The Old Manuscript of Bugis and Makassar
The Bugis and Makassar ethnic groups in South Sulawesi are including two of the few ethnics in Indonesia who has a tradition of writing. Letters or script used by the Bugis people since hundreds of years ago is the Lontara script. The Lontara is derived from “lontar” or palm (leaves) where the original scripts were written on. Lontara itself is named "uki Ugi'sulapa eppa'" (Dr. Mukhlis Paeni in Nusantara Manuscript Catalogue). Makassar ethnic group is also has its own letter, called script 'jangang jangang' which resemble the original form or shape of the bird, so-called 'jangang jangang'. In further developments jangang-jangang script is rarely used and the Uki Sulapa Eppa is more frequently used for both Bugis and Makassar writing system. According to historians, the script lontara 'Uki sulapa eppa' and 'jangan jangan' script are both derived characters from the Indian's Sanskrit. A lot of Bugis ancient manuscripts stored in the L