[collaboration?] Every day, I become more aware of the power imbalance in research collaborations with Western scholars. Too often, those of us from the Global South are reduced to add-ons—tokens to support their image of inclusivity and decolonial practice.

King João III of Portugal was a strong proponent of Christianizing the rulers of Makassar. In 1546, he instructed the Portuguese vice-general in Goa, India, to prepare the finest priests, with St. Francis Xavier’s approval, for a mission to South Sulawesi.

Global budget cuts hit education worldwide: 14 trillion rupiah slashed from Indonesia's Higher Education Fund. Fulbright scholarships face indefinite stipend freezes due to Trump's cuts. In the Netherlands, 1 billion euros cut from higher education. A worrying sign. #EducationMatters

Let's join our discussion at @KITLV_KNAW (and online) next week. This seminar is part of the monthly Unraveling Unconventional Knowledge Systems seminar series. For more information: kitlv.nl/event-matthee/

In 1779, a dismissed Kimelaha (chief) of negeri Boboua in Makian Island named Abdul was captured by Mindanaoan pirates. He served as a slave in Maguindanao before escaping to Ternate. As a slave he must perform daily tasks such as chopped firewood and fetched water.

After the Bongaya Treaty, which was very detrimental to the local people, there was a mass exodus of the Bugis and Makassar people to various parts of Southeast Asia. Basically, their principle was to just run away first in order to regain their rights as free people.

Colonialism and environmental change go hand in hand. A 1695 VOC report from Makassar records Dutch patrols in Wakatobi, destroying spice trees to enforce their monopoly. "On the islands of Wantsje-Wantsje and Caijdoepa, he uprooted seventeen young nutmeg trees, mostly about one fathom in length."

Letter dated 25 May 1686 from Arung Palakka (king of Boné) & his wife, Daéng Talélé, to the Governor General of the VOC in Batavia. Both expressed sorrow over the death of Captain Tack. "It is a great sorrow & bitter disappointment for us to hear the shameful deeds of the Javanese (for killing him)"

My institution, Leiden University, is celebrating its 450th anniversary. I dedicate this video to it. A video poetry about reality and the halls of academia. “The Irony of Unknowing Home: A Reflection on Fieldwork and Decolonization” youtu.be/OIyT8-6W3lI?...

This afternoon, we presented our project to the Leiden Digital Humanities Pilot Project Symposium as the recipient of Small Grant 2024. We received positive feedback & interesting questions. Our work focuses on developing Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) for the Lontara script from South Sulawesi.

Last year, a proposal that Muhammad Asyrafi and I worked on got selected for a Small Grant project by Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities. Next week, on Digital Humanities Pilot Project Symposium 2025, we’ll be presenting our project to the public for the first time. See you there!

A gold royal keris from South Sulawesi (probably from Boné or Luwu), ca. late 16th-early 17th century, private collection in London. The provenance mentions that the sheath is decorated with a "winged lion" figure, while its actually Buraq from Islamic tradition!

Where can we trace the oldest batik textile in Indonesia? In Java? Nope. A study by Sandra Sardjono & Christopher Buckley reveals that this surviving batik textile from 13th/14th century is discovered in Toraja, South Sulawesi.

We are ready, 2025!

On Christmas 1615, the king of Makassar (Sultan Alauddin) presented "17 suckles of mace" as diplomatic gifts to the king of England (James I) with a piece of letter.

Just received a good news that our panel proposal "Locally Made: Reconstructing the Indigenous and Diasporic Knowledge Exchange Networks in Southeast Asia" for Association for Asian Studies conference got accepted! See you next year in Kathmandu!

Last year, I also wrote an article about another Bugis nautical chart in Utrecht University Special Collection with Aditya B. Perdana. “Islands, maps, and Lontara’: Bugis counter-mapping on a nineteenth-century map of Nusantara” in WACANA Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia, Vol. 24 No. 3, 2023.

My article about a rare and unique Bugis nautical chart in the collection of Museo Naval in Madrid is now available at The Murillo Bulletin Issue No. 18, December 2024. Read it online here: issuu.com/philmapsocie...

In 2010, a young boy found a Makassarese swivel gun at Dundee Beach, Northern Australia coast. The swivel gun shows characteristics of local Southeast Asian casting technique. It is suspected that the weapon was one of the items brought by trepang (sea cucumber) hunters from South Sulawesi.

A Dutch immigration officer just now greeted me with: “Magandang umaga, kumusta ka?” No kidding, even in Netherlands 😂

The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) in Leiden is seeking a PhD candidate to investigate language and society in Southeast Asia. The application deadline is December 1, 2024. More Information: vacatures.knaw.nl/job/Leiden-P...

It is an honor for me to be one of the contributing writers in the second edition of "RAKUS" magazine! This is also the first time I wrote for a magazine in The Netherlands. My article talks about the history of pepper trade between Enkhuizen & Palembang, colonialism and the rise of Songket craft.

Two days of insightful programs by ‘Historical Treaties of Southeast Asia’ Project by Linnaeus University team at Leiden University, last week. Hans Hägerdal, Stefan Eklof Amirell, Birgit Tremml-Werner & Ariel Lopez gave interesting presentations about the project.

Let's remember & appreciate how people on southern part of Sulawesi peninsula created two local scripts (Ukiq Lontaraq & Jangang-Jangang) in the 14th century, adopted Arabic (Sérang), invented one (Bilang-Bilang) & inspired 3 other local scripts (Jontal Sumbawa, Bima, Lota Ende).

Hi everyone, a newbie here!