Dry season's savage heat a blessing for Madurese

Text and photos by Zoel Mistortoify

MADURA, East Java (JP): There is always a time to worry and for the Madurese, it is the dry season, which reaches its peak between August and October. For Madurese living in arid areas, the dry season does not only cause water shortages but also depresses the region's economy since the islanders depend on agriculture.

But to those in Sumenep and Pamekasan in the eastern part of the island, the season's savage heat is a blessing. For it is during the peak of the dry season that they harvest their tobacco crop.

Tobacco is the main crop in the dry season and the region's most important export commodity. In the past years, the island's 15,000 hectares of tobacco plantations have yielded an annual tobacco harvest of 8 million tons.

Tobacco cultivation was introduced into the archipelago by Portuguese settlers at the end of the 16th century. During British Governor Sir Stamford Raffles's rule, tobacco cultivation was a favorite venture in Java because of the meteoric price this commodity fetched.

Madura, a region dependent on Java, managed to secure a steady market after the introduction of Virginia tobacco.

Thousands of Madurese were put to work in East Java tobacco plantations, starting as forced laborers during colonial times and later as contract workers. They later brought home the cultivating and marketing skills acquired in Java and started to develop their own plantations around the middle of the 19th century.

Tobacco cultivation involves lots of manpower and in Madura it is made possible by traditional working patterns; the family is the main economic unit of production. Men, women, old and young and even children are officially invited to the work on a mutually-beneficial scheme known as jhak-ngajhak.

Although tobacco cultivation is a costly, labor-intensive and risky business, it is profitable. The tobacco season (osom bako) transforms life in East Madura. Because tobacco boosts the economy, consumption also goes up. The tobacco season is a time of social and economic change manifested in such public affairs as wedding parties, construction, the setting up of businesses, private or collective thanksgiving rites, and the acquisition of goods considered important or prestigious.

This phenomenon breeds a hedonistic air evident in the scale of the public festivities held during harvest time.

The East Madurese are still in the habit of holding social gatherings known as arisan in the national language.

Called kompolan or kamrat in Madura, the gatherings are not only held to raise funds; they are held also to keep strong the bonds of friendship between certain communities.

There are different types of gathering, depending on who is organizing it. For example, there is a group of race cow breeders and a group of breeders of "beauty cows" called sape sono (cows paraded at cow beauty contests). There are also gatherings of an orthodox Moslem community united in Koran reading, martial arts or the arts of hadrah (rebana music).

Traditional community groups unite to maintain traditions, from religious recitals to worldly tayuban (sensuous dancing with female dancers).

The spectacle is often exploited commercially and made into public entertainment. Another habit in prosperous villages is the purchase of goods such as gold jewelry, cars, household goods, or livestock. Such goods are not really necessities, and some of them are kept in storage. In times of need, they are sold.

The banking system is apparently not popular with the average Madurese; gold remains the favorite way to store wealth, and this is how families provide for the future.

People also express their joy in exuberant parties, taking care to look sharp, and decked out in brand new jewelry.

The most eye-catching of all these is the gathering known as kamrat sape sono. The party starts with participants delivering parcels containing sugar, rice, fruit and money to their host. This is done in a formal and theatrical way.

Then the groups of participants form an orderly procession in a field. After the procession, every group loudly introduces itself to the audience. The introductions are often exercises in self-glorification.

Then comes the beauty contest for the cows. After each cow has been paraded around, the owner's group will often show off by draping the body of their jockey in bank notes, often hundred of thousands of rupiah. This is simply their way of telling the audience that they have plenty of cash. Often, however, it leads to a contest of wealth, spoiling a pleasant atmosphere and making it hostile.