'Buang jong' ritual becomes annual tourism event

TANJUNG PANDAN, Belitung (JP): Many islands in the Indonesian archipelago have their own legends and ceremonies. Some have similar rituals or tales, many of which are related to the sea.

But the buang jong ritual on Belitung Island in South Sumatra is unique. Buang means to throw away, while a jong is a small ship crafted from cork wood.

The annual ceremony of buang jong dates back to 1914 when Cidok, a Sawangnese -- the maritime tribe of Belitung that lived on Tanjung Tinggi beach -- started a plantation on Teluk Limau, which upset local spirits. Subsequently, the village was damaged and dozens of people were killed.

Village leaders held meetings to discuss the calamity. They then sent a villager to Kik Pilok, a shaman living in Air Batu village, who then held a seven-day selamatan (thanksgiving ceremony) to chase the bad spirits away. Kik Pilok succeeded in driving the evil spirits from the village into the sea.

Two tribal chiefs Itek and Dudo then told the villagers to conduct a selamatan to ward off any other evil spirits. The selamatan was conducted by putting sesajen (various food offerings) in a jong (small boat). The night before setting the jong out to sea, the villagers held a berasik performance of Sawangnese dance and other kinds of entertainment.

The ceremony became known as buang jong. It is now held annually at the beginning of each monsoon season. Villagers believe that it must be carried out yearly as it is based on an agreement made years ago between the shaman and tribal chiefs.

The buang jong ritual was neglected during the Japanese occupation in the early 1940s, when the villagers were forced to farm in distant lands. When the Japanese left the village, people returned to their original way of life of fishing, but disasters began to occur and many people died. Since then, the ceremony has been held regularly every year.

Kik Datang, Asan, Djarap, Mat Asim and Saie are the five shamen that today lead the ritual ceremony, which has been packaged as a tourist attraction on this island measuring 77 by 79 kilometers and with a population of 198,034. There is now a Buang Jong festival, which was introduced late last month and has expanded on the tradition to include rowing, cycling and beach volley competitions.

It is also hoped that more attention to the ritual will help preserve this and other aspects of Belitung's culture and heritage. (icn)