This paper was presented at the 2014 International Workshop on Endangered Scripts of Island Southeast Asia at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. It surveys various indigenous scripts of Indonesian and the Philippines and concentrates on a number of issues previously not addressed in any depth, including calligraphic or elevated uses of scripts, teaching strategies and resulting spelling conventions, as well as the probable underlying relationships of Sumatran and Philippine recital orders that deviate from the standard Indic "Varnamala".