Beyond the Collections: Identity Construction at the National Museum of Indonesia

Beyond the collections: Identity construction at the National Museum of Indonesia

M.K. Rizqika Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

ABSTRACT: The National Museum of Indonesia is one of the products from the long history of the Dutch colonial ruling in the Indonesian archipelago. This is the first and big- gest museum established in 1778 by the Dutch East Indies government in Indonesia. Based on the collections, the museum was initially set out to educate the local people in the context of colonial history. The colonial government’s practice of acquiring objects reflects the colonization of the local people. Following the independence of Indonesia in 1945, the museum changed its discourse. The postcolonial reinterpretation of imperial history affected and changed curatorial practices in the museum. Through museums, Indonesia can construct a new identity that is free from the shadow of the colonial government. Today, the museum is changing and focusing on how to represent the cultural diversity of Indonesia, which is an enriching and the most important element in showing the new identity of Indonesia. Muse- ums can connect the past and the present for a better future. This article aims to address the underlying and interrelated aspects that bring all of these elements to reveal the complexity of today’s identity.

1 INTRODUCTION

Postcolonial studies challenge the outdated view about colonies (Eastern world), which is full of stigma, biased, and narrow. In Indonesia, a nation which was formerly a Dutch colony, traces of colonialism can still be found. One of them is the National Museum of Indonesia. This article is aimed at comparing two permanent exhibition rooms in the National Museum of Indonesia, namely the Room of Historical Relics in Building A (old building) and the Room of Gold Ethnography Repertoire in Building B (new building), from the viewpoint of the postcolonial theory. The exhibition’s arrangements of both rooms are compared to show how the Indonesian Government strives to liberate itself from the identity as a former colony and how it has started to build its own identity. A qualitative approach is used in writing this article. In order to obtain data for this article, the author conducted direct observation in the Room of Historical Relics in Building A and the Room of Gold Ethnography Repertoire in Building B of the National Museum. The author also conducted bibliographical studies and unstructured interviews with several museum staff. The data were enriched by the author’s own experience as a curator in the National Museum of Indonesia.

1.1 Museum and construction Etymologically, the word “colony” originates from the Latin word colonia, meaning a land for cultivation or habitat (Sutrisno and Putranto, 2008). Loomba (2003) described that origi- nally the term colony referred to the Romans who lived outside their country, but were still registered as citizens of Rome and related to their homeland (Lubis, 2015, p. 127). Afterward, the term developed, and it was associated to the concept of power and conquest, that is, the settlers who wished to conquer and dominate the colonies. This incited problems, such as oppression and control of human and natural resources. Said (1993) indicated that this view

