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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 53| October 2001
Regional Officer Visits Solo and Yogyakarta
Oliver Mann, the Librarys Regional Officer based in Jakarta, and Acquisitions Assistant, Pak Sukirdi undertook a field trip to the ancient court cities of Solo (Surakarta) and Yogyakarta on the island of Java in June. Both Solo and Yogya are regarded as centres of Javanese culture and history, and boast Sultans who live in keratons (palaces) in the heart of each city.
An officer from the Library last visited Solo in 1989. Although it is the smaller and quieter of the two cities, an interesting range of local publications was acquired. Muhammadiyah University Press has an active and diverse publishing program, while the Keraton Mangkunegara yielded a number of titles on Javanese culture. In contrast to its historical traditions, there is much political activity in Solo and it was on a street intersection that Oliver acquired material from a member of the Laskar Jihad (Holy War Group). The Laskar Jihad has been active for some time in the troubled Maluku province in eastern Indonesia.
Being a relatively compact and quiet city meant that Oliver and Sukirdi were able to hire a becakthree-wheeled pedicaband driver for some of their acquisitions work.
In Yogyakarta, a comprehensive range of research publications was acquired from the Asia-Pacific Study Centre at the prestigious Gadjah Mada University, as well as new titles from the University Press. Yogyakarta is well known as a centre for the arts, and a visit to the Cemeti Art Foundation and similar institutions afforded many publications. The branch office of the Badan Pusat Statistik and city bookshops also yielded provincial titles not available in Jakarta.
As Indonesia proceeds with adopting a more democratic form of government, regional autonomy is being quickly introduced. One consequence of this autonomy is decreased funding from the central government. Unfortunately this has led to severe funding cuts to cultural institutions such as museums, which have been forced to reduce staffing, programs and publications. Consequently, acquisitions visits to the museums in both cities on this field trip were disappointing. A similar funding crisis is emerging in the provincial libraries, which are no longer part of the National Library of Indonesia. In contrast to the government sector, commercial publishing is reasonably buoyant in this period of continuing economic difficulty in Indonesia.
Oliver Mann can be contacted at the National Librarys Regional Office in the Australian Embassy, Jakarta, Indonesia (oliver.mann@dfat.gov.au)
Above: Oliver Mann and Pak Sukirdi setting off in a becak to acquire publications in Solo, Indonesia
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: dthomas@nla.gov.au