Lowokwaru (malangkota.go.id) – The ranks of the Malang City Government (Pemkot), the Cultural Heritage Expert Team (TACB), the Technical Squadron (Skatek) 022 of the Abdurahman Saleh Air Force Base, and the National Police carried out maintenance on the MiG 17 Fresco TNI AU aircraft monument on Jalan Soekarno Hatta, Malang City, Wednesday (12/7/2023). This was done to maintain and preserve the existence of the aircraft which is a cultural heritage.
TACB Secretary, Rakai Hinno Galeswangi, said that the MiG 17 Fresco aircraft monument is more than 50 years old and has important values in the nation's struggle and in efforts to strengthen patriotism.
"If we trace it back to its history, the point is this is historical evidence between Indonesia and the Soviet Union when they established cooperation. One of them is that there is a share in the glory of our nation because we participated in the Dwikora (Dwi Komando Rakyat) operation and played a direct and active role," he explained.
Furthermore, Rakai said that the maintenance of each Object Suspected of Cultural Heritage (ODCB) itself also varies. If this aircraft is made of iron, then its maintenance itself is from Skatek 022 Lanud Abdurahman Saleh.
"Cleaning at ODCB is called conservation and it varies, depending on the object. If it is a stone, it has its own maintenance, if it is made of iron, it also has its own. That's why we need synergy like this," he said.
The ideal time to do ODCB maintenance, according to him, is at least once a year. By involving all parties, Rakai hopes that the monument can build historical values and educational values for Malang City. "Maintenance of this airplane monument is routinely carried out, although this is the first time involving TACB," he said.
Separately, the Head of the Skatek 022 Abd Saleh Air Force Base, Captain Deddy Yahya Khristanto, said that this maintenance was not the first time it had been carried out, but was routinely carried out every year.
"Today we involve 22 personnel from Skatek 022 who directly perform maintenance. There are 20 members and two officers, and this is our routine," he explained.
The maintenance that is carried out does not stop at the airplane monument. But maintenance is also carried out on other monuments.
"In Batu City, we have also surveyed and plan to carry out maintenance on the airplane monument on July 13th. There are certain treatments but we adjust the conditions to the procedures we have," he said.
Furthermore, Dedy said that the airplane monument is one of the cultural and historical sites that must be preserved and immortalized. He hopes that in the future the younger generation can learn about the history of the monument.
"Hopefully it can embrace the younger generation to know the history of this monument, and also so that we can regenerate aerospace people especially those in Malang City," concluded Captain Deddy. (say/yon)
