Jakarta. Vice President Jusuf Kalla welcomed Prof. Dr. Nurhayati Rahman, the translation editor of I La Galigo, at his office today.
I La Galigo is an ancient literary work in Buginese language written around the 10th century, before Islam came to the archipelago. I La Galigo script, which consists of 12 volumes and 360 thousand stanzas, has been kept in Leiden University since the 18th century.
The Vice President through I La Galigo Foundation that he founded together with Tanri Abeng had Prof. Nurhayati Rahman transcribe and translate the script into Indonesian.
“We are lucky to have Pak JK (Jusf Kalla -red) who initiates this project. It is our dignity as a nation. We do not want the script kept in the Netherlands not understood by our people,” Ms Nurhayati said.
She has so far finished transcribing and translating 3 of the total 12 volumes. “I wish younger generation would continue this project to preserve our culture,” she said.
