ASPECTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN A SUMBAWAN VILLAGE (EASTERN INDONESIA) by PETER R. GOETHALS MONOGRAPH SERIES Modern Indonesia Project Southeast Asia Program Department of Far Eastern Studies Cornell University Ithaca, New York 1961 Price—$3.00 ( SEAP Publications Do not remove from room 213 640 Stewart AvenueASPECT'S OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN A SUMBAWAN VILLAGE (EASTERN INDONESIA) by Peter R. Goethals MONOGRAPH SERIES Modern Indonesia Project Southeast Asia Program Department of Far Eastern Studies Cornell University Ithaca, New York 1961< %PREFACE Post-colonial social and political change at the village level has been a major continuing interest of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. In the village studies it has sponsored particular attention has been given to the lodgement of power, political organization, arid the processes by which decisions are made. Relatively brief surveys of two to three months by Indo- nesian graduate students during 1955-1956 in twenty-three villages on Java and fourteen on Sumatra helped set the stage for subsequent studies in depth by four social anthropologists. These studies have been undertaken in Central Java, in West Java(one near Bogor and one near Sumedang) and Sumbawa, respectively by Dr. Koentjaraningrat, Dr. Gerald Williams, Andrea Wilcox Palmer, and Dr. Peter Goethals. The data collected and analysed in these studies should be of interest to the political scientist and sociologist interested in Indonesia as well as to the anthropologist. In view of the substantial areas of common concern in the research of these four anthropologists, it is our hope that their data will permit some meaningful comparison and that the significance of some of their findings may have a rele- vance transcending the Indonesian scene and prove useful to social scientists working in other areas.. In any case there should be no doubt as to the intrinsic value of Dr. Goethals’ study and of its significance to social scientists of whatever discipline who are concerned with contemporary Indonesia. Based upon two years of intensive research in western Sumbawa, his is the first of the village studies in depth to appear in the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project’s Monograph Series. George McT. Kahin Director Ithaca August 2, 1961%Ill TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Page vii II III SUMBAWA: AN ORIENTATION 1 (1) The island of Sumbawa 1 (2) The climate of the island 3 (3) The flora and fauna of western Sumbawa 3 (4) The population of Sumbawa and its major divisions 6 (5) The historical development of western Sumbawa 8 (A) Prior to 1675 8 (B) The 1675-1815 period 10 (C) Aspects of political structure in western Sumbawa between 1675 and 1815 14 (D) 1815 to the present 17 RARAK: A . VILLAGE IN UPLAND WESTERN SUMBAWA 23 (1) The seasonal subsistence round 23 (2) The villager’s social horizons 29 AUTHORITY ’ AND COMMUNITY AT RARAK 36 Part One: Introduction 36 (1) The spheres of authority 36 (2) The traditional paramount leaders: headman and leiife 36 Part Two: Village Civil Government 41 (1) New trends in leadership qualifications 41 (2) Innovation in administration: the village union 42 (3) The local role of the village union head 44 (4) The role of the modern village head, or "deputy" 47 (5) Junior members of the civil government 51 (6) Inspector of community lands: the malar 52 (7) The local role of the district head 53iv CHAPTER Page Part Three: Village Religious Authority 58 (1) Religious office and leadership 58 (2) The position of the village lebk 59 (3) The position of the village pengulu 61 (4) Junior members of the hukum group 63 (5) Authority of the hukum group 63 Part Four: Community Membership and Religious Tithe 65 (1) Tau Rarak and citizen 65 (2) The third ’’pillar" of Islam 68 (3) Contribution and supervision of the main djakat donations 68 (4) Disposition of* the main djakat funds 72 (5) The pitera category of djakat 73 Part Five: Conclusions 74 IV. AUTHORITY AND THE CITIZEN: CASES 77 (1) Problems of marriage and illegitimacy 77 (A) Case one 78 (B) Case two 81 (2) Problems of disputed lands claims 84 (A) Case one 86 (B) Case two 88 V. COOPERATIVES, CHANGE, AND CONSERVATISM 91 (1) Leadership and the rukun tetangga 91 (2) Decision making 95 (3) Politics and progress 100 (4) Facets of conservatism 105 FOOTNOTES 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY 129 GLOSSARY 136v INTRODUCTION This account of local government is largely derived from an anthropological field study carried out in western Sumbawa, Indonesia between 1954 and 1956. As such it supplements more extensive research into the social organization of Rarak village, an agricultural community lying in western Sumbawa’s northernmost foothills. In its approach to the topic of local government the present report is necessarily far less systematically analytic than descriptive and eclectic. There are several reasons for this. In the first place the role of kinship in shaping the villager’s patterns of social and economic participation has, insofar as possible, already been analyzed elsewhere in the writer’s doctoral dissertation. Although the salient features of local kinship structure are also mentioned here in their most ap- parent bearing upon village leadership, really systematic exploration of kinship effect in this sphere still awaits more adequate anthropological analysis of bilateral societies (of which Sumbawa is one) in general. Other consideratinns of opinion-group formation and leadership at the village level can only be described at present in general terms. This seems particularly true of the perhaps peculiarly Indonesian problem of mufakat type communication. Direct