Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung, (ANTARA Babel) - Indonesia needs to invest in preserving old manuscripts so that they are not taken abroad, according to Indonesian National Library spokesperson, Made Ayu Wirayati.
Wirayati pointed out that there is a lack of funds for the Indonesian National Library to get manuscripts from all across the country.
"Most of the times, we cannot obtain old manuscripts due to budget constraints. We must pay to get old manuscripts. However, we have to go through the long process of budget proposals," she said.
Meanwhile, many foreign collectors are quickly acquiring the manuscripts because of big budgets and fast purchasing process.
"People like to pay cash and acquire. They do not like to wait. As an example, some years ago in Aceh, an owner of old manuscripts sold them to a foreign collector who built him a mosque in return, while all we could offer was a washing machine," she added.
Wirayati explained that the National Library does not have the budget for preservation of ancient manuscripts, thus, they cannot look all over the country for manuscripts.
Currently, around 26,000 old Indonesian manuscripts are held in the library of Leiden University in the Netherlands.
That figure is for the Netherlands alone, not including other historical documents located in England, Malaysia and other countries.
The Indonesian national library has only managed to acquire 103 old manuscripts.
"We hope that indigenous collectors or owners of old manuscripts can provide us information on their whereabouts so that we can preserve them for the sake of national legacy and our future generations," Wirayati said.
