Going Once, Twice … Anyone? Indonesia’s Treasure Auction Flops

From the Jakarta Globe:
Going Once, Twice … Anyone? Indonesia’s Treasure Auction Flops
The scheduled auction of a 10th-century treasure trove worth at least $80 million opened on Wednesday for a mere five minutes before it was closed because of an absence of any bidders.

After the event, Fadel Muhammad, minister of maritime affairs and fisheries and head of the auction organizing committee, said he would report back to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before deciding when to hold the next auction and if any changes needed to be made.

Belgian treasure hunter Luc Heymans, whose company recovered the underwater haul from a shipwreck north of Cirebon, West Java, had previously said that the government’s decision to sell all 271,000 pieces as a single lot would be a big hindrance.

Adi Agung Tirtamarta, chief executive of PT Paradigma Putra Sejathera, the local partner of Heymans’ Cosmix Underwater Research, said he hoped the auction’s failure would encourage the government to revise its restrictive requirements.

“Potential bidders were required to pay a hefty deposit of $16 million, or 20 percent of the minimum bid, and the auction was announced with such short notice,” he said, adding that nowhere else in the world would such huge sums be demanded as a deposit.

However, Adi was optimistic that Wednesday’s debacle would not threaten future treasure-hunting expeditions.

“That we finally have a legal procedure for auctions like this is already a major step,” he said, adding that his company already had another three salvage operations in the pipeline, near West Java and Bangka Belitung.

Securing backing from investors was also not a problem, Adi said, with the company’s next two expeditions already funded by a German company, and the third by a local company.

Nicholas Sahnditzehr, from a German salvage company, applauded the government’s initiatives to recover the country’s maritime heritage, but said he believed investors still faced significant financial risks associated with such exploration.

“If the operators don’t get a fair share to cover the tremendous risk they are taking, your country will be further in danger of losing its important cultural heritage,” he said, adding that in his three and a half years in the business, his company had investigated 30 shipwrecks, all of which had already been plundered.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has raised concerns that the auction breaches an international convention on the protection of maritime cultural heritage, arguing that Indonesia should not commercialize its finds.

Fadel said he had been corresponding with the heritage body about the matter. “We have considered the 2001 Unesco convention, but the problem is the artifacts are worthless when they are underwater.”

Officials from the ministries of maritime affairs and culture and tourism are scheduled to meet with Unesco representatives in Bali next week. Members of the National Committee for Salvage and Utilization of Valuable Objects from Sunken Ships, which oversees the management of underwater finds, will also attend the meeting.

“Maybe if Unesco has the funds, they can collaborate with the government to salvage more underwater treasures found in our waters,” Fadel said.

Tourism Minister Jero Wacik suggested the possibility of building a national maritime museum for valuable finds, estimating it would cost about Rp 400 billion ($44 million) to set up.

A lone protester also caused a stir after the auction had been closed. Edwin Erlangga, a 28-year-old student, demanded the sale of the treasures be scrapped altogether. Waving a small placard that said the sale of the country’s national heritage should be rejected, he was ushered out of the room by police.