symbiotic dynamics of an rnsular community in...

Symbiotic Dynamics of an rnsular Communityin the Melaka Strait

Narifumi Maeda TACHIMOTO)*

I. Introduction

This paper explores the complex interplay be-tween culture and ecology in the process of rapidsociocultural transformation. This is achievedthrough a comparative study of the images oflife-world structure held by peoples living on thecoasts of islands and depending on the sea forresources and communication lines. The centralfocus is directed toward the differences and simi-larities in life-world structure between variousethnic groups or ethnies coping with changes inmaritime ecology and social transformations.

Symbiosis originally means "living together"and in biology it denotes the interaction betweentwo different organisms living in close physicalassociation, especially when this association is

mutually beneficial. Following this deffinition Ihere use the term figuratively to mean a mutuallyadvantageous relationship between two or moregroupings of people, specific ally, ethnic groups.

Fieldwork was carried out in 1993 and 1994 inthe village of Penuba, Lingga District, in thearchipelagic part of Riau Province, on the west ofSumatera Island, Indonesia (Figure l).t) Thisinsular community is inhabited by three mainethnic groups, Malays, Chinese and sea people,intermixed. It was selected mainly because of theharmonious coexistence that is found between thevarious social divisions. Also its strategic loca-tion for a researcher was taken for consideration.It has easy access by regular boat line from Tan-jungpin zng, but at the same time it is relativelyisolated, &s indicated by the village slogan:"Penuba is isloated, but not left behind" (Penuba

BU

Figure 1. The Melaka Strait.

* Professor of Cultural Dynamics, Center for Southeast Asian Studies of Kyoto University, Kyoto.

l-

terpencil namun tidak tercecer). In addition, ithas continued to play an important role as an

interlocal port in the straits; and it is peaceful,

clean and safe, and the people are friendly to-wards strangers.

In short, Penuba provides a readily studiablecase of symbiotic dynamics between ethnicgroups.

II. Settings

1. Geography and History in the Malay WorldSituated at O" 20' S and 104o 28' E, Penuba oc-

cupies a strategic point in the sea communicationroutes of the Lingga archipelago. It has a goodport as a base for fishing or temporary anchorage,protected from the winds by a small islet, PulauLipan (Figure 2).

The Lingga archipelago is located at the south-ern exit of the Melaka Strait. To its north lies the

Riau archipelago with which it is usually associat-

ed as the Riau-Lingga archipelago. The 383

islands that make up the Lingga archipelago in-clude the two major islands of Lingga and Sing-kep,and srnaller ones like Temiang, Sebangka,

and Bakong. The Riau archipelago stretchesfrom west to east and consists of Bintan, Batam,Bulan, Rempang, Galang, Sugi, Cumbul, Durian,

Regional Views No. 11 1997

Moro, Kundur, Karimun and smaller islands.

The Riau-Lingga archipelago forms part of an

archipelagic chain running through the South

China Sea. To its west are the islands off the east

coast of Sum atera; to its south are Bangka andBelitung; and to its northeast are the Pulau Tujuhgroups, i.e., the Great Natuna archipelago, the

South Natuna archipelago, the Tambelan archi-pelago, and the Anambas archipelago. Except forBangka and Belitung, these archipelagoes are in-cluded in the present Riau Province of Indonesia.

Chinese and Arab historical documents men-

tion various islands in the Melaka Strait, includ-ing Lin EEa, whose 1,200-meter peak, the highest

in the Strait, is a distinctive landmark that may

well have attracted passing traders' attention tothe island from the earliest days of east-westtrade. Lingga and the nearby island of Singkep liebetween the Malay Peninsula and Sumatera,nearer to Jambi on the east coast of Sum ateta,divided by the Berhala or Lingga Strait, than tothe peninsula.

There are many passages in the Melaka Strait,but many of them are shallow and dangerous forbig vessels. One of the few larger passages is

through the Singapore Strait and another is

through the Berhala Strait or the Lingga Straitbetween Sumatera and the Lin gga archipelago.

や。６脚讐し

Map2 Lingga Archipelago

50b 2OtE

Figure 2. Lingga Archipelago.

2

Symbiotic Dynamics of an Insular Community in the Melaka Strait (Tachimoto)

Srivijaya, whether situated in Jambi or inPalemb&trg, in its heyday influenced the Lin gga

archipelago. Then Melaka became a prosperous

trade center in the Strait, and during the reign ofSultan Ala'uddin ( 1477-88) Melaka acquiredLingga. Lingga thereafter became one of thenuclei of the Malay World created by the Melaka-Johor-Riau- Lin gga kingdoms.

Around 1700 Captain Alexander Hamiltondescribed Lingga as follows

The Island Lingen [Lingga] lies under theaequator, about 20 leagues [96 km] fromJambee [Jambi], and as far from the River ofJohore, and is a part of the Johore dominions.It is about twenty leagues long, and ten broad.It is very mountainous within, and very lowtowards the sea. Its product is some pepper

and canes, and it abounds in porcupines, whichaffords them the valuable porcupine beazoar

lbezoar stone]. Some of them I have seen as

big as a wall-nut, and of the same shape, andpretty near in colour, valued at 600 pieces ofeight [i.e., 4800 reals]. Between Lingga andSumatra are the Straits of Drians [Durian],where generally ships pass that go from Malac-ca to Batavia. [Hamilton 1930: 65-6]He also mentions that the last Sultan of Melaka

was murdered in 1699, and that an English facto-ry on the Island of Berhala off the coast of Jambiwithdrew in 168G-81, while a Dutch settlementwas founded at Jambi in 1670.

In the 17th to 19th centuries, sultans movedtheir capitals in Johor and in the Riau-Linggaarchipelago. On Lin EEa, the capital was locatedin Daik, in the southern part of the island.

While the sultans' powers declined markedlyafter the Anglo-Dutch Treaty had divided theMalay realm in 1824, even in 1848 the Sultan ofLingga was still regarded by Malays in the penin-sula as the ruler of Johor [Wolters l97O: 179]. Inthe middle of the 19th century, G. F. de BruynKops (a Dutch naval lieutenant, later, Residentof Riau in 1911) describes the Berhala Island as a

hiding place for pirates [1854: 390]. He left adescription of conditions in the villages in Daik.

The campong fkampung, village or settle-mentl Dai [Daik], the present capital of thekingdom, lies on the island Lingga, a littlewithin the mouth of the river, also called Dai,. . . .It is a large scattered campong extendingon both sides of the small river. Close to themouth of the river, are about ten miserable hutsbelonging to fishermen. A little higher up thecampong commences. We have first on the

right bank the Chinese campong with the fish-

market, and small shops for the sale of clothand provisions. As at Rhio [Riau], these areplaced under a covered verandah. The floors ofthese houses, consisting of split nibong [a kindof palm], are raised about two feet above theground. A little further up we find on bothsides some Bugis houses, recognisable by theirgreater ornamentation with carved and festoon

work, and from the high roofs, which withintervals, lie over each other. After these wehave the Malay campong, mostly in a miserable

and dilapidated condition, surrounded by co-coanut [coconut] trees and raised about sixfeet from the ground on posts. . . . The dalam

[palace] of the Sultan is further up on the rightbank. A large space, partly surrounded by a

wall, is covered with numerous dwellings, some

of them of stone but mostly of wood, . . . Infront of the Sultan's own residence there is aspacious balei lbalai, pavilion] of wood, with a

double verandah round it, one lower than theother. . . . With the exception of some of thehouses of the nobles and chiefs, all the dwell-ings are of wood covered with attap, and sur-rounded by groups of cocoanut trees. Thegreatest traffic is on the river. . . .

On Lingga, Sinkep [Singkep] and other is-

lands, we find campongs here and there, whichhowever in most respects are like those alreadydescribed. A collection of houses, generallyplaced near each other, without regularity, is

sometimes surrounded by paggar [fence]. Ifthe head is a man of consequence he has a baleiin front of his house, if not, it is only anordinary native house. Wherever practicablethe campongs are built on the rivers. [1855:ee-r001Daik does not seem to have changed much

since this time, but many kampung have growncosiderably in terms of the number of houses.

