A Year From The Ministry Of Culture, From Reog To Fossil Dubois, Indonesia Shows Global Cultural Power

Menbud Fadli Zon (Doc. Kemenbud)

JAKARTA One year's journey from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia is an important momentum to emphasize the new direction of national cultural development. Since its establishment on October 21, 2024, this ministry under the leadership of Fadli Zon focuses on building a sustainable cultural ecosystem, based on the constitutional mandate to advance national culture in the midst of world civilization.

Indonesia is super power in the field of culture. Our diversity even exceeds the term diversity, because what we have is mega-diversity," said Fadli Zon in a written statement received Tuesday, October 21. Indonesia has 1,340 ethnicities and 718 languages 'representing 10 percent of the world language' and recorded 228 National Cultural Heritage and 2,727 Intangible Cultural Heritage, including 514 which was just set this year.

In the past year, the Ministry of Culture has recorded a series of important achievements at the national and international levels. One of them is the success of guiding Reog Ponorogo, Kebaya, and Kolintang to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritages. This achievement confirms Indonesia's position as a country with world-recognized cultural wealth.

It did not stop there, in early 2025, Indonesia also submitted three new proposals to UNESCO: Tempe Culture, Mak Yong Theater which are extensions of Mak Yong Malaysia and Jaranan, traditional performing arts and rituals proposed with Suriname.

Another big step comes from the realm of cultural diplomacy. The government has succeeded in repatriating 28,131 Homo-erectus fossils which have been stored in the Netherlands for more than a century. The fossil return, which was brought by Eugene Dubois, was agreed upon through a Letter of Intent signed on September 26, 2025, marking a new chapter of returning the assets of civilization that were valuable to world science.

Dubois' research on the Pithecanthropus election known as The Java Man in 1891 in Trinil, East Java is a very important finding for the science of human civilization. Indonesia apart from being rich, we are also probably the oldest civilization in the world, because the findings of the Pithecanthropus erectus or Homo-erectus are 60% of those on planet earth found in Indonesia," added Menbud Fadli.

At the global level, cultural diplomacy continues to be strengthened. The 2025 CHANDI Forum in Bali was attended by 38 countries and produced the Bali Cultural Initiative Declaration. In addition, international collaboration was established with India, France, Turkey, and Palestine in the fields of film, museum, as well as research on world cultural heritage.

Domestically, Fadli Zon inaugurated 13 new museums, one National Cultural Conservation Taman Narmada in NTB and encouraged the Local Food Movement (GPLN) program to make local food a symbol of the nation's sovereignty. "This is the spirit of the Master's Local Food in their Own Country," he said.

In developing cultural talent, the National Talent Management program involves thousands of art actors from five fields: literature, music, looks, performances, and films. In the film sector, 2025 will be a brilliant year with 794 works registered at the Indonesian Film Festival and 5,227 songs at Anugerah Musik Indonesia.

"Films and music are not just entertainment, but a bridge between the economy and the identity of the nation," said Fadli Zon. Data shows that in 2024, Indonesian films attracted 80 million viewers with a market share of 70 percent, and continued to grow towards a contribution of IDR 150 trillion to the national GDP in 2027.

In a year's reflection, Fadli emphasized that culture is no longer a complementary sector, but the upstream of the national creative economy. 'Efforts are a source of value, identity, and national creativity. From this was born in the tourism industry, creative economy, to gastronomi that strengthens Indonesia's diplomacy in the world.'