THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI

OF TIMOR

VERHANDELINGEN VAN RET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT

VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE

60

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

OF THE ATONI OF TIMOR

R. G. SCHULTE NORDHOLT

Springer-Science+Business Media, B.Y.

An earlier version of this book has been published in Dutch

as a doctoral thesis submitted to the Free University, Amsterdam.

The original title was:

HET POLITIEKE SYSTEEM VAN DE

ATONI VAN TIMOR

(Offsetdruk Van Manen & Co - Driebergen. 1966)

The English translation was made possible by a grant from Z.W.O.

(Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research),

and was prepared by Miss M. J. L. van Yperen.

Sotlcover reprint of the hardcover I 5t edition 1981

ISBN 978-94-015-0404-1 ISBN 978-94-015-1013-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-1013-4

MIS

ER

E D

E L

'HO

MA

fE

1.

Gra

ve

of a

S

onba

'i n

ear

Ku

pan

g i

n 1

821;

fr

om

: R

ein

war

dt,

18

58,

p.

342.

Tmttes ces miseres-la meme pr01/Vent sa gmndeur. Ce sont miseres de gmnd seigneur. Pascal, Pensees.

2. A mea in full array for a headhunting raid.

GRANDEUR DE L'HOMME

3. Father and daughter.

GRANDEUR DE L'HOMME

4. Mother and child.

PREFACE

lowe the present book to the encouragement and guidance of my friends, for which I am moSll: indebted to them. This applies in the first place to Dr. P. Middelkoop, who worked in Timor for more than thirty years as a missionary and bible translator. My gratitude for all the help he has given can hardly be expressed in words, and I can do no more than simply say that this book is to a large extent also his book - the writing of it could not have been accomplished without his valued assistance. He has given up many an evening to the an­swering of my countless questions with his inexhaustible knowledge of the language and culture of the Atoni.

I am also deeply grateful to Professor L. Onvlee, who acted as my supervisor during the preparation of the D1.lII:ch version of this book for submission as a doctoral thesis (H et Politieke Systeem van de A toni van Timor, Driebergen, 1966, 278 pp.). But for the many stimulating conversations I was able to enjoy with him I would never have acquired the approach to our subject which lies at the basis of this book, namely that the essential point is the study of man in his culture, and that even in the analysis of one particular aspect of a cul.ture we are dealing with the culture as a whole and with man as the bearer of that cuLture. His critical appraisal of virtually every sentence of the finished manu­script of my thesis constituted a positive contribution to the shaping of my ideas.

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to my colleague Prof. G. W. Locher for his Socratic guidance. This book owes much of its present form to his maieutike techne. His research in Timor in 1941 to me was a lesson in the critical collection of data, and it was he who enjoined me in 1%4 to work out my own material, which also served as basis for the first part of Cunningham's dissertation. He kindly undertook to read the manuscript of the book, and the nine hour's uninterrupted conversation I enjoyed with him subsequently will remain engraved on my memory forever.

VI THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI

My sincere thanks are also due to my colleagues, Professors J. W. Schoorl and P. E. de Josselin de Jong, the former for reading the manuscript and the latter for perusing the finished dissertation.

I am further indebted to Drs. P. L. Geschiere for helping me with the analysis of the literature, Miss C. H. Meijers for correcting the printing proofs, and Miss M. J. L. van Yperen for taking the responsibility for the English translation. I would express my thanks to the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (Z.W.O.) for granting a subsidy enabling an English translation to be made, and to the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology for accepting it for publication. Many thanks are also due to Mr. E. Wieland and Mr. J. Verhaar for drawing the maps, and the Archivio Fotografico of the Societas Verbi Divini in Rome for its permission to incorporate the splendid photographs taken by its missionaries in Timor in this publication.

In spite of all the help I have received from so many people I cannot help agreeing with the statement made to Codrington by a missionary in the Fiji Islands, namely that when a European has been living among a foreign people for two or three years "he is sure to be fully convinced that he knows all about them; when he has been ten years or so amongst them, if he be an observant man, he finds that he knows very Httle about them, and so begins to learn. My own time of learning has been all too short" (R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians, Oxford 1891, Preface VI, VII). The missionary in question had been living in Fiji for twenty-four years, from 1863 to 1887; I myself, though I have spent more than three years among the Atoni, cannot claim to have spent even as many as ten there. But the fact that I have even so attempted to give an analysis of the political system of the Atoni of Timor is due largely to the confidence inspired by my Timorese friends and informants, including the Roman Catholic missionaries.

NOTE ON TIMORESE SPELLING

In accordance with the general practice I have called the language of the Atoni 'Timorese'. This is not strictly speaking correct, as there are many languages spoken in Timor.

I have adopted Middelkoop's system of spelling and also the practice of omitting accents which he has followed for the past few years; this is based on the following rules of pronunciation:

a. All stems in Timorese consist of two syllables with the stress falling on the first syllable. If the second syllable ends in a or e, the e of the first syllable is always short (open), and consequently this does not need to be indicated by a grave accent; so it suffices to write: pena, meto. The reverse also holds true, e.g. ane, ote.

b. On the other hand, if the second syllable ends in i or u, then the e of the first syllable is always long (closed), and does not need to be indicated by an acute accent, e.g. peni, menu.

The oe in Timorese is a diphthong. (Middelkoop, 1963, 53). It should be pronounced as English oi.

A further pecUliarity of Timorese is the frequent occurrence of metatheses, e.g. usif (= lord), becomes uis, as in Uis Neno (= the Lord of Heaven).

The f occurs at the end of some nouns only where these are indicative of a certain class.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. The area of research. . . . . . . . 2. The circumstances prompting the research. 3. Methods of research. . . . . . . 4. Definition of some of the concepts used

PART ONE. THE ATONI AND HIS WORLD .

CHAPTER I. THE PEOPLE AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT

1. The Atoni 2. Geographical position . 3. The people 4. The language . . . 5. The physical environment

a. The soil . b. Qimate c. Flora and fauna

CHAPTER II. THE ECONOMIC LIFE.

1. Crafts and techniques 2. Animal husbandry . 3. Trade 4. Useful trees . 5. Agriculture and its related ritual .

a. Choosing a plot b. Requesting permission . c. Sharpening the matchet . d. Felling the trees e. Burning off . f. Sifo napa - "extinguishing the bamboo" . g. Eka hoe - "filling in the ditch" h. Drought and failure of the crop . 1. Paying the tobe J. Guarding the young plants. k. The first corn .

/lage

1 1 5 9

19

19

19 19 21 25 27 27 29 33

40

40 46 50 51 52 53 55 57 58 62 63 69 70 76 78 80

x THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI

page

1. The rice harvest (honu ane); ripping off the rice. 83 m. The corn harvest - seke pena . 86 n. Returning to the village 88 Conclusion . . . . . . . . 89

CHAPTER III. THE KINSHIP SYSTEM • • 92

1. Relationship within the kanaf . 93 a. Residential pattern 93 b. Blood-relations. 99

2. Affines . . . . . 105

CHAPTER IV. THE RELIGION. • 141

1. God and man . . . 142 a. The hidden world 142 b. The spirits. . 146 c. The le'u concept . 147

2. Man . . . . . . 147 3. Man's relationship to the hidden world 151

PART TWO. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM. 157

INTRODUCTION • • . . . . • . . . 157

CHAPTER V. THE POLITICAL COMMUNITIES OF TIMOR IN THE PRE­

COLONIAL PERIOD. . • . • • •

CHAPTER VI. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF INSANA •

1. The village 2. The harvest gifts . 3. The death of the prince. . . 4. The structure of the princedom

a. The centre b. The periphery of the centre c. The guardians of the realm d. The four usif e. The great fathers.

CHAPTER VII. BELU, BEBOKI AND FIALARAN •

1. South Belu 2. Beboki. 3. Fialaran

159

186

186 190 195 200 200 207 209 212 220

232

232 239 255

CONTENTS XI

page

CHAPTER VIII. THE IMMEDIATE SPHERE OF INFLUENCE OF SONBA'I 262

1. Sonba'i 262 2. Molo . 274 3. Fatule'u 277 4. Miomafo 279

a. The nucleus b. The areas annexed to Miomafo .

Tunbaba . Noimuti . Manamas. Bikomi

279 287 287 290 291 291

CHAPTER IX. THE PRINCEDOMS BEYOND THE IMMEDIATE SPHERE OF

INFLUENCE OF SONBA'I . 307

1. Amanuban 307 2. Amanatun 310 3. Amfoan 314 4. Ambenu 316 5. Amarasi 319 6. Amabi. 320 7. Kupang 321

CHAPTER X. THE FUNCTIONING OF THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY IN

TIMOR . . • 326

1. Warfare . . . . . . . 326 The causes of war 327 The ri,tual preceding battle 333 The mea. . . . . . . 338 The headhunting raid . . 345 The ritual following the headhunting raid 348 The conclusion of peace 353

2. Administration. . . . 357 3. Administration of justice 361

CHAPTER XI. THE SYSTEM OF THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY IN TIMOR.

SUMMARY . . . . • • . . . . 368

1. Historical background . . . . . . . 368 2. The structure of the political communities 371

a. The ruler 371 b. The usif. . . . . . . . . . 374 c. The great fathers. . . . . . . 376 d. Superordination and subordination . 380 e. The unity of the political conununity . 384

XII THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI

page

CHAPTER XII. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI AS VIEWED BY

MODERN SCIENCE AND AS CLASSIFIED BY TIMORESE

THINKING • • . • 392

1. The structural principles 392 2. Typology of the system . 397 3. The political system as approached in Timorese thinking 406

a. The symbolism of numbers . . . . . .. 408 b. Feminine - masculine (feto - mane) . . .. 411 c. Inside - outside; closed - open; silence - speech; im-

mobile - active. . . . . . . . . . .. 412 d. West/north - east/south

left - right yellow /black? - red/white? 415

e. Earth - heaven; night - day . 419 f. Sun - moon; gold - silver. 421 g. Reversal of the usual order 422 h. Remaining categories 423

CHAPTER XIII. TOTALITY, UNITY AND ADAPTABILITY OF THE SYSTEM 428

A. Totality 428 1. The house 428 2. Agriculture 432 3. The kinship system 433 4. The political system 437

B. Unity and adaptability 440 1. Functional unity . 441 2. Unity of the structural principles 442 3. Classificatory unity . . . . . 443 4. The structural model. . . . . 445 5. Adaptability of the system .447 6. Synthesis of the old and the new in Noimuti . 449 7. Conflict and disruption in Amanuban . . . 456

CHAPTER XIV. THE PLACE OF THE CULTURE OF THE ATONI IN THE

INDONESIAN CULTURE PROVINCE • . 460

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY. 480

BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • • 482

LIST OF TIMORESE WORDS 501

INDEX OF NAMES 505

SUBJECT INDEX . 508

CONTENTS XIII

page

Diagrams 1 A Timorese loom 43

" 2 Affinal relations 108

" 3 Affinal relations 111

" 4 Uxoriloca.lity 121

" 5 Genealogy of the House of Pa'i . 126

" 6 Kinship alliances . 129

" 7,8,9 The political structure of Insana 229-231

" 10 The sacred centre of Beboki . 246

11 The structure of Beboki 247

" 12 The genealogy of the rulers of Fialaran . 256

" 13 The structure of Fatule'u 278

" 14 The nucleus of Miomafo . 286

" 15 The structure of Amanatun . 314

" 16 The structure of Ambenu 317

" 17 Atoni -stratification 380

" 18 The realm of Liurai-Sonha'i 391

" 19 The ground plan of a Timorese house 430

" 20 The structure of N oimuti . 451

MAPS page

1. The languages of Timor . . . . . 18

2. West Timor. . . 24

3. The Princedoms of Indonesian Timor 154

4. The Princedoms Miomafo, Insana and Beboki 156

5. A map of the princedoms in 1883 after 160

6. A map of the princedoms in 1898 . after 160

7. The realms of South-Belu 235

8. Indonesian Timor. . . . At the back of the book

XIV THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI

PHOTOGRAPHS

1. Grave of Sonba'i in 1821

2. A meo . ....

3 Father and daughter

4. Mother and child .

5. Girl from South-Belu

6. A family in Aman3Jtun

7. Man from Central Be1u .

8. A valley near the North coast of Miomafo .

9. Mountain grasslands near Mt. Mutis

10. Man from South-Belu wearing headdress .

11. Preparing the cotton .

12. Woman spinning

13. Woman weaving

14. A Belunese on horseback

15. The pig as domestical animal

16. Tapping the juice of a lontar palm

17. Woman washing sago-flour .

18. A wooden fence .

19. Building a fence of corallite .

20. Women pounding padi

21. A likurai dance .

22. An Atoni hamlet

23. Life in an Atoni hamlet .

After titlepage

" "

" "

" "

after page

32

32

32

32

32

48

48

48

48

48

48

64

64

80

80

80

112

112

128

CONTENTS XV

after page

24. A bridal couple from Insana 128

25. A man taking his wife home 144

26. 27. Two types of sacrificial posts 144

28. Laurentius Taolin, raja of Insana 160

29. The late raja of Amanuban . 320

30. A woman offering a betel to a mea 320

31. An old woman in the entrance of her house 336

32. A lapa . 336

33. Section of a lapa 336