Art Collectors
During the second half of the 19th century numerous international scientific expeditions to Maluku Tenggara were undertaken, sometimes with the purpose of collecting ethnographica ordered by museums. The latter undertakings had varying success. Religious objects, especially, could not be collected without coming to blows. At times the owners did not wish to sell the desired objects "for even three hundred axes." On other occasions collecting was done by use of strong force to the great sorrow and pain of the owners.22
Younger Christians proved more obliging. They sold statues of ancestors and immediately afterwards carved new ones.23 Interest in collecting caused the population to produce statues especially for trade. As a travelling preacher noted, "This has even become an industry." 24
Objects other than the traditional religious ones, were gradually replaced by imported European articles, "factory work of the shabbiest kind, with which the European market inundates the East Indies". For this reason, travellers were encouraged to collect objects "full of originality" for as long as it remained possible, so that they could be kept in museums.25
Rigorous Pacification
Around the turn of the century the colonial government tightened its grip on Maluku Tenggara. Government, education and mission work were intensified in order to strengthen the local economy and to bring the inhabitants "civilisation" and the acceptance of Dutch authority. The outside world penetrated southeast Moluccan society in a myriad of forms, and fundamentally changed it.
In order to have more effective control of the population, the Dutch forced the inhabitants of the villages located higher up to move to the coast in the first decades of the 20th century. Due to many mutual wars, the southeast Moluccans traditionally built their villages on hilltops that were difficult to reach; with their thick ring-walls they formed true fortifications. Naturally the Dutch measures evoked protest. Subsequently, punitive expeditions were launched against unobliging villages by Dutch military functionaries, who were assisted by Ambonese. That harsh measures were taken can be read in the proud victory reports of the Dutch.26 After many violent confrontations, especially on Tanimbar, Maluku Tenggara was finally pacified in the 1920s. 27
Missionaries used no less rigorous methods. Ancestor worship was prohibited and the attempt was made to put an end to all its manifestations; songs, prayers and rituals for the ancestors were taboo and statues of ancestors were destroyed wherever possible. Inhabitants of the Babar islands related how they were forced to bring all their statues to the centre of the village. There the statues were burned, but not before the missionaries had appropriated the beautiful specimens in order to send those to national museums.
Curates in the service of the Indian Church, assisted by Ambonese religious instructors were stationed on all the islands. They executed their task under extremely difficult circumstances. Despite great efforts the results of their work were very meagre during the first years of this century. Traditional religion still retained many followers, especially among the older population.28
The missionaries' harsh line was not always championed by the Roman Catholic missionaries. They were usually more lenient in their approach towards ancestor worship. This attitude might well be explained by their own religious background, in which veneration of saints has an important place. It enabled the pastors to create a link between the traditional cult of the deceased and Christian feast days, such as the celebration of All Souls.29
From their first post in Maluku Tenggara on the Kei islands the missionaries expanded their field of work westwards to the Tanimbar islands. These two groups of islands, as well as the Aru islands remained, from the 1960s onwards, the mission's most important area of work. In 1921 the appointment of Mgr. Aerts at Langgur (Lesser Kei) marked the installation of the first bishop on the Moluccas.30 It was not until 1960 that the seat of the diocese was moved to the city of Ambon.
Second World War and Indonesian Independence
Upon the arrival of the Japanese military forces in 1942 Maluku Tenggara became involved in the Second World War. Until 1945 the Japanese controlled the region, of which the eastern islands were of great strategic significance due to their location with respect to Australia. Especially on the Babar and Kei islands, the Japanese presence caused deep wounds which have not been healed to this day.31
After the proclamation of Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945 and the final Dutch recognition of this independence in 1949, an arduous process of decolonisation and of reconstruction began. Ambon's separatist strife, resulting in the declaration of the Republic of the South Moluccas (Republic Maluku Selatan) in 1950, was not supported by the population of Maluku Tenggara. The southeast Moluccans preferred a situation in which the dominance of Ambon would be "diluted" into a broader political unity.32 That broader unity arrived: the Moluccas form one of the provinces of the Republic of Indonesia and have been governed since 1966 by President Suharto's administration of the Orde Baru, the "New Order."
After three centuries of Dutch domination, Maluku Tenggara has been pacified and—according to Dutch standards—civilised: peace, education and Christian religion have been made common property, albeit under economic circumstances that reveal little perspective. During this process the population was deprived of an important part of its cultural treasures. However, cultural patterns are difficult to erase and some have endured, though in forms other than previously, as will be seen in the next chapters.
Photographs 2.8 and 2.9. In 1507 a punitive expedition was launched against the village of Wakpapapi on Babar. Afterwards the Dutch government official Schadée (centre) stood with his adversaries near the scaling ladder that was used. The village was captured via a staircase at the back. During the action a part of the wall, about two metres high, was broken away.
Prow decoration from the island of Dama. length 61/68 cm (RMV).
Letinese rusna, made of ivory. This statuette (2.5 cm in height) was worn on a chain around the neck as a "war talisman" (TM).
Wooden fish figure, used as an emblem at the stem of an Aruese boat Length 35 cm (RJM).
Stone garden statue from Yamdena (Tanimbar). Height 102 cm (RMV).
Photograph 3.1. Prow decoration from the island of Damer. Length 89 cm (RMV).
The cultures of the islands between Timor and Tanimbar, in western Maluku Tenggara, are related in many ways. There are, for example, close resemblances in the social, economic and linguistic fields (see also Introduction). Besides this there have always been great parallels in the religious sphere. A central element in traditional belief was the performance of a great, orgiastic fertility ritual, best known under the Letinese name of porka (see Chapter IV). Until the arrival of Christianity, the "holy marriage" of heaven and earth was celebrated during this ritual.
In the former porka communities comparisons can also well be made in another field: mat of boat symbolism. This predominates on many islands and has functioned as an essential part of the culture presumably since prehistoric times (see Chapter I). This nautical symbolism will have a central place in this chapter.
In general two kinds of applications can be distinguished. Boat symbolism is used as a principle of ordering, notably in a spatial respect, and as a means of expression, to convey a message. Both applications will be dealt with based on the culture of the islands of Dawera and Dawelor, which belong to the Babar archipelago. In essence the description is representative of how nautical symbolism functioned in the old porka cultures.