The Ministry of Culture is preparing the Tasikmalaya Cooperative Monument to be a National Cultural Heritage.

Fadli Zon prepares the Tugu Cooperative Area in Tasikmalaya, West Java, to be designated as a National Cultural Heritage. (IST)

TASIKMALAYA - The Ministry of Culture is preparing the Cooperative Monument Area in Tasikmalaya, West Java, to be designated as a National Cultural Heritage. The area, which was the location of the First Indonesian Cooperative Congress in 1947, will also be revitalized as a center for historical and cultural education.

Minister of Culture Fadli Zon conveyed this when attending the inauguration of the revitalization of the Tugu Cooperative Area to coincide with the 79th National Cooperative Day in Tasikmalaya, Sunday, July 26.

According to Fadli, the area has an important meaning in the history of Indonesian cooperatives because it is the birthplace of the spirit of popular economy.

"We must place this context in a very important history, especially how to change this Tugu Cooperative Area into a living heritage or a living cultural site. This is where the spirit of cooperation grows. We hope that in the near future the Tugu Cooperative area can be announced as a National Cultural Heritage," he said.

The Tugu Koperasi area stands on the location of the former Tasikmalaya Regency Cooperative Center Building (PKKT) which was established in 1934. The building became the venue for the First Indonesian Cooperative Congress on July 12, 1947, which was later commemorated as Cooperative Day.

The building was destroyed during the Second Dutch Military Aggression in 1949. A number of important documents from the First Cooperative Congress were also reported missing. However, the area is still considered one of the milestones in the development of the cooperative movement in Indonesia.

Revitalization is not only focused on physical arrangement of the area, but also strengthening the function of education, cultural preservation, and community economic empowerment.

The local government together with stakeholders plans to develop the area as a historical tourist destination as well as an educational space that raises the journey of cooperatives in Indonesia.

Fadli assessed that Tasikmalaya has an important position in the history of people's economy because it has long been one of the production centers of the community in West Java.

Also present at the event were Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono, Deputy Minister of Cooperatives Farida Farichah, Mayor of Tasikmalaya Viman Alfarizi, Deputy Mayor Dicky Candra Negara, and a number of officials from the Ministry of Culture and the West Java Provincial Government.