Luhut Pandjaitan as the coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment announced that the government will increase the ticket price to go to the Borobudur temple to Rp750 thousand for local tourists, USD 100 for foreign tourists, and Rp5 thousand for students. In addition, Luhut also revealed through his Instagram account (05/06/2022),
that this step was taken by the government solely for the sake of preserving the preservation and richness of the history and culture of the archipelago, and for visitors who want to go up to the Borobudur temple must use a local tour guide so that can be useful for residents because it creates jobs.
Of course, this announcement reaped the pros and cons in the community. One example is Agitia (19 years old), a citizen who has visited Borobudur Temple. She strongly agrees because when she visited to go up to the top of the temple, many other visitors did not comply with the rules set by the management.
"Yes, when I went up there were a lot of people who trampled on the stupa there, there were also those who occupied, climbed the top of the stupa, even though just holding it was not allowed, even some of the rest of the garbage was thrown away," said Agitia in an interview.
This is supported by the photos uploaded by the Instagram account @sariefebriane, where some people seem to ignore the prohibition boards or the Borobudur temple rules and in the photo, some visitors are seen taking photos to illustrate that they do not feel guilty for their actions.
"So I agree if the price to go up to the Borobudur temple is increased, so that people can appreciate the Borobudur temple as a world-recognized cultural heritage, and open their hearts to participate in maintaining and preserving this culture so that future generations can still see and enjoy this cultural site. ." said Agit in the interview.
But on the other hand, people who have never visited the temple, feel a little disappointed because to go up to the top of the Borobudur temple must be expensive and not everyone can afford that price. One example is Shelfia (27 years), a citizen who has never traveled to the Borobudur temple:
"I do not agree with the government's decision to increase the price of the Borobudur temple because to pay that price, not everyone can afford it. So it is very unfortunate that we as Indonesians cannot enjoy the cultural sites that exist in our own country." Said Shelfia in the interview.
Some other people also hope that to maintain the cultural site, ticket prices must increase, and the government must reconsider prices that are not too expensive or can be affordable to the community.