APSIG newsletter no. 57: March 2005

Transvestites and treasures of the Malay archipelago

Marie Sexton

Asia-Pacific Special Interest Group lunchtime seminar, Tuesday 8 February 2005, at the National Library of Australia, Canberra.

We were lucky enough to hear two excellent presentations at this provocatively titled seminar on the Malay archipelago.

Anna Reid, information access officer Southeast Asia, ANU Library entitled her talk on 'Discovering Malay world collections: around the world in 20 minutes'.

Anna spoke on the riches to be found in Malay collections around the world. She was fortunate to be one of the overseas participants invited to a conference in Malaysia organised by the Institute of the Malay World and Civilization in August 2004. Those present were librarians from Malay study centres throughout the world and the purpose was for them to become familiar with one another and with the collections available. There were representatives from the United States, Great Britain, Europe and Australia with Dr Aline Scott-Maxwell, head of the Asian Research Library, Monash University, also attending. The Malaysian government has been a generous supporter in the development of Malay study centres in a number of overseas countries. With a very rich and varied program, Anna felt that the program had succeeded.

Anya Dettman, Indonesian unit, National Library of Australia, entitled her talk 'From tattered page to high-tech stage: I La Galigo, Indonesia's unknown epic'.

She had attended its inaugural stage production of I La Galigo performed last year in Singapore, produced by Robert Wilson of Einstein and the beach fame. I La Galigo is an extensive Bugis text from South Sulawesi, Indonesia and is possibly the world's longest and least known epic poem. It is set in another middle earth with its own lord of the rings. The Singaporean production employed all elements of modern theatre technology in a lavish stage production. Anya showed pictures of fantastical scenes set in another time zone, played a tape of some of the songs and music and provided a visual and musical look at the cultural background and history of I La Galigo.

The audience was struck with its similarity in theme to Wagner's Ring Cycle in its literary and theatrical forms.

A unique aspect of the epic is its incorporation of transgender characters and transvestites which are part of Bugis beliefs in five genders (masculine and feminine men, feminine and masculine women and priests incorporating characteristics of both). Anya refers to Dr Sharyn Graham's research on gender in Sulawesi with two of her papers available on the web.

One about Calalai' (masculine women):
Graham, Sharyn 'Negotiating gender: Calalai' in Bugis society', Intersections: gender, history, and culture in the Asian context, n6, 2001

One about the Bissu (trangender priests) at the website for Inside Indonesia magazine April-June 2001 issue.

There is an introduction to the text and the play summarized the Latitudes magazine, published in Denpasar, Bali, vol. 37. (Available online to subscribers).

For the performance, there is a little on the website for Change Performing Arts, the company that produced it, click on the links there for images from the production, credits etc.