"Two great library in Leiden, Leiden and the Universitets Biliootheek Koninklijk Institut voor Taal-Land-en Volkenkunde (KITLV) save a lot of books, manuscripts, brochures, pamphlets, magazines, old newspapers, sketches, maps, letters, photographs , audio visual recordings, journals as well as some important notes about West Sumatra, "said Suryadi in Padang on Monday.
He mentioned at the Library of Leiden KITLV stored Palewaan Gala invitation letter to the late Tan Malaka Datuak and black discs of songs old and past editions of the newspaper.
According to the Department of Literature Minangkabau alumni Universitas Andalas (Unand), the discovery of a variety of archives and manuscripts in the Netherlands brought West Sumatra when the time of Dutch colonial government archives showed the weakness of our culture.
"Therefore, the West Sumatra government should prioritize efforts to save ancient manuscripts and archives in the State of West Sumatra Windmills are considering it a valuable learning material for the younger generation in the future," he continued.
He said that with the advance technology of the rescue effort toward things that might be valuable. "One of the steps can be taken to save the archives and manuscripts by storing it in the form of discs and microfilm," he said.
In addition, the cultural archive of good will can help the government in taking the right policy.
He pointed out that if the government has archives about the number of creditors in West Sumatra in 2011, then it could be determined what kind of economic policies which would in effect. Then he says how a researcher next 50 years will be able to find out what happened in West Sumatra if no records are stored properly and neatly as a reference.
He added that awareness document and archive everything is directly proportional to the level of progress of the nation."The progress of the nation reflected the orderly system of national administration," he said.