La Galigo: Representation and Reference in Bugis Culture

Abstract

The La Galigo is a literary epic, written in Bugis characters called lontaraq and in ancient Bugis language. La Galigo now becomes an icon of Indonesia. Due to its thousands of pages of manuscript and complex interwoven stories, La Galigo considered to be one of the longest literary works in the world along with Indian Mahabharata and Ramayana, as well as the works of Homer from Greece. Therefore, in 2011 the UNESCO declared La Galigo as "the Memory of the World". La Galigo can be viewed from two perspectives: 1) its internal aspects and 2) its external aspects. The approach used here is Pierce's semiotics that subsequently developed by Van Zoest. The La Galigo incorporates flashbacks and imagery in its presentation. The plot resembling the Bugis way of thinking that is both historical and cultural, open and futuristic. The Character in La Galigo becomes the index of the Bugis double-responsive characters, i.e. love-hate, pity-resentment, obstinate-sloppy, and rough, gentle-rough. How these traits manifested in a character depends on how the response received by the outside. The general principle held could be inferred as "macca pi nawarani, malempuq pi nemagetteng, meaning one should be "clever and brave, honest and persistent" which translated into courageous, straightforward, pertinacious, unyielding, uncompromising, regarding things as black-and-white and no such thing as “in-between” personalities. The main themes in the La Galigo are wanderings and seafaring. They now became the main identity the Bugis cultural trait and designation: 1) the wanderer, and 2) seafarer.