National Museum Fires Are Negligences That Must Be Investigated To The End

Police officers at the National Museum conducted a crime scene (TKP). (VOI/Rizky Sulistio)

JAKARTA - The National Museum fire that occurred on Saturday (16/9/2023) night caused grief, especially for historical lovers. Some of these Dutch buildings and a collection of historical objects were burned down.

The fire can be seen from Building A of the National Museum or also known as the Elephant Museum starting at 20.08 WIB. Luckily, the fire did not spread to other buildings and was successfully extinguished about four hours later.

According to information from the Head of the DKI Jakarta Fire and Rescue (Gulkarmat) Agency, Satriardi Gunawan, the National Museum fire came from air conditioning (AC). As a result of the fire that occurred last weekend, the National Museum was temporarily closed until an indefinite time limit.

The closure of the National Museum is certainly very unfortunate, because it is one of the most visited museums in DKI Jakarta by students in the context of a study tour. But on the other hand, the tragedy of this fire can also be a moment for related parties to make improvements considering the number of visits to the museum is quite far from proud.

This is not the first time the National Museum has received a disaster. In September 2013, there was the theft of historical artifacts from ancient Mataram at the National Museum. Historian and founder of the Indonesian Historia Community (KHI), Asep Kambali regretted this incident.

Asep said that this fire incident needed further investigation, whether it was intentional or just negligence. However, according to him, this fire is not a disaster, but an negligence so it needs to be investigated.

"Now it's September, in the same month there was a fire. I don't know what this means, whether it was intentional or not," said Asep.

"This is a disaster caused by human negligence, so it is certain that this is not a disaster that must be eradicated but it must be investigated who the perpetrators of this fire fund".

On the same occasion, Asep said that this fire incident was proof of museum unpreparedness in Indonesia to protect repatriation goods from museums in the Netherlands.

Regarding the repatriation of collections from the Netherlands, if I'm not mistaken, 472 arrived this October or some have arrived. This further proves that Indonesia is unable to manage historical assets," added the man who was born in Cianjur.

According to the Big Indonesian Dictionary, repatriation is defined as the return of people to their homeland or their home country. However, in the case of a fire at the National Museum, repatriation goods are goods sent from the Netherlands to be returned to the country.

In July, the Netherlands returned a number of historical objects belonging to Indonesia carried out at the Volkenkunde Museum, Leiden. At that time, Indonesia was represented by the Director General of Culture of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, Himar Farid. Meanwhile, from the Netherlands, the Deputy Minister of Education, Culture and Sciences of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Gunay Uslu.

Hilmar said that the repatriation of this historical object was not just a transfer of goods from the Netherlands to Indonesia, but also revealed historical knowledge, and the origins of historical art objects that had not been known to the public.

"Long before these objects returned to Indonesia, the two repatriation committees from Indonesia and the Netherlands worked together to hold a series of meetings and discussions, to discuss the meaning of these objects for the two nations, both in the past and in today," he said.

According to data from the Ministry of Culture, Indonesia has 439 museums in Indonesia in 2020, with East Java as the province that has the most museums, namely 64 museums. Meanwhile, DKI Jakarta and Central Java are in next place with 61 museum units each.

Although the number is quite large, the museum is not one of the places that many people see. Visits to museums are not as much as those to other tourist attractions. Even on weekdays, not weekends, visitors to museums in DKI Jakarta, including the National Museum, are more visited by students in the context of school tourism works.

From data from the DKI Jakarta Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the number of visitors according to the type of museum in DKI Jakarta Province in 2021 is only 119,657 visits. This number decreased considerably compared to the previous year which reached 2,056,897 visits.

In fact, this total number is still relatively low when compared to 2019 which amounted to 11,092,256 visits. The COVID-19 pandemic is suspected to be one of the causes of the decrease in the number of visits because at that time a number of museums limited visits and even closed several museums in Jakarta.

In addition, the low number of visits to museums is therefore considered an unpleasant place for young people. Museums are often considered only as a place to store ancient goods for millennials, generation z, and generation alpha.

Therefore, a different approach is needed so that the museum is more attracted to young people. One of them is in terms of contemporary design which is currently loved by young people with aesthetic and instagramable concepts.

"Young people want to feel like part of the exhibition while there, and leave with a feeling of educated, entertained, and producing good and interesting photos for their social media," said Henry Aritonang, interior designer and owner of Creative Interior Service.

On the other hand, the Chairperson of the Teachers' Consultative Assembly (MGMP) History of the DKI Jakarta Vocational School, Nurrahmah Mazria, asked all schools to make regular visits to museums, one of which is so that students can imagine the past, not just reading or memorize materials from books.

"If you just tell a story or read it, it's not attractive to the children. That's why they can come here with assignments or create virtual media tours or coincidence pictures in the museum, we can enter them into learning," said Nurrahmah, quoted by Antara.