Bengkulu officials now fear that Jambi province would sooner or later claim the fort as its property if its archaeological office continues to manage the historical landmark.
Afraid that Fort Marlborough would later be claimed by Jambi province, Bengkulu city`s administration has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to manage the fort by itself.
The Bengkulu city administration wants to make the fort an object of educational value and a cultural tourism attraction.
Together with the Bengkulu provincial administration, Bangkulu city will continue to develop and improve the quality of the region`s tourism potentials in order to attract as many domestic and foreign tourists as possible.
But Bengkulu Mayor Ahmad Kenedi over the weekend deplored the fact that the fort was still being managed by Jambi province`s archaeological office.
Consequently, Kenedi said the Bengkulu city government had found it difficult to perform various activities and other things at and around the fort.
"I have sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism requesting that Fort Marlborough, the largest remaining physical evidence of British colonial rule in Southeast Asia, be managed by the Bengkuku city government in the future," Kenedi said.
The fort was geographically located in Bengkulu but unfortunately it was being managed by Jambi province`s archaeological office.
Therefore, Bengkulu`s efforts to revitalize, renovate, and promote the fort as a tourist attraction to increase the region`s revenue could not be made optimally.
"We want to revitalize and promote the fort as a tourist attraction but we can do nothing as long as the British colonial building complex is still being managed by Jambi." the Benkulu city mayor said.
Kenedi said that if the management of Fort Marlborough was entrusted to Bengkulu city, the local government would preserve it and make use of it as an educational and cultural tourism object.
Meanwhile, Bengkulu Culture and Tourism Office chief Teguh A Roni said the fort could not produce revenue for Bengkulu because the income from entry tickets was collected by officials from Jambi province.
"We hope the fort will be managed in the future by Bengkulu city government so that its maintenance and preservation can be guaranteed," Teguh said, adding that the fort was now in deplorable conditions.
Fort Marlborough, an historical landmark which was built when Bengkulu was under British colonial rule, is one of the historical attractions in the province.
Under the fort is a tunnel connecting it with its external environment.
The tunnel was renovated last year to connect it with a viewing tower, constructed outside the fort.
But Bengkulu Governor Agustrin said the renovation was halted as permission to do so had to be issued by the culture and tourism minister.
The governor said Bengkulu`s cultural heritage of Fort Marlborough could not be renovated arbitrarily without a permission from the culture and tourism minister because it was feared to change its historical value.
"The tunnel connecting the fort with its external environment has been there all along but we want to renovate it and connect it with the viewing tower and to make it the main stop of a Bengkulu tourism package ," Governor Agustrin said.
Besides renovating the fort with funds totaling Rp7.5 billion and the upgrading of the Panjang Beach tourism resort, the Bengkulu provincial government would also build a Rp30 billion accommodation near Paderi Beach.
Agusrin expressed hope that the management of Bengkulu tourism potential would be able to attract domestic and foreign tourists, as well as investors to do business in the tourism sector in the province.
Besides the governor, Bengkulu Culture and Tourism Office chief Agus Setianto said that the fort would be intensively promoted as a tourist attraction in the province.
Agus Setianto said Fort Marlborough, built by the British East India Company from 1713-1719 on a Bengkulu beach, had a significant market value in Bengkulu`s tourism sector and had the potential to become a source of revenue for the local government to improve the local people`s welfare.
Therefore, Agus Setianto said, his office would manage the fort well and promote it intensively as one of the major tourist objects in the province.
"If intensively promoted, Fort Marlborough will be able to increase the number of tourist visits to Bengkulu and the local government`s revenue," Agus Setianto said.
In 1817 the British administration appointed Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles as lieutenant governor of Bengcoolen (Bengkulu), and during his rule he and a botanist named Joseph Arnold discovered the world`s largest flower at Manna River near Lubuktapi, in South Bengkulu.
The flower is now known as Rafflesia Arnoldi and is the official symbol of Bengkulu province.
Agus Setianto said Bengkulu`s provincial government would make every effort to promote the fort abroad in a bid to make it a source of regional revenue in the tourism sector.
"To turn the fort into an international tourism object, we will promote it intensively in other countries to attract foreign tourists to visit," Agus said.
Agus expressed hope that through an intensive promotion, more domestic and foreign tourists would come to Benkulu for holidaying in the years to come.
(T.O001/HAJM/F001)
Reporter: by Otniel Tamindael
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
