Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0172/01720.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 28KB | 495 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01720}
$Pretitle{239}
$Title{Indonesia
Chapter 2C.   The Minorities}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Riga Adiwoso-Suprapto}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{chinese
ethnic
groups
members
own
balinese
village
batak
indonesia
indonesian}
$Date{1982}
$Log{}
Country:     Indonesia
Book:        Indonesia, A Country Study
Author:      Riga Adiwoso-Suprapto
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1982

Chapter 2C.   The Minorities

     Besides the two major ethnic groups, there are other ethnic groups
inhabiting the island of Java, such as the Badui, the Tenggerese, the
Bantenese, and the Madurese. The Badui in the westernmost part of Java and the
Tenggerese in the mountains of eastern Java continue to practice their
Hindu-Buddhist religion. They are isolated culturally and socially from the
two major ethnic groups; contacts are kept to a minimum level of trading
products. The Bantenese in western Java and the Madurese on the island of
Madura consider themselves affiliated with the Javanese, and a majority of
them are Muslims.

Sumatra

     Sumatra is the meeting place of many cultural traditions. Varying
influences have been absorbed, adopted, and altered by the diverse
ethnic groups to suit their own culture, reflected in the norms and values
of each group.

The Acehnese

     The Acehnese inhabit the northernmost part of Sumatra, having their
own language and writing system modified from Arabic. Most live in the
coastal areas; the rugged terrain of the interior is inhospitable. Up to the
beginning of the nineteenth century, Aceh was known for its pepper
plantations; but in the early 1980s most Acehnese engaged in dry-rice
cultivation, in which women planted and maintained the rice fields and the
men plowed and harvested.

     The Acehnese are very attached to their villages, more so the women
than the men, inasmuch as women inherit the land. In addition to the village
headman, a person knowledgeable in the Islamic religious law code (teuku
meunasah) is influential. He oversees the place for prayer and public
gatherings (meunasah) and runs the religious boarding schools (pesantren),
the administration of which is not a village function. The members of the
council of the elders in the villages, consulted in matters related to
inheritance and marriage laws, are higher in social status than others.
But the highest status is held by the members of the aristocratic (ulee
balang) families, who once occupied positions above the village level and
were directly responsible to the sultan. In the early 1980s most of the
wealthy ulee balang members formed the elite group in the Acehnese community.
Having greater access to schools and tertiary education than others, many
had left Aceh to work and live in Jakarta.

     Central to the Acehnese belief system is the separation between
"earthly desire," which has a negative connotation, and "the faculty of
knowing." Praying, a sacred duty, must reflect self-control, a highly
valued habit, and must be perfectly done. After the fasting month of
Ramadan, the Acehnese feel renewed, cleansed, and in full control of
themselves.

     Acehnese society, like the societies of many ethnic groups in Indonesia,
is going through rapid changes. Men who once left their families in the
villages for temporary work to earn enough wealth to provide their wives
with luxury goods now tend to stay away permanently and marry others. The
influx of foreign investments and new transmigrants, even as temporary workers
in the oil fields, have created problems foreign to many Acehnese. Often
friction occurs between the Acehnese and the new arrivals.

The Batak

     Living south of the Acehnese region, the Batak show a cultural
tradition contrasting greatly with that of the Acehnese. The Batak recognize
six different subgroups: the Batak Karo, the Batak Simalungun, the Batak
Pakpak, the Batak Toba, the Batak Angkola, and the Batak Mandailing. The first
three subgroups have their own particular dialects, whereas the others speak
the dialect of the Batak Toba. The Batak live in rural areas in villages
consisting exclusively of members of the same clan. When an original village
(huta) of a clan becomes overcrowded, a new nucleus village for the same clan
is established with the consent of the clan members.

     The lands for rice cultivation are owned by the huta, and the members
have the right to work and reap its harvests. Allocation and transfer of
rights to land are conducted by the council of elders.

     The elders of the huta are responsible for making policy decisions: the
younger ones must implement such decisions, and the youngest are not
included in any important activity. The highest social status is held by
descendants of the nobility; next come priests, shamans, and skilled workers
regarded as possessing magical powers; the newcomers occupy the lowest rank.
The Batak regard original huta members as equal in status to that of the
nobility; tracing descent to the original huta members allows them a higher
position in the stratum than others.

     While most of the Batak are Protestants, the Batak Mandailing and the
Batak Angkla profess Islam. Protestant missionaries of German origin came to
the Batak land as early as 1863, but until 1922 indigenous Batak religious
practices, focused on the spirit world, were still widely observed.

The Minangkabau

     The Minangkabau, living in west-central Sumatra, adhere to a
matrilineal kinship system. The basic social unit of Minangkabau society
is the matrilineal extended family. This system of kinship allows male
members of the family to migrate temporarily to other places to earn money,
a practice that is a major characteristic of the society, as it is among
the Acehnese. A village headman is chosen by the members of the community,
but authority lies chiefly with the descendants of those who originally
settled the village, and they occupy the highest social stratum. In the
early 1980s the nuclear family was becoming increasingly important among the
Minangkabau, owing to new influences from other ethnic groups and the West.
The traditional pattern, in which a man's first responsibility is to the
children of his sister, was changing; a new pattern was developing that
stressed equal responsibility to a man's own wife and children, particularly
to those children living in places other than on Sumatra.

Kalimantan

     The inhabitants of Kalimantan are ethnically heterogeneous. The Dayak,
living mostly in the interior of the island along the rivers, are considered
by many as the indigenous ethnic group. Peoples who live in less isolated
areas tend to become assimilated with other groups, including the Buginese
and Makasarese in Sulawesi, coastal Malays, and Javanese. The main
agricultural activity of the Dayak is rice cultivation, based on the shifting
method but with some permanent cultivation, although the land is not
permanently owned.

     The Dayak are basically a tribal society; chiefhood is usually inherited
by the oldest son. The chief and his family occupy the highest, most
prestigious, social stratum and are not required to work. The commoners are
responsible for the needs of the chief and his family. The chief must
enforce adat pertaining to marriage and minor misdemeanors. Such offenses
are punishable by fines in addition to the obligation to perform certain
ceremonies to restore the balance between man and nature.

     The Dayak kinship system, based on the extended family, has its own
guardian spirits, taboos, and rituals. The Dayak trace their lineage through
either the mother's or the father's line depending on their place of
residence. Most Dayak are either Christian or Muslim; a priest has status
equal to that of the village headman, for he performs most of the rituals.
Among the Ngaju Dayak, a subgroup of the Dayak, the bodies of the deceased
are exhumed for cremation during an elaborate ceremony.

Sulawesi

     The different ecological conditions of Sulawesi have made huma