President Prabowo Subianto Meets with FBI Director to Strengthen Repatriation Cooperation on Cultural Artefacts

President Prabowo Subianto received an honorable visit from the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kash Patel, at Kertanegara, Jakarta, on Wednesday (07/22). The meeting marked an important milestone in strengthening cooperation between Indonesia and the United States, especially in the effort to repatriate Indonesia’s cultural artefacts that were illegally smuggled abroad.

Minister of Culture Fadli Zon, who gave a press statement accompanied by the Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi, explained that aside from the discussion, the Director of the FBI also personally handed out Indonesia’s cultural artefacts to President Prabowo as part of the repatriation agreement between the Indonesian Government and the FBI.

“Of course, aside from the discussion, He (the Director of the FBI) also brought Indonesia’s cultural artefacts as part of cooperation between Indonesia’s Cultural Ministry and the FBI in repatriating cultural items and cultural artefacts, which were illegally smuggled to the United States. After provenance research on their originality took place, the artefacts were then repatriatedand personally brought by Mr. Kash Patel to President Prabowo Subianto,” said Fadli Zon in his press statement after the meeting.

Fadli Zon explained that the repatriated artefacts are originally from Papua, specifically cultural heritage of the Dani Tribe, the Asmat Tribe, and the Danau Tribe from the Sentani Lake area. According to Fadli, these artefacts possessed a very high historical and cultural value for Indonesia.

“I think the repatriation of these artefacts is very important since it is part of our effort to restore our cultural sovereignty,” he added.

Fadli Zon further explained that cooperation between the FBI and the Indonesian Government has been going on for a long time. Previously, the FBI had helped the Indonesian Government a few times to repatriate several important Indonesian cultural artefacts that were stolen, including bronze statues and other artefacts from several cultural sites.

“We hope that the cooperation with the FBI, particularly regarding repatriation and restitution of Indonesian cultural artefacts, will continue to be strengthened in the future, also with the support from the Ministry of State Secretariat and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said Fadli.

Moreover, Fadli emphasized that the repatriation of these Indonesian cultural artefacts is part of the Government’s commitment to restore national cultural sovereignty while also enriching the public’s knowledge of the nation’s historical heritage.

“I think this is part of our effort to restore our cultural heritage sovereignty to complete our cultural knowledge, and of course we will exhibit these, we will exhibit these artefacts in the National Museum,” said Fadli. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (TCUD/AW)