Introduction

Malay manuscripts are handwritten documents mostly written in the Jawi-Arabic script and dates as early as the 15th century. It is invaluable (rare) and a national heritage that must be preserved for posterity. The manuscripts extend over diverse areas, studies on Malay language, Islamic studies, Astrology, Folk literature (syair, gurindam, hikayat), traditional medicine, handwritten Quran and its interpretations, historiography, laws and discourses on Malay society and culture.

There are several national repositories of Malay manuscripts, which include The National Library of Malaysia, National Archive Malaysia, Islamic Centre Malaysia, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and the older university libraries at University of Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Together these repositories hold roughly over 1,000 manuscripts of various sizes and length with an estimation of over 100,000 pages. Malay manuscripts are also held in repositories outside the country such as Indonesia, Brunei, the libraries in Leiden, University College London, Cambridge University, Bodlean Library in Oxford, the British Museums, Australian National University library, New York Public Library and various European libraries.

Hence, to study the text of Hikayat Hang Tuah for example, a researcher would need to use various libraries within Malaysia, Indonesia and Europe. In 1983, Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia was declared as the national centre for Malay manuscript but it is by the no means the only repository that holds such collections.