Bugis in South Sulawesi

Bugis in South Sulawesi

This letter was intentionally delayed to sound neither
political nor emotional. Djiwandono's article Not much credit is
due Habibie's presidency published on May 26, 1999, indeed hurt
the feelings of people of South Sulawesi, primarily those who
read the paper. Tendentiously, he wrote that Habibie was a native
of South Sulawesi and cynically added that as President, Habibie
was surrounded by people who hailed from South Sulawesi.
Ironically, however, he further elaborated that if there was some
success to Habibie's government it was not thanks to Habibie, but
to the Minister of Information, Yunus Yosfiah.

Soedjati Djiwandono seems to be lacking in sufficient
knowledge of Indonesian history from the 10th century, not to
mention history of the mass migration of Proto and Deutro Malay
to this archipelago. Had he equipped himself with this knowledge,
he would not have imposed his Dutch ethnologically oriented
terms, rather than the more modern and sociologically coined ones
in connection with the present Indonesian community.

I am pretty sure that Soedjati is a very productive as well as
noted writer. But, if he does not mind, I would like to add to
his vocabulary with some South Sulawesi cultural phenomena from
the 14th century.

If the Javanese sophistical life had been more influenced by
Sanskritism (Hinduism) from some time before the Majapahit era,
then, on those grounds, the significance of South Sulawesi would
have been developed much later and under more influence of
Islamic culture. Javanese and South Sulawesi people still share
the same element of linguistic phenomena of Proto Malay.

Coming back to our culture of independence, I can also tell
you there is a tendency most migrants who have been born in South
Sulawesi claim themselves as sociologically Bugis or Makassarese
rather than ethnologically "native" Bugis or Makassarese. If you
apply it to Habibie's case, I believe you will avoid the term
"native" judging either from his name or from his genealogical
history. There are so many Javanese descendants in South Sulawesi
who always claim themselves to be Makassarese. They are the
former mayor of Makassar Municipality, H. M. Yunus Daeng Mile,
the famous Makassarese song composer and singer Hamzan Marliat,
and also Murtini Slamet Daeng Te'ne, to mention a few of the
thousands.

Your tendentious writing is indeed very vulnerable to our
Indonesian unity. If you disagree with Habibie's policy, please
do, but not just because he hails from South Sulawesi. Please
give more description as well as analysis to your disagreement
with his social, economic, technological, and such, view.
Otherwise, you will be successful only in sowing hatred among the
people of Indonesia in our modern era.

NURDIN YATIM

Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi