Blitar, East Java - Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Adhyaksa Dault said the house where Indonesia`s first president, Soekarno, spent his early childhood in Blitar should be prevented from being sold to a foreign investor.
Therefore, he said, he and a number of artists in Jakarta were planning to raise funds to buy the house and then hand it to the government.
Adhyaksa made the statement after visiting the house, known among Blitar residents as "Istana Gebang ", together with a number of Jakarta-based artists on Saturday.
"As a native son of Indonesia, I was stung by reports the house is to be bought by an investor from Malaysia. I have come here to learn what is actually happening," the minister said when he was received by Blitar Mayor Djarot Saiful Hidayat.
But as a cabinet minister, he would first report the fund-raising plan to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and also coordinate with certain other government agencies, he said.
He said he was personally not related to Soekarno "but as a native son of Indonesia, I feel obligated to do something to save the house."
Ashyaksa said he was sure many people felt the same concern and would be prepared to contribute financially to the effort to save the historical object.
After enough money had been collected and the house bought, the building would be turned over to the government so that it could be preserved as a memento for future generations never to forget history, he said.
Among the artists accompanying the minister were Ine Febriyanti, Eksanti, Yati Octavia, Pong Hendratmo, Erna Lybi.
Erna, acting as spokesperson for the artists` group, said she was confident many of her peers would be ready to support the effort to save Soekarno`s childhood home.
From Istana Gebang, the minister and the artists paid a visit to Soekarno`s grave which was located a few kilometers from the house.
Standing on a 1.4-hectare piece of land, the house where Soekarno grew up until he was 12 years old, still contains the furniture and other objects which he once used. His former bedroom still holds the bed on which he slept, a cupboard, table and chair dating back to the time he was a small boy.
The house`s front and middle rooms also contain tables, chairs and cupboards made in pre-independence times and their walls are decorated with Soekarno`s photos and paintings.
Blitar Mayor Djarot Syaiful Hidayat said Soekarno`s parents had two children: Soekarno and his elder sister Sukarmini (who later became known as Mrs Sukarmini Wardoyo).
But in 1962, Soekarno signed a document transferring all his rights to the house to Sukarmini so that the house was later not inherited by Soekarno`s children but Sukarmini`s.
Sukarmini had one daughter and three sons who were now no longer alive but survived by a total of 12 children, one of whom had meanwhile also died.
In 2001, Blitar`s mayor issued an ordinance giving Istana Gebang the status of a cultural heritage. But on September 17, 2007, the mayor received a letter from two of Mrs Sukarmini Wardoyo`s grand-children stating they wanted to sell the house because none of them was living in it and nobody was taking care of it.
But the mayor had told the two heirs, a plan to sell the house had to be approved by all 11 grand-children of Mrs Sukarmini Wardoyo and that the government should be the first party given the opportunity to buy it.
Also, the mayor said, the house`s price should be "reasonable." The two heirs had set the price at Rp50 billion but the mayor said based on the house`s taxable value and the going market rate in the region, a more acceptable price for the house would range between Rp Rp16 billion and Rp20 billion.
Source: www.antara.co.id (29 April 2008)
