Culture Minister pushes for Kawi script's UNESCO nomination through collaboration

Culture Minister Fadli Zon is encouraging collaboration between the government, communities, academics, and stakeholders to strengthen the preservation of the Kawi script, including through a UNESCO nomination. “We appreciate all forms of efforts to advance culture, especially those related to language and script as part of the Objects of Cultural Advancement,” Fadli Zon said during a meeting with Kawi script advocates in Jakarta on Tuesday. The Ministry of Culture is currently pushing for the script’s nomination to UNESCO, with Fadli noting that a joint nomination scheme is possible because traces of Kawi script usage are also found in the Philippines, Southern Thailand, and Cambodia. He also proposed compiling an encyclopedia of Nusantara scripts to strengthen documentation and promotion of various scripts that developed in Indonesia. The ministry is supporting the organisation of a Kawi Script Congress in 2027 as a collaborative space to strengthen its preservation and development. La Nyalla, a Kawi script advocate from the Satria Lelaku Nusantara Foundation, said a Kawi Script Portal is being designed as an information centre and a collaborative node for communities, academics, activists, the government, and the cultural industry. The portal is also expected to encourage the development of small and medium enterprises based on the Kawi script, strengthen manuscript studies, support cadre regeneration, and become part of the digital ecosystem for cultural preservation.