Golden Artifact Hunters

For three years now, a burglary ring has targeted museums. In Yogyakarta thieves broke a window at the Sonobudoyo Museum, disabled the CCTV system and nabbed gold artifacts from the ancient Mataram period. A similar incident occurred at the National Museum in Jakarta. In Bali, pratimasacred gold itemswere stolen from temples. The gold artifacts' financial value is not very high. Many are plates with lettered inscriptions which still remained undeciphered. This has given rise to the suspicion that there is a mystical element to those objectswhich might have drawn the interest of people dealing in stolen goods. Just how important are the gold relics from ancient Mataram shrines for collectors? Tempo reports from Yogyakarta, Bali, and Jakarta.