case data neither from Sumbawa nor any other Indonesian area yet allow a systematic account of its role either historically or at present in decision making at the village level. Closely related to this are the ancillary problems of collecting reliable direct data on village-wide administrative decisions in a community as socially homogeneous and bound by the pressures of local opinion as Rarak. As a result this report can, as its title indicates, merely present selected aspects of village level government which can perhaps be amplified in subsequent field analyses of local government and leadership in other Indo- nesian communities. Despite such limitations of approach this account presents recent data about an Indonesian area and ethnic group which has heretofore been barely described in either Dutch or Indonesian ethnographic writings. While in many respects the Rarak community typifies upland Sumbawan villages generally, its dry rice subsistence economy and its Islamic religious patterns mark it as representative of a yet more extensive type of Indonesian community. Probably this same gross type of community is also found today in many areas of southern Celebes, Lombok, Sumatra, parts of Kalimantan and even thevi Philippines. Yet the extent to which this is true inevitably remains a problem for considerable future research. To the extent this paper stimulates more adequate analysis of Indo- nesian village government its present form will be justified.Vll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To the Ford Foundation I am grateful for the generous support which has made this report possible. For invaluable additional assistance I am further indebted to the Institute of Linguistic and Cultural Research of the University of Indonesia. However, the conclusions, opinions, and other statements in this report are exclusively those of the author and are not necessarily representative of either the Ford Foundation or the Institute. The majority of the individuals of Sumbawa, Bali and Java whose advice and friendly assistance between 1954 and 1956 was crucial to the conduct of my field work must, for reasons of space, remain anonymous in this acknowledgement. This in no way diminishes my deep appreciation of their unique and often outstanding efforts in my behalf. To the Kepala Daerah Pulau Sumbawan, M. Hasan, and to the Kepala Swapradja Sumbawa, M. Kaharuddin, I must express genuine appreciation for unstinting assistance of many kinds. To Mr. M. Zain of the S.G.B. Sumbawa, to Abdulrahim Lalu Tjeang, and to the proprietor of the Toko Buku Mawar, Husein, I owe additional special debts of gratitude. Prof. Dr. G.J. Held provided essential stimulus and encouragement in all phases of my work. Finally, and above all, I wish to express my warm collective thanks to the men, women and children of Rarak village for their patience, unfailing hospitality and con- siderable good humor.SUMBAWA FLORES WCSTE.RN SUMBAWA1 CHAPTER I SUMBAWA: AN ORIENTATION (1) The island of Sumbawa In its greatest dimension the Indonesian archipelago sweeps southeastwards from the Malay peninsula along a three thousand mile arc of mountainous islands reaching almost to New Guinea. This arc divides the deep basin of the Indian Ocean to the south from the interior seas of Malaysia spreading north to Luzon. In its western sector it follows the massive volcanic spines of Sumatra and JAva. Farther east the arc breaks into a chain of smaller vol- canic islands extending from Java’s eastern tip a thousand miles into the Molucca sea. These islands of the eastern chain bear the collective name in Malay of Nusa Tenggara,(l) the "southeast islands". From the geographic perspective of Indonesia’s four main islands they are, indeed, accurately named: while comprising the eastern segment of the Sumatra-Java arc they also lie re- spectively east and south of Borneo and Celebes. The most renowned member of the Nusa Tenggara group is Bali, an island which almost touches Java across a narrow strait. Suc- cessively farther east Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba and Timor are the islands which comprise most of Nusa Tenggara’s area and support perhaps two thirds of its present population. All these islands stand in sharp contrast to Bali in two basic respects: without exception each is larger in total expanse but, inversely, supports a far smaller population. Bali’s adjacent neighbor, Lombok, is the only island of even approximately the same size. Yet even Lombok’s mixed Sasak and Balinese population numbers considerably less than that of Bali. One of the more westerly links in this island chain is formed by the rugged land mass of Sumbawa lying between Lombok and Flores. Separated from these islands by only narrow straits, Sumbawa stretches roughly parallel to the equator along a moun- tain line of weathered volcanic stumps for about a hupdred and seventy miles. Together with its fringing islands, Sumbawa ap- proximates 5,200 square miles in total area. (2) This gives it an expanse considerably larger than Bali and Lombok combined and about three quarters that of Flores. Sumbawa’s sprawled erratic shape attests to a geological history fractured by episodes of blistering vulcanism and attenu- ated by slow equatorial ages of erosion and florescence. Twisted by jutting peninsulas and angular bights in some sectors, the coast is also fringed in others by ancient rounded headlands, precipitous hills and extensive tidal flats. Two major bays sharply indent the island’s northern shoreline and lead directly2 to the interior coastal plains and volcanic uplands. Saleh bay, the larger of the two, slants southeastwards for over fifty toiles and is landlocked by a large offshore island (Pulau Mojo) almost sealing