Dilemma in the Land of Raja Ali Haji
CLASSICAL Malay manuscripts are being openly sold in Riau. Using the services of brokers, the buyers come from Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam. Shackled by poverty, the owners of the manuscripts have little choice. In the meantime, the Law on Preserving Cultural Objects which prohibits these practices seems to be powerless. Hence the dilemma: to allow the manuscripts to leave the country or allow them to be destroyed by age.
August 1, 2006
THE dry season six years ago was one which Rahman Yusuf, 47, would never forget. At the time, the agricultural laborer from Resun village in the subdistrict of Lingga in Riau province never expected that he would be visited by Wan Mohammad Abdullah, a businessman from Johor. Wan came with some friends from Malaysia to see the ruins of the Riau-Lingga Kingdom, which he believes to be the land of their ancestors.
The village of Resun is located on a
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