West Nusa Tenggara Rushes to Digitize Thousands of Endangered Ancient Manuscript

RRI.CO.ID, Mataram - The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Culture Agency is ramping up efforts to digitize thousands of ancient manuscripts scattered across the province, a vital move aimed at safeguarding the region's rich literary and historical heritage from physical decay and permanent loss.

The initiative seeks to transform these delicate historical records into accessible digital assets, opening up the island's unique cultural treasure trove to both local researchers and the global public.

Head of NTB Culture Agency Muhamad Ihwan emphasized on Thursday, June 25, 2025, that the mass digitization project aligns with the provincial administration's broader strategy to protect and utilize local cultural intellectual property. "Digitizing ancient manuscripts is part of our vision and mission to preserve and protect data, especially cultural treasures," Muhamad said in Mataram, as quoted by Antara.

According to Ihwan, sharing these digitized manuscripts internationally fits perfectly with the province's development philosophy of Makmur Mendunia (Prosperous and Global).

"Prosperous means being able to be utilized, while global means through digitalization making the treasure trove of ancient manuscripts able to be explored and enjoyed by the world community," Ihwan explained, envisioning a future where global scholars can seamlessly examine NTB's literary history online.

The scale of the task ahead is monumental. Data from the National Library (Perpusnas) estimates that West Nusa Tenggara holds around 5,113 ancient manuscripts, making it one of the largest repositories of historical manuscripts in Indonesia.

However, the vast majority of these treasures remain vulnerable. The NTB Museum currently houses only about 1,200 of these manuscripts, and even within this controlled collection, a mere 16.67 percent, or 200 documents, have been digitized. The remaining 4,000-plus historical manuscripts are still held privately by local families and traditional communities across the province.

To bridge this gap, the NTB Culture Agency is urging the National Library to adopt a proactive, door-to-door approach. By directly visiting community leaders and private collectors, conservationists hope to document and digitize fragile texts that have been shielded from public view for generations.

The urgency is underscored by the fragility of the artifacts. NTB Museum Head Ahmad Nuralam revealed that the oldest item in their collection is a 19th-century Quran meticulously handwritten on traditional daluang (bark paper), which has yet to undergo digital preservation.

Nuralam noted that while the museum owns basic cameras and scanners, they lack the specialized, high-resolution equipment required for proper archival work.

"Manuscript digitization equipment requires large pixels so that the image doesn't blur when zoomed in, because reading manuscripts is more difficult than reading writing on paper," Ahmad said, expressing hope that the museum will soon receive upgraded equipment to continue the preservation work independently.

Progress is being made through inter-agency collaboration. During a four-day joint project from June 22 to 25, the National Library successfully digitized 51 select manuscripts from the NTB Museum, pushing the institution's total digital archive up to the current mark of 200 completed manuscripts. ***