Dwi Cahyono
Earning through
yearning
If it’s true that American industrialist Henry Ford once said
‘history is bunk’ he would have heard the applause of many Indonesians.
Though not Dwi Cahyono. His hands would have been folded,
his features grim. Although he hasn’t
built any cars, the Australian-educated Malang entrepreneur has made a pile of
money in his East Java hometown.
He’s also spending it – on history. His project has so far drained around Rp 1.5
billion (US $130,000) in set-up expenses. Then there’s the running costs including the
wages of ten people. Click COMPUTE:
That’s close to Rp 30 million (US $2,600) a month.
All this is feeding a cash-hungry beast that Dwi knows (and
if he didn’t others keep enthusiastically reminding him) will continue to gnaw
through his wallet.
“But the funny thing is this,” he said. “The more I spend it seems the more I earn
from my other businesses. And then
there’s the satisfaction that comes from doing something worthwhile to make a difference.”
What difference?
Well, to date more than 15,000 schoolchildren have been transported into
the past after stepping into Dwi’s Museum Malang Tempo Doeloe (old days), which
opened last year. .
Unlike most dim-lit DON’T TOUCH museums, particularly those
run by governments, Dwi’s enterprise is a bright hands-on affair. Visitors can caress the stone chip tools of
pre-historic times and make terracotta figures like those from the Majapahit
Era, half a millennium ago.
The imaginative ponder this: The dirt under their fingernails
was once trodden by princes.
How do you spin a potter’s wheel without using electricity?
Our ancestors didn’t have smart phones but they weren’t stupid.
Students don the clothes of Javanese nobility, take
happy-snaps, paint masks and act out puppet shows. Later they can look in awe at a life-size
model of first President Soekarno at the 1947 KNIP (Central National Committee
of Indonesia) Congress in Malang and generally have a jolly time.
Fun in a museum? That’s an oxymoron.
“For most kids these places are boring, dull, even scary,
nothing like shopping malls,” Dwi said. “They think old is bad, new is good.
“Museums in Indonesia are usually just storage places,
warehouses. The color is always the same – gray. I want to change the
situation.”
So he has. His version, bright as a detergent commercial, is
in a converted 1928 house with high ceilings and original tiled floors of such
beauty it should be a crime to tread the ceramic. The displays are as inviting
as any fashion boutique.
For Rp 15,000 (US$1.30), and less for students, it’s a
walk-through experience starting with the arrival of humankind’s ancestors in
the archipelago. The remains of Java Man found last century on a bank of the
Bengawan Solo River could be more than 500,000 years old.
The trail then leads into the development of civilizations
and the arrival of traders and invaders.
Finally the rise of kingdoms, Dutch colonialism, the
Japanese occupation, the Revolution and into the modern era. This is no kill-time experience waiting for a
train at the nearby station: set two hours aside to properly enjoy.
Building a museum has long been Dwi’s dream. As a student in Sydney he saw how the city
first founded in 1788 was crazy about preserving its past – and not inside
glass cases.
Whole streets of stone and timber buildings, particularly
around The Rocks where the British first settled, have been preserved. Many have been converted into offices, shops
and restaurants attracting tourists and earning their keep.
Back home he opened the Inggil (Javanese for ‘high’)
restaurant with a history theme and filled it with all the curious and quaint artefacts
that came his way, most relating to Java – and that includes the cuisine.
He says this has been
a success and is now an essential stop for European tour groups. A few years
ago he initiated the Malang Tempo Doeloe festival staged in Jalan Ijen, the
grand boulevard of Dutch houses.
Visitors, and they come in thousands, are expected to dress in the
clothes of yesteryear. That means pith
helmets and baggy khaki pants for tuan, and cloche hats and pleats for nyonya.
Next year’s event should be spectacular as it marks the
centenary of the Dutch establishment of the city – though written history goes
back to 760 AD
Dwi has also organised groups of up to a thousand volunteers
to clean and paint old buildings threatened with demolition. His campaign
against the giant billboards that scar the cityscape is still underway.
Although he’s visited museums in China, Vietnam and elsewhere
to glean ideas, it’s those in Singapore that Dwi finds most attractive, like the
Asian Civilisations Museum, the Malay Heritage Center and the Peranakan Museum,
- a celebration of Straits Chinese-Malay culture.
Singaporeans clearly envy Indonesia’s rich and ancient past;
although the tiny red-dot city’s story only really began in 1819, it squeezes
every passing year for drops of memory.
One of many difficulties facing Indonesian museums is the
lack of local curators. Dwi has yet to find a tertiary institution teaching
museum management. Another issue is
persuading citizens not to call in the rombeng
(second-hand goods traders) when they clean out grandma’s cupboards.
If the collection that includes Japanese uniforms and
equipment is an indicator he’s been mighty persuasive, though who knows how
much has been tossed out by folk who think like Mr Ford?
“We learn from history,” Dwi said. “We need to remember and
understand what our parents and grandparents did to develop our cities and
culture, our religions, art and language.
“Unfortunately the
government doesn’t understand the importance of culture, though there’s one
good sign. The new DPR (Dewan Perwakilan
Rakyat – Legislative Assembly building) has followed the style set by Dutch
architect Thomas Karsten, who designed Malang Town Hall in the 1930s.
“Malang is rich in history, we are so blessed. It was the
heart of the kingdom of Majapahit that controlled much of lower Southeast
Asia. This is ours – our traditions.
“Of course making money is necessary – but what we do with it
is also important.”
(First published in The Jakarta Post 30 September 2013)
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