R

egional administrations across Central Java are urged to help preserve cultural heritage in their respective jurisdictions as the agency in charge of their preservation has been overwhelmed with taking care of thousands of cultural heritage sites across the region.

The head of Central Java Cultural Heritage Preservation Center (BPCB), Sri Ediningsih, said that there are some 3,500 immobile cultural heritage sites across the province, yet her office had so far only placed 100 caretakers for these sites.

'€œTherefore the number of cultural heritage sites that have caretakers in the province is still very small,'€ Ediningsih said on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of a prehistoric fair at her office in Prambanan, Klaten, Central Java, on Thursday.

She said limited human resources and funds had made it difficult for her office to place a caretaker at every immobile cultural heritage site in the region, including temples, cemeteries and residential houses.

In fact, without a caretaker at the site, the risk for damage or vandalism is enormous.

'€œThat'€™s why we expect every regency and city administration in the province to participate in the preservation of heritage sites in their respective regions, at the minimum by assigning a caretaker,'€ Ediningsih said.

She added that of the 29 regency and six city administrations in the province, only Purbalingga and Cilacap administrations were willing to pay for caretakers at cultural heritage sites.

Based on The Jakarta Post'€™s observations, many sites across the province are left without guards. Many more, especially the marginal ones, were not even listed as provincial tourist destinations, despite their prehistoric value.

'€œThrough a prehistoric fair we want to help the people learn and know more about the history of the prehistoric sites that we have been taking care of,'€ she said.

The fair '€” funded by PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko (the management company of Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko Temples) '€” is to run until Monday.

Ediningsih said the fair was conducted to commemorate Prehistoric Day, which falls on June 14.

PT Taman director Laily Prihatiningtyas said her company had been annually spending 25 percent of its profit on the conservation of cultural heritage sites, capacity building of museum staff members and improvement of the livelihood of the people living around the heritage sites.

'€œThis year we will spend about Rp 9 billion [US$677,000] for such purposes,'€ Laily said.

She added that conserving a site would be meaningless unless it was done by involving the surrounding community.

She expressed the hope that after being conserved, the sites would become a medium of learning for the wider community.

'€œIn every cultural heritage site there is an important value the community needs to learn about,'€ said Laily after officially opening the fair on Thursday.