The Province of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) was once made up of several large kingdoms including Selaparang, Pejanggik and Mataram on the island of Lombok and the Sultanates of Sumbawa, Bima and Dompu on Sumbawa.
These powerful states depended on shipping to establish close relationships with other states around the world and, within what is now NTB, relations between the kingdoms and sultanates were dependent on ocean transport for trade, friendship and even war.
Knowledge of navigation at sea was limited and accidents were common. Later, when the royal dynasties were replaced by Dutch administration and Japanese occupation, battles escalated in the seas off Lombok and Sumbawa, especially during World War II.
“Recalling the long history of NTB explains why our ocean waters hold so many objects of cultural heritage that were being carried by ships owned by the ancient kingdoms that were sunk in rough seas or in battle,” said NTB Culture and Tourism head Drs Gita Aryadi at a seminar on the conservation of underwater heritage, in Mataram in late March.
While no local research has been conducted to provide official data on the matter, Gita is convinced NTB’s waters hold a wealth of relics. “From the stories handed down, and from talking with fishermen who often conduct dives throughout NTB waters, it is clear there are shipwrecks at Sekotong in West Lombok, around the three gilis (islands) of Trawangan, Meno and Air in North Lombok, and off Sumbawa at Saleh Bay and Port Sape, Bima.”
The belief is supported by the reported discovery of a cave holding cannons and other equipment of war suspected to be used by Japanese troops to protect themselves against Allied forces in World War II. “To prove the theory we needed a diving expedition,” said Gita. “We need a detailed map of the cultural heritage that is under NTB waters.”
Underwater Heritage director within the Indonesian Culture and Tourism Ministry, Surya Helmi, says the existence of Indonesia’s underwater cultural heritage is often overlooked.
“Suddenly abroad, say in Singapore or Germany, there is an exhibition and auction featuring the authentic cultural heritage of Indonesia. This certainly raises the question of why Indonesia’s underwater cultural heritage should be taken out of the country,” he said, advising that in the 1980s a lot of shipwrecks were illegally salvaged from Indonesian waters.
As a result, the government formed the National Committee for (Recovery and Exploitation of) Valuable Artifacts from Cargoes of Sunken Ships (BMKT). A BMKT regulation requires parties salvaging ships from Indonesian waters to return 50 percent of the sale price of salvaged goods to the State.
“One investor salvaged cargo from a shipwreck in waters off Cirebon, West Java, and the objects were available at auction in Jakarta with a price of US$ 80 million, but they have not yet sold,” said Surya Helmi.
In addition, Law No 11 of 2010 on Cultural Property prohibits the removal of underwater cultural items for commercial purposes and restricts the activity to scientific purposes.
According to University of Indonesia (UI) Archaeology lecturer Heriyanti Untoro, data of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) states there are 5000 points of underwater cultural heritage across Asia, of which 3000 sites are in Indonesian waters.
“Of this, only 500 points are charted because Indonesia has been focused on land-based sites of cultural heritage rather than searching for underwater sites,” he said. Other constraints are the high cost, high technology and high risk nature of underwater expeditions.
A further constraint is that archaeological scholars in Indonesia number only around 2000 and only four universities offer courses majoring in Archaeological Science. They are UI, Padjadjaran, Gadjah Mada and Udayana universities.
source:enchanting-lomboksumbawa.com
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