217 motivated the Western people to dominate distant Eastern countries. They considered the natives of the colonies as barbaric and primitive; thus, they had to be civilized according to the Western culture. This view was legitimized in several ways by Western academics, for example, by producing numerous writings about Eastern world and by establishing museums to fortify the Western power over the colony. In this regard, Bouquet (2012) described that several ethnographic museums started to be founded in the 19th century in Europe. One of them was the Royal Danish Ethnographic Museum, established in 1825. Collecting unique objects from distant colonized countries was a prestigious matter among European elites. The collections were exhibited and interpreted in the national context of European countries. Most of them were daily appliances from Asia, Africa, Australia, and America. They represented the superior values of the Western culture over the colony’s culture. Afterward, the natives actively fought against the colonists. Said (1993) wrote that physi- cal confrontations broke out in the 19th century in countries such as Indonesia and Algeria, which resulted in their independence. Much effort was also made in defending the national culture and reinforcing the national identity. Such situations were the focus of postcolonial academicians. Lubis (2015) divided the postcolonial concept into two main aspects. The first aspect regards the postcolonial as a period after the colonial era (colonialization). One of the important accounts during this period was the introduction of cultural elements or the system by the colonists to be imitated or applied as new elements by the natives. The postcolonial is a study about the effects of colonialism after the colonial period. In addition, new forms of colonialism practices were studied, for example, the colonization of minority groups by dominant groups. Academicians of this theory include Frantz Fanon and Gayatri C. Spivak. The second aspect of postcolonial theory is considered as the continuation of the discus- sion on the previous aspect. Postcolonialism is a form of confrontation against the domination of colonists’ thought by the Western world over colony culture. This study criticizes the inequality of Western-dominated knowledge, social, and cultural matters—Western hegemony—resulting in a bias in viewing the Eastern or colony culture, particularly in early modern centuries. Edward Said is one of the figures who avidly expressed his view about the conspiracy of colonists’ or orientalists’ power and knowledge over the Eastern world. With regard to identity in the present time, Maunati (2004) highlighted that the concept of identity and identity itself are viewed as the result of dynamic interaction between context (history) and construction. Identity might change in different time and space. Identity is con- tinuously formed and transformed, which is related to how it is represented or highlighted in the surrounding cultural system. With regard to nationality, Woolf (1996) wrote that national identity is an abstract concept, which combines individual sense with a socio-political unit (Graham, Ashworth, Tunbridge, 2005). It is very interesting to relate the arrangement of the exhibition in the National Museum of Indonesia to Said’s thoughts about orientalism, as indicated by King (2001), which are related to three phenomena (Lubis, 2015, p. 139). First, an orientalist taught, wrote, and examined the Eastern world. An orientalist can be an anthropologist, archaeologist, histo- rian, philologist, or anyone from other disciplines. In its early period, members of the Bata- viaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen (the pioneer of the National Museum of Indonesia) were the elites from diverse professions, such as bureaucrats, anthropologists, historians, and missionaries, who were interested in studying cultures in various parts of the Dutch East Indies. Second, orientalism refers to the Western and Eastern thoughts, which are based on different ontology and epistemology. Therefore, articles on research results or expedition reports written by members of the Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen (here- inafter referred to as BG) were said to be bipolar in nature and were divided into two per- spectives, namely Eastern and Western. Third, orientalism can be seen as a legal institution, which was established to conquer the East; to have interest, power, and authority to make representations about the East; to justify the view about the East; and to describe, teach, publicize, position, and master it. BG was the institution to facilitate the various interests of the orientalists in the past. 218 Pearce (1994) indicated that the collections in a museum are the results of the process of collecting. There is always a relationship between collections and the ideas that museum administrators want to convey, as Impey and Macgregor (1985) pointed out “... the nature of the collections themselves and the reasons and the more obscure psychological or social reasons” (Pearce, 1994, p. 194). The collections are bound with various elements in the history of their former owners and in how they are acquired by the museum. Pearce (1994) wrote that a curator must comprehend aspects of history and the nature of the collections, as well as their background information, in order to have better assumptions about the value and knowledge inherent in them. The collections have their own initial contexts, and the museum can provide new contexts to them. Mullen (1994) explained that museums play a critical role in constructing cultural knowledge. He wrote:

“That role needs not be confined to preserving and disseminating established, legiti- mated cultural knowledge; it can also be one of the facilitation for the social construction of a broad range of cultural knowledge, and so contribute to the cultural empowerment of a broad range of people.”

