Kelestarian Pantun: Rencah dan Leluhur Bangsa Dulu, Kini dan Selamanya

The pantun is the earliest creative works of the Malays. It is also said that the pantun is a valuable past treasure, that signifies the Malay genius that has a high worth. The pantun also has an unquestionable documentary value. The pantun is an original literary genre that has become a mode of speech in all aspects of human activity. The pantun is also used as an instrument for a higher stage of life such as moral and religion, more complex aspects of life such as cosmology and cosmoginy that are more abstract compared to day to day life. Especially, pantun can capture the way of life and activity pictured by exploiting the universe’s elements that are around a certain place. Based on these ideas, this paper will look at the relevance and significance of the pantun in the era of nation building that is pursued actively by information technology. Is the pantun still relevant? Should the pantun be changed to adapt to recent times? Thus, where is the pantun headed to? Should the pantun be only used to grace social events? Is it right for the pantun to be used as such? Should the pantun be used in a jocular manner? Based on the questions posed above, this paper tries to discuss why the pantun is a custom and also a symbol of courtesy in all aspects of ancestral culture that is fine, high and pure. Thus the pantun has to be present hand in hand with the development of the country as the foundation of civilisation and culture. In fact the pantun is ranked highly in society.