Indonesia asks Netherlands to return art, natural history collections

The Indonesian government wants eight pieces of art and natural science collections back from the Netherlands. The country sent a list to the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science in July, calling the items looted art and demanding their return, Trouw reports.

The list includes the skull of the Java man and the rest of the Dubois collection currently exhibited in the Naturalis museum in Leiden. The collection consists of 40,000 fossils, including the skull, excavated in Indonesia by the Dutch researcher Eugene Dubous at the end of the nineteenth century.

Indonesia also wants the Lombok treasure - an extensive collection of jewels, precious stones, and gold and silver jewelry currently managed by the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden - back, and the reins of the horse of Diponegoro, the leader of the Java revolt against Dutch colonial rule at the start of the 19th century.

The Ministry confirmed to Trouw that State Secretary Gunray Uslu received the request in July. She hasn’t informed the involved museums yet to avoid speculation, the Ministry said. A previously announced independent committee will review requests like this one.

A spokesperson for Naturalis confirmed to the newspaper that it didn’t know about Indonesia’s official request but had expected one to come. Naturalis will cooperate with any investigations.

The natural history museum added that it was surprised that Indonesia included the natural history objects in its demand that the Netherlands return looted art. “Art treasures are, of course, handmade by people from the local population,” a spokesperson said. “But you can say about the Java skull: it would never have been found if the Dutchman Dubois had not set up a search.”