1.2 National Museum of Indonesia from time to time Since its establishment on 24 April 1778, Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Weten- schappen or the Batavia Society for Arts and Sciences started to gather collections, which were mostly donations from its members. The collections are full of historical values. They were also gathered from scientific and military expeditions, religious missions, and purchases (Soebadio, 1985; Hardiati, 2005). The members of the Society were categorized into four groups, namely administrative officers (pamong praja), church clergymen (Bible missionaries), military officers, and academicians (Jonge, 2005). Initially, the Society occupied a building owned by J.C.M. Radermacher in Kalibesar Street, Oud Batavia. Later, during the British administration in Java (1811–1868), Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles provided a building (Societet de Harmonie) for this institution, located on Majapahit 3 Street (currently the State Secretariat/Sekretariat Negara building). In 1862, the construction of the museum building in Koningsplain West Street, currently Medan Merdeka Barat Street, began. The museum was opened for public in 1968 (Rufaedah et al., 2006). A change in the museum administration also brought a change in the name of the institution. In 1933, the Society was awarded the title “koninklijk” (royal); thus, its name was changed to Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen. Then, on 26 January 1950, the name of the Society was changed to Lembaga Kebudayaan Indonesia (the Cultural Institute of Indonesia). On 17 September 1962, Lembaga Kebudayaan Indonesia consigned the museum to the Indonesian Government and thus its name was changed to Museum Pusat (the Central Museum). The last change of the name to Museum Nasional (the National Museum) occurred on 28 May 1979 (Rufaedah et al., 2006). The National Museum consists of two main exhibition buildings: Building A and Build- ing B. The construction of Building A began in 1862. Documentation photos of the building show that its exhibition pattern did not undergo crucial changes, for example, in the ethnography room and the rotunda. The collections were arranged by applying quite an unclear approach, which is based on regional classification (ethnographic), chronological classification (prehistoric, archeologic, historic), material classification (stone, bronze, gold, ter- racotta, ceramics), and scientific discipline (numismatics, geography). The collections were placed systematically similar to what has been applied since the colonial era. Substantially, they did not experience much change although the textile and ceramics rooms were renovated several times. Meanwhile, in Building B, the collections are exhibited thematically based on the concept of universal elements of culture. The purpose of this type of arrangement is to portray the history and diversity of the nation’s culture (Museum Nasional Indonesia, 2013). This arrangement will also be applied in Building C, which, at the time of the writing, is under construction. 219 1.3 Western domination in the room of historical relics The Room of Historical Relics is located in Building A, which was constructed in 1930. The architecture of the building is strongly dominated by the European Neoclassicism style with a mixed touch of Dutch and Greek. In the National Museum building, the style was materialized in the cylindrical pillars (in the front part of the building), cascading roofs, large windows, and white-painted walls to portray grandiosity (Fahnoor & Furihito, 2007). The position of the Room of Historical Relics is very strategic, and its interior design appears to be the most exceptional one compared to other rooms. An atmosphere of colonialism is evident in the front part of the room. Its door together with the frame has an interesting history regarding colonialism because parts of this interior were formerly parts of Toko Merah (Red Store). Entering the room, elements of Western domination are more noticeable. The room’s floors have a chessboard-like pattern, but the colors are black and dark red. Toko Merah was present during the heyday of old Batavia on the banks of the Muara Ciliwung River, which was precisely located at Kali Besar Street No. 11, West Jakarta. The building was once used as the residence of the VOC Governor General, Baron van Imhoff (1705–1751). It also underwent several transfers of ownerships, ranging from Phillippine Theodore Mossel (the son of Governor General Mossel), Governor General Petrus Albertus van der Parra, and Renier de Klerk to Nicolaas Hartingh and many others. During 1813– 1851, there had been some changes of the building ownerships before it was later owned by Oey Liauw Kong who turned it into a taka (toko/store); thus, there came the popular term “Taka Merah” (Toko Merah, 2015). In 1898, a retired member of KNIL who was also a member of BG called H. D. H. Bos- boon initiated the relocation of several interior components of Toko Merah to the museum. It was an effort to protect and preserve the building with the characteristic of the era. It also served as an example of the grandeur residential style of the elites. The components included doors, windowsills, ceilings, window panes, the balcony, and the stairway (Hardiarti et al., 2014). In the museum, the interior components were placed in a compagnie kammer (Toko Merah, 2015). Currently, the room functions as the Room of Historical Relics, at the Audito- rium of Building A, which was formerly the Numismatic Room. During the BG era, the room was used as the director’s room. Thus, it is not surprising that its interior architecture was made meticulously, by paying special attention to the artistic aspect and displaying the domination of the Dutch East Indies Government in the past. It can also be perceived that they had the legitimacy to present symbols of Dutch glory in its colonies. The interior architecture and furniture in this room displayed the domination of the colonist government. This is the grandiosity of the Western-styled building displayed without any regard to elements of Indonesia and its cultures. All collections exhibited in the room were material cultures made by the colonists. This is allegedly to confirm that the specially designed room was only for goods produced by the Western culture, which were considered special. The collections were related to the arrival of other Western countries, such as Portugal and England. For example, there is a half-body bust of Raffles on the right side of the entrance. England dominated Java in 1811–1816, when Sir Stamford Raffles took over the leadership of the society. Other collections are the two padrao (inscription related to the arrival of the Portuguese), exhibited on the left side of the entrance, a cannon, a display cabinet, and a banquet table. The arrangement of the exhibition in this room is collection-oriented, without displaying the context of the collection. For years, the exhibition’s arrangement in Building A, including the one in the Room of Historical Relics, has not experienced any change (Hardiati et al., 2014). One of the examples is a text on collection label of Padrao Lonthoir, which reads as follows: “This padrao was the legacy of the Portuguese as seen from the writings which can still be vaguely read, although they have faded. In 1705, someone named Jan Van de Broke inaugurated the establishment. Jan Van de Broke was appointed by the Dutch government to be in charge of the garden.”

