Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A Visit To The National Museum


This might be a bit late, but I think I need to put it here as a record. After all, not every kid has the opportunity to have their picture featured in Kompas, the number one daily in the country.

Yes, the picture here is your picture, with your cousin Annisa, when we were visiting Museum Nasional (also known as Musium Gajah, because of the big elephant statue in front of the building), during your school holiday last January 2007. I think it was the last day of your school holiday, and I haven’t really taken you anywhere. So, I took a day off but wasn’t sure where to take you…., and suddenly, the idea popped up, why not go to the National Museum and also the National Monument? And to my surprise, you were really enjoying your tour!

The tour guide at the Museum was very friendly and really tried to make the tour interesting for kids like you. However, the questions you kept on asking were “Why is this thing broken? Why is this thing not mended properly? Why is there no lamp in this room?”. I couldn’t help but smile. You were not really interested in the things they displayed there, but more to the orderly of the museum. And it was the National Museum that we are supposed to be proud of.

Come to think of it, we shouldn’t be too surprised. You know how much they charge for the entrance fee? Rp750,- for adults and Rp250,- for children under 17!!! Cheaper than the parking fee! I think they put it low so that people will not be hesitant to come and visit. But you know how our people are, the more you pay, the more you appreciate and the less you pay, the less you appreciate. So, I don’t think it works. If we were to pay higher (I’m sure tourists wouldn’t mind paying a bit more), they can use the money to mend the museum more properly, have more tour guides, adding more collection and perhaps have a good promotion program that will make the museums a more popular place to visit.

What do you say?

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