De Bruyn Kops also mentions the people in theRiau-Lingga archipelago, whom he divides into"aboriginal" and "foreign." The foreigners wereEuropeans, Chinese, Arabs, Bugis, and Javanese.

The Chinese, "Canton or Amoyr" who were byfar the most numerous, were traders and cultiva-tors, principally of gambier and pepper. He notestheir religious festivals, such as the "Loga, Sam-

bayang, Berbut" and so on. Of the Malays he

distinguishes "land people" (orang darat) with"sea people" (orang laut, orang tambus, orangrayat). The sea people resided in "prahus"(boats). "These prahus are to be found in num-

3

Regional Views No。 11 1997

bers in the river at Lingga, as well as at Bintang[Bintan] and other islands" [1885: 108]. Theywere mostly fishermen and "were formerlypirates" but not Muslims. He recognizes somepeculiarities in their langauge and manner ofspeaking, but still treats them as Malays. He alsoreports on "a peculiar wild-living race" who "livein the forests and in huts of branches and leaveson the trees" [1885: 108].

In the twentieth century the Dutch colonizedthe whole of Indonesia and abolished the sultan-ates. In 191 1 the Sultan of Riau was dethroned,and the sultanate was annexed in 1913. TheDutch created a province consisting of: (a) underdirect control, the former sultanate of Lingga-Riau and its dependencies, i.e., Riau-Lingga-Pulau Tujuh archipelagoes and Reteh, Mandah-Gaung and Kateman on the east coast of Suma-tera, with additional stretches of land in Rengatand Cinako; and (b) as native self-governments,Indragiri and Kuantan districts. The provincewas divided into five divisions (afdeelingen):( 1) Indragiri, with Rengat as capital, and twosubdivisions, Kuantan (controleur at Taluk) andIndragiri Hilir (controleur at Tembilahan); (2)Tanjung Pinang, including Bintan, Batam, Bulan,Rempang, Galang, and Tambelan; (3) Lingga,together with Singkep (controleur at Penuba); (a)Karimon, including Karimun, Kundur, Sugi,Cumbul, Kateman (controleur at Tanjung Balai);and (5) Pulau Tujuh (controleur at Tanjung Be-litung, Bunguran).

Subdivisions were set up in Indragiri and PulauTujuh, but the other divisions were divided intodistricts, subdistricts and then kampung. Localchiefs of these administrative units were known as

amir; waktl amir or datu kaya; and penghulu,batin or kepala, respectively.

In 1915 the population of the province wasestimated at 109,000 "natives," 17,000 Chinese,230 Europeans and 32O others. The natives(inlanders) were mostly Malays, with smallernumbers of Bugis, Minangkabau (from Kuan-tan), Javanese, natives of Bangka and Palem-bang, and also sea people (Orang Laut, Barut,Mantang, Kuala) and forest people (Orang tftan,Benuwa, Darat) [Stibbe 1919, vol. 3: 609]. TheChinese were from Hokkien, Canton (Kwang-tong) and Hainan (Hailam), but the majoritywere Teochiu (Tee Tjioe) numbering 9,7OOpeople. The Chinese had their own chiefs underthe Dutch: a"kapitein" at Tanjung Pinan g, "luite-nants" at Tanjung Pinang, Senggarang, Boyan,Tanjung Balai, Penuba, Dabo, Rengat, and Ter-

empa, four "quarter-masters" and a number ofthaulo (taolo). The Chinese were engaged intrade, shippin g, agriculture (mainly gambier andpepper) and fishery. The Malays and others livedby fishing, collecting firewoods, and extractingsago and agar-agar.

The Lingga division of the Riau Residencyconsisted of the total of 383 islands stretchingbetween 0o and 0" 20' S and between 104" 26' andl05o E. At first the seat of Dutch administrationwas in Daik, then it moved to Tanjung Buton,also on Lingga; but in 1905 it moved to TanjungTunngara on Selayar Island. The station wasnamed Penuba after a nearby kampung. With theadvent of Dutch administration, a district chief(amir) was stationed in Daik and subdistrictchiefs at Dabo and Senayang. Penuba became theresidency of the cotroleur, and a harbor, govern-ment buildings, and police station were built.Chinese shops also increased from 2 in 1910 to 14in 1918. One third of the population was Chinese,most of them being Teochiu or Hakka, and thetwo third were "inlanders." "Orang Lautr" either"Mantang" or "Baruk," numbered at most 500.Chinese "luitenants" were placed at Penuba andDabo. Kampung chiefs were called batin, juru,jenang and so on. The head of the orang laut wasDatu Kaya at Senayang, although he formerlylived in Mepar near Daik[Graaff & Stibbe 1918,

vol. 2: 584-85].During the Japanese occupation, Japanese

troops were stationed in Penuba. A number ofheihos were still living in Penuba in 1993.

After Independence, Tanjungpinang becamethe capital of Riau Province, and economic tieswith Singapore were maintained. Later, however,the capital was moved inland to Pekanbaru, andfollowing the confrontation with Malaysia int963, connections with Singapore were severed.The circulation of Singapore dollars in Riauceased, although recently many Singaporeanshave started bringing their dollars with them toBatam, Tanjungpinang, Tanjungbalai and so on.Daik and Dabo retained the status of district(kecamatan), but Penuba was demoted to thestatus of village (desa), or kampung in the Dutchterminology.

2. Kota Desa PenubaPenuba is situated on a cove in the southeast of

the island of Selayar (Figure 2). Desa Penubaoccupies the estern half of Selayar. DesaPenuba's territory measures 40 km2, but of thisonly 19 km2 is on land. In 1993, its population

-4-


Table 1. Population of Kecamatan Lingga by Sex

Year Male Female Total Households

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

10,410

10,576

10,668

10,742

10,933

11,600

11,690

11,780

11,879

11,936

9,988

10,006

10,080

10,072

10,218

11,087

11,157

11,242

11,326

11,386

20,398

20,582

20,748

20,814

21,151

22,687

22,847

23,022

23,205

23,322

4,833

4,925

4,939

4,947

4,926

Source: Kantor Kecamatan Lingga.

was 2,082 and the number of households 495

[Desa Penuba Monografi 1993]. No data is

available on ethnic composition for either the

kecamatan or the desa. However, the religiousstatistics indic ate, to a certain degree, its ethniccomposition; in the desa, there are I ,620 Muslims,67 Christians and 396 Buddhists. Tbe majority ofpeople are thus Malays. Kecamatan Lingga, ofwhich Penuba is a part, consists of 2l villages and

its total area is 892.72l<fff . Its population num-bered 23,322 rn 4,926 households in 1993 (Table1). The province of Riau, the higher admin-istrative unit, consists of two parts; mainland and

archipelagic. The province emcompasses 3,214

islands (about 94,562k*') and the mainland of235,306 km2. The archipelagic part is calledKepulauan Riau: it comprises 1,254 islands(about 8,100 k-t) in an area of water of 239,770

km2. Its population was 457,992 as of 1992. Byreligion 8l% were Muslims, 5% Christians, and

l0% Buddhists [Prop. Riau Profile]. The per-

centage of Buddhists is more than double theprovincial level of some 4.5%.

In Penuba Kota, the Malays in a narrow sense

are not so many. The composition of Malays in awider sense, i.e., pribumi (indigines), is ratherheterogenous: Minangkabau, Bangkinang and

Batak from Sumatera, Buton from Sulawesi, and

Javanese from Jawa. In addition there is a settle-ment of Suku Laut, sea people. The Chinese are

mostly Teochiu, but include one Keh (Hakka)male and one Hainanese male. Most of thoseheterogenous ethnies are concentrated in PenubaKota, or what I shall term kota desa (villagetown) (Figure 3).') Penuba Kota has eleven

Chinese owned convenience shops, seven clothshops or traders from Bangkinang, six coffee

shops and restaurants, tL billiard hall, a gold

smith, a cinema house, and an ice factory. Inaddition to a clinic and administrative offices,

there are a kindergarten, an elementary school, ahigh school, a community hall, a main mosque, a

Pentecostalist church and a Chinese worshipplace. There are two sawmills in Tanjung Botakand Teluk Angus, and one charcoal kiln and asago processing factory in Pulau Lipan.

