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Rereading the country’s ancient script
Ancient writings: A woman looks at the Aksara writing system in the National Library’s audiovisual room in Jakarta
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Ancient writings: A woman looks at the Aksara writing system in the National Library’s audiovisual room in Jakarta.
A private museum in Jember, East Java, sheds light on the evolution of aksara in human civilizations.
Perahu Aksara (Script Boat), a beautiful art installation resembling a wooden boat on rolling waves with a sail decorated with sparkling Aksara Jawa (Javanese ancient script), is on display at the National Library in Jakarta.
It conveys the message that long before the country’s independence, what united Indonesians across the archipelago is the sea and that is why they have a strong maritime culture that later helped them get acquainted with script or a writing system.
Script is a set of visual symbols on paper or other mediums, such as stone, wood and cloth. People in Palembang, South Sumatra, for example, used bambu betung (giant bamboo), while the Sundanese people used tree bark of daluwang (paper mulberry).
An alphabet is one type of script. Aksara (ancient script), which etymologically derives from the Sanskrit words a (no) and kshara (annihilated), can mean eternity or something unbreakable because it plays a role in documenting moments in written form.
The National Library has two big audiovisual rooms that are used to explain the history of scripts in three eras, from the rise of Hinduism and Buddhism, to the emergence of Islam and European colonization, and to showcase replicas of some ancient scripts in the country.
The rooms are so visually pleasing that many visitors pose in it for photographs.
Like the National Library, a private museum in Jember, East Java, sheds light on the evolution of aksara in human civilizations.
Named Museum Huruf (Letter Museum), the place is small, but manages to attract visitors, especially students, because it is located close to Jember University, the city’s oldest campus. Surrounded by a tattoo parlor, a cafe and an art space, the building does not look like a museum at first glance.
“Jember finally has a museum,” said the museum’s founder, cultural observer Ade Sidiq Permana, smiling.
A group of teenagers recently visited the museum to join a typography class on Sundanese script, which was used by the ancient Sundanese between the 14th and 18th centuries.
Before the class started, its trainer, Fachrur Rijal, explained the history of writing by using the museum’s collections, such as a replica of a Limestone Fish tablet from Sumer with pictographic writing on it.
Through the replica, the 25-year-old explained that Sumer, an ancient civilization of southern Mesopotamia, is believed to be the place where written language was first invented at around 3,100 BC. Meanwhile, pictographic writing is known as the earliest form writing.
Jember University student Fachrur is one of the museum’s 15 volunteers. He is a guide who is certified by the National Professional Certification Board (BNSP).
Unlike other museums, Museum Huruf does not charge its visitors. It has flexible opening hours and even welcomes people in the evening in a bid to attract the attention of visitors of the nearby cafe and tattoo parlor.
“We want people to feel at home when visiting this museum,” said Ade, the museum’s founder.
Born in Jember 39 years ago, he set up Museum Huruf in August last year, just because he wanted his hometown to have a museum.
He had run out of patience waiting for the city administration to open a public museum in the regency. He said that if residents depended on the administration, they would never have a museum.
“We are Jember residents, but we know nothing about the history of Jember because there is no museum telling us about it. How can that be?” he said.
When Ade worked at the Probolinggo Tourism Agency in Probolinggo, East Java, he established two museums, the Probolinggo Museum in 2011, and Dr. Mohammad Saleh Museum in 2013.
When he submitted a project proposal about the construction of Jember Museum to Jember Regent Faida in 2016, she gave him positive feedback and promised to realize it. However, nothing happened.
“I am disappointed,” Ade said, who is also a teacher who completed short courses at the Tropenmuseum and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) in the Netherlands.
He has noticed that nowadays, not many students are interested in learning the Javanese alphabet at school. He understands that scripts might be a boring subject for many, but for him, it is important because it is not just about symbols.
“Aksara is one of the factors that influenced the development of world civilizations,” he said, adding that by learning the old scripts, people could understand the behavior and culture of society.
Quoting the government, Ade said the country only had 150 remaining scripts out of 300. Almost 140 of around 700 local languages are on the brink of extinction because they are no longer used in daily conversations.
Some of the ancient scripts that can be seen at Museum Huruf are Pallava, Sundanese, Kawi, Javanese, Rencong, Batak and Bugis.
Because the museum is still new, it has less than 50 displayed items. Although his museum is very small, Ade is proud because it has been recognized by the Indonesia Museum Association (AMIDA) and has half of its 15 volunteers certified.
In April this year, the museum launched Pojok Braille (Braille Corner), where all the information of its collection is transcribed in Braille to accommodate blind visitors.
“For us, a museum is a public space that should be accessible for all people, including the blind,” Ade said, hoping the museum could improve literacy among people with disabilities.
— Photos by A. Kurniawan Ulung