its mouth. But for a slender isthmus marking the division between eastern and western Sumbawa this vast bay would cleave the island in two. Along its northern shoreline Saleh bay is flanked by a wide peninsula known for its gigantic single volcano, Tambora. As one of the loftiest peaks of the entire archipelago, Tambora rises symmetrically to an altitude of 9,250 feet and towers some 3,000 feet beyond any other point on Sumbawa*s rugged profile. Al- though- the most recently active of all the island’s craters, (3) Tambora has been quiescent since 1815, the year it erupted with a colossal convulsion felt throughout the archipelago. The volcaho’s massive peak was obliterated in the holocaust but despite the loss, its stunted profile still stands well above the raincloud ceiling and is seldom seen. Farther east Teluk Bima (Bima bay), the second major bay of the north coast, is ringed closely by older volcanic remnants and crater walls. The bay, a narrow fifteen mile arm of the Flores sea, cuts due south into the Bima highlands and forms one of Indo- nesia’s best natural harbors. A perimeter of fertile lowland hems the inner bay on all sides and, through a dip in the surrounding hills, reaches west into the rich interior Dompu plains. Yet at :·... no point are these flatlands of eastern Sumbawa distant from the steep volcanic escarpments, sharply dissected crater remnants, or conically eroded hills which extend to the end of the island. Al- though one peak just east of Bima bay rises almost to 4,300 feet, in general this landscape does not attain altitudes of over a thousand feet. (4) The other major division of the island is formed by the brpad peninsula extending from the central isthmus westward to the A^hs strait. This peninsula is the widest of the island and reaches'a maximum north to south width of almost seventy miles. It also pro- vides Sumbawa with well over half its total lengttft and about sixty percent of its surface area. (5) Although its northern coastline is notched by only occasional tiny bays and inlets, western Sumbawa is the region of the island’s major river systems. Most of these drain from a line of shallow, continguous basins along the north- ern coast and spring from breaks in the inland tier of steep foot- hills that closely parallels the coastline. Of the peninsula’s three large drainage areas two are situated at the ends of the peninsula. To the east the adjacent Mojo and Sumbawa rivers drain a large margin of dissected, lowland plateau along Saleh Bay and empty from separate estuaries into the Flores sea. At the peninsula’s western end the broken, semi-circular area of the Taliwang basin drains into the Alas strait. The other drainage basin of the peninsula is that of the Lunjuk river. This is both the largest river of the entire island and the only major water- course which empties to the south. It reaches the Indian Ocean through a steep water gap in the peninsula’s mountainous southern spine and drains a large fan shaped watershed of forested mountain peaks and deep valleys.3 By contrast to its coastal basins most of Sumbawa’s western peninsula consists of contiguous highland between l,50Q and 2,100 foot in altitude. Individual peaks, however, attain far greater altitudes. For example, the twin summits of Batu Lante directly north of the Lunjuk watershed rise to 5,700 feet and the Sapekat cluster of the southern coast barrier reaches 4,620 feet. As in eastern Sumbawa these rugged uplands exhibit many signs of their volcanic origin: sections of old crater walls, enormous deposits of trachite and pumice, dissedted lava stacks, and winding ridges formed from huge lava flows or rows of extinct volcanoes. In general, these remnants are probably of younger geological age than those of eastern Sumbawa and somewhat less disintegrated. In several sectors they are interrupted by protruding limestone ridges or, in the coastal lowlands, by thick alluvial deposits.(6) (2) The climate of the island Sumbawa lies in the southern hemisphere and is almost wholly bracketed between the eighth and ninth parallels. Accordingly, the climate.is tropical with relatively little fluctuation in daily temperature. Most perceptibly the island's climate varies according to the distribution of rainfall throughout the year. Because of Sumbawa’s proximity to the Australian landmass local precipitation is far more sharply divided between alternating wet and dry seasons than is true over the more westerly islands of Indonesia. The two distinct seasons are the wet (or west monsoon) and the dry (east monsoon). The wet months ordinarily extend from Novem- ber through May; the dry season runs the balance of the year from June through October. Average annual precipitation from coastal points of western Sumbawa is generally under 1,500 mm. making these among the dryest seven percent of all rainfall stations in Indonesia. (7) From coastal towns located at three points along the entire length of the island the following data were compiled listing annual rainfall averages over a series of years: (8) Taliwang (west end of western peninsula) 1,3Q5 mm.(13 years) Sumbawa Besar (east end of western peninsula) 1,300 mm.(21 years) Bima (eastern Sumbawa) 1,262 mm.(50 years) These figures do not indicate rainfall for the uplands although, in general, the higher altitudes are correlated with greater an- nual rainfall. Moreover, as one proceeds farther east across the island the seasons become more sharply divided. In Bima the dry season usually sets in several weeks before the west monsoon rains cease over Western Sumbawa. Thus the dry months are rela- tively more severe in eastern Sumbawa while the rainy period there is shorter but more concentrated in its precipitation. (3) The flora and fauna of western