National cultural heritage protection and preservation in Indonesian state policy: history and prospects

This article examines the historical evolution of Indonesian policy in the field of national cultural heritage protection and preservation, as well as the significance of this sphere for national identity. The authors focus their attention on this topic as it is insufficiently studied both in the Indonesian and Western research fields. Another important fact is that Russian experts barely discuss this topic. To achieve the aim of analyzing the history of Indonesian state policy for the protection of cultural heritage, the authors of this article examined the international documents on heritage protection and the main regulations adopted by the state bodies of Indonesia at various historical stages. The authors used the historical and genetic method to reveal the origin and the main stages of the evolution of Indonesian state policy in the preservation and protection of cultural heritage. The authors note that the historical cultural heritage and natural monuments of Indonesia play a significant role in the formation of both the general Indonesian national identity and the identities of diverse ethnic groups in the country’s population. The objects of cultural heritage are endowed with special symbolism and are protected not only by legislation in the field of preservation of cultural values but also by the national ideology of Pancasila. The authors analyzed several cases during the most important periods of Indonesian history to conclude that the main problem of Indonesia’s state policy in this sphere is still the discrepancy between national legislation and international normative acts. In addition, it is important to pay attention to the role of local communities, local cultural organizations, and civil society foundations in maintaining cultural sites, since often many of them do not have a formal implementation in the regulatory framework, but de facto occupy an important place in the system of national cultural heritage protection. The social and scholarly significance of research in this area is determined by the need to structure knowledge and develop a detailed idea of what shapes Indonesia’s national system for cultural heritage protection in its various forms, and, possibly, to initiate an interdisciplinary discussion to combine the scholarly, theoretical, and practical levels of the implementation of such a policy. Indonesia is incredibly rich in its cultural heritage and its experience can be valuable in global practice.