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Auction to go ahead despite mounting protests
Shrugging off impassioned protests from royals and archaeologists, the government will press ahead with a plan to auction off millions of dollars worth of ancient artifacts recovered more than five years ago from a 1,000-year-old shipwreck in Cirebon waters, West Java
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hrugging off impassioned protests from royals and archaeologists, the government will press ahead with a plan to auction off millions of dollars worth of ancient artifacts recovered more than five years ago from a 1,000-year-old shipwreck in Cirebon waters, West Java.
The recently crowned Sultan Sepuh XIV Pangeran Raja Adipati Arief Natadiningrat of the Cirebon Sultanate said Tuesday that the sultanate was deeply disappointed with the government’s decision to sell the artifacts, which includ ceramics from 10th century China, as well as precious gems and Persian glassware.
The auction, organized by the National Committee for the Recovery of Sunken Treasure Ships, was scheduled to begin in Jakarta on Tuesday.
“The big family of the Cirebon Kasepuhan Sultanate grieves deeply over the auction plan. The late Sultan XIII tried to prevent the auction by sending letters to the President and the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister, but he did not receive any response,” the sultan said.
Pangeran Raja Adipati Arief said he was saddened by the thought that Indonesian students would have to go abroad to learn about their nation’s history because the auction was bound to attract foreign buyers.
Head of the Yogyakarta Archeology Hall Siswanto said Monday that the government should claim 10 percent of the artifacts.
“Rare discoveries, especially unique or single items, must be given to the state... [By studying] the artifacts, one could discover that Java’s waters were once used as traffic routes for international trading,” he said.
Archaeologist Priyatno Hadi said the premise of auctioning off recovered treasure could encourage theft and crime in local waters.
“On one hand people will be aware that there are laws regulating the excavation of ancient goods from the ocean floor. On the other hand, there will be more plundering of the ocean floors because securing such areas is indeed a hard task,” he said.
Harry Untoro, head of Culture and Tourism at the Director General of History and Archaic Matters, said the auction would be handled in accordance with regulations, Antara reported.
According to Kompas daily, no buyers had registered to attend the auction as of Monday, despite Tuesday being the registration deadline.
The Secretary General for the National Committee on Excavation and Usage of Valuable Goods from Wrecked Ships, Sudirman Saad, said 20 parties, including from China and Japan, as well as the Indonesian Ceramic Organization, had expressed interest in the artifacts.
Around 240 shipwrecks are estimated to lie scattered on sea floors in Indonesian waters. Of those, 14 are located in the Karimun Jawa Islands, West Java. Many believe the actual number is higher.
