Distributing Borobudur’s Sparkle to Local Communities

The village economy hall (balkondes) are hoped to distribute Borobudur’s sparkle to the 20 villages that surround the temple.

Kompas/Ferganata Indra Riatmoko

A tour carriage coachman checking his horse after dropping tourists off at Ngaran Village Economy Hall, Borobudur village, Magelang regency, Central Java, on Thursday (16/11). A number of village economy halls have popped up around the Borobudur area and have become a place for locals to sell several of their villages’ commodities to tourists.

Amid the piling bamboo ornaments on his homes veranda, Hartono, 58, pointed at three half-finished percussion instruments. They were oddly-shaped as they were made from dongklak, or bamboo stem. Apparently, these strange instruments had been ordered by a famous Indonesian singer.

“These instruments were ordered by Trie Utami,” Hartono said in an interview at his house in Wringinputih village, Borobudur district, Magelang regency, Central Java.

Hartono is among Wringinputih village’s bamboo craftspeople. Every day he makes various handicrafts from bamboo, such as angklung, a music instrument from Java. Around two months ago, Hartono met with Trie Utami, a senior Indonesian singer known as the vocalist of the Krakatau music group.

“After the meeting, she ordered the bamboo instruments from me. They are new and have no names. Maybe Trie will name them herself,” he said, smiling.

Each of the made-to-order musical instruments comprise two hollow tubes connected by a piece of bamboo or wood. The outer surfaces of the two tubes are covered with certain materials so that they make a sound when hit. Hartono was specifically asked to use recycled items for the cover, such as used tires or plastic cooking oil packaging.

Promotional space

Hartono said his meeting with the senior singer took place after Wringinputih village developed its village economy hall (balkondes). The balkondes serves as a promotional space for the numerous products made in villages around Borobudur. The balkondes began development last year to reinforce village tourism initiatives.

The balkondes program was initiated by the central government and developed in partnership with state-owned enterprises. Apart from establishing a building as a center of activities, events to promote village products are also held.

“Since the balkondes in Wringinputih was established, my angklung group has performed there many times. I was then introduced to Trie Utami, who asked me to make these instruments,” Hartono said.

Hartono’s experience is just one example of balkondes’ concept of the people’s economy. In other villages, similar balkondes are also established to boost local economic potential.

Forest honey

In Giritengah village, for instance, the balkondes is aimed at promoting local commodities, such as forest honey. Giritengah balkondes supervisor Yudhi Pramono said the village was home to many honey farmers. However, these farmers used to sell their honey to middlemen.

To create added value, the Giritengah balkondes administration focuses on making various products from the honey they produce. “We create honey fried rice, honey fried chicken, honey cassava and even honey coffee,” he said. The balkondes also sells bottled honey.

Giritengah village honey farmer Bambang Manonsuhisto, 50, said he hoped the balkondes could increase the number of tourists visiting the village’s honeybee farm training center. Thus far, the training center was often visited by students or people from other regions wishing to learn about honeybee farming. “We hope that the balkondes would attract tourists to the training center,” Bambang said.

Some seven kilometers to the north of Giritengah, Kembanglimus village also uses its balkondes to promote local products. The Kembanglimus’s village administration development section head Rohadi said the village’s balkondes aimed at promoting hard-to-find local delicacies, such as mangut beong, buntil ulek and pepes bluluk.

“The villagers will cook these meals and we will promote them at events in balkondes,” he said.

Through their artistic and traditional architectural designs, a number of balkondes buildings are gaining popularity among tourists, even if only for selfies. Recently, a number of young couples have been using balkondes to hold wedding parties, such as in Ngaran II hamlet in Borobudur village.

State-owned temple management company PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko president director Edy Setijono said the balkondes was launched in Borobudur district in 2016. Now, 16 of the district’s 20 villages have balkondes. In the other four villages, balkondes will be developed next year.

In developing the balkondes, a village partners with a state-owned enterprise and is given funding of up to Rp 1 billion (US$74,000). One balkondes is targeted to also have 10 rooms for rent.

Edy said he hoped the balkondes development program would boost tourism and increase the length of time tourists stayed in the Borobudur area. Central Java Youth, Sports and Tourism agency said there were only seven starred and 44 non-starred hotels in Magelang regency. The average length of stay was only around 1.36 days.

With the balkondes, tourists will have more options to visit other than the famed Borobudur temple. This is in line with the Borobudur Conservation Agency’s plan to spread tourists in the Borobudur area to avoid overcrowding that may accelerate damage to the centuries old temple. The balkondes development program is also hoped to boost the economy of the villages around the temple. “Thus far, Borobudur temple is a huge ball of shining light and yet its surrounding villages are trapped in utter darkness,” Edy said.

The balkondes are hoped to distribute Borobudur’s sparkle to the 20 villages that surround the temple.