For my own census, three parts were chosen: A(Figures 4 & 5) is a dominantly Malay residentialarea, B (Figure 6) is the kota desa and C (Figure7) is a resettled Suku Laut quarter on PulauLipan. Table 2 shows the population by settle-

ments and by age cohorts. Table 3 shows thepopulation by ethnicity in these settlements. TheSuku Laut only inhabit part C, although familiesliving on boats visit and moore around PulauLipan. The Chinese (some 39 households) ateconcentrated in part B, but a few (4) households

live at Penuba Lama, old Penuba, in part A.Three more Chinese households stay in factoriesoutside the censused area. This pattern of ethnicdistribution may contribute to a certain closure ofsocial relationships in each settlement, but all the

ethnic groups meet in part B, the shopping and

administration center.It is appropriate here to look briefly at the

historical background of Penuba Kota. As men-

tioned above, Penuba became the seat of a con-

troleur rn the Dutch period. According to the

village report it was in l9l7 or 18 that the

controlettr's seat was moved from Tanjung Batuon Lingga Island to Penuba, overseeing the is-

lands of Lingga and Singkep, i.€., the present

Kecamatan Lingga, Senayang and Singkep [DesaPenuba Monografi 1986]. In 1918 the Dutchbuilt a controleur's office and other buildings,many of which have been converted to the present

-5-

Regional Vie¬「s No。 11 1997

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Table 2. Population by Settlements, Penuba

Table 3. Population by]Ethnicity,Penuba

(as of January 1994)

A B C

Age M F T M F T M F T

0-45-910-14

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-

5

11

9

14

12

5

2

3

6

9

4

1

6

12

8

13

14

11

2

4

7

7

5

2

2

11

17

19

22

28

23

7

6

10

13

14

6

3

17

12

17

25

12

19

13

21

16

4

5

14

9

11

11

16

11

15

11

12

8

14

7

6

9

7

6

23

33

36

27

30

25

29

30

11

11

23

16

17

22

21

19

20

23

11

14

14

6

4

3

2

10

19

20

19

17

15

12

11

12

7

4

4

3

5

41

41

38

37

38

23

25

26

13

8

7

5

15

Total 87 98 185 178 169 148

(as of January 1994)

SUKU LAUT MALAYS CHINESE TOTAL

Age M F T M F T M F T M F T

0-45-910-14

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-

16

10

11

14

16

10

8

10

3

3

2

2

5

13

12

9

14

13

7

7

8

4

4

2

3

5

29

22

20

28

29

17

15

18

7

7

4

5

10

15

31

26

25

31

15

19

14

10

8

7

5

14

26

21

27

27

20

12

10

16

9

5

6

4

10

41

52

53

52

51

27

29

30

19

13

13

9

24

8

8

16

7

7

4

10

9

3

7

12

5

8

3

11

7

5

4

7

6

9

8

6

7

5

7

11

19

23

12

11

11

16

18

11

13

19

10

15

39

49

53

46

54

29

37

33

16

18

21

12

27

42

44

43

46

37

26

23

33

21

15

15

12

22

81

93

96

92

91

55

60

66

37

33

36

24

49

Total 220 193 413 104 85 189 434 379 813

Households 40

(Average No. of Members) (5.28)

village administration offices and teachers' resi-dences. Penuba was equipped with a hospital, a

customs house, police officers' residences, anopium trading house, a quay, nine wells and so

on. Some wells dug by the Dutch are still used byvillagers. An open space for ceremonies in thecenter known as Teluk Rapang, or the "Gulf ofrapang (or belanak, Mungil bleekeri) fish" is landoriginally reclaimed by the Dutch.

It is said there were no Chinese and shops

around the office buildings of the Dutch quartersnear Tanjung Tung gal, or Tanjung Tunggara inthe Dutch literature, which name originated fromketumbar (Coriandrum sativum). The center ofthe community was in the present Penuba Lama(old Penuba), where most Chinese resided. Gra-dually the Chinese moved their shops to TelukRapang. In the nineteenth century, Chinese farm-ers had originally settled far inland to build gam-

mbier and pepper plantations. Their original

87

(4.75)

44

(4。 30)

171

(4。 75)

-9-


shrine is still visited annually by Penuba Chineseas described later.

After the Japanese occupation and the inde-'pendence struggles, Penuba prospered as a junc-tion port between Singapore and Sumatera. Inthe 1960s, it is said, shops were open until 9

o'clock in the evening and the smell of opiumpervaided the air. More than ten customs officerswere stationed at Penuba. The turning point wasthe period of thekonfrontasi, following the launch-itrg of Indonesia's policy of confrontation withMalaysia in 1963. Penuba became a strategicnaval base in this region and headquarters were setup at Beringin. The severance from Singaporebrought economic decline to Penuba in the 1970s

and early 80s. It is said Penuba suffered depres-sion with muddy and miserable town conditionsin those days. The town became cleaner withcemented roads and its economy revived perhapsowing to the resumption of fish exports to Singa-pore.

The Suku Laut formerly roamed around theLingga and Singkep Islands as mentioned in theDutch literature and told by elder villagers. Per-manent housing was provided for them by thegovernment in the late 1980s on Pulau Lipan,which was formerly called Pulau Penuba. PulauLipan is situated in front of Penuba Kota, pro-tecting it from the northwest wind.

Penuba Kota was an administrative center forthe Dutch and it remains so for the local govern-ment of Indonesia. It is a business center for theChinese with their residential shops along theshore. All the houses along the shore are built onstilts. For the Malays there is a Friday mosque.For the Suku Laut it is a 'money' center wherethey can earn cash and spend it on daily necessi-

ties. Physically, Penuba Kota can be identified bysymbolic things like shops, official buildings andresidences, an open space for ceremonial events,paved roads with a srnall median strip, a clocktower, a guay, a lighthouse, a village-managedresidence for visitors (mes),3) and a gate showingthe village name.

III. Political Economy in the Community

1. VillageFormerly, Malay village heads were called

batin in this area. The Suku Laut do not use thisword to designate their heads. Before 1926 thepresent Desa Penuba was divided into three, eachof which had its own Malay head: one in PangkalanDanam in the western part of the present Desa

Penuba, the second in Sembuang in the easternpafi and the third in Penuba Lama. In that yearthree villages or kampung were combined underone head in Penuba. The term penghulu, a com-moner title for a Malay village head, is also usedin documents, but the first headman is alwaysreferred to as Batin tlmar (born in 1877, villagehead from 1926 to 1942, died in 1976) by villag-ers. It is said that he had a very good relationshipwith Chinese heads (taulo). His descendants livein Beringin, Penuba Kota. The second penghulureigned from 1942 to 1966, died in 1969. Thethird (1966-1970) and the fourth (197f1977)are still alive in the village. All of the four aresomehow related. The present penghulu, 5., is thefifth and, unlike his predecessors, who were localMalays, a Javanese.

Penghulu S. started his career as a navalseaman (angkatan laut) in this area in 1963.

During the konfrontasi (confrontation) with Ma-laysia, Penuba played an important role as a navalsurveillance base. In 197 6 he was stationed there.By then he had married an adopted daughter of aclinic attendant in Penuba, a Malay from Sing-kep. In 1978 he was appointed as caretaker of thevillage by the bupati after the former penghuluresigned. He acted as caretaker from the age of36 until he was officially elected as kepala desa

(village head) for the eight-year term in Novem-ber, 1991. Contenders in the election were arelative of the former headmer, & Chinese and aMinangkabau. According to a Chinese observer,who is presumbaly objective, the penghuluworked hard to develop the village. The villagewon first prize in 1983, 1986 and 1993 in theprovincial competition of villages (Lomba Desa).It obtained the status of swasenbada (self-sufficient) village in 1986.

The village is divided into three dusun (sub-villages), which are further subdivided into RW(rukun warga, wards) and RT (rukun tetangga,neighborhoods) (Table 4). Local geographic orkampung names are added.

