Surat daripada Prof. Russell Jones dari England

E-Mel: awang@dbp.gov.my

Dr. Awang bin Sariyan
Ketua Pengarah
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka

Dear Dr Awang,

Greeting. It is so long since we were in touch, indeed I only remember that when DB had a workshop in Pualau Langkawi in 2002, unfortunately you were away in Europe. I am glad to see you are flourishing. For years I have been living in this remote part of England and getting more and more out of touch with things that matter.

But at the age of 86 I still try. I am focused on watermarks (tera air) in Malay manuscripts. I am assembling a corpus of watermark images to aid the recognition of watermarks, which I hope eventually will be uploaded on a website to be available to all codicologists. I have not yet found an institution in Malaysia (or Indonesia) to host the website.

I am also collecting my scattered articles on Malay manuscripts and their watermarks together for republication in a volume so that they will be more accessible. That is why I am writing this, and I was delighted to see on the website that the Ketua Pengarah is a familiar name. I have known the directors from Syed Nasir onwards. In 1988 I had an article ‘On Malay manuscripts with reference to Aceh’ published in Tenggara vol. 21/22, pp 99-110. I am writing to ask for your consent for me to republish my article from the journal, of course with acknowledgement of details of the original publication.

Sorry I write in English, I guess it will be easier for you to reply in Malay.

Best regards, nice to be in touch,
Russell 25-01-13

Dr Russell Jones
Address: Little Antron, Antron Lane, Mabe,
Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9JD, UK.
Email: rumajones26@tiscali.co.uk
Phone: + 44 1326 376 376