Principal Investigators: Manassa is a Strategic Partner

Manassa is a Strategic Partner

Pekanbaru, DREAMSEA – “Masyarakat Pernaskahan Nusantara (Manassa) is a strategic partner for DREAMSEA in executing missions to preserve manuscripts in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia”, said Prof. Dr. Oman Fathurahman on 27 November 2018 in Pekanbaru, Indonesia.

The DREAMSEA Principal Investigator made this statement in his “Presentation to introduce the DREAMSEA Programme and Welcome Manassa Members” as one of the activities during the “Simposium Internasional Pernaskahan Nusantara ke-17” (17th International Symposium on Nusantara Manuscripts). The symposium was organised by Manassa from 26 to 28 November 2018 and was supported by DREAMSEA and a number of other partners.

Manassa was founded in 1996 and is a leading organisation that offers a platform for specialists in the preservation and study of manuscripts in Nusantara. At present, it has more than 200 members and is the largest organisation of its kind in the world.

Principal Investigator Prof. Jan van der Putten endorsed Oman’s statement. According to him, from the very beginning DREAMSEA was initiated Manassa was the first partner to come to mind. That this was right is evidenced by the fact that Manassa has consistently been DREAMSEA’s partner in manuscript preservation missions in Indonesia.

“In this year (2018), DREAMSEA has done six missions in Indonesia. We have preserved at least 570 manuscripts belonging to 28 owners and Manassa members always participated in these missions”, said. Prof. Jan van der Putten.

Apart from Oman and Jan, the event was also attended by Dr. Annabel Teh Gallop in her capacity of member of the DREAMSEA Advisory Board, Dr. Munawar Holil as Manassa General Chairman, Dr. Junaidi as the Executive Chairman of the Symposium, and a number of Manassa and members of Nusantara’s cultural elite.