Dusun I's head is a local man of Chinesedescent, Dusun 2's a Malay, and Dusun 3's a

Malay from Selat Panjang off the eastern coast ofSumatera. Heads of dusun, RW and RT ateappointed by the village head and are essentiallyan apparatus for mobilization and for reportingfrom the bottom up. Dusun and RW heads

receive a tiny honorarium. RT heads on PulauLipan are Suku Laut.

Officials in the desa administration are locally-born Malays. They receive a nominal allowance

t0


Table 4. Administrative Divisions and Kampung Names in Penuba, 1994

Dusun I RW l RT lRT 2

BeringinTeluk Rapang

RW 2 RT 3RT 4

Tanjung Tunggal

Air Bugis

Dusun 2 RW 3 RT 5RT 6

Pangkalan Danam, Sungai TumuTeluk Lanjut

RW 4 RT 7RT 8

Mengserai

Teluk Mengkerang

Dusun 3 RW 5 RT 9RT 10RT ll

Penuba Lama (Teluk Keling)Teluk Empuk, Sembuang

Suak Kunting

RW 6 RT 12,13&14 Pulau Lipan

Source: Kantor Desa.

from the village budget (APPKD, anggaran pen-

erimaan dan pengeluaran kewangan desa) like the

village head. They have to rely on their ownbusiness for a living. The secretarY, D., acts as

dupty village head. He is a stepson of the second

penghulu and was a contender of S. in the most

recent village election.The village council (LMD, Lembaga Musyarva-

rah Desa ) consists of thirteen members, of whomfour are of Chinese descent but none are Suku

Laut. Its chairman is the village head, and itssecretary is the village secretary. The LKMD(Lembaga Ketahanan Masyarakat Desa, villagesocial activities council) is headed by the villagehead, assisted by two other heads: one is a Minang-kabau ex-syahbandar and another is S.'s wife. Ithas ten sections, responsible for religion, health,

environment, development, welfare, family pros-

perity (PKK, Pembinaan Kesejahteraan Kelua-rga) and so on. One section head is of Chinesedescent.

Other officers appointed are non-local people: a

Minangkabau sy ahbandar (harbormaster), a J av a'nese policeman, a Javanese army lieutenant (bab-

insa, bintara pembina desa, law enforcementofficer), a Minangkabau naval seaman, a Selat

Panjang Malay forestery officer, a Daik Malayclinic assistant; and all teachers are outsiders. Allof them earn salaries from the government. Theirinfluences on villagers depend more on their per-

sonality than their functions. For example, thearmy officer, who has been quite a long time in thevillage and is popular among villagers, takes re-sponsibility for villagers' obligatory labor servicein the village head's absence.

In this village the penghulu's leadership has

been one of the most important factors in devel-

opment. His term is long while the camat, his

superior, is often transferred to othet kecamatan,

although he has governmental authority as afunctionary of the administrative structure. Thepenghulu is popular because he is paternalistic

toward his followers, protecting their interests

even from a higher authority. He initiates manyeconomic projects that profit at least some villag-ers. His reputation is bolstered by his connections

with outside powers, provincial and central. Thisis mainly owing to his business ability: €.9., he is

in charge of cengke (clove) trading at the provin-cial level. So villagers, whether they like himpersonally or not, trust him with the economicprosperity of the village.

2. Village Cooperatives (KUD)Village cooperatives (KUD, Koperasi Unit

Desa, village unit cooperatives), dating from the

early 1970s, are state-sponsored multipurposerural cooperatives [Hoadley & Hoadley 1996].

In this village KUD was established in 1979 with20 members (three of whom were of Chinese

descents), at the urging of BUTSI (Badan Usaha

Tani Seluruh Indonesia, all Indonesian agricultur-al work body) volunteers. The KUD covered the

area of Penuba, Selayar, Mentuda, Kelume, and

Kelombok. The number of members increased to97 in 1984, 166 in 1987 [Desa Penuba Profil19931, and 7t4 in 1993 [Laporan KUD 1996],

and the area coverd expanded to include Meraw-ing (Pulau Medong), Daik, Dabo, Sebung, Rejai,

Pulau Buluk, Beka Padan, Meral (Karimun),Pulau Mas, and Senayang outside KecamatanLingga. The sudden increase of membership has

― H一

Regional Views No. l l 1997

been achieved as the KUD was given the autono-mous status of mandiri in May, 1990. The KUDwas nominated as the best cooperative at thenational level in 1992.

From the beginning the village head has servedconcurrently as chainnan of the board of direc-tors of the KUD. Under the board there is afull-time manager. He coordinates activities ofeight units: fuel-oil, industry, loan, service quota-tion, contract undertaking, fishery, general stores,and labor. Three of unit-heads are of chinesedescent. Most of the necessary funds and man-agement are provided by chinese entrepreneurs,except for the contract undertakings, which seemto be under the direction of the chairman himself.The board of directors consists of a chairm an, avice-chairman, two secretaries, a cashier, a book-keeper and eight unit-heads, all of whom receivesalaries from the KUD. The manager, a Dabocollege-graduate hired since 1993, earns a sub-stantial income from surcharges from each unit.Revenues mainly come from fisheries, charcoalkilns, and shops. It can be said that businessoperators pay a kind of tax to the KUD to smooththeir business. The KUD has become big becauseits members benefit more than the members ofother KUDs or non-members.

The structure of the KUD, at the beginning,coincided almost exactly with the village adminis-tration. As its memberships expanded, its ac-tivities overtook the village's, with much morefunds available and business outside the village.KUD members have to pay annual membershipfees and to save money in the KUD. The mainmerits for members are protection from unneces-sary taxes and unlawful collections by authorities,and the availability of loans for business. It ismuch easier and less costly to get necessary li-censes for fishing and business under the auspicesof the KUD. In the annual meeting held in 1994,some one hundred members, including SukuLaut, gathered together with guests from theprovincial cooperatives office. Participants weregiven meals and T-shirts.

3. Fisheries as Common ConcernsIn Penuba, 90 percent of village household

heads are said to be fishermen in the sense theyare engaged in, or related to, some kind of fishingactivities. In the desa statistics, there are about 30percent of fishertnen, 27 percent of agricultur-alists, 15 percent of forest producers, 9 percent ofretail traders and entrepreneurs, 8 percent oflaborers, and others like government employees,

breeders, craftsmen, or factory workers. Onlyhousehold heads are counted in the figures. How-ever, 84 percent of village incomes was reportedto come from fisheries in 1993.

It is true to say that most of villagers areengaged in fishing: the Suku Laut in angling(mancing), spearing (tombak, turah, serampang,tempuling); the Malays in fishing-line (rawai),big tunnel-net trap (kelong), square fish trap(bubu) made formerly from rattan but from wiresince around 1970, angling, conical basket(serkap), towing for squid (tunda nos), and pro-cessing fish; the Chinese as owners of kelong,dragnet Qtukar) ships, rawai boats, traders in seaproducts and fish breeders, especially of grouper(kerapu). The marine product industry inPenuba may be oulined as follows: the Chineseare owner of or capital investors in fishing orprocessing equipment, and Malay and Suku Lautwork for them as laborers as well as engaging insmall-scale fishing. This situation is reflected inthe ownership of boats and fishing equipment.Most Suku Laut and Malay households have asmall boat (sampan) without an engine. SomeMalays and Chinese own sampan with an engine

' Qterahu bermotor). All bigger boats (kapalmotor) with more than 20hp G)k, paardekracht),mostly from 24 pk to 60 pk, and one 100 pk,belong to people of Chinese descent. Dragnetsand kelong require a certain amount of capital,which is mainly provided by local Chinese. InOctober 1994, 25 dragnets Qtukat lamparandasar) were in operation by Penuba Chinese.

A sampan alone costs 40,000 Rp, but a mesinpompong (semidiesel engine) may be priced at1,200,000 Rp. A kapal of 12 tons with communi-cation equipemnt and the necessary documentsmay cost 11,800,000 Rp. Adding a second-handmotor engine (6,000,000 Rp) and a dragnet oflamparan dasar type (3,200,000 Rp), the totalcost may rise to 21,000,000 Rp. In three years thenet must be replaced. A kelong net set along thecoast (kelong pantai) needs some 200,000 to500,000 Rp in addition to a sampan. Arawai linecosts about 1,000,000 Rp to purchase and fit outequipemnt and also requires a pompong boat. Incontrast to these rather costly types of fishingequipment, angling may cost 750 Rp for one timeor more, and to make a bubu cage you have tobuy wire, wood, and nails, costing less than20,000 Rp.

