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The sad state of Indonesian museums
The January burglary of the Southeast Sulawesi museum shows that Indonesian museums need more support, funding and updating amid the international efforts to repatriate looted art and artifacts.
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Dodhy Syarul Syah, the head of the State Museum of Southeast Sulawesi in Kendari, stands near empty shelves in the museum warehouse. Burglars reportedly broke in and stole 668 original artifacts from the warehouse on Jan. 25, 2021. (JP/Yogi Ishabib)
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nternational discourse on the repatriation and decolonization of looted art and artifacts has produced tangible results in recent years, as in the case of the Netherlands government returning thousands of historical artifacts to the Indonesian government just last year.
Unfortunately, Indonesia may not always be ready to accommodate the care and storage of its repatriated heritage assets.
The State Museum of Southeast Sulawesi in the provincial capital of Kendari lost 668 historical objects overnight on Jan. 25, 2021. The museum had around 1,500 artifacts that the Netherlands government had returned to Indonesia in 2015-2019. No CCTV cameras or museum security were on site to catch the burglars in the act. The stolen items have not been recovered to date.
The provincial museum is the latest victim in the 28 museum thefts that have occurred in the country since 1961.
No budget for security
The following morning on Jan. 26, a janitor on his rounds at the Southeast Sulawesi museum was about to change the lights in the toilet when he saw that the door to the museum warehouse was broken. Shocked, he shouted to alert the rest of the museum staff, who joined him immediately.
Several rows of warehouse shelves that once held the original artifacts of the museum collection were empty, leaving behind only a damp, musty smell.
