Raja Ali Haji Museum: Milestone of Cultural Advancement in Batam City

Raja Ali Haji Museum is the first regional museum owned by the Batam City Government, located in one area with the Batam Mayor’s Office and Batam Center Square. Registered in 2019, the museum occupies a building that was once used as the venue for the 25th National Level of Musabaqah Tilawatil Qur’an (MTQ) in 2014. The museum is categorized as a public museum and consists of 15 exhibition rooms. All of the exhibition rooms form a big flow that describes the journey of Batam City since the era of Riau-Lingga Malay Kingdom, Dutch and Japanese colonization, independence period, up to Batam City when it became an Administrative City and Municipality as it is today.

For cultural actors in Batam City, especially observers of history and cultural arts, the Raja Ali Haji Museum is the biggest gift from the implementation of the Regional Cultural Thoughts (PPKD) compiled in 2019. “We never expected that Batam City would have a regional museum so soon, so we are very grateful when one of the PPKD recommendations to build a museum as a center for Cultural Advancement is seriously followed up by the Mayor,” said Head of the Batam City Culture and Tourism Office (Disbudpar), Ardiwinata.

He shared that the idea of building this museum originated from a survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics and Bank Indonesia in 2017 on the tourism preferences of the people of Batam City. The survey revealed the fact that the people of Batam City wanted to visit museums and galleries as local tourist destinations, but unfortunately at that time there were no museums and galleries in the city. On the other hand, the government also found it difficult to provide a place to store historical objects found around Batam City.

“The study and urgency had already existed before that, but there was no strong legal basis for us in the government to be able to manage our own museum. So it can be said that one of the recommendations of the Batam City PPKD on museum development became a catalyst for us to seriously realize the first regional museum in Batam City managed by the government,” explained Ardiwinata.

Fast-paced Museum Development
After Raja Ali Haji Museum was established and registered in 2019, the museum management (in this case still managed directly by Disbudpar of Batam City) immediately moved quickly to improve the infrastructure. In the same year, Raja Ali Haji Museum received museum revitalization assistance from the Directorate of Cultural Heritage Preservation and Museum (now Directorate of Protection). The revitalization funds were used to renovate the inside of the ex-MTQ building into a series of 15 showrooms for the museum collection as it is today.

In addition, in the past year, the Batam City Disbudpar began to move various historical objects that had been stored internally into the museum and actively coordinated and negotiated with various parties known to have historical objects related to Batam City, so that they were willing to donate them to the museum. “Currently, the process of arranging the exhibition space and its collection is still ongoing. Hopefully next year the museum will be more complete and organized collection,” said Ardiwinata.

Not only in terms of infrastructure, Raja Ali Haji Museum is also being strengthened in terms of its governance. According to information from Ardiwinata, this year it has been proposed to the Mayor of Batam for the establishment of a Regional Technical Implementation Unit (UPTD) of the Museum under the Batam City Disbudpar.