USU PR - Indonesian Literature Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) held a public lecture themed Philology and Millennial Generation by presenting Lecturer from the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) University of Indonesia Dr. Munawar Holil who is also the Chairman of the Archipelago Manuscript Society (Manassa), recently.

The event was opened by the Dean of FIB USU Dr. T. Thyrhaya Zein, M.A., represented by Deputy Dean II Dra. Heristina Dewi, MPd, was moderated by the Secretary of the Indonesian Literature Study Program, Dra. Nurhayati Harahap, M.Hum.

Dra. Heristina Dewi, M.Pd. said that this public lecture is expected to encourage students' interest to further enhance research in the field of philology. This theme is very interesting because it tries to harmonize the science of philology with the current generation.

"Congratulations to the Indonesian Literature Study Program which continues to move to increase student interest in research and innovation, as the university leadership message that classrooms must be based on project learning," she said.

This public lecture can be the beginning for Indonesian Literature students and lecturers to further stimulate research in the field of Indonesian manuscripts which store a lot of knowledge for the benefit of society.

The Head of the Indonesian Literature Study Program, Dr. Dra. Dwi Widayati, M.Hum., emphasized that the research and research of USU Indonesian Literature students would be more diverse with the useful knowledge from this public lecture. Philology is the science of ancient manuscripts, one of the valuable heritages from ancestors that need to be studied for its contents because it stores cultural documents of the past that are still relevant to be developed in an effort to meet the needs of today's life.

“In North Sumatra, there are many ancient manuscripts from various ethnicities. Millennials as the next generation are expected to be the perpetrators and pioneers of revealing the contents of old texts. In various cities, especially on the island of Java, there has been a flourishing community of script lovers initiated by millennials with the support of well-known universities," she said.

Dr. Munawar Holil in his presentation explained about the phenomenon of the emergence of the Millennial Community who Loves Archipelago Manuscripts. He explained that the manuscript has a journey that can be seen from the time of creation by the author, the time of copying from one manuscript to another and when philologists try to restore the text to its original form.

“And the philologist's job is to make the text readable or understandable and then present and interpret the text. The first line of philological research is text research, manuscript inventory, manuscript description, manuscript and text comparison, text editing and content analysis," he said.

Millennials, he said, are active users of digital technology. This digital technology can also be used to preserve ancient manuscripts. Digitizing manuscripts is important to do and the things that understand the ins and outs of this digital world are young people who were born and grew up in the current era of development.

"The millennial generation is also currently often creating ancient manuscripts into more attractive forms, with designs and contents that are packaged in such a way that the manuscripts that have been researched can be understood not only in terms of content but also aesthetically beautiful," he said.

One example of a script that has been created is the Sundanese script which has been changed and disseminated into the form of t-shirt designs, souvenirs, stickers, key chains and so on. (©ULC)

Author: Bambang Riyanto - Humas

Interviewee: - - -

Photographer: Humas - Humas