Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Hands Over Six Cultural Objects Returned From The US To The Ministry Of Culture

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) Sugiono (left) and Minister of Culture Fadli Zon when they handed over six suspected Cultural Conservation Objects (ODCB). (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono handed over six suspected Cultural Conservation Objects (ODCB) that were successfully repatriated to the country from the United States to the Minister of Culture Fadli Zon.

The object consists of five bronze statues and one stone relief that was repatriated by the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia (KJRI) in New York in collaboration with the New York Regional Prosecutor (Dany).

"The six ODCBs are historical items with high cultural value, much higher than the nominal value," said Sugiono as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, December 14.

This event became an important milestone in Indonesia's efforts to protect and reclaim the right to national cultural heritage and strengthen international cooperation for this purpose.

"In the future, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Indonesian Representative offices abroad will continue to strive to bring back Indonesian artifacts scattered around the world," said the Indonesian Foreign Minister.

Meanwhile, Minister of Culture Fadli Zon views the handover of the object as marking the collaboration between the two ministries to encourage repatriation of Indonesia's cultural heritage to return to the country.

Regarding the six ODCBs, the Ministry of Culture (Kemenbud) will then hand them over to the National Museum in Jakarta for further study and research.

"Today's ODCB submission can be seen as the start of collaboration cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education in the years to come," said Fadli.

It is known, Minister of Culture Fadli Zon on December 5 revealed that before the end of the year, Indonesia would again receive important cultural objects from the Netherlands, including an important collection of Volkenkunde Museums in the Netherlands and several other museums.

Among the artifacts that are prioritized for repatriation are Prince Diponegoro's keris which is known as the Nogo Siluba kitchen, as well as Teuku Umar's keris. In addition, it is also a priority for keris from Madura and Keris-keris from Bali's Puputan which until now has not returned to Indonesia.

The first wave of repatriation of Indonesian artifacts from the Netherlands took place in mid-2023, while the second wave, of which 288 objects related to Puputan Badung in 1906 and Hindu-Buddha statues from Java were returned, took place in October 2024.