T

he National Museum, which houses the largest collection of historic Hindu-Buddhist Indonesian art, is among the museums having to tighten their belts following the government’s recent budget cuts.

The Education and Culture Ministry has postponed construction work at several museums and the procurement of exhibits following cutbacks imposed in an attempt to stabilize the state budget.

“The budget cuts have drastically reduced our planned spending. The two most affected sectors are the development of museum collections and the completion of museum construction,” the ministry’s culture director general, Hilmar Farid, told The Jakarta Post.

He cited the National Museum in Jakarta as one of the most notable museums affected by the cuts.

Once the nation’s economic situation starts to recover, he said, the budget for museums would be increased again and insisted that the current cuts would not affect museums’ operational hours.

Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy has made a commitment to optimize museums as places for education, said Hilmar, who is also a renowned historian.

However, with an annual budget of Rp 1.8 trillion (US$136.1 million), he said, maximizing the potential of museums was a stretch.

“We have intensified communication with external parties to develop programs [in a bid to monetize the museums],” he said.

The partnership includes the long-established cooperation with Google Cultural Institute, a subsidiary company of the tech giant, aimed at protecting cultural heritage, he said.

His office also plans to cooperate with Produksi Film Negara (PFN), the state-owned movie production house, to create short documentary movies about the museums’ collections.

With the recent deliberation of the draft cultural bill at the House of Representatives, Hilmar said he hoped regional leaders could get involved in museum maintenance by allocating funding.

Ferdiansyah, a member of House commission X, overseeing education and tourism, confirmed that there would be specific provisions in the bill to empower museum management.

The chairman of the Indonesian Museum Association (AMI), Putu Supadma Rudana, told the Post that the potential of several museums had not been reached; therefore the government should not reduce funding for museums.

“The government couldn’t even hire a professional writer to narrate a description of each museum for promotion, let alone hold events or programs,” he said.

He added that the central government should establish a museum agency in order to comprehensively manage museums in the country.

“The current management of museums is not comprehensive because of the absence of a body that can handle their management from marketing to maintenance,” he said, adding that the appointment of such an agency would require care to ensure that those selected would understand about the role of museums and would not use them for personal gain such as for political campaigning, particularly ahead of regional elections.

“The government should view museums as assets and consider their long-term impact on attracting visitors. In other countries, museums are well maintained because they realize that foreign visitors are craving to learn about a country’s history through museums,” he said, adding that good management could also prevent the loss of valuable artifacts, which frequently occurred. (fac)