A Javanese Script portal has been born. This is a cultural portal that carries Javanese script. This portal was created by Javanese script activists and activists from three provinces: East Java, Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta. Its name is omahaksara.id, which was born on Saturday, December 9 2023, after the Surakarta meeting which discussed the Implementation of the First Javanese Script Congress in Surakarta on November 30 – December 2 2023.
The Javanese Script Portal omahaksara.id is one form of implementation of the First Javanese Script Congress, which was held in 2021. The recent implementation agenda for the First Javanese Script Congress in Surakarta is a form of monitoring the extent of the implementation of the 1st Javanese Script Congress.
One of these implementations is achievements in the field of digitalization. To be precise, it is the manufacture of keyboards that use Javanese script as well as efforts to propose standardization of Javanese script to obtain ISO.
Along with technological advances, the digitization of Javanese script will continue to develop in accordance with changes in time and technology. In following these developments and changes, there are already Javanese script experts in three provinces: East Java, Central Java and DIY, who continue to monitor the existence of Javanese script in the changing times and technology.
So far, there have been other forms of implementation carried out individually and partially by literacy activists in these three provinces. There are those who continue to be creative in making calligraphy based on Javanese script. There are also those who are present in cyberspace either through Facebook, IG and Whatsapp, where Javanese script is used both in textual communication and educational works in the form of learning Javanese script.
What is extraordinary is the learning of Javanese script which is given English instruction or instruction. Of course, this approach targets students or foreigners who are in the archipelago or who live abroad, such as Suriname, the Netherlands and New Caledonia. Many Javanese speakers abroad do not know the Javanese script and this portal is a link between them and their ancestral origins, Javanese.
Determining the Portal Name
Creating a portal with the domain omahaksara.id is one way to implement the results of the First Javanese Script Congress. What is unique and interesting is that this portal was formed collaboratively and democratically between activists from three provinces who support Javanese script as united through the 1st Javanese Script Congress. (2021) and Implementation of the First Javanese Literacy Congress (2023).
This domain name was born through a constructive, accommodating and open discussion process as well as kinship among Javanese script activists within the WA Group. From the domain name proposal, the next step is for each name proposer to include a philosophical narrative about their proposed name. Then on Saturday evening a zoom meeting was held to dissect the editorial and incorrect determination of the domain name. This Zoom meeting was attended by the editorial leadership, editors and advisors as well as the web master and maintenance team. There were about 20 people at the meeting. Finally the name omahaksara.id was chosen.
Philosophically, the domain name omahaksara.id contains the meaning of the prayer “om”, which also means true home, eternal sekaring bhawana. “Omah” in this case is a place to learn about Javanese cultural literacy, especially Javanese script. Omah in omahaksara.id is a virtual meeting place for literacy activists in three provinces: East Java, Central Java and DIY.
Containers in the form of virtual homes, web. This is also a place for literacy activists at the post-Implementation meeting of the First Javanese Script Congress in Surakarta (30 Nov – 2 Dec 2023) and others who did not have time to attend the event, to express culture in a joint effort to preserve, maintain and develop Javanese Script both in domestic and foreign countries.
The former Indonesian Ambassador to Suriname, Supratikto, welcomed the idea of building a portal containing matters about Javanese script. It is hoped that this portal will become an information window for the Javanese people in Suriname. The same thing was conveyed by a Dutch citizen of Javanese descent, Jakiem Asmowidjojo, who often acts as coordinator of World Javanese Diaspora events in the Ngumpulke Balung Pisah program, a meeting place for world Javanese people in Java.
The efforts mentioned above, through the form of a portal, are an effort to boost the position of Javanese script from Table 7 unicord (limited use) which is still decorative to Table 5 (recommended use) which is used in everyday life. Therefore there needs to be a massive movement through media channels to accelerate the increase from table 7 to table 5.
The presence of the omahaksara.id domain cannot be separated from collaboration with the Indonesian internet domain name manager, PANDI. Pandi is a non-profit organization that manages Indonesian high-level domain names (.id) and second-level domains below it. PANDI also provided input on the names proposed by activists who are members of the WA group for the Implementation of the First Literacy Congress.
Incidentally, PANDI is an institution that is also committed to developing Javanese script both in Indonesia and in the world.
The omahaksara.id portal is a home for literacy activists which contains spaces (rubrics) in the form of Articles, Macapat, Geguritan, Literacy for Foreign Countries, Digitalization of Literacy, Public Relations and merchandise, Cerkak, and Photography and video galleries.(nng)
(*) Nanang Purwono, Surabaya literacy activist, Begandring Soerabaia, Surabaya.