220 The above narration highlights the existence of the Portuguese and neglects the present context of Indonesia. The exhibition’s arrangement of the room shows that the present museum administrators cannot fully liberate themselves from the domination of the Dutch who administered the museum in the earlier period.

1.4 From Nusantara to Indonesia The second permanent exhibition room analyzed in this study is the Room of Gold Ethnog- raphy Repertoire located on the fourth floor of Building B, which was constructed in 2006. Physically, the appearance of the building is different from that of Building A. The exhibition room can only be accessed by visitors through two available elevators. This is different from the rooms on the second and third floors, which can be accessed using both the elevator and the escalator. This is due to stricter security procedures applied to the Room of Gold Eth- nography Repertoire. The interior design of this room looks more modern. Large vitrines are attached on every wall of the room. Some unattached vitrines are placed in several corners. A roomy and spacious impression is present when entering the room. The various shining exquisite gold objects can instantly amaze the visitors. The gold collections exhibited in the room are classified into repertoire groups because they are highly valued, particularly in terms of material, shape, and function. The collections of gold ethnography repertoire originated from the 17th century to the 20th century. Most of them are objects originating from monarchs or sultanates, and some others are ethnographic objects related to the identity of an ethnic group. Royalty regalia objects are symbols of grandeur and social status of the king or ruler, while also possessing outstanding artistic values. Some distinguished collections in the room include the Mahkota Banten, Keris Si Gajah Dompak from North Sumatra, various pieces of jewelry from Cakranegara Castle Lombok, spears from Kalimantan, treaty scriptures from Sulawesi, and Puputan keris (traditional dag- ger with a wavy pattern) from Bali. In addition to those are the talam (inscripted slabs) from Madura and jewelry from Aceh. All these objects possess rich historical values, particularly regarding the past relation of Indonesia and the Dutch colonies. These objects are presented in the National Museum as a result of the distressing incidents in the past. Some of the objects were loots from the war between the Dutch and various local monarchs or rulers in Nusantara. In the annual minute books (Dutch: jaarboek) and the collection inventories, it was mentioned that the Dutch conducted military exhibition to expand their colonies and to overthrow the local rulers. One of the examples is a collection from Aceh, a sunting (crown worn on women’s head embellished by gold) (E.151/11750), which was obtained from a raid carried out by the Dutch colonists on the house of Teuku Umar’s wife before 1905. This object was then accorded and became the collection of BG. In the context of the exhibition’s arrangement of this room, many lessons can be learned from the past. What needs to be encouraged and passed on to the visitors is the spirit of being productive and proud of the country. For example, one of the values worth to be maintained is the one inherent in the sunting. The sunting functions as a hair adornment for women placed above the ears. Its shape is inspired from the cempaka flower (Magnolia champaca/ Aceh: bungong jeumpa). For the Acehnese, the meaning of jeumpa goes beyond simply a flower. Philosophically, this flower inspires Aceh people to have good morals and personali- ties; thus, it is worth being remembered. This positive value can be universally understood within the framework of the current Indonesia. The enthusiasm to bring out and assert national identity is also seen in the text on group labels and collection labels. In the group label of “Ekspedisi Militer Lombok” (Lombok Mili- tary Expedition) vitrine, for example, it is assertively narrated that the Dutch was the colonist and that the Indonesian government currently has equal power with them. It is precisely stated as follows: “During the aggression, the Dutch took away royalty heritage which was gold jeweller- ies and other prized possessions. The properties looted by the Dutch army were brought to Batavia and divided into two groups. The first group was stored in Bataviaasch Genotschap

