[MSN] Indonesia. Raiders of Solo's lost art.

[MSN]

Raiders of Solo's lost art

With an air of nonchalant gravitas befitting his 1300 years, Mahakala, the
guardian of life and wisdom, stands inside a tiny police storeroom in Solo
in central Java. Beside him are four other ancient Hindu stone deities.
Opposite are five pretenders, fakes installed in Indonesia's oldest museum,
all silent witnesses to the nation's biggest art scam.

Mahakala carries a large club, ready to protect the gods, the faithful and
their efforts to attain enlightenment. His statue meant much to the
archaeologist Lambang Babar Purnomo - who had embarked on his own quest for
truth - but for him Mahakala's protective powers counted for little.

It was Lambang who confirmed five statues in the museum were copies and five
found in the home of one of Jakarta's most well-connected businessman the
stolen originals.

It was Lambang who pointed out other protected artefacts in the man's
collection.

It was Lambang who, helping to examine the Radya Pustaka Museum's
collections, revealed many more masterpieces were missing, replaced by
copies.

And it was the 57-year-old Lambang whose body was found in a roadside ditch
last month, his neck snapped like a twig.

An investigation by the Herald has revealed a web of fear, threats and
intrigue surrounding the case, and a thriving international blackmarket in
Indonesia's ancient treasures. The pillaging of the Radya Pustaka is the
nation's greatest cultural crime, the Central Java Archaeological Board
says.

The museum's relics came from the grand Hindu and Buddhist empires that
dominated the region before the coming of Islam - and the collections of
Solo's King Pakubuwono XIII, who sits at the apex of Indonesian royalty.

In recent years the once-powerful Surakarta Kraton - the ancient name for
Solo's palace - has fallen on lean times. The royal family divided after the
death of the last king, with rival princes claiming the throne.

King Pakubuwono was then accused of selling sacred relics to maintain a
lavish lifestyle, an accusation vehemently denied. But Hugo Kreijger, the
former Christie's South-East Asian expert who brokered the sale of the five
statues, insists the king approved the deal.

The scandal also reaches into the highest levels of Jakarta's elite. The
statues were recovered from the oil magnate Hashim Djojohadikusumo, the
younger brother of Prabowo Subianto, the former commander of the elite
Kopassus brigade and son-in-law of the late dictator Soeharto.

It was a young archaeology student and museum guide, Andrea Ambar, who first
raised concerns about missing items. She noticed a Tang dynasty ceramic was
gone, then that a crystal vase, a gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to King
Pakubuwono IV, had been substituted.

She told the museum chief, the respected palace astrologer Mbah
(Grandfather) Hadi. "He said I was talking nonsense, nothing is missing,"
Ambar said.

Soon after, she was fired. The termination letter said Ambar "created
worrying issues".

She recalls an antiques trader from the palace, Heru Suryanto, visiting the
museum with Indonesian businessmen and Hugo Kreijger. The men appeared
interested in the stone deities but also took numerous photographs of the
museum's collection of bronze statues. Last year she took some Australian
student friends to the museum and noticed the Hindu statues were a different
size and colour. She gave photographs to her lecturer, who alerted the
archaeological board.

Lambang was asked to investigate and soon confirmed the fraud. The board
also began an inventory of the stone, bronze and ceramic collections,
finding many more items missing - including 52 of 85 bronze statues replaced
by fakes.

Hundreds of other collections have not been checked, including valuable
collections of sacred daggers (kris) and other heirlooms.

The archaeological board's Tri Hatmaji said the museum was full of
masterpieces. "They are the evidence of the nation's cultural works, they
are simply priceless." International networks were behind the thefts, he
says, and hopes publicity will persuade collectors to return some items.

The palace secretary, Princess Mung, said the museum and the palace were the
victims of a serious crime. Royal letters of authenticity accompanying the
five statues - stating they were a gift from the king to his friend Kreijger
- were clearly forgeries, she said.

Princess Mung blames Mbah Hadi and a conspiracy by rival royals. "Behind the
crime itself the palace feels there is a party who wants to overthrow us."

While Mbah Hadi and Heru had been arrested, they had admitted the crime had
nothing to do with the palace, she said.

Mbah Hadi and Heru have confessed to substituting the statues. Heru said
Kreijger expressed interest in the museum's statues after a visit in 2006.

Heru said he approached Mbah Hadi, who rejected the offer for the statues
until Heru pointed out he could put fakes in their place.

The first fake was driven to the museum at 7pm on July 7, 2006. It passed
Mbah Hadi's inspection and he ordered two guards to open the museum's back
door.

The next four statues took the same route out of the museum over following
months.

Heru says he paid Mbah Hadi $65,000 and Kreijger paid about $100,000.
Hashim's lawyer suggests the collector paid millions for the statues,
although Kreijger emphatically denies it.

Kreijger requested a letter of authentication from the king, dictating its
contents, Heru said, which he forged. Heru then delivered the statues to
Hashim's offices in Jakarta.

