Onrust Island Archaeological Museum Bans Visitors From Create 'Hororor' Content

Appearance of Onrust Island, Thousand Islands, DKI Jakarta which is now used as the cultural heritage area of the Onrust Island Archaeological Museum, Thursday (16/11/2023). (ANTARA/M Riezko Bima Elko P)

JAKARTA - The management of the Archaeological Museum of Onrust Island, Thousand Islands, Jakarta, prohibits visitors from creating scary content to be broadcast on social media or electronic media while in this historic area.

"This policy is carried out to correct the scary or terrible impression that is often attached by the public to Onrust Island," said Head of the Onrust Island Archaeological Museum Implementation Unit, Teuku Muhammad Rizki, as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, November 16.

He admitted that it was quite difficult to separate the impression because the island, which is located on the northern tip of Jakarta, had functioned as a large VOC defense stronghold and as a prison by the Japanese army.

Moreover, the history of Onrust Island has also been the location for making horror films by domestic film companies several times.

Nevertheless, he said, there are many other histories stored in the cultural heritage area and it is better to put forward.

For example, Onrust Island was once a shipbuilding and repair pier with technological sophistication that surpassed its time, and as a storage of well-known spices export commodities in the VOC era (1610 masehi).

One of these is evidenced by James Cook, a navigator and explorer of the Pacific and British oceans in 1714 choosing to dock on Onrust Island to repair his damaged sailing ship.

"Many were written by James Cook saying that Onrustter Island shipyards are good in the world because they are equipped with technology to turn ships around with wind mills," he said.

Furthermore, there are also remnants of the material for the large fort building Onrust which has been sturdy and has lasted for hundreds of years to date.

He considered this to prove the urgency of infrastructure technology that should be proud of and introduced more widely to the public.

"As part of the historical education that we will expose more clearly, currently an archaeological excavation activity is underway to determine the complete part of the large fort building," he added.

In the near future, his party will also make arrangements with aesthetic value on an island covering an area of 8.22 hectares and side by side with Bidadari Tourism Island to make visitors more comfortable.