The monthly expenditure of well-off house-holds is reported to be 300,000 to 400,000 Rp,while many poorer people live on an income of

T2


less than 100,000 Rp per month. One third of the

total number of households pay PBB @aiak bumidan bangunan, land and construction taxes).

The following are some examples of incomes,

cited in order to conjecture the standards of livingin the village. School teachers start at 90,000 Rpper month and the head of a school gets a

salary of 300,000-400,000 Rp. Other governmentemployees' salaries are 150,00f3m,000 Rp. Do-mestic servants' earnings range from 15,000 to50,000 Rp. Crews may get monthly salary of50,000 Rp plus a supplementary allowance foreach fishing trip, for example, 50,000 for a trip ofone week. Other crews are paid by the tripwithout salary. The crew of a trading ship toSingapore may get 400,000 Rp per month. AChinese skipper, who lost his capital because ofship wreckages and sickness, worked in a coffee

shop in Singapore to earn capital. A Suku Lautmay earn 8,000 Rp a day for collecting man-groves or 10,00f20,000 Rp by selling a day's

catch to a tauke. One tauke reported a net profitof some 1.5 million Rp in a month in 1993.

According to a Bangkinang goldsmith whose

customers are mostly Malays, he sold ornaments

for some 6.5 million Rp and purchased gold orna-ments for 3.6 million Rp from customers in No-vember 1993.

Although the present Penuba is essentially a

local fishing center, in the 1950s it was a tradingcenter exporting copra, rubber and salted fishfrom this region. The most profitable goods in theold days were rubber and dried anchovies (ikanteri). Cloves have also been introduced onto theisland, and most tauke own clove gardens. Butthe trees have become diseased and the decline inprice has kept many owners from harvesting. Allthe produce, if any, goes to KUD at a fixed pricewhich they say is set under price. At present veryfew people tap rubber trees, owing to the declinein price. Only one tauke deals in rubber sheet.

The dried anchovy industry, which produces ikanteri of good quality, is still operating in nearbyregions like Desa Tanjung Dua in the westernpart of Selayar Island. Mechanrzation of fishingboats came in the 1980s in Penuba. In 1984, theKUD started to sell refined fuel-oil (BBM, bahanbakar minyak). Around this period the KUD'smembers started to ase lamparan dasar dragnets,which had been used by an enterprise in SungaiBuluh. In 1980, the use of trawl nets had beenprohibited in Indonesia west to l31oE. This lam-paran dasar is a modified dragnet that is used inplace of the trawl net, and it has attracted many

fishermen from a wide area. That may be anotherreason why the membership of the Penuba KUDdrastically increased. Some 90 boats have lampa-

ran dasar licences under the Penuba KUD. Ac-cording to the Fisheries Department (Dinas Per-

ikanan) at Tanjungpinang, the name lamparandasar first appeared in official statistics in 1990.4)

Conditions have been bid down for use of these

nets: they should not have sinkers and otterboards; motorised ships should not be used, butships belonging to KUD can use an engine below36 pk; and it should be used beyond six mil (nau-tical miles) from the coast. It catches shrimps

more than one meter above the sea bed. Theintroduction of this dragnet urged many tauke tobe engaged in shrimp fishing instead of anglingand netting, and entrepreneurs obtained biggerboats. Other external factors in the development

of fishing are increased demand for fresh fish,

especially in Singapore, and the availability of ice

in Penuba and Sungai Buluh.Seemingly drastic changes in fishing com-

munities appears often to depend on the availabil-ity of marine resources, which is often determinedby fishing techniques and equipment, and sup-porting capital and infrastructures. Lamparandasar fishing is one case; and another is rawaifishing, which suddenly became popular inAugust 1994 but then declined almost as rapidly.A third is evident in a disused storehouse whichwas built for processing jellyfish a few years ago.

The demand for roed dengkis (whitespotted spine-

foot, Siganus canaliculatus) for the Chinese new

year also created a boom to build kelong pantai rnevery January recently. Kerapu (grouper) raisingalso started very recently as its price of live fish issteadly rising.

The fishing area is limited to part of the Straitof Melaka near the village. Fishing boats withengines usually go out to sea for two days to a

week. They come back with the catch packed inice. There are ten ship-owners in Penuba. Asmall ice factory operates in Penuba, but its pro-

duction is not enough for fish packing. Ship-

owners buy more ice in Sungai Buluh. Mostcatches are brought back to Penuba and weighedat a fish broker's. Marine products are bought inbulk by fish dealers in Penuba. Five boat-ownersbuy fish from any fisherman. Fish of above a

certain quality are then packed again into 100 kgboxes with ice. They forward the accumulatedproducts on ice in boxes to Batam, Tanjungpi-nang, and Singapore. Recently, catches have

been taken directly to Singapore markets twice a

一- 13 -

Regional Views No。 11 1997

week. Two boats, one owned by a Penuba manand another by an outsider sponsored by Medancapital, engage in the operation. Certain type offish and small shrimps are processed in severaltauke houses and used to make fish balls and chips(kentpuk). Teripang (sea slug) is also dried.Sometimes it is difficult to get fish for daily con-sumption in Penuba, &s most fish are exported.

Most shops in Penuba are owned by people ofChinese descent called tauke. They are alsoowners of boats and fishing equipment. Theirchildren often go away for education or employ-ment, but some of them help their parents in theirshops or engage in fishing or navigation. SomeChinese work for tauke and a few of them serveas laborers. Others are sago and charcoal pro-ducers.

The Malays in PenubaLama mostly engage insmall-scale fishing by boat or by netting or trap-ping, or work in Penuba Kota as laborers. TheMalays in Suak Kunting both cultivate gardensand fish in the sea or work as wage laborers infactories or ships.

The Suku Laut go out fishing in dugout boats,alone or with family, on good days. Some becomecrews on fishing boats. Others work collectingrattan and wood for Chinese tauke. A few girlswork as assistants in shops in Penuba Kota. TheSuku Laut each own a hectare or so of agricultur-al land that was given by the government, but itseems not to be well cultivated, except for thoseparts that were handed over to newcomers fromoutside.

The Chinese were interested in gambier andpepper in the 19th century when they settled inPenuba, then in rubber in the z}th century, insalted fish when the population of surroundingareas increased, in clove in its boom period, andin fresh fish nowadays. The economy has beenclosely connected with the market situation inSingapore. This Chinese-oriented economy seemsto have dominated other ethnic economies too,although the Indonesian government has politi-cally increased its influence on villagers throughtaxation, auth orization and license.

4. The Community as a CommunitasPenuba Kota is a town-like village where the

majority of people are relatively recent arrivals.A few native families have lived for generations inthis community, of which the central part, TelukRapang, is situated on land reclaimed in the earlyz0th century. The Chinese household heads arethird-generation descendants of the first settlers in

inland areas. The Minangkabau, Bangkinang,Batak, Javanese, Buton, Minahasa and Malayresidents of Telok Rapang are all recent arrivalsas merchants or official personnel. Malays are aminority in the kota. In Block B of my censusthere are some Malay households in Beringin inthe north and Tajung Tunggal in the south. Of 70households in Block B, 38 are Chinese, 17 Malay,and 13 other ethnic households. No Suku Lautreside in Block B, except one presumably assimi-lated household or two and a mixedblood. All ofthem live in Block C, where some Bangkinang,Minangkabau, Javanese, Buton and Chinesepeople also live. The latter people stay there toget a house, not because of marriage. Two Chi-nese households built stilted houses on the coastof Pulau Lipan. Of 62 houses on Pulau Lipan,Suku Laut occupy 54. In Block A, Suak Kuntingis a totally Malay kampung, and four householdsof Chinese descent live in Penuba Lama.

