dyah Ayu Pitaloka, May 19, 2013

Dwi Cahyono points to salvaged artifacts at his museum. (JG Photo/
Dyah Ayu Pitaloka)

Malang. It was a sunny morning and a group of European tourists can be seen walking in front of Malang, East Java’s main Cathedral Church, located near the city’s historic street Jalan Ijen — dotted by centuries-old houses and buildings built during the Dutch colonial period and the early years of Indonesian independence.

One by one, the tourists pulled out their digital cameras, pointing the lenses at the buildings’ unique facades, which have become an important tool in the city’s success to achieve national heritage status this month.

“There’s 19 of us, all from the Netherlands,” says Paul Vasseur, who hails from the Dutch town Hoofddorp. “We are staying for three nights in Malang. After that we will continue the tour to Sukamade Beach in Banyuwangi.”

Vasseur, who is in his 50s, said that one of his uncles used to live in Malang in the 1960s. At the time he used to visit him and go to Malang whenever he traveled to Indonesia as a boy.

Dwi Cahyono showing scenes from his

museum(JG Photo/Dyah Ayu Pitaloka)

“My other friend was also born and raised here. We returned to Malang to reminisce the old days. One of my friends came to dispose the ashes of his parents who used to work in Jember [a short drive from Malang] and the other wants to see his childhood home in Malang,” he said in Indonesian.

Vasseur then pointed his finger at one of the residential buildings across the street. The colonial-style house has many windows on the front with a high roof typical of old buildings such as this. “That’s my friend’s childhood house. The house was built by his parents,” he said.

The home sits across the church, built in 1934 to serve as a landmark for Jalan Ijen, at the time Malang’s poshest area that was occupied by wealthy Dutch merchants and government officials.

At the dawn of the 20th century, Malang transformed itself from a small port town into a booming industrial city and Dutch architect Thomas Karsten was responsible for that change — bringing chaos into

order through careful city planning and designing almost all of Malang’s buildings in just 40 years.

But much of Karsten’s legacy failed to survive, giving way to progress and the need for modern shopping centers and housing. Even along Jalan Ijen, some buildings have begun to crumble through years of neglect, while the nearby traditional market was destroyed to make way for offices and business centers.

And just like Karsten a century earlier, one man may hold the key to the heritage’s survival.

“I began to realize it 15 years ago,” said Dwi Cahyono, 49, about the city’s vanishing historic buildings. “It is important to improve and develop the city without destroying history.”

Dwi said that he had spent around Rp 10 billion ($1 million) of his own money to pursue his dream, knocking door after door to convince Malang officials to support an annual event he initiated 10 years ago, Festival Malang Tempo Doeloe.

This year, the festival provided tourists and locals a glimpse of the past by decorating modern buildings to represent what once stood in their place, be it a rice field overrun with chicken and ducks or a long gone cinema complex.

Dwi, who now heads the East Java tourism promotion agency, also reorganized the city’s street vendors and introduced a curriculum on heritage preservations at local schools. But his biggest achievement, he said, was building the Malang Tempo Doeloe Museum, which opened last year.

To build the museum, he said he had to do 14 years of research to track down and rescue some 72 different artifacts, some as old as 600 years, scattered throughout Malang.

Even the museum itself is a success story at preserving Malang’s history. It occupies an old 1,000-square meter property that he salvaged and renovated to host a collection of artifacts, which tells the history of the city.

To finance his effort to save the city’s history he opened his own restaurant, Inggil, which is decorated by framed old newspapers that were once published in Malang as well as traditional dance masks unique to the city. The restaurant also hosts some of the properties and decorations he uses every year for the festival.

Ida Ayu Made Wahyu, Malang’s tourism and culture chief, realized that preserving historical buildings is key to harnessing the city’s tourism potentials and even acknowledged that the government plays a large part in the bid to save the city’s history. But Ida said there is little her office could do about it.

“With [heritage buildings] being more than 50 years old, some are damaged. Ijen area has been named as a heritage area. There should not be any offices or manufacturing industry there. The houses should also not be transformed [into new buildings] but restored [to original shape],” she said.

“We don’t know exactly why those kinds of permit [to rebuild or demolish old buildings] are issued. It is the authority of the Public Works Agency.”

In the early 20th century, Karsten built more than 90 houses along Jalan Ijen but only a few survived or are still in their original colonial-style architecture. The condition threatens Malang’s burgeoning tourism industry with Dutch tourists like Vasseur, who wish to walk down memory lane and expect a well-preserved city that makes up half of the 25,000 foreign tourists who visit each year.

Henry Helios, who runs a backpacker lodging in Malang, said he caters mostly to Dutch tourists, while other nationalities only make up around 30 percent. Local tourists make up just 20 percent, he said.

“Visitors love to stroll the Splendid Flower Market and Chinese temple in Chinatown,” he said, adding that Malang should also hold more cultural events.

“Normally, they only stay for one night before heading out to [Mount] Bromo, [Mount] Semeru, or Bali. But if there is an interesting event in the city, they can stay for up to three weeks in Malang,” he added.

Dwi’s many efforts to save the city’s history started to bear fruit in 2011, when he spearheaded the establishment of the Jati Daya Community, a group of volunteers who helped repaint old buildings in Kayutangan, another historical area.

Potehi puppets from Malang’s Eng An Kiong Chinese temple. (JG Photo/

Dyah Ayu Pitaloka)

“I sent e-mails to about 500 people I know, containing an invitation to participate in the cause. And that day 1,500 people came,” he said, expressing his surprise at the amount of support and enthusiasm from the locals towards his cause.

The event also attracted the attention of former tourism minister I Gede Ardika, who now runs the Indonesian Heritage Trust. Ardika “came and pushed me to list [Malang] as a heritage city,” he said.

That year, he enrolled Malang to the International National Trust Organization, a global network of National Trusts and similar nongovernmental organizations, to be listed as one of Unesco’s World Heritage Cities, alongside the likes of Singapore and Malaysia’s Penang.

The INTO mandates a city to be listed as a heritage city on the national and regional levels before being considered for World Heritage status.

The group also requires at least 10 years of proven efforts to rescue a city’s historical sites, and Dwi has submitted documents composed mainly of his own work because Malang’s own administration had shown very little interest in formulating its own program.

On May 7, Malang was named as one of two National Heritage Cities in Indonesia alongside Sawahlunto, West Sumatra.

“This early achievement is my pride as well as Malang pride,” Dwi said.

But to attain World Heritage status, Dwi said everyone must do their part.

“Penang can win the tittle after 18 years of long cooperation between the government, society and investors,” he said. “If we are successful, [Malang] can be like Singapore. [Singapore] is neat, clean and had become the destination for many visitors around the world. Economic growth would definitely also follow.”