A highly controversial government plan to hike the entrance fee to the iconic Borobudur Temple has been postponed, Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said today.
Earlier this week, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan announced a plan to increase the entrance fee to the UNESCO World Heritage site to IDR750K (US$51.86) for local tourists and US$100 for foreign tourists.
Currently, the entrance fee to enter Borobudur is IDR50K (US$3.46) for adults, which also entitles them to climb to the actual temple. Students are charged IDR5K (US$0.35) to enter
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Amid pushback and accusations of policy being exclusionary, Governor Ganjar today said he met with Luhut, who has agreed to postpone the price hike pending further evaluation.
“I told [Luhut] that so many people are protesting, so I advised that we contain [the policy] first and he agreed. Let’s not talk about the fee yet, let’s postpone it,” Ganjar said after the meeting with Luhut.
Under the government’s proposal, the price hike would apply only to visitors who wish to climb the temple proper, and not those who just wish to remain in the vast temple complex. The government argued that the measure was necessary to limit the number of visitors and better conserve the iconic Buddhist temple.
