Aiming for youth: The Indonesian Heritage Trust has launched its teaching modules drafted and created by teachers at local elementary schools in Yogyakarta.JP/Anissa Febrina
Three animal characters — a butterfly, a bat and a parrot — were playing around when they peeked into a house filled with people dancing to the sound of a traditional gamelan.
Flocking to the house’s window, the three animals chattered about what each of them could see inside. The bat saw a picture of a princess in traditional attire while the butterfly was captivated by the graceful moves of the dancers.
Their chatter was only part of a children’s cartoon plot. But it could prove to be as powerful as millions of dollars in funds for heritage preservation, the Indonesian Heritage Trust (BPPI) says.
Children are indeed the seeds of the future, they say.
“If you look at the school curriculum, information on heritage is barely there when in fact children will be the ones taking care of what the country has in the future,” BPPI executive director Catrini P. Kubontubuh said.
Realizing the importance of heritage education, the BPPI, led by chief of project Laretna T. Adishakti, has since 2007 mapped potential activities and partners, and earlier this year piloted the project in several elementary schools in Yogyakarta.
The result?
“Imagine that teachers at a school in a small city like Ungaran can have the creativity to draft their own teaching modules and materials such as these booklets,” said Catrini, showing a handful of colorful books that serve as teaching materials for the BPPI’s heritage education program.
One book tells the beauty of traditional dances, another shares a story about a historical cave in Turgo or even takes children deeper into the making of the unique culinary heritage of Yogyakarta, bakpia pathuk.
“It’s been tried out since February in Yogyakarta and we plan to take it to three more cities in Indonesia. The ones who seem to be prepared are Sawahlunto, Denpasar and Ternate,” she explained, adding that each city will have to highlight their own unique heritage to be made into teaching modules.
This seems to be the way forward for strategic heritage preservation. An investment for the future.
But relying on education alone will not guarantee that both tangible and intangible heritage will last long enough for future generations to appreciate them.
Taking the dance floor: A BPPI volunteer interacts with dancers at last month’s Festival Jalan Veteran in Jakarta. Courtesy of BPPI
Founded in 2004, the BPPI was born out of the concerns of pre-existing networks of heritage activists. They warned preservation of both the natural and cultural wealth of the country was not being prioritized and efforts to do so were not strategic enough.
In the past, heritage activists moved more sporadically in cities like Bandung, Medan, Yogyakarta and Denpasar and only met up once in a while to share experiences.
After drafting the Indonesian Charter for Heritage Conservation, 15 experts in the field of archeology, architectural heritage preserva-
tion, history, law, urbanity, cuisine, art and culture gathered and set up the BPPI.
“First things first. We need to clarify what heritage actually means,” said Adji Damais, one of the BPPI’s founders.
“The term heritage should be interpreted as pusaka [something from the past worthy of keeping], not warisan [inheritance].”
It seems like a simple thing to do, but it has further psychological effects on how people treat their heritage, be it natural, cultural or cultural landscape.
“Currently, [raising] public awareness is something that we can already be proud of. People have become more aware about issues of heritage preservation and conservation,” Catrini explained.
“The problem still lies with the authorities. They still have the mind-set that heritage is only about keeping past artifacts, without trying to create a living environment out of it.”
Heritage is so much more than that and Indonesia is so rich in it, she highlighted.
But the bigger issue is how to prioritize heritage, when so many of the basic needs of the population still haven’t been fulfilled. Thus, even the basics of heritage protection like setting up a national database have not been done properly.
“So far, people are moving on their own. I do what I can do with the archiving system that I know. The government has to be politically willing to compile all the existing data on heritage,” BPPI board member Endo Suanda said.
As perhaps the country’s umbrella organization, the BPPI, has been trying to lobby the government to set differences aside and work toward something concrete.
“First of all, our legal basis for heritage protection is outdated and its revision has not been completed. The old law still uses the term ancient artifact instead of heritage,” Catrini said.
“We plead the government to start appreciating what people have done and instead of making it difficult, help pave the way for more strategic heritage protection.”
Despite authorities refraining from providing a basic framework for heritage protection, the BPPI is already moving ahead to create and expand a network of heritage cities as well as devolve responsibility to local members.
Twenty-five cities have listed themselves and the BPPI is currently urging cities in the eastern part of Indonesia to be more active in heritage activism. Meanwhile, a different set of programs under the heritage emergency response aims at preparing locals to protect their cultural assets when natural disasters strike.
While the BPPI has achieved some successes, critics say much still needs to be done.
“Its initial aim was to collect funds to directly finance protection activities. This still hasn’t been done, and as far as I know has not even been tried,” said Marco Kusumawijaya, one of the BPPI founders.
Just like any other development issue, heritage protection efforts seem to focus more on Java.
“Things are done when there is a demand for it. If we want to expand activities to the eastern part of Indonesia, for example, we first have to create the demand,” Catrini said.
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|