Activists and experts said Saturday at a meeting that they would unite to fight the continued demolition of historical buildings in Medan, North Sumatra.
Activists would take to the streets to fight destruction of Medan's heritage, said one participant of the meeting, which was organized by the Sumatra Heritage Council (BWS).
The activists should proceed and not stop, said Rahmat Shah, a North Sumatra Regional Representatives Council member.
Rachmat said that he would support street protests initiated by activists to stop historical building demolitions, but only if protests were not violent.
Almost half of the heritage sites in North Sumatra were damaged, said Ichwan Azhari, Medan State University's Historical Study Center and Social Sciences head. The sites include Merdeka field in Medan, Medan-area battle lines and the Deli Serdang cemetery where Medan's founder Guru Patimpus is interred.
Ichwan said that the damage to historical buildings has not received attention from - or generated a strong response from - activists.
"This is the problem. The destruction of heritage sites never raises a fuss. *There is rarely* a movement to stop the destruction," he said.
In other countries, such as Germany, activists took extra steps such as chaining themselves to threatened historical sites to stop their destruction.
"Do we have the courage to do such things? I think we must, so those who plan to destroy heritage sites will rethink their plans," he said.
Appeals made by activists to officials would not stop demolition of historical sites, he added.
For example, eight historical buildings were destroyed in Medan last week even after activists had asked officials to prevent their demolition.
Bungaran Simanjuntak, an academic from Medan State University, said that he supported the move to fight the destruction of historic buildings destruction in Medan and surrounding cities.
He said that Medan would soon run out of historical sites if no action was taken.
Dutch historian Dirk A. Buiskool, who attended the activists' meeting, said that many people no longer cared about Medan's historical buildings.
He was not optimistic that the buildings that had shaped Medan's history would survive without action, he said.
