INTRODUCTION

The opportunity to be involved in this Conference was of great benefit for our organization, the Sumatra Heritage Trust. The Trust is the first of its kind in Sumatra, with contact persons in each of the eight provinces. The Trust was set up by a group of businessmen, professionals, and universities in response to the urgency to save Sumatran heritage. As we know, Sumatra is the fourth largest island in the world, after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo, with a land area of some 473,481 sq. km -roughly the size of California or Spain. It is an island of such enormous regional diversity that, for administrative purposes, it has been divided into eight large provinces.

More than 40 million people live in Sumatra with four large ethnic groups -the Malay, the Minangkabau, the Acehnese and the Batak- forming the vast majority of the island's indigenous population, yet over a dozen smaller ethnic groups are also represented, each speaking a different language and possessing a distinct history and culture. The island also contains some of Indonesia's richest and most fascinating traditions of vernacular, or domestic, architecture. Even the most casual observer can hardly fail to be impressed by the imposing scale of these buildings, by the ingenious nail-free construction and by the vigor and delicacy of their carved and painted decorations.

During the Conference, which took place in Yunnan Province of China, I found similarities between the Yunnan Province and Sumatra in the sense of the richness of its culture and heritage. These similarities stimulated some ideas what our Trust possibly do in Sumatra and adopted the best practices of the Yunnan Province.

I was impressed with the work of The U.S.-China Art Exchange in its cooperation with the Government of Yunnan Province to execute such a long-term, large-scale initiative. It is a hard- working project and has become a good example for other heritage movements, especially for us in Sumatra, where heritage conservation is still a new issue and is still a low priority of our development as a whole.
 
 

WHAT I LEARNED

From the Yunnan Conference I learned some points:

1. It is effective to have international networks & supports for a heritage movement. The networks consist of experts, funding agencies and international organizations.
2. A heritage movement should involve people from different backgrounds such as government, community and private sector.
3. To see a good result, it is needed to have a long term and integrated planning.
4. To develop the Yunnan Province based on its culture is an interesting concept and can be a model for other places in other countries.
5. In the case of the old town Lijiang there is a need to give a special attention how to revitalize its living heritage and maintain its traditional culture when a number of tourists keep flowing into the town.
6. It was interesting that in the discussion session we were concerned about conservation and commercialism. When a place is successfully conserved, it will automatically invite people to come and tourism starts to grow. And its people is stimulated to earn more money by exploiting their culture for the tourists.

Sumatra can learn from Yunnan's experiences how to have a cultural development and how to integrate all stakeholders to get involve in it. It is important to encourage government sector to take initiative in the development since government is a policy & decision maker in countries like Indonesia and China. Also important to note roles of community in form of a non-government organization and traditional community groups inside the conserved areas. Surely, this effort will not be materialized without involvement of private sectors with their capital and skills.

Coordination and planning will be two critical aspects in heritage conservation. These two aspects take a long time and every parties should understand how important to have good coordination and planning.

INPUT

It would be interesting and emphatically appreciated if participants had a chance to stay with local people in the old town Lijiang even if it was only for one night. This could be an optional program. I noticed there are several guest houses in the town.

CONCLUSION

I am eagerly waiting for the follow-up of the Conference, especially to learn more about how to conduct coordination among government, community and private sector. And also to see how heritage conservation benefit local people without enforcing them to exploit their own culture.#
 
 

Medan, November 3, 1999

Hasti Tarekat

Executive Director

Sumatra Heritage Trust

56 Sei Padang

Medan 20154, Indonesia

Tel. & Fax (62-61) 8213534, 8219824

Email : hastitar@indosat.net.id

http://www.sumatra-heritage.or.id