Pramono, Saving Ancient Minangkabau Manuscripts
For Pramono, 39, being a philologist is not easy. He had to undergo a long process of locating and gaining access to ancient Minangkabau manuscripts in order to preserve them. Yet, he has been spurred on by his passion for the ancient text, which he believes is the bridge between the past and modernity.
Pramono was introduced to ancient texts in 2000, when he was a Minangkabau Literary Studies student at the cultural studies school of Andalas University in Padang, West Sumatra. His philology lecturer, Muhammad Yusuf, invited him to several places that might possess ancient texts.
“First, I was invited to Indrapura, Pesisir Selatan regency. It is about a 4.5-hour drive from Padang. Apparently, Pak Yusuf noticed my enthusiasm for ancient texts, and in the following months I was invited to other locations closer to Padang,” Pramono said on Wednesday (1/23/2019) in the Minangkabau Corner of the Andalas University library in Limau Manis, Pauh, Padang. “In addition to learning how to approach the local community, I also studied digitalization and early conservation [techniques].”
Pramono’s passion for ancient Minangkabau manuscripts grew in 2002, when he received a Rp 3 million scholarship from the Penaskahan Nusantara Foundation (Yanasa) for his thesis on ancient manuscripts. “It excited me and made me realize that ancient texts, or manuscripts, had gained some recognition, but that not many people were interest in them,” he said.
Obtaining his bachelor’s degree in 2003 after studying Minangkabau manuscripts for several years, Pramono was hired as a lecturer at his alma mater, Andalas’ Minangkabau Literary Studies department.
In addition to his work as a lecturer, he also continued his research with Muhammad Yusuf, including a 2005 research project with Tokyo University Foreign Studies researchers. Since then, Pramono has studied digitizing ancient manuscripts using the British Library standard, complete with the management of digital manuscript collections.
“Since 2008, Yusuf let me work alone. I decided the area of research and other process to preserve the ancient manuscripts,” said Pramono, who earned his doctorate in Malay literary studies (philology) in 2015 from the Malay Research Academy of Malaysia’s Universiti Malaya.
To date, Pramono has discovered and digitized around 1,000 manuscripts that were part of private collections. Of these, only about 200 manuscripts had been treated carefully and could be physically preserved.
Approaching manuscript owners
Pramono said the preserving the manuscripts could not be rushed. It took cultural skills in approaching the manuscript’s owner to obtain their permission.
“After being granted access by the owner, I could study the condition of the manuscript. Most of the manuscripts were stored in very poor conditions. Some were [stored] under a bed, in attics, in a basket, in a closet among other objects, or mixed with rice. There were also several wrapped in cloth. When the cloth was opened, many of these manuscripts were completely damaged,” said Pramono, who now heads Andalas’ Minangkabau Literary Studies department.
He said that the manuscripts were then cleaned. “This cannot be done immediately. Sometimes there are rituals ranging from the simplest, such as ablution before entering the room, to more complex ones, like [sacrificing] a goat for communal prayer,” he said.
After gaining access and even after sacrificing a goat, he and his team still could not smile in relief. In fact, they were often disappointed because they could only gather a few manuscripts and their owners had no idea of what these manuscripts contained, even though they deemed them to be sacred. “They treated the manuscripts as sacred items, even though the text actually contained poetry or writings on traditional medicine, literature or Sufism,” said Pramono.
He said the manuscripts were digitized at the site, or were borrowed for digitization and then returned to the owner the next day.
“We continued our work at our lodgings. Aside from saving time and keeping costs low, we were concerned that the owner might suddenly change his mind for whatever reason,” he said.
Afterwards, the team managed the database, starting with filenames to simplify the manuscripts’ grouping and categorization, while inputting their complete descriptions. The team then renamed the file for easier searching. The database was then launched for free access to researchers.
Pramono acknowledged that funding was an issue, and that he sometimes had to spend his own money. “I have no shamed admitting this, because the country’s priorities are not there yet. In fact, handling classical objects requires special knowledge and skills, so it needs funding,” said Pramono, who learned about conserving parchment in Japan.
He said that manuscripts were generally found in four conditions, and ranged from manuscripts with weathered parchment or materials, loose binding, no covers and many holes, to manuscripts in relatively better condition that required only cleaning and punching holes for binding.
Restoring a manuscript can cost from Rp 400,000 to Rp 1.2 million. Patching up any holes requires special paper imported from Japan.
The funding issue makes it impossible to save all manuscripts. As a result, original manuscripts that were still in relatively good condition, or grade D and C, could become grade A. Besides becoming more damaged, another consequence was that the manuscript might be unavailable by the time the team returned.
“We found two manuscripts in 2009, but the owner asked for compensation in the form of a haj pilgrimage to Mecca for two people. Finally, we reached an agreement that the manuscript would stay in Indonesia. Finally, we tried to get institutional funding. When the funding was available a few months later, we could no longer access the manuscript,” he said.
Pramono, who is also the general secretary of the Pernaskahan Nusantara Society (Manassa), said such situations occurred because the efforts to preserve manuscripts also faced challenges through the antiquities trade that had been going on since 1970.
Although he faced budget constraints and the antiquities trade, the Sumatra-born Javanese man said he would continue with his passion in researching Minangkabau texts. He was especially motivated by the many new research publications that were based on the ancient manuscripts he had found.
Therefore, to get around the problem of funding, Pramono has encouraged the use of iluminasi (illustrations) – the images of manuscripts – as batik motifs since 2015. To date, at least 38 batik motifs have been designed from iluminasi, all of which have intellectual property rights.
“I was also lucky because the Andalas University Research and Community Service [LPPM] responded positively and helped register the intellectual property rights. In addition, we also receive incentives from them that we can use to study other texts,” he said.
Pramono
Born: Medan, Dec. 12, 1979
Education:
- Doctorate in Malay Literature (Philology), Malay Research Academy, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia (2015)
Wife: Rima Novalia, 36
Children: - Muhammad Miftahul Fikri, 12; Puan Qahira Haque, 7
Publications:
- The Sufi Saints of Sumatra
- The Life of Abdul Manaf: Introduction to Ancient Manuscripts
- Minangkabau Annotated Bibliography: Minangkabau Manuscript Collection