SEATED on a wooden couch is Syarifuddin Daeng Tutu with beaming eyes. Devotedly preserving the tradition of sinrilik (oral narrative in Makassar literature) for decades, this civil servant expresses his dreams of keeping the art thriving in his land of Makassar, well-known in Indonesia, even in the world.

On the wooden couch, he was lost in thought after his afternoon prayer—one day in early October. Before him was an expanse of fields in Bo