Setjadibrata's passion for Indonesian art and history began while he was a young, and very poor, medical student in Java. He began collecting antiques in 1972 at the age of 25 years old. At that time he had completed his medical studies and was waiting to complete the last year of his hospital internship. Young Setjadibrata was looking forward to taking Indonesia's government regulated medical examination - a necessity to practice medicine in that country. As fate would have it, political problem arose and the examination was postponed for an indefinite period.
Having a lot of spare time on his hand, Setjadibrata accepted a job as a medical representative for an international pharmaceutical company. He was sent to visit doctors and nurses in small villages far from Java.

During these visits, Setjadibrata had the opportunity to explore Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, West Timor, Kalimantan and Borneo. He came across many people of these regions who were discarding priceless antiquities and cultural relics, innocently believing these historical treasures to be out of style, old-fashioned, or simply not "modern".

Setjadibrata saw the natural beauty of these villages and the remains of their rich history, of which the locals were painfully unaware. Because of his keen interest in history, he also worked as a non-professional guide in his free time. One day he was hired by an elderly European professor who was studying the legend of Ramayana. The professor asked the young Setjadibrata to take him to a place in Bali where he was to rendezvous with a stranger. The place was situated along a broad sandy beach nestled amidst verdant paddy fields near an old temple. But what Setjadibrata remembered most about this place was the sunset … the most spectacular one he had ever seen.

As twilight fell, the stranger approached the professor and handed him an object. It was a Cupu Manik, a 16th century stone bowl of three parts, from which ancient priests sprinkled holy healing water over villagers suffering from sickness and disease. Although still a novice collector, Setjadibrata was aware of the priceless cultural value of this treasure.

Thereafter, Setjadibrata began collecting antiques, and the histories that surround them, piece by piece, and competing with scores of antique dealers from abroad who flock to Indonesia to buy its priceless antiques - and pieces of its history. To gain more thorough knowledge of the history of antiques, as well as learn how to authenticate them, Setjadibrata spent much time reading about antiques, visiting museums and reproduction workshops, and engaging in lengthy discussions with fellow collectors.

Through the years, his vast collection of antiques continued to grow. "I began to realize that my collections must no longer speak only to me, they must also speak to all as a symbol of my country's rich history and cultural heritage," added Setjadibrata. After 12 years, Setjadibrata left his law practice and decided to make his dream a reality.

In 1989 he built his first boutique museum hotel, Hotel Tugu Malang, in the East Java city of Malang to showcase his overflow of treasures from Java and beyond. His efforts were soon rewarded. In addition to being the only hotel in Indonesia to win a national award for architectural excellence, Tugu Malang is home to one of the largest collections of Javanese, Chinese and Dutch colonial antiques in Indonesia and is ranked among the 101 Best Hotels in the World.
In the early 1990s, through pure coincidence, Anhar found the Cupu Manik that first got him addicted to collecting antiques in the first place. Remembering the many years of his life during when he could never forget this Cupu Manik and the setting where he found it, Anhar finally found back the beautiful, deserted sunset beach where he saw the Cupu Manik for the first time. On this beach he built Hotel Tugu Bali, which houses the Cupu Manik until this very day.