221 Museum, and the second one was brought to Rijkmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden. In 1977, the Indonesian government and the Dutch government entered into an agreement to repatriate some of the Cakranegara Castle heritage which was taken away by the Dutch to be returned to the Indonesian government. In 1978, the agreement was successfully fulfilled by the return of the Lombok repertoire which consists of 243 gold and silver collections to be surrendered to the National Museum in Jakarta.” In terms of the exhibition’s arrangement, the regalia objects in this room are displayed by emphasizing the majestic side of the objects. The light beams on the objects accentuate the glittering gold and the various precious stones as embellishments from the past. These show the artists’ expertise in creating numerous masterpieces during the Nusantara period. In addition to their highly valuable material, i.e. gold, the objects look even more exceptional due to their marvelous designs and the highly complicated craftsmanship. The arrangement of the exhibition in this room is expected to promote the pride of Indonesians visiting the museum and understanding that Indonesia has always been culturally rich since the past.

2 CONCLUSION

From a historical point of view, the National Museum is indeed a legacy from the Dutch colonists. It was established with the aim of displaying the Dutch’s power, glory, and great- ness over their colonies. This aim is still evident in the Room of Historical Relics in Building A. The administrators still maintain the arrangements and collections of the exhibition that date back to several years ago. However, as the museum’s development took place with the construction of Building B beginning in 2006, the administrators have more opportunities to make new arrangements of the exhibition that are tailored to the current circumstances to express the pride of being an Indonesian. The exhibition’s arrangement endued with a new atmosphere and spirit can now be seen in the Room of Gold Ethnography Repertoire in Building B. To strengthen the national identity as Indonesians, a new exhibition room (Building C) is under construction. This exhibition building, which is expected to be completed by 2018, will present a new storyline concerning Indonesia’s culturally rich national identity, including various themes such as Pusaka Indonesia (Indonesian Heritage), Menjadi Indonesia (Becom- ing Indonesia), and Lestari Indonesia (Sustainable Indonesia) (Museum Nasional Indonesia, 2016). These themes are the results of several focus group discussions conducted in 2013 and 2014 between the museum staff and several interviewees from various backgrounds such as academicians, anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and communities. The cultural diversity of Indonesia is a source of national identity that should be strength- ened in the current era of globalization. This can be done through the narration of museum collections used as the medium of communication. The narration of museum collections highlights the values of the people’s dignity and equality in a community. Therefore, it is important that the narration of the negative past inherent in the collection be revised to reflect a sense of pride in this culturally rich country. This conforms to the postcolonial ideas that ex-colony countries can free themselves from the shadow of their past as colonies and that they have the right to be equal with other countries. It is expected that this exhibition in the museum will act as a channel for visitors to understand the values of pride of Indonesia, make self-interpretation of museum collections, and be inspired.

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