JAKARTA - The Ministry of Culture is preparing the compilation and publication of a book of edited works by Syekh Yusuf al-Makassari al-Bantani. This step is important because most of the works of the great Nusantara scholars are still stored in manuscript form and are not easily accessible to the public.
The program was worked on together with the Nusantara Pernaskahan Society (Manassa). The initial focus was directed at three bundles of manuscripts in the collection of the National Library of Indonesia with codes A 45, A 101, and A 108. The three manuscripts are considered important because they come from the library of the Banten Sultanate palace.
Manassa General Chair Agus Iswanto said that at least 23 of Sheikh Yusuf's works had been identified in Manassa's research. In addition, there are five related manuscripts stored in Leiden, Netherlands.
Of the five manuscripts in Leiden, two are already available in digital form. The other three still require a formal request to the Leiden Library/UBL and KITLV.
"Therefore, we hope that the Ministry of Culture can coordinate further with the Leiden Library, to enable the digitization of the next three manuscripts, as well as to conduct a comparative study of the manuscript variants," said Agus.
Minister of Culture Fadli Zon supports the acceleration of this program. He assessed that Sheikh Yusuf's work is not only important for the preservation of Nusantara manuscripts, but also for Indonesian cultural diplomacy.
Fadli meminta penyusunan buku tetap mempertahankan teks asli berbahasa Arab, disertai terjemahan bahasa Indonesia. Menurut Fadli, teks tidak perlu dilatinkan.
"The text does not need to be translated. However, the option of translating into English remains open as an expansion of this book later. If there is English, I think there (South Africa) can also have a good response, while expanding the international reach of the work," said Fadli in his statement when receiving the Manasa manager at the Ministry of Culture in Jakarta, Thursday, April 30.
The connection between Sheikh Yusuf and South Africa is an important value in this project. In addition to being known as a great scholar and thinker of tasawwuf, Sheikh Yusuf also has a strong historical footprint in the Nusantara diaspora and the network of world scholars.
This program is targeted to produce critical editions based on philological methods, quality scientific publications, open access, and reference materials for education and research. The Ministry of Culture also wants Syekh Yusuf's works to be easier for Indonesian people to read and introduced to the international public.
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