Almost All Of The Bone Royal Heirlooms Stored In The La Pawawoi Museum Are Stolen

La Pawawoi Museum. ANTARA/HO- Archives of Kemdikbud.go.id

MAKASSAR - Hundreds of heirlooms from the Kingdom of Bone, which are stored at the La Pawawoi Museum, Bone Regency, South Sulawesi, are suspected to have been stolen by thieves.

"The missing items are 95 percent. It is estimated that the incident took place on Saturday, January 15 evening, because the museum staff was still at work on Saturday, and returned home at 17.30 central Indonesia time in the afternoon," said Head of the Culture Service of the Bone Regency Government, Andi Ansar Amal when contacted by reporters from Makassar, reported by Antara, Monday, January 17.

It is estimated that the theft occurred at night. Because many of the lost heirlooms that are priceless are taken away by thieves.

"This includes a duplicate of King Bone's hair, Arung Palakka, a royal seal, ancient money, and several other sharp objects (heirlooms)," said Andi Ansar.

In fact, ancient coins of various kinds that were neatly stored were also transported along with the cupboards. The remaining items, he said, were estimated to be only 5 percent left.

"We cannot estimate the amount of loss, what is clear can only be said that the loss cannot be assessed in terms of money because it is a historical object," he explained.

The incident was only discovered when a museum employee entered the office and realized that a number of barracks or heirloom storage areas were empty. The doors to the front and back of the museum were also vandalized, and were pryed out using tools.

He was only contacted by staff after the incident and then went down to the location, then took action to report the theft incident to the Bone Police.

"The team from the Resort Police quickly came to the museum office and then the Inafis team was sent to examine the scene of the case. We are just waiting for the results, we will submit it to the police how to come to a conclusion," said Andi Ansar.

When asked if there were people suspected of stealing the heirlooms, he said, there were. It is suspected that the person who once lived behind the local museum executed the heirloom.

"There was no security guard there. In the past, for decades there have been people living behind. However, one week before the incident they left. We called the person concerned to vacate the location at that time, because of controlling assets," he explained.

His party should suspect, the person who once lived behind the museum, after being moved, is suspected to be the culprit. There were even eyewitnesses who saw firsthand, so that it would be easy for the police to find the perpetrators based on the testimony of the witnesses after the incident.

So far, the Bone District Police have investigated the crime scene and conducted an investigation into the theft of the heirloom.

"This is still in the process of team analysis and investigation," said Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of the Bone Police, Commissioner Adjutant of Police Benny Pornika briefly when confirmed by reporters.