It leads to joy at Sofwan Noerwidi. “We are grateful for all parties who have made this possible,” says the paleontologist from the BRIN, the national research institute of Indonesia. He wants to celebrate the historical moment in his own way: by doing even more research on the collection.
“The Dubois collection should not become a static collection. So we will do plenty of research, conservation and education. And the collection and also the location will remain open to visitors. Several research projects are underway with Dutch scientists. We will always maintain that cooperation on the basis of equality. So we invite scientists from all over the world to research this collection, so that together we can increase the scientific value of the collection.”
In the Volkskrant correspondent Noël van Bemmel sees that Indonesians react divided.
‘On social media and in comments on Tempo’s article, I of course see that people celebrate this. Important objects, which learn a lot about the history of Indonesia, finally come home. But I also see concerns, especially about the huge volume of the collection that is happening now: 28 thousand pieces. There is a lot of protest here against the current government, trust in the government is low. People wonder if Indonesia can host all those pieces well.