The Suku Laut, presumably having wanderedaround the wider area for a long time, began tohave houses on Pulau Lipan since the project ofthe Social Department began in the mid-1980s.Some of them had been living in stilted houses onthe island's seashore since 1953. These people,sometimes called as Orang Mantang, are nowMuslims and Christians. Another group movedin from Sungai Buluh. Called Baruk, they arenow Muslims. Formerly the Mantang groupmoved seasonally around the seas south to Linggaand north to Singkep, while the other Barukgroup is said to have been inclined to a sedentarylifestyle. There is a resettlement of the Barukpeople in Sungai Buluh, which was resettled ear-lier than Pulau Lipan. The Mantang group hasmany relatives in Kelume. It is also said that theBaruk originally came from Palembang and thatthe Mantang from Jambi. The terms Mantang orBaruk are regarded as derogative names for theSuku Laut, although it seems the term Suku Lautitself is not necessarily their own coinage.

Settlement patterns appear to separate theethnic groups. However, they converge daily onthe shopping area, where many ethnic groups livetogether. The Malays and the Suku Laut, whoare rather excluded from the arena in a sense, alsoparticipate in symbiotic dynamics through inter-actions. It is the arena where different ethnicgroups interact with each other to earn money.

If we follow a quite common-sense classifica-tion based mainly on the folk categories of ethni-city, we can summarise the situation as follows.

In the lowest category are the Suku Laut who

- 14-


settled on Pulau Lipan since the mid-1980s. Noneof them owns a motorized perahu. Sampan aretheir means of transportation and fishing which ismainly traditional spear-fishing. In most casesthey seek occasional jobs collecting mangrove, orother wood, or participating in a group anglingexpedition in a motor boat rented from a Chinesetrader. A few of them work as regular crew onfishing boats for a daily wage.

The native Malays seem to be more independ-ent in their means of livelihood than the SukuLaut. Some of them own a motoized perahu orboat. The arrivals from Sumatera manage to rentpremises to open a goldsmith's, coffee shop, orclothing shop. They do not engage in fishing orfish-trading.

Shops are dominantly owned by people of Chi-nese descent of the Teochiu dialect group. Manyshop-owners are also fish-traders with their ownships. In addition, a number of fish tradersowning their own fishing equipment. They buymarine products either from independent fisher-men or from specially contracted fishermen whomay utilize the traders' equipment or who areindebted to them. The traders regularly sendtheir products to inter-island trading ports or toSingapore. But not all Chinese are tauke ortraders. Some are laborer, machine-repairer,fish-net mender, and shop-keeper.

It appears that ethnic status is delineated byethnic categories which are closely connectedwith ethnic characteristics. However, in reality,we should draw a picture of more intersectingethnic images from the viewpoints of ownershipof fishing equipment, types of fishing boats,volume of capital or gross incomes.

The important thing is that kota desa is a nexusor hub connecting production space and market.It is not merely a base for fisheries but also afocal point for exporting and exchange. The

community can be regarded as a type of com-munitas from the persppective of heterogenouscomponents. Perhaps you may argue that thebond between them all is not ethnically rootedbut, more radically, based on "ecological iden-tity" or "eco-identity" as communitas.

IV. Social Relations

1. Family BondsThe basic units of livelihood are elementary

family households for every ethnic group. How-ever, reliance on family bonds seem to be situa-tional. Seen from household compositions, whichmay show a pattern of relations in a situation at acertain point of time, the Chinese and the Malayshave a similar tendency to live in elementaryfamily types but they differ in compositions ofadditional members. The percentage of pluralelementary families, which emphasize filiation, ishighest among the Chinese, while the Malaysincorporate more collateral relatives from amongsibling (Table 5). The tendency of the Suku Lautseems to be to accommodate various relativesoutside elementary family members. This couldbe because they are still in a transitional stage ofsettled life, sometimes accepting migrant rela-tives.

Generally speaking, the dispersion or separa-tion in different places of siblings is more conspic-uous among the Chinese than among the Malays.The Chinese, intentionally or unintentionally, mi-grate to bigger centers and metropoles for jobsand usually have siblings in different parts of theregion. The Malays move out by marriage or bytransfer of government office and often theirsiblings or in-laws come to them seeking help.

It is popularly believed that sibling solidarity isstronger among Chinese than Malays. The Chi-nese themselves, however, complain about the

Note: E. F. : Elementary Family.a - Other relatives.

Table 5. Household Types by Ethnicity, Penuba(as of January 1994)

SUKU LAUT MALAYS CHINESE TOTAL

Single

CoupleE. F.E. F. *aE. F. +E. F.

4( r0.o%)r( 2.s%)

18( 45.o%)11( 27.s%)6( r5.0%\

17 ( re.s%)3( 3.4%)

46( sz.e%)16( r8.4%)s( s.8%)

10( 22.7%)2( 4.5%)

23( s2.3%)4( e.r%)5( rr.4%)

31( r8.r%)6( 3.s%)

87( so.e%)31( r8.r%)16( e.4%)

Total 4o(roo.o%) 87 (rm.o%) 44(rffi.o%> 17 r(roo.o%)

l5


weakness of sibling solidarity in Penuba in com-parison with other Chinese communities. Chinesesibling solidarity seems to be more dependent onindividual concerns and conditions in Penuba.

Impressionistically speaking, the Malays em-

phasize the bond between mother and children,being child-focussed, the Suku Laut cherish theunity of a couple and their children, being couple-focussed, and the Chinese seem to be individualis-tic, respecting relationships between Fa-Ch,Mo-Ch, GrPa-GrCh, or siblings. The Chinesehave a refined traditional system of kinship, butthe people of Penuba seem to be less attentive tothe traditional rules of marriage prohibition and

so on.In daily interactions, familial rclationship pre-

dominates. Thus it is natural that ethnic bound-aries are more emphasized in family bonds. Eachethnic group has its own cemetry separate fromothers in different style.

2. AssociationsThere are many associations institutionalized

by government agencies. We have already men-

tioned LMD, LKMD, PKK and KUD. The

word lembaga indicates a body, or institutionor organization in Indonesian. It also means

"origin" or "model."Voluntary labor service is categorrzed as mu-

tual-help lembaga (lembaga gotong royong).Twice a month, each household dispatches an

adult member to carry out two hours of such

collective works as cleaning roads and com-pounds of public buildings. This is done by orderof the village head or, in his absence, the babinsa.

Chinese tauke and Suku Laut work together side

by side, but a unit of work follows RT divisions.During my stay some 50 to 100 villagers par-ticipated.

Local government agencies are also called lem-

baga. They are theoretically self-sufficient organs

in carrying out their functions, but they often callfor informal assistance and information from the

villagers. Penuba has a police station (kantorpolisi), a law enforcement office (kantor babinsa),

a navy post (kantor pos unit Kamla) with a naval

ship, a customs station (kantor pos Bea dan

Cukai) which is manned by a villager as no

officers are stationed in Penuba, a harbormasteroffice (kantor syahbandar), a forest survey station(kantor Juru Ukur Kehutanan), and a clinic(Puskesmas, Pusat Kesehatan Masyarakat).

A community-guard system is providedthrough Lembaga Keamanan Rakyat (People's

Law and Order Organization) like Hansip (Perta-

hanan Sipil, civil defence units) , Wanra (Perla-

wanan Rakyat, people's militia). A security stand(Pos Kamling, Keamanan Lingkungan, law andorder of the neighborhood) has been built nearthe village office and the above units are given

regular patrol tasks at night.Each neighborhood is officially organized as an

RT (Rz kun Tetanga, neighborhood association).This is the lowest administrative unit, although ingeneral it lacks a sense of unity. In the govern-

ment-sponsored activities mentioned above, how-ever, it is always the RT which becomes the unitof sanction.

