Aceh’s Tsunami Museum Fails To Meet Festival Expectations

The Aceh Tsunami Museum has had trouble completing its exhibits. (Photo: Hotli Simanjuntak, EPA)

August 04, 2009; Nurdin Hasan

Banda Aceh. Plans for this week’s fifth Aceh Cultural Festival received a tremendous boost with the official opening of the tsunami museum, but the threadbare exhibits of the $5.6 million landmark building has disappointed attendees. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officially opened the 2,500-square-meter “Rumoh Aceh [traditional Aceh house] at Escape Hill,” in February, with the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR), which facilitated the construction of the building, stating at the time that the museum’s content would be supplied by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Aceh’s local government would provide additional attractions such as art displays and cultural performances. Six months on, however, it seems unlikely that the ministry will complete its side of the deal by 2010, as promised. R Sukhyar, a senior official with the ministry, acknowledged during the ceremony on Sunday that it was responsible for providing all the material to document the tsunami tragedy, in what was “the most luxurious museum in Indonesia.” Sukhyar said the ministry was also responsible for running the museum in association with the local government and said there were problems with its plans to complete the displays by next year. “We don’t know yet how much funding is needed to outfit the whole museum. We predicted it would be tens of billions [of rupiah],” he said. “The arrangement must involve all sides.” He said the museum was a dynamic project, which was a reflection of society in general, and as such, updating attractions would be carried out by the Aceh government. Exhibits included displays of photographs donated by various organizations, with some pictures bearing graphic testimony to the disaster that ripped the province apart on Dec. 26, 2004. There were also paintings related to the disaster by a number of Acehnese painters, including Mahdi Abdullah and Round Kelana. The audio-visual theater played a documentary on the tsunami and its aftermath. Aceh Vice Governor Muhammad Nazar, in his opening address, said the government was committed to ensuring the museum featured a variety of attractions, as demonstrated by the art and photographic exhibition that will be hosted throughout the Aceh Cultural Festival, which runs until Tuesday. “The tsunami museum must be organized professionally. The [local] government’s ability to run the museum is very limited,” he said, adding that all museums in Aceh should become attractions for the tourism industry, which would benefit local people and support leducation and research. Yudhoyono was expected to officially launch the festival on Sunday, but due to a reported scheduling conflict will arrive in Aceh today instead. Sumber : http://thejakartaglobe.com