WHERE SHOULD RETURNED ARTEFACTS GO?
While several academics feel the objects should be returned to the people of Bali, some Indonesian officials say they may be safer in Jakarta, given Bali’s theft situation.
“We don’t have any plans to return (these objects) to the provinces. We have to consider also the security. There are some cases (where artefacts) were stolen (in these areas),” said Indonesian Minister for Culture, Fadli Zon, during a discussion with the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club on Feb 10.
He was responding to a question from CNA on whether these items should be returned to where they came from.
Gede Arya Sugiartha, chief of the Bali Cultural Affairs Agency, also acknowledged there are many issues to be addressed before the island-province is ready to take back repatriated artefacts.
The safest place to store these objects would be museums, he said, but not all of Bali’s nine regencies – which roughly correspond to the island’s former kingdoms – have museums.
“Frankly speaking, the province of Bali is not yet ready (for these repatriated artefacts),” he said.
