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Solo Museum Says 9 Puppets Stolen, Replaced With Fakes
Candra Malik | February 11, 2011

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michag09
10:43am Feb 11, 2011

This is really a shame. Indonesia is rich with historical artifacts yet the people still make use out of them by steeling and replacing them with fakes just for the sake of money.

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Solo. One of the oldest museums in the country has once again announced that valuable pieces from its collection of Javanese artifacts have been stolen.

The Radya Pustaka Museum in Solo, Central Java, announced on Wednesday it believed at least nine wayang , or shadow puppets, had been stolen and replaced with forgeries.

Djoko Darjoto, the museum secretary, and Gutomo, an archaeologist with the Central Java Archaeological Heritage Preservation Agency (BP3), made the announcement when filing a police report on the case.

“We have yet to confirm the total number of inauthentic leather puppets [in our collection],” Djoko said.

“The latest inventory, from December 2007, shows we have 265 puppets, which is the same number as when the museum first acquired its collection. We’re reporting the alleged forgery to police so that there will be an investigation.”

Djoko said the puppets had been assessed by three senior dalang , or puppet masters, as well as Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Haryo Benowo , a dalang who is also the great grandson of former Solo Sultan Pakubuwono X, who donated the collection when the museum opened in 1890.

Doubts about the authenticity of the puppets were raised when renowned dalang Ki Manteb Sudharsono claimed he had seen some of the puppets bearing hallmarks of the Pakubuwono collection in the possession of a German collector.

“He said he bought them in Solo,” the puppet master said.

“I was so embarrassed to hear that, because it showed how the legacy of our ancestors is now being taken away.”

Gutomo said some of the puppets at the museum appeared to be fakes, as seen from the quality of the material, workmanship and coloration. He added the BP3 had reported the case to the Culture and Tourism Ministry, which would send a team to investigate.

“ Just from a visual inspection, we can conclude that nine of the puppets are of dubious authenticity,” he said. “If indeed they turn out to be fakes, where are the originals?”

Radya Pustaka Museum in 2009 was rocked by similar allegations of theft when it revealed that 40 scrolls from its collection of 1,443 stamped or printed books and 480 handwritten books were missing.

Before that, six Hindu statues dating from the fourth to the 10th centuries were found to be in the possession of a prominent businessman. A probe later revealed they had been sold by museum staff and replaced by fakes. The head of the museum, KRH Damoriduro, was jailed for 18 months in the case.

Solo Mayor Joko Widodo deplored the latest case of alleged theft. “We can’t ignore the history of artifact theft from this museum,” he said. “However, we can’t set up a proper security system without government assistance.”