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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 48| December 2000


Regional Officer visits Sulawesi

Olive Mann & Sukirdi

Oliver Mann (centre) and Pak Sukirdi (right) acquiring publications from the Balai Kajian Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional, Manado, North Sulawesi

Oliver Mann, the Library’s Regional Officer based in Jakarta, and Acquisitions Assistant Pak Sukirdi undertook a field trip to the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi in October. Sulawesi, once known as the Celebes, is perhaps best known to the outside world for two of its ethnic groupings—the spectacular Toraja, and the famed Bugi—sailing and trading people in the south who made voyages to destinations as distant as Singapore and Australia.

Oliver and Sukirdi went to the cities of Makassar and Manado, last visited by an officer from the Library in 1984. Makassar (renamed from Ujung Pandang last year) is the seaport capital of South Sulawesi, and largest city east of Surabaya. It is the major focus of government and commerce in eastern Indonesia.

Manado is the provincial capital of North Sulawesi, on the far north-east tip of the island. Lush and wealthy with income derived from copra production, cloves, nutmeg and vanilla, the area around Manado contrasts with other parts of Indonesia in that 95 per cent of its population is Christian rather than Muslim.

The structure of the publishing industry in Indonesia is such that provincial publications are not available in Jakarta¾to acquire them one needs to travel to the provinces and search. Provincial publications are important because they provide a balance to the Jakarta-dominated publishing industry, and they offer an insight into the rich diversity of Indonesian society.

Oliver and Sukirdi visited 15 government instrumentalities and numerous bookshops in Makassar and Manado in search of local publications. Although some government offices were only open from 7.30 am to 2.00 pm, they acquired (by exchanging National Library publications, donation and purchase) nearly 100 kg of government reports, commercial publications, periodicals, and newspapers for the Library and participants in the Indonesian Acquisitions program.

Olive Mann & Pak Sukirdi

Every field trip has its acquisitions highlights; in Sulawesi they included a visit to the Balai Arkeologi, located deep within the two metre thick walls of the 17th century Fort Rotterdam, where they acquired 50 archaeological reports on the Makassar area. Hasanuddin University Press also yielded a range of scholarly publications on Sulawesi, while the bookshops selling only Christian material were strikingly prosperous and well stocked.
Oliver Mann (omann@indo.net.id)
can be contacted at the Australian Embassy, Jakarta.

Left: Oliver Mann (right) and Pak Sukirdi (third right) acquiring publications from the Balai Arkeologi, Makassar, South Sulawesi

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