April 12, 2025
In the central Kalimantan region of the island of Borneo, the town centre of Palangkaraya hosted the first translation checking session of the Ot Danum Old Testament translation, on March 17-21, facilitated by the Indonesian Bible Society (LAI).
Approximately twenty-five years after the New Testament translation had been completed and appreciated by the Ot Danum-speaking communities, the Old Testament translation commenced due to the community’s demand.
Once finished with this project, the Old Testament will complete the Bible for the Ot Danum people for the first time – added to the New Testament, completed in 1999 by LAI.
Gathering in Palangkaraya
LAI Translation Officer Dr. Lady Mandalika provided expert guidance for the week-long event, during which the translation team from all around the island of Borneo gathered in the Kalimantan Evangelist Church to check the drafted books of Ruth, Obadiah, and Jonah.
One of the leaders of an Ot Danum community in a central Kalimantan province, Bertho K. Kondrat, travelled approximately ten hours from Puruk Cahu to join the rest of the translation team in Palangkaraya for this momentous occasion. While this is the first of the checking sessions for the Old Testament project, the team involved in the previous translation project would rotate the location of the checking sessions throughout the island to make it easier for all to attend on at least a few occasions. Additionally, holding these checking sessions in different communities makes all the communities feel connected and involved in the project.
Meeting at the church, the translation team read through the first completed books, and discussed potential edits and corrections to their Ot Danum text. The team’s discussion over the course of the week ensures the drafted text is of the highest possible quality before further feedback on these texts is sought from other experts, and the community.
Motivated to Complete the Ot Danum Bible
Speaking about the team’s drive to translate the remaining books of the Bible, Dr Mandalika shared:
“They are longing to have a complete Bible, so that’s why we are working on this Old Testament. So, why do they commit to doing this work? Because they see how God works in their community and bring transformation to the community.”
Another translation team member, retired former government bureaucrat Djuda Anom, shares that many of the communities throughout central Kalimantan, where he lives, still speak the Ot Danum language actively and do not understand Indonesian or any other foreign language, so they need this translation in their heart language.
Bible ministry has already had a tremendous impact for the Ot Danum people. Broader public perceptions of the Ot Danum people throughout the rest of Indonesia is that the community is poor, lacking in education and lacking in culture. However, the communities attribute the church ministry with supporting them with education, and literacy which has had a profound effect on uplifting them and their communities.
Bible Translation in Indonesia
There are 703 indigenous languages across the 17,000 islands that make up the nation of Indonesia. Of those 703 languages, 43 have the complete Bible, 133 have a New Testament, and 208 have at least a portion.
LAI has translated 38 Bibles into indigenous Languages, 5 publications into Indonesian languages, 115 New Testament publications into 107 indigenous languages, and 340 portions of publications into 79 indigenous languages.
Currently, 296 Bible translation projects are in progress across Indonesia. Yet, 132 languages in Indonesia still do not have any Scripture.
The Ot Danum language is one of the 133 currently having an NT and will join the 43 full Bibles upon completion. Ot Danum is also among the 70 languages on the island of Borneo.
The Ot Danum Community
The Ot Danum people are an ethnicity of the Dayak people (hence also referred to as Dayak Ot Danum). An estimated 96,000 people speak the Ot Danum language, one of the significant language groups of the Dayak people in Kalimantan. The Ot Danum people are spread across four provinces, each with a different dialect; however, each can understand the dialect of the others. Traditionally, these communities’ religious faith includes forms of ancestor worship, with many stories and mythologies.
