THE sign pointing to Rumah Budaya (Culture House) in Bengkulu City reads 'Rumah Budaya Scuk Milling'. But underneath the ordinary alphabet are the spiky letterings of an old script, with sharp lines. According to Effendi, Rumah Budaya's owner, the near-forgotten script is Kaganga, an ancient Bengkulu script.

Effendi, who is also leader of the Indigenous Deliberation Forum or Badan Musyawarah Adat (BMA), founded Rumah Budaya Scuk Milling to preserve B