Ritual associations are centered around amosque, a shrine, and a church. Muslims have a

mosque committee which organizes religiousgatherings around the fasting month or the Pro-phet's birthday. A mosque and surau (chapel)construction committee discusses the maintenanceand building of mosques or surau. A surau has

been built on Pulau Lipan. Weddings, includingreligious solemnization, and memorial gatherings

(kenduri arwah) are organized by a personal

network of kin and friendship circles dependingon the family history of exchanges on similaroccasions. At memorial or other religious gather-

ings, the Chinese are usually not invited. Atweddings, more interactions are observed among

ethnic groups. Nonetheless some rich familiesmight hold a reception in two sections, with one

specifically arranged for the Chinese. No Chinese

attended a poor Malay wedding held in Suak

Kunting.The Chinese have seasonal festivals and regular

worship communally and individually accordingto the lunar calendar. Villagers are familiar withsuch Chinese festivals as xin iie (itt February),qing ming jie (in April) , duan wu iie (in MaY), orchong yang (in October). At the Chinese NewYear, shops are closed for several days. On the firstand fifteenth days of every lunar month, familymembers visit a shrine locally called pekong orklenteng, or more formally TekchankongyahKan (Dai jian jun ye miao). This shrine was

originally located near the central square, then

moved to its present site, Cerenteng, outside the

kota twenty years ago. Another big communalfestival is for Dai bo gong (Big Sir Uncle) inMandarin in the beginning of lunar November.s)

The ceremony is nowadays held for three days.

Firstly, villagers go to the original shrine far fromPenuba Kota, on the upper reach of the Snake

River (Sungai Ular). This is where the ancestral

16


settlers lived and cultivated pepper and gambier.Villagers go there by boat and on foot to worshipand invite the Dai bo gong and the gods to cometo Penuba Kota. In Cerenteng by the side of theshrine, they build two tents for the invited deitiesDai bo gong and Yu Huang Shang Huang (or GeHuang Shang Ti, Tian In Kong, a Taoist HeavenGod) as well as ancestors. Fund-raising auctionsare conducted there, in the first night since 1991 .

The people from Daik and Rejai participate inauctions because this ceremony is also held in theshrines and temples of Daik and Rejai. A com-mittee is responsible for org anizing this festival,annually raising the necessary funds in the formof donations and negotiating with local au-thorities for permission6). As the authorities donot regard this ceremony as religious perform-ance, the committee has to explain its object.one reason, which was explained to the desa officein t994, is that the ceremony is essentailly thesame as the Malay kampung-protecting (belakampung).

The Pentecostal Church, newly rebuilt in 1994,is situated in Beringin. The land was donated bya Chinese. The pastor, who originally came fromMenado, has worked here with his wife since1985. In Penuba his congregation consists ofthree Chinese families and all of the RT 3 inPulau Lipan, i.e., the Mantang group of SukuLaut. According to the pastor, the church has 80members in Pulau Lipan,60 in Kelume and 10 inPulon. All are suku Laut. They gather togetherweekly and on special occasions like the christ-mas and New Year. Formerly a chapel was builton Pulau Lipan but it is not used anymore.

villagers of different religions visit each otherat chinese New Year and Muslim Fast-breakingceremony (lebaran). But they rarely visit eachother's places of worship.

Sometimes a birthday party for a child may beheld among the well-off.

Play groups are organized ad hoc. There is afootball ground near the high school, just outsidethe kota area. some chinese may join in, but it ismainly Malays who play. A badminton courtwith a cement floor occupies part of the cen tralsquare. It has flourescent lighting for night play.Kota people who can afford a racket or shoesoften play there. Mah-jong is palyed at homeamong the Chinese. Dominoes, using tiles, is afavorite among everybody around the kota. onecoffee shop provides a place to play until rate atnight.

Coffeehops are frequented in the early morning

mainly by the Chinese and in the daytime mainlyby pegawai (official). None appears to be favoredby one particular ethnic group but you mayobserve subtle segregation. They are importantsocial places to settle business matters and toexchange information. Often a person, especiallya Chinese, will treat others at the same table.

Of the various Chinese dialect groups, as notedabove, Teochiu speakers are dominant in this kota.Some outsider Chinese who speak other dialectsmay be treated a little differently. Generally,villagers say that the Teochiu were regarded asbeing of lower status than the Cantonese, as aTeochiu man had difficulty in marrying a Can-tonese girl. In Penuba, Kho, Go and Chan clannames are dominant. As in other places, marriagewith someone of the same surname is avoided. Inaddition, it is believed that marriage among Kho,Chan and Lu is not advisable. Also, generationorder is considered in a marriage alliance, &s,properly speaking, a man should not marry awoman of different generation order.

Credit rotation (arisan) groups are org anizedamong the well-off people. The PKK also has asection for arisan. An example of Chines e arisanconsists of 14 members, held once a month. Amember receives 200 Singapore dollars in rota-tion.

One of the biggest festivals is held aroundIndependence Day. In 1995, the 50th anniversaryof Independence, for the period of one monthbefore and after Independence Duy, August 17,many sports tournaments were held, to whichteams were invited from surrounding villages.There were also festivities like Malay dancing

Qoget), which troupes visited from other regions,and open-air stalls from nearby villages or fromDabo.

3. Domination and AppropriationIn the previous section it was pointed out that

although economic prosperity may cut acrossethnic boundaries, people often talk about it interms of an ethnic group as a whole.

However, we can see divisions within eachethnic category. The Suku Laut always occupiesa peripheral position in the village, but there is adivision between wage-earners and non-wage-earners. The former earn money by building aboat, becoming a crew member of a fishing boat,a worker for a fishery belonging to a tauke, aservant in a tauke's house, a kuli on the quay, bycollecting mangrove for charcoal kilns and vari-ous kinds of wood for construction, or by selling

t7


his own catch to a tauke. Many tauke seem toprefer Suku Laut laborers to Malays because,

they s&y, the former work hard.Wage-earners who have contact with other

groups have more chance to be assimilated intoother categories, while the non-wage-earners have

more freedom but are obliged to stick to tradi-tional ways of life. Children of a mixed marriagemay have a greater chance to be assimilated intoother categories if they could manipulate theiridentities to benefit them. Some Suku Laut at-tended the elementary school in the kota in the

early years. They become the core of interactionwith other ethnic groups. A branch of the ele-

mentary school was built in Pulau Lipan and nowSuku Laut children attend the classes which tea'cher is a Javanese. No pupil goes to the highschool in the kota.

Suku Laut houses in the settlement are notmarkedly different in house utensils and otherequipment, except that non-Suku Laut residents

furnish their houses with chairs, desks and so on.

The Suku Laut do not have motorized boats.

Their houses and land were provided by thegovernment, which initially rendered substantial

help for them to settle. No hierarchical distinc-tions are made among them.

Administratively, i.e., nominally, there atethree RT heads who are Suku Laut and one RWhead who is a Malay on Pulau Lipan. The latteris often called penghulu. At the beginning ofresettlement project, LA officer was dispatched

from the Department of Social Affairs. A tradi-tional leader is calle d a kepala suku (tribal head)

for all the Suku Laut on the island. Now a

Christian of the Mantang group holds this posi-

tion. He will be consulted about matters relatingto the whole of the community and presides overthe settlement of internal conflicts. He also acts

as medicine man (dukun). He does not have anyjurisdiction over the Mantang or Baruk or Suku

Laut in other areas.

There are much deeper divisions among the

Chinese in terms of wealth. The tauke are propri-etors of shops, employers of crews and shop

clerks, traders, or entrepreneurs of charcoal,

sago, timber and so on. According to their own

evaluation, the Chinese in Penuba today are not

as prosperous as those in other areas like Pancurin Lingga, let alone the Chinese in big cities.

Most of the tauke in Penuba, it is said, are in debt

to Singaporean traders. One of the two boats

involved in export to Singapore belongs to a

Medan Chinese, as mentioned above, and is ope-

rated by a Hokkien from Dabo. It seems that the

Chinese here do not have particularly tight linksor connections with wider Chinese business net-

works. Some Chinese work as shop clerks, super-

visors at factories and skippers. Poorer ones may

be mechanical technicians, manual laborers likeordinary crew, or even water-carriers. Some

widows make a living on sowing and cake-selling.

Administratively, the Chinese are concentratedin RT 2 of RW l, which belongs to Dusun 1.

