Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Indonesia's verbal traditions are endangered because of the country's negligence in preserving the heritage amid streams of contemporary culture, the Association of Verbal Traditions (ATL) said Saturday.
The country should take concrete action to conserve verbal traditions as an intangible cultural heritage, which could be an asset toward better civilization, ATL deputy chairman Sutamat Arybowo said.
Verbal traditions include languages and folklores as well as any rituals or practices using narratives.
"Indonesia actually has a greater potential in verbal traditions rather than in written ones because most of the country's ethnic groups use narratives instead of manuscripts as part of their culture. But unfortunately, verbal traditions are now marginalized," Sutamat said.
He said that out of hundreds of ethnicities, only a few of them have their own aksara (letters), including as Javanese, Sundanese and Balinese. In contrast, he added, many ethnicities have more than one language each.
He said the country's regional autonomy, in which each region is entitled authority, failed to preserve verbal traditions as a form of local wisdom.
He said the government's policies on cultural matters caused many setbacks. "I think the New Order regime implemented better policies."
When Soeharto was president, Sutamat said, the government took control of cultural issues. Since the reform era, and notably since the era of president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the government has handed over its control to society, he said.
"But not all of society is taking it well. Some of them have managed to preserve their culture, while others have abandoned traditions and turned to modern ones."
ATL member Yusuf Susilo Hartono agreed, adding that the New Order regime used verbal traditions for the political campaigns of the ruling party Golkar.
To protect verbal traditions from extinction, he said, people need to preserve them in other forms, such as scripts and recordings.
In an effort to revitalize verbal traditions, ATL is set to hold the 2008 verbal traditions seminar and festival from Dec. 1 to Dec. 3 in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi.
The triennial event, themed "Verbal traditions as cultural strength for building civilization", will stage discussions and various performances of verbal culture from several provinces.
ATL chairwoman Pudentia said the event was expected to promote the country's many verbal traditions. She said the verbal traditions could also be incorporated in the emerging creative industry to help them survive.
Wakatobi Regent Hugua said he hoped the event would also improve tourism industry in the regency, which is now building its own airport.