Agar fights for Sakai's survival

Agar fights for Sakai's survival

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru-Riau

The name Sakai might bring to mind the illiterate primitive
community of the forests of Siak Riau regency. But although their
birthplace boasts Caltex oil fields, these indigenous Riau people
are still living in poverty.

Despite their seemingly isolated existence, one Sakai man has
earned a Master's degree in language and literature from a German
university. Mohammad Agar Kalipke is the first-ever Sakai to have
reached such a high level of education.

Agar obtained his degree in 2000 in Austronesian languages and
literature from the School of Oriental Studies at Hamburg
University, Germany. This is considered an extraordinary
achievement for a Sakai, given the general standard of living of
this ethnic group.

Just like anybody else in his traditional community, Agar
spent his childhood moving from one place to another amid the
thick jungle of Bengkalis regency, Riau. It never entered his
mind that he would one day go to an overseas university and
obtain a degree.

Of a small build, the near-sighted Agar is now pursuing his
doctorate at the same university, he is currently back home
researching for his thesis.

"I returned home in December of last year and will be here for
the next four months to research the sacred aspects of charms and
the difference between charms and poetry, a prerequisite to
completing my program at Hamburg University. The research is
basically a study of the old Malay language," said Agar, the son
of a Batin (the local name for a chieftain) of the Sakai people
in Duri area, Bengkalis regency.

His major contribution to his ancestral land has been the
publication of Worterbuch Sakai-Indonesich-Deutch, a 390-page
Sakai language-Indonesian-German dictionary published in 2000.
This was the result of collaboration with his foster parent Hans
Kalipke between 1993 and 1998.

During the compilation of this dictionary -- now quite popular
on his Hamburg University campus -- to determine the origins of
the Malay language in Sakai vocabulary, Agar was assigned to
translate from Sakai into Indonesian various Sakai texts like
Sakai song lyrics, tales, myths, sagas and fables. The works were
later translated into German.

Agar and Kalipke spent quite a long period of time recording
material for the dictionary on 5,000 sheets of paper and 70
cassettes. They recorded the daily lives of the Sakai people, an
activity that, according to Kalipke, was quite complicated.

Kalipke said that the dictionary would be very useful to
anthropologists who were interested in the origins of Malay, the
language on which the Indonesian language is based. Nobody, he
added, knows for sure where the Malay language originated from.

In Agar's mind, this dictionary -- now also on sale in the
United States and Japan -- is an important historical record for
the Indonesian people.

Agar said that when he returned home after staying in Germany
for several years, he found his people were still living
primitively, just as they had when he was a child.

Problems had arisen as the destruction of the forest in Riau
was contrary to everything the Sakai believed in. For the Sakai,
the forest is foremost a sanctuary and a place of worship. They
live in the forest, protect it, and raise their children there.

The poor condition of the tribe's homeland has been aggravated
over the last decade with the government's claim that the land is
state property. The area had been proclaimed a forest-concession
area and timber estates are located there. Worse still, the Sakai
say that their homes have become "safe havens" for illegal
loggers.

"The government permits timber companies to exploit vast
forest areas where the Sakai live. Very soon, the Sakai people
will be forest people without a forest. This is indeed a tragedy.
The Sakai people, who live and die in the forest, can no longer
see their own forest. I can't imagine what will happen to the
Sakai people in the future," said Agar, who was born on July 19,
1961.

Agar believes that the destruction of the forest will directly
lead to the disappearance of various Sakai words. Simply put,
this is because animals and plants of the forest, which are
represented by words, are now extinct.

He thinks that environmental damage will cause the Sakai
people to lose their identity as forest people. After the forest
areas are gone the lifestyle of the Sakai people will be
impossible to maintain.

"It is really tragic that our forests have disappeared for the
sake of business. The Sakai people, who lead traditional lives in
the forest, are compelled to live in a modern way. Unfortunately,
in their transition to modernity, they have been abandoned," said
Agar, who is a widower.

Given the precarious future facing the Sakai people, Agar
reminds all relevant parties to prioritize education for his
people. Education, he said, will prevent the Sakai people from
being uprooted from their indigenous culture. Education will also
allow the Sakai people to be able to lead lives outside the Sakai
community.

"Unlike what people generally think of the Sakai people, we
are not stupid. We are as good as other ethnic communities in
Riau. The problem is that unlike other migrant people, we are
always abandoned and not given the chance to study," he added.