Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Thomas Haryonagoro: Museums matter

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Friday, June 18, 2010

Thomas Haryonagoro: Museums matter

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta | Fri, 06/18/2010 9:05 AM

Hopefully you have already heard about the “Visit Museum Year 2010” campaign, launched at the end of 2009 and aimed at increasing the public’s appreciation of Indonesian museums as part of the country’s heritage.

JP/TARKO SUDIARNO

But you may not know that the idea to promote museum visits came from Thomas Haryonagoro, who cut through meters of red tape to get the campaign started.

Every time he passes the largest traditional market in Yogyakarta, Beringharjo, and the Vredeburg Fort beside it, Thomas Haryonagoro feels concerned. He always imagines the two icons of Yogyakarta with the mindset of a museum activist.

Thomas Haryonagoro, who has managed the Ullen Sentalu Museum of batik for decades and is now chairman of the Museum Consultative Board (Barahmus) in Yogyakarta, cannot help but compare the price of the admission ticket for Vredeburg Fort Museum and the toilet service fee at Beringharjo.

“We’re charged Rp 1,000 for using the toilet in Beringharjo, while seven hundred and fifty rupiah is enough to enter Vredeburg. So it’s definitely cheap to go to the museum”, Thomas pointed out.

The low-ticket price, Thomas went on, should attract visitors. In reality, however, not many people go to the museum. The same can be said for museums around Indonesia.

The small entrance fee also indicates museums are not managed seriously, because proper management would require considerable funds, while government allocations are insignificant. Therefore, museums in the country are not very well looked after, making them unattractive.

The government’s lack of vision for Indonesia’s museums doesn’t help either, said Thomas Haryonagoro, also chairman of the Indonesian Museums Association.

If there was a proper strategy to manage museums across the archipelago, “managers of private and state museums would apply the International Council of Museums’ minimum standards for museum management.”

But without the government setting such standards, and each museum being managed separately, virtually no progress has been made to make museums more enticing to the public, Thomas noted.

So along with several other concerned parties, Thomas decided to lift museum management standards in Indonesia.

The “Visit Museum Year 2010” campaign proposal was one of Thomas’ initiatives to lift the profile of Indonesian museums. But without a museum background, the tasks Thomas gave himself felt gargantuan. He admitted his attempts to develop museums in Indonesia had not been as fruitful as expected because many programs faced central and regional bureaucratic snags.

Last year, Thomas smiled quietly when he heard one of his peers make fun of his campaign slogan: “Museums in my heart”. His friend added the slogan was unrealistic given how Indonesian society perceives museums. “He is right. Our society doesn’t appreciate museums. Actually, in developed countries, museums are the main tourist destinations and have become historical laboratory centers where civilizations and cultures can be observed.”

Whereas here, he went on, museums tend to be places where problematic officials are assigned. They are sent to museums where “lucrative” projects do not exist.

“Sometimes I lose hope, but as museums have become part of my life, I’m trying to console myself by recalling foreign authorities who have often paid special attention to Ullen Sentalu. Foreigners show much more appreciation for museums than locals,” said Thomas, who since the 1980s has run the batik museum with his family in Kaliurang, a tourist area at the foot of Mt. Merapi, Yogyakarta.

Thomas inherited his passion for batik from his family, who ran a thriving batik business called Berlian in the 1950s. Besides producing its own batik, Thomas’ family also collects batik from different regions.

This love of batik motivated Thomas and family to establish a museum to showcase their collection of batik to the public.

The museum’s name, Ullen Sentalu, is an abbreviation of the Javanese phrase “Ulating Blencong Sejatine Tataning Lumaku”, which means the true light of human’s path of life.

With that moniker, Thomas, 54, aimed to imbue museum visitors with inspiration. Even though Ullen Sentalu charges visitors a high fee compared to other Yogyakarta museums, people are entertained and enlightened with knowledge.

Ullen Sentalu can serve as a model that meets the standards of the International Council of Museums.

Managed without much promotion, the museum focusing on Yogyakarta and Surakarta cultural values attracts many foreign officials and tourists, despite receiving very little attention from the government.

“Since the 1980s, we’ve never received any assistance from central or regional governments,” said Thomas Haryonagoro, who is still wondering when Indonesia’s 272 museums will be the pride of the nation.