"Poor Buddhists Can't Go Up Borobudur Temple Until They Die"

TheIndonesia.id - The head of Mendut Monastery Sri Pannyavaro Mahathera conveyed that the policy of a quota of 1,200 people per day who could go up to Borobudur Temple was necessary to save the temple, but it should be done without having to pay a lot of money for commoners.

"Even poor people (there are quite a few rural Buddhists) until they die will certainly not be able to go up to the temple to do puja or pradaksina because they have to pay a very high price for them Rp750,000 per person," said Pannyavaro in a press release in Magelang, Monday, June 6, 2022.

The inter-ministerial/institutional coordination meeting led by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan decided to limit tourist visits to the Borobudur Temple building by implementing a quota system. Based on the quota policy, there will be a special price rule, for domestic tourists of IDR 750,000, for foreign tourists of 100 US dollars, and students (school study tour groups / non-individual) IDR 5,000.

Furthermore, Pannyavaro, who is also the Head of the Indonesian Teravada Sangha, said that on that day the quota was full, please just queue to the next day or another day. "If visitors don't want to or can't ride on another day, that's fine! Moreover, registration can be done online," he said.

However, he said, it's not just those who have money that can go up or in other ways have to become a monk first or return to being a school student which is very unlikely. According to him, let Buddhists patiently wait in line to climb to the top of Borobudur Temple, just like the Muslim brothers who are also patiently waiting in line for the pilgrimage for several years.

"Hopefully this proposal will be considered by the authorities in making decisions regarding the regulation of Borobudur Temple ascending," he said.