Museum
Initiative
Since KNIP (the Central Indonesian National Committee) era in 1945 until the 2004 – 2009 period, the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI) has already undergone 16 periods. Each period has different background, different political history, different number of Members, different number of Factions and different performance.
The flash back of DPR RI started from 1945 (when the first inauguration of KNIP Members was held). This flash back is what the “MUSEUM OF DPR RI” trying to visualize. The initiative to establish a Museum of DPR RI had started since the 1987 – 1992 period of DPR RI, with the following of Leadership composition: H.E. Mr. M. Kharis Suhud as the Speaker, H.E. Mr. R. Soekardi as the Vice Speaker, H.E. Mr. Saiful Sulun as the Vice Speaker and H.E. Mr. Dr. J. Naro as the Vice Speaker.
The realization of the establishment of the Museum was begun by establishing a Foundation named “Yayasan Museum DPR RI (the Museum of DPR RI Foundation)” with H.E. Mr. Jailani (Jhony) Naro, as its leader.
The initial step taken by the Foundation was to prepare a plan to construct a Museum building and form a team tasked to pay a comparative study to Parliament abroad and gather collections in the form of manuscripts, historical items and photographs related to the Parliament since the colonial era to the time of the establishment process of KNIP and all activities that the parliament had engaged in since 1945.
The collection, i.e. manuscripts, historical items and photographs were then placed in the new established museum located in a ballroom, on the second floor of Nusantara IV building (currently, the museum is on the second floor of Nusantara building). The official opening of the museum was marked by the signing of inscription by the Speaker of DPR RI, H.E. Mr. M. Kharis Suhud in an inauguration ceremony.
Expansion
The expansion of the museum was conducted in the period of 1997 during the tenure of H.E. Mr. Harmoko as the Speaker of DPR RI. On his initiative, the museum was expanded by adding its collection in the form of manuscripts, historical items and photographs. The museum was also relocated to a more representative location.
In addition to the museum’s expansion, a team was established, namely a Museum Expansion Team, to realize the expansion of the museum with Mr. Edo Wasdi, as its leader.
Considering the team had only 3 (three) months, from July to September 1999, to work, it had to hold marathon meetings both inside and outside the DPR RI Building. The National archives, the Directorate General of Museums, the Department of National Education and the National Library were involved in those meetings.
The team then arranged a tight working schedule that included; planning, organizing, (job distribution) and evaluation.
Because the previous stage was required to the implementation of the next working stage, so the team had to be stick to the schedule of each stage. Therefore, the team decided to intensify its series of meetings in July and August 1999 by holding meetings once a week to evaluate each of the working field that had been conducted.
The Working Results:
- Making a draft of Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretary General of DPR RI and KITLV (Koninklijk Instituut voor taal-, land- en volkenkunde/an institute of Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences). Working with the National Archives in the making of a video clip about the Progress of DPR RI and the reform process within DPR RI.
- Working with the National Archives in the procurement of the museum collections, the Directorate General of Museums of the Department of National Education in arranging, planning, making layout, and procurement of the museum collections in the form of historical items, manuscripts and photographs and adding the museum with the a fore-mentioned collections plus audio visual media.
- Setting up a representative place for the Museum, located in the second floor of Nusantara Building. Relocating the Museum from the second floor of Nusantara IV Building to the second floor of Nusantara Building.
The Museum inscription was signed by the Speaker of DPR RI, H.E. Mr. Harmoko on September 30th, 1999. The expansion and the addition of the museum collections comprises of 64 set of manuscripts, 159 historical items, and 348 photographs.