In the airy, whitewashed colonial Solo courthouse, awaiting a hearing on
Indonesia's first charges of cultural heritage theft, Mbah Hadi looks more
doddery pensioner than art theft mastermind.

Yes, he was there when the statues were substituted, he softly told the
Herald through the bars of a holding cell. "I deeply regret what happened."
Despite his confession, Mbah Hadi said he was confident of acquittal. "I am
still respected by the palace. The proof is Princess Mung has already
prepared an office room for me after I retire." As he talked one thickset
museum guard - also facing charges for helping move the statues - tapped
Mbah Hadi on the shoulder and gestured him away. Later, a nervous Mbah Hadi
said he had been "forbidden to talk" by the palace.

Princess Mung confirmed she had offered Mbah Hadi a palace room and was
funding his legal defence. "It is because Mbah Hadi is already old and he
has been employed by the palace to run the museum," she said.

Few believe Mbah Hadi engineered the thefts, but some investigators say
there is heavy political pressure not to go further. They talk of pressure
not to follow the trail to "Jakarta", not to pursue the other missing items,
not to expose the palace and not to explore links with Lambang's death.

"Mbah Hadi is very loyal to the king," one said. "Kreijger is the key
witness but he is not going to be called."

Speaking from his Amsterdam apartment, Kreijger said he was surprised that
police had not contacted him. He maintains Heru approached him on behalf of
the king.

"He said the king needs money, they wanted to sell things, sculptures from
their collection which is based in a museum but it's a private museum.

"I said I only want to deal with it when it can stay in Indonesia because I
don't want to deal with illegal elements, so I said I know somebody in
Jakarta [Hashim] who is going to create a small museum.

"I showed him the pictures and he said, 'Let's buy them, that way we can
save them for Indonesia'." The letters from the king were "in my opinion,
authentic", Kreijger said. It was "nonsense" to suggest he dictated the
contents.

"You have to realise the circumstances, everyone was on top of him [Heru]. I
presume he has to say things that are not as they really are.

"It's known in the world that they have been selling."

Kreijger said he was scheduled to meet the king during his 2006 visit to
discuss the purchase, but was waiting inside the palace when the meeting was
cancelled at the last minute.

A renowned expert on the art of the region, he is clearly aggrieved at the
publicity. "The idea was to preserve the statues so everybody could enjoy
them, to bring them to a modern museum."

Hashim tells a similar story to a local magazine. "To be frank, I bought
those artefacts because outside the country they were already being offered
for sale. I want those historical statues to remain in Indonesia."

Lambang Purnomo had dedicated his life to Indonesia's historical artefacts
and, with this last investigation before retiring, told his family he was
determined to reveal the truth.

His brother-in-law, Ibnu Subiyanto, is the provincial regent but said it was
"too dangerous" for him to discuss the case with local media. Lambang had
told him that despite threats "I want to finish my work with the best
performance, I want to tell the true story about everything". An examination
by another relative, a doctor, indicated Lambang had died in a professional
hit, Subiyanto said. "He said it was not a traffic accident but he's killed
by someone, his neck was rotated by someone, the neck bone was broken." The
official autopsy is understood to say that Lambang died from a twisted neck
but leaves the cause open.

When Lambang's body was found beside his motorcycle in a ditch beside a
Yogyakarta roadway early one morning last month, the traffic police
commissioner Sulistyo reportedly said his wounds were inconsistent with an
accident.

Now he says: "I said there was indication of a traffic accident. What was
clear is the body has some wounds which need to be further analysed."
Evidence at the scene indicated Lambang was out of control, with 12-metre
skid marks, he said.

"We at the traffic police unit only judge the elements related to the
traffic. The brake, for instance, was fine, the speed was at medium speed
but perhaps the driver was sleepy. And there was a tree and a dip." When the
Herald visited the site there was not a tree or dip to be seen, just a
straight, six-lane roadway.

A witness in an adjacent house, Erni Permatasari, said she woke early that
morning. "Should it have been an accident, I should have heard the sound of
something." All Permatasari heard was a voice softly crying for help.
Outside there were "no skid marks or any sign of any traffic accident" -
comments supported by others who visited the scene.

The archaeological board's Tri confirms Lambang was the key expert witness
in the Solo case and had been "very frank" in describing his findings and
other protected items in Hashim's collection.

Since Lambang's death, Tri has avoided going out at night and has removed
the Government-issue numberplates on his car. He is concerned that Lambang's
dedication may count for nothing. "I'm afraid if the case is not opened
almost all archaeologists will be afraid to express the truth." It is a fear
shared by those Lambang inspired. A week after his death school students in
Solo who helped compile the Radya Pustaka's inventory gathered outside the
museum's gates.

They wore black armbands and carried signs reading "Goodbye father Lambang"
and demanding an investigation into his death. "He was kind, willing to
explain all about artefacts to us," said one young boy.

Lambang "didn't understand who is friend and foe", his brother-in-law said.
"He didn't realise that archaeology is a dangerous field."