Dusun I consists of 1,171 people according to the

desa statistics. Buddhists account for 34%,Christians 4%, and Muslims 62%. The Dusunhead is a Chinese resident of RT 2. Those whoare nominated as Dusun or RW heads may not be

the richest or most influencial among the Chinese

community, like the kongsu (representative orluitenant [Stibbe ibid.]) or taulo (toulao) in the

former days. Descendants of the rich who have

stayed in this village are no longer so well off, and

are pitied by others.The Chinese designate the Malays as Hankia

Qfan zai) distinguishing them from Minang-kabau, Batak or Javanese. The Suku Laut are

called Haihankia (hai fan zai) or Haitonkia (hai

di zai), hai meaning sea. Native Malays were

under a batin in the former days, at least duringthe Dutch period. Now they are under a kepala

desa and lack their own ethnic head. There are

distinctions among pegawal (civil servants or full-time employees), non-pegawai businessmen and

peasants in terms of regular income. All of them

may be engaged in fishing or in selling candies and

daily necessities at a small space in a house or at

stalls on special occasions. In a sense, they couldbe called polybians [Kearney 19961. No local

Malays have a shop in the kota.

Chinese tauke may have domestic helpers,

Malay or Suku Laut. Crews are recruited fromamong local people. Loans are rampant. But

these relationships of employment and debt are

usually ephemeral, the parties involved changing

quite often.The village square is a symbol of domination

[cf. Lefebre 1991]. Around the square are shops,

a former Chinese school, official residences and a

mosque. The Chinese school was established in1931, and closed in 1958 owing to the government

ban on Chinese education. A market was situated

nearby but it was demolished to make way for anew KUD building and shops. Formerly, the

Chinese festival of Dai bo kong was held in this

square, with troupes of entertainers invited fromas far away as Singapore. The festival place was

18


moved to Beringin several years &go, then to thepresent location, Cerenteng, in 1992. The shrinewas also located near the square, as mentionedabove. Official government ceremonies are car-ried out in the square, which is now fenced onthree sides.

The quay (dermaga) was made during theDutch period and reconstructed recently with a

new lighthouse. Regular line ships and otherlarge ships moor here. Fishing boats and othersmall boats have their own moorings behindhouses, whose plank floors Qtelantar) extendtoward the sea. To a certain extent, the corridorsinside such houses become public domain con-necting moorings and the main road, just like ashopping space.

The fishing grounds are open to everybody,although trawlers must operate beyond six milesfrom the coast. Even in the off-shore waters ofother villages it is possible to set a kelong net ifnotification is given.

Male dominance is prevalent in many publicdomains. flowever, females participate in somepublic activities and dominate in domesticspheres. Home industry like processing fish andshrimps or making keropok (chips) is done byhousewives and female helpers.

V. Conclusions

Even in this tiny community, a kind of ethnicfluidity can be seen in the ambivalence towardschildren of ethnic interm arriage and interethnicadoption. Chinese girls by blood become Malayby adoption. Suku Laut can claim to be Malay ifthey live in a Malay quarter as a Muslim. Thedivision between Muslims and non-Muslims israther strict, but Muslims include various ethnicgroups of pribumi, part of the Suku Laut andChinese converts. Christians include the SukuLaut and a few Chinese. Buddhists are exclusive-ly Chinese, but not all Chinese are Buddhists.Economic strata also cut across ethnic categoriesif examined closely.

Nonetheless, everybody seems to have a kind ofintraethnic affinity with other members of thesame ethnic group, provided other considerationsdo not impinge. Language barriers do not exist,as everybody is fluent in spoken Malay or Indo-nesian, yet native languages are still spoken inprivate. This internal affinity and external unin-telligibility create feelings of interethnic ambiva-lence.

However, the community has a common desti-

cultural

eco-idenity

Figure 8. Ecodynamic Model of Identity

ny in its political economy, and at least villagersshare the feeling of eco-identity [cf. Imanishi1990; Thomashow 19961in spite of their ethnic orcultural differences. The eco-identity, site-consciousness or proto-identity, is related to asense of place or topopholia and a feeling ofdissociative togertherness against uncertain life-chances that are perceived to be shared. Theradicalness of the eco-identity could be shown as

an ecodynamic model of identities as above [seealso Shore 1996] (Figure 8).

In the management of identities, I surmise, theconcept of the Malays as polybians plays the roleof a mediating symbol to absorb elementssqueezed from the Chinese and Suku Laut oreven from other pribumi.

Uncertain life-chances are a function of avail-able resources and capital, existing infrastruc-tures, willingness to take risks, and the strugglefor recognition. The availability of marineresources is quite uncertain. Firstly, the kind ofresources they seek is determined by outside de-mands from Singapore, Tanjungpinang, Medan,Jambi or Jakarta. The demand for fresh fish is avery recent phenomenon. The villagers are awareof the decrease in their catch in recent decades.

Shipwrecks are not so uncommon. The prices offish suddenly change in the markets. Willingnessto take risks is a matter of personality and culture.Sea-faring is not such a risk except bad weather,but economic risks are another matter.

Macroscopically, life-styles are similar, life-cources are limited and life-strategies are restrict-ed, although microscopic differences in life-worldare observed. Different life-worlds are mediatedby the eco-identity.

Pluralism without indifference is a proper termto describe the situation [cf. Rescher 1993].Pluralism does not mean mearly the existence ofmultiple choices. It should involve creative ac-tivities of synergetic cooperation between self andother against emerging new situations and events.

identity

genetic

identity

19

Notes

1) The fieldwork was conducted in 1993 and 1994for a total period of about three months (fromDecember 1993 to February 1994 and fromOctober 1994 to November 1994) with a grantfor overseas research from the Ministry ofEducation, Science, Sports and Culture.Some data are rechecked in short visits inAugust 1995 and December 1996. I wouldlike to express my gratitude to ProfessorYoshimi Komoguchi of Komazawa Universi-ty who was the head of the research projectfor the grant. In Riau, Professor MochtarAhmad of Riau University helped me as asponsor of my research. His student, MrMuhammad Ansharuddin, spent one monthwith me during my second trip to Penuba,gathering data on economic conditions. Iwould like to extend my gratitude to ProfessorMohd Daud Kadir of Riau University and MrImran Nor of Tanjungpinang for informationon Penuba. LIPI and local governmentagencies were very helpful in conductingfieldwork. Mr Peter Hawks corrected myEnglish in the first version of the paper.

2) Kota desa should not be confused withdesakota, urban village. The latter concept isdeveloped in McGee & Robinson [ 1996]. Themap in Figure 3 is based on a plan provided bythe village office.

3) The mes, accommodation for visitors, wasformerly a Dutch opium trading house. Thevisitors are required to register their names ina book. From 1988 to 1993 there were 146Indonesians, many of them on official mis-sions, 22 vrsitors each from Singapore and theNetherlands, 15 Americans, 14 British, I 1

from Germany and Switzerland, 10 Austral-ians, 8 Canadians, 5 Danish, 3 each fromBelgium, Norway and Italy, 2 each fromJapan and Austria, and I each from NewZealand, Spain, and France.

4) Interviews with officers at Dinas Perikanan atTanjungpinang in 1993.

5) According to a knowledgable Chinese respon-sible for the festival, Dai bo gong may havebeen an earth deity. Friedman noted that theMalayan Chinese version of the deity isknown otherwise as Hok-tek-cheng-sin andTho-ti-kong, the god of the earth and wealth

[ 1970: 44]. He also mentions a differentinterpretation in a note on pages 197-8.


Newell translates the name as Big Sir Uncleand notes that in Teochiu it is pronouncedDwa-bei-gong. According to Friedman, it ispronounced Toa-peh-kong in Hokkien.

In Penuba, the Newell's Teochiu is notknown and To-peh-kong is a common pronun-ciation. Wang Tai Peng takes an interpreta-tion that To-po-kong (Dai bo gong) representsthe great founder of a Chinese settlement orbrotherhood. "Ta-po-kung had been a Chinesedeification of great mariners in origin, . . . itevolved into the enshrined memory of thegreat founders of Chinese settlementsoverseas." [Wang 1994: 73]

6) Four influential family heads were responsiblefor the ceremony until 1990. One of them hadbeen responsible for the execution of eachyear's ceremony in turn. From 1991 a com-mittee has been organized by election. Itsmembers, with five-year term, consist of onechairman, two vice-chairmen, a bursar, and asecretary. Auction was done on the fourthday before 1990.

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