Wise Words for Habibie

AS soon as Muhammad Yamin left his position as minister of teaching, education and culture in August 1955, the inscription inaugurating the Shiva temple at Yogyakarta's famous Prambanan complex was deliberately dismantled. The inscription, a nod to the completion of Prambanan's restoration, which had been completed two years earlier, had been controversial from the start.

A group of archaeologists led by Soekmono, head of the Antiquities Department, had opposed the inscription's inclusion of the phrase, "restoration process under the leadership of the Honorable Minister of Teaching, Education and Culture Muhammad Yamin." Less than a week after Yamin stepped down, the group received the government's blessing to dismantle it.

August 19, 2014