Historical outpost os Islam survives on west coast of Bali
Historical outpost os Islam survives on west coast of Bali
By Jean Couteau
DENPASAR (JP): Where it meets the horizon, the sea melts into
the sky. At the shore, a yellowish liquid current exudes from the
river mouth into the gaping ocean.
Aligned along the shore is a series of boats, streaked in
blues, reds and yellows, each with an unusual miniature mosque
atop their masts.
On the land beyond the shore, there is another mosque, with
its arches and a shining dome, and the sound of Middle Eastern
music blares from one of the coffee shops.
This landscape and atmosphere is found where one would least
expect it -- the little-known Ijo Gading estuary in Loloan,
Negara, the westernmost regency of Bali.
Think of this province, and images of rice fields, elaborate
dances and rich religious ceremonies usually come to mind. An
agrarian, Hindu society, which has, through an accident of fate,
escaped the advance of Islam throughout most of the archipelago.
Part of Bali's image, and its connivance with the West, is
indeed due to what it is not, in contrast to the perceived images
of Islam as severe, monotheistic and impervious to influences.
It would be mistaken, though, to view Bali as insulated from
its archipelagic, mainly Moslem surroundings, or in constant
conflict with them.
The island has never been actually attacked by any of its
Islamic neighbors. On the contrary, before the Dutch finally
colonized the island in 1906-1908, it was Balinese rulers who
launched numerous attacks on Blambangan to the west and Lombok to
the east, and occupied them.
In Bali proper, Moslem mercenaries, traders and warfarers have
long had privileged relations with the local rulers. They dealt
in slaves, opium and weapons, and were therefore -- with the
Chinese population -- essential intermediaries in the survival of
Bali on its own terms.
In the course of time, some of these Moslems assimilated with
the Balinese to the extent that they ended up as "Moslem
ancestors", as in Pacung, for example.
Entire communities have survived and are now found all over
the island, although mostly on the coastal areas or in the
vicinity of the ancient courts, a reminder of their former roles.
Some speak Balinese and use Balinese names, such as in
Pegayaman in northern Bali.
The most powerful and thoroughