Tengger people: A traditional community focused on making money<\/p>\n
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Probolinggo<\/p>\n
Rudi, the owner of horses for rent in Ngadisari village,
\nProbolinggo, seemed angry when The Jakarta Post suddenly took
\nleave of him after taking several pictures of his horses.<\/p>\n
Right away he asked the Post for Rp 5,000 for the time he had
\nspent for the interview.<\/p>\n
"You have to pay for everything here, including taking the
\npictures of Tengger people and their horses," he said in high-
\npitched voice.<\/p>\n
It is not entirely clear why the Tengger people in Ngadisari
\nvillage have made such a habit of exacting payment from
\noutsiders. According to several resource persons, locals now
\nfully rely on Mount Bromo for their livelihood.<\/p>\n
"Money is everything here, but of course we do not justify
\nevery (criminal) means to obtain money," said Rini, a 17-year-old
\nTengger grass collector.<\/p>\n
She added that the Mount Bromo area was quite safe as there
\nwas neither theft nor robbery. Locals even keep their doors
\nunlocked at night. They trust one another and want to make sure
\nthat visitors will spend a long time in Bromo.<\/p>\n
Tengger women feel quite safe too they have no worries about
\nbeing raped. There is no gender discrimination so you can easily
\nfind women looking for grass or wood while carrying their
\nchildren.<\/p>\n
"Locals here share among themselves the duty of earning money.
\nEach will work in accordance to their capacity," he said.<\/p>\n
The Tengger people inherited most of their values from the
\nbygone age of the Majapahit Kingdom. Most of them are devout
\nHindus or Mahayana Buddhists, according to the Supreme Council of
\nHindus East Java chapter.<\/p>\n
Unlike other Hindu followers, who have temples for their
\nplaces of worship, the Tengger people perform their religious
\nservices at a danyang, a sandy place where the Kasada rite is
\nperformed.<\/p>\n
Every month the Tengger people pray at Luhur Poten, which is
\nlocated in the sandy area to the east of Mount Bromo, led by
\nreligious elders.<\/p>\n
This monthly rite is compulsory for Tengger people of all
\nages. If they fail to take part in this religious service, they
\nwill be required to clean the poten for one whole month. A
\nmenstruating Tengger woman, however, is not allowed to perform
\nthis religious service.<\/p>\n
"This penalty still stands today. Unfortunately, it is the
\nreligious elders themselves that sometimes forget to conduct this
\nmonthly rite. But we can't admonish them as they are very much
\nrespected in our society," said Rini.<\/p>\n
Besides religion, Tengger people, who believe they are
\ndescended from the families of nobility, still clings to sayan,
\ntheir traditional practice of tilling their agricultural land
\ncollectively.<\/p>\n
The Tengger people practice sayan because there are no farm
\nlaborers in their community. Tengger people help one another to
\ntill each others agricultural lands. They do this without pay.
\nAfter school, teenagers will help their parents in the rice
\nfields owned by their own families or by their neighbors<\/p>\n
The system of allowing non-Tengger people to rent land is also
\nalien to the Tenger people. Tenggers only rent land to other
\nTenggers. The rent for a plot of land may be between Rp 300,000
\nand Rp 400,000. If the land is more fertile, the rent is higher.<\/p>\n
"Trading here is going well. Tengger farmers can easily sell
\ntheir farm produce to vegetable traders. Many of them come here
\nregularly," said a Mount Bromo observer Suliyanto.<\/p>\n
These vegetable traders come from Probolinggo, Pasuruan and
\nSurabaya. Farm produce like potatoes, carrots, shallots, tomatoes
\nand Chinese cabbage are sold.<\/p>\n
According to Suliyanto, Tengger people, who still rely on
\ntheir traditional farming implements like scythes and hoes, have
\nrecently enjoyed an increase in their standard of living. They
\noften own a car, a motorcycle and a television set.<\/p>",
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