Budget Cuts Put Treasure Trove Of Indonesian Literature at Risk

Jakarta, Indonesia - Literary groups and students kicked off a campaign on Saturday to save the world’s biggest archive of Indonesian literature from closing down as funding from the government dries up.

The KoinSastra Movement is raising funds for the H.B. Jassin Documentation Center at the Taman Ismail Marzuki cultural complex in Cikini, Central Jakarta, which has seen its budget steadily erode.

The center has been allocated a budget of Rp 250 million ($28,000) this year from the city administration. That is down from the Rp 300 million it received in 2010, which in turn was lower than the Rp 500 million allocated in previous years.

Endo Senggono, head of the center, said the budget cuts would leave the archive — which requires Rp 80 million a year just to protect the books from mold — unable to cover overhead costs.

“It won’t be enough for operational costs,” he said.

“This is a public library, so it’s free. We don’t have any other income, so we depend solely on the budget every year. If we get a smaller amount, then the center could close down because we won’t have enough for the employees’ salaries.”

However, Arie Budiman, head of the Jakarta Culture and Tourism Office, dismissed such concerns.

“We’ll make sure that the H.B. Jassin Center will not close down,” he said. “The city is committed to keeping it.”

Meidy Kautsar, head of Markas Sastra (Literary Headquarters), a study group at the University of Indonesia, said it was unthinkable that the center could shut.

“The H.B. Jassin Center is very important for students of Indonesian literature,” he said. “It’s a testament to Jassin’s love of literature and his hard work [in building the collection]. That alone inspires a love for literature.”

Jassin, who died in 2000, was an ardent bibliophile who began building his collection in 1932, picking up novels, poetry and plays in Indonesian.

Today, the center houses more than 16,000 works of fiction, almost 12,000 works of nonfiction and thousands of documents and photos from some of the country’s leading literary figures.

Khrisna Pabichara, one of the founders of the KoinSastra Movement, said the campaign to raise funds for the center had by Sunday collected around Rp 2 million.

He said the campaign, which started on Twitter, was being carried out in Jakarta, Surabaya, Balikpapan and Makassar, among other cities across the country.

The KoinSastra campaigners, he said, are working with city officials and representatives of the H.B. Jassin Center.

Anyone interested in taking part in the campaign, he said, can send a donation to Bank Mandiri, account number 131-00-0971505-5, which is under the name of Zeventina Octaviani.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com
Photo: http://oase.kompas.com

Share

Tuliskan komentar Anda !