T

he Jakarta administration was on the verge of inadvertently stripping the late prose writer Hans Bague Jassin of his prominent place in the country’s history of literature.

That the Jakarta administration and the Jakarta Legislative Council decided to further cut the annual contribution to the HB Jassin Literature Documentation Center from last year’s Rp 164 million (US$18,860) to only Rp 50 million this year speaks volumes about the collective ignorance of the city’s policy makers about our national literature, which Jassin has helped enrich.

The amount is minuscule compared with the Jakarta sports and youth agency’s allocation of Rp 2 billion for Alex Asmasubrata Management (AAM) to support the activities of national young female driver Alexandra Asmasoebrata, or the Rp 1 billion city fund that went to the Indonesian Qosidah Art Institute (Lasqi).

Both the Jakarta government and legislative council seemed unaware that the HB Jassin Literature Documentation Center is believed to be home to the largest collection of literature in the country.

Originally the center was Jassin’s private library. The center’s collections include 19,000 works of fiction, more than 12,000 works of nonfiction, 875 autobiographies, 812 plays and 16,774 news clippings. Handwritten manuscripts of noted Indonesian poet Chairil Anwar and Western-oriented prose writer Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana are also a part of the center’s precious collection.

The center’s management had said they would stop the operation of the center if they could not secure sufficient funding, which according to Ajip Rosidi, a member of the center’s advisory board, amounted to at least Rp 1 billion annually. The money is used to pay the salaries of its 16 employees and maintain the condition of the books.

Fortunately, the city administration quickly realized the potential damage that would be done if the center was allowed to shut down.

Governor Fauzi Bowo admitted he and the Jakarta Council had miscalculated the operational cost of the center. The incident, however, serves as a reminder for the city administration to strengthen its commitment to the preservation of cultural legacies. Apart from the HB Jassin literature center there are 46 museums across the city that need attention.

It is unfair, however, to put all the blame on the city administration.

This case also reflects the public’s ignorance about the country’s rich cultural legacies. Empty museums and crowded shopping malls shed some light on the situation.