The restoration work on Borobudur was spearheaded by Daoed Joesoef, who, as education and culture minister, undertook the project in 1978. Financed by unesco, the reconstruction was completed in 1983. "Our experts learned a great deal about temple restoration from Borobudur," Joesoef told Outlook. Inspired, President Suharto ordered the restoration of Prambanan to recreate its pristine glory.
In 1985, as the Prambanan restoration was under way, Islamic militants bombed Borobudur, destroying nine Buddhist stupas. They said the government should spend its scarce resources on the poor, instead of bankrolling un-Islamic monuments. Suharto ordered a crackdown on Muslim militants. Subsequently, in the 1990s, the Jogjakarta government built a park around the Prambanan complex, in the process evicting villagers and fuelling protests.
It will be an enormous challenge to once again reconstruct the Prambanan temple. For one, as archaeologist Waluyo says, it will be a gargantuan task to locate the stones used to build the temple. Much of the stonework was stolen before the restoration, and taken to areas far from Prambanan for construction purposes. This is why many parts of the complex have concrete slabs without the characteristic temple carvings.
Joesoef says reconstructing such invaluable cultural heritage shouldn't be hostage to exigencies of the present. "It won't be easy as the government has to first assist the people whose houses have been destroyed," he admits, suggesting that Prambanan may need a coordinated international reconstruction exercise. For Indonesia, though, it's a question about restoring its past without which the present would seem incomplete.
