The wealth of Indonesia is surely not only about its natural resources, but also its culture. However, it hardly can be proved. Why is that so?
What Indonesian people mostly would say how about the culture of their country is that the people have good courtesy and always show the hospitality to each other. The statement may be biased because the parameter are not measurable. How can we weigh courtesy? How to decide one act is a part of hospitality or not? So the statement will undeniably subjective, and that would not be the prove that Indonesia is indeed rich for its culture.
Smarter answers can be given are by showing the relics of ancient times. Temples. Traditional houses. Old palaces. Clothing. etc. The great culture of Indonesia also may be proved by so many languages with dialects variety as mother tongues of many tribes in Indonesia. Moreover, life customs of the people are vary amongst one place to another.
However, the things that may be the evidence of the wealth still can be questioned and the questions may lead to doubts. When we are asked about the relics, the languages, the custom most of us cannot answer righteously, but just with the phrase 'as far as I know' in the beginning of our answer. We do not have a strong (scientific) ground when we talk about ours and instead put doubt on our explanation.
That is the reason of my statement aforementioned of our culture wealth hardly can be proved. The problem is the culture of our country is not documented very well. Only a small part of our culture enjoying good documentation. Regarding this situation, the main issue is we do not have that habit to documented what we have. Thoughts. Ideas. Choices. Discoveries.
What type of stones to support temples?
What Indonesian people mostly would say how about the culture of their country is that the people have good courtesy and always show the hospitality to each other. The statement may be biased because the parameter are not measurable. How can we weigh courtesy? How to decide one act is a part of hospitality or not? So the statement will undeniably subjective, and that would not be the prove that Indonesia is indeed rich for its culture.
Smarter answers can be given are by showing the relics of ancient times. Temples. Traditional houses. Old palaces. Clothing. etc. The great culture of Indonesia also may be proved by so many languages with dialects variety as mother tongues of many tribes in Indonesia. Moreover, life customs of the people are vary amongst one place to another.
However, the things that may be the evidence of the wealth still can be questioned and the questions may lead to doubts. When we are asked about the relics, the languages, the custom most of us cannot answer righteously, but just with the phrase 'as far as I know' in the beginning of our answer. We do not have a strong (scientific) ground when we talk about ours and instead put doubt on our explanation.
That is the reason of my statement aforementioned of our culture wealth hardly can be proved. The problem is the culture of our country is not documented very well. Only a small part of our culture enjoying good documentation. Regarding this situation, the main issue is we do not have that habit to documented what we have. Thoughts. Ideas. Choices. Discoveries.
What type of stones to support temples?
What the meaning of motives on our traditional clothing: batik, songket, sarung?
Why there are tribes have to address every member of their families with different salutations, while there are tribes that simply address their family members by their names, even for parents or grandparents?
Why in Lombok, the material of the floor of traditional house is a mixture of clay and cow dung?
Why the colour black represent Baduy people?
How to know which pandanus leaves that can be used as food ingredient, raw material for art cane work or material for musical instrument?
How people in Borneo preserve their food? Will it different with the way of Papuan preserve theirs?
How many endangered languages in a province?
How our ancestor measure the weather?
How people attest a plant is poisonous and employed it for making drug instead?
What.... what.... what....?
Why.... why... why....?
How.... how.... how...?
This is an illustration of possibility of lost that we have experienced about extinct language if we do not start documenting what we have.
There was a tribe in Sumbawa island, Tambora people. As the catastrophic eruption occurred in 1815, the tribe was extinct along with the culture and the language. Based on linguistic research, even though further study still needs to be conducted, Tambora language may be addressed as the westernmost Papuan language, separated from region where Papuan language family is spoken now. Sometimes, this extinct language put under unclassified language by language experts. The language was completely from different family compared to its neighbour language of Sumbawa and Bima. The calamities has removed the chance to gain knowledge on their culture, language, way of life. Now, the thing people can do furthest is to examine archaeological relics years after the event occurred.
The same situation may occurred not by natural disaster, but simply our ignorance. How many of us aware that there are 146 endangered languages exist in Indonesia (Source: UNESCO)? And the list, I believe, does not show the real situation. Once. I have been told by my aunt that there is a village in Bima had different language apart from Bima language. People out of the village completely had no idea about the language, so it probably could not be categorized as dialect or even subset of Bima language. The language is not in the list of UNESCO.
So many things can be a material for a great deal of knowledge. The wisdom of the past are waiting to be revealed. We may think the heritage of other parts of the world are that great, but I believe we just do not know what treasure we have.
The grass is NOT always greener in the other fellow’s yard.
This is an illustration of possibility of lost that we have experienced about extinct language if we do not start documenting what we have.
There was a tribe in Sumbawa island, Tambora people. As the catastrophic eruption occurred in 1815, the tribe was extinct along with the culture and the language. Based on linguistic research, even though further study still needs to be conducted, Tambora language may be addressed as the westernmost Papuan language, separated from region where Papuan language family is spoken now. Sometimes, this extinct language put under unclassified language by language experts. The language was completely from different family compared to its neighbour language of Sumbawa and Bima. The calamities has removed the chance to gain knowledge on their culture, language, way of life. Now, the thing people can do furthest is to examine archaeological relics years after the event occurred.
The same situation may occurred not by natural disaster, but simply our ignorance. How many of us aware that there are 146 endangered languages exist in Indonesia (Source: UNESCO)? And the list, I believe, does not show the real situation. Once. I have been told by my aunt that there is a village in Bima had different language apart from Bima language. People out of the village completely had no idea about the language, so it probably could not be categorized as dialect or even subset of Bima language. The language is not in the list of UNESCO.
So many things can be a material for a great deal of knowledge. The wisdom of the past are waiting to be revealed. We may think the heritage of other parts of the world are that great, but I believe we just do not know what treasure we have.
The grass is NOT always greener in the other fellow’s yard.
An Endnote
I am pondering about this matter these days. I discussed with a fried of mine about his intention to make a good documentation on Temples in Indonesia (Candi). However, it is not an easy attempts. The project must require no small amount of financial support. Another time, I watched a talk on TED.com about a project to preserve Arabic language. In another talk, again on TED.com, I watched how intention of the presenter on behalf his institution to digitize information of the city of Venice and then simulate it to get broader picture of the city from time yo time. The idea was simple, to make "Information Time Machine" of ancient Venice. The project needed to cover 80 km of archive with every (yes, every!) detail of Venetian history over a thousand years and 10 billions of events. So, in the future people can access information where the best path for a ship to avoid pirates in 12 century just like using 'Get directions' of today's Google Map. Or just simply to know how much did it cost a sea bream in the Rialto market in the year 1434. The term of time machine he said was just rightfully. It might connect nowadays people with their ancestors, to gain information even for a petty one. Imagine, how cool it be if Indonesia can do something like that. Maybe we do not need to so turgid in the beginning, but we can start by writing down, taking pictures, taking perspective from historians, archeologist, farmers, fishermen or anyone else who maybe being marginalized all this time but somehow they are the vessel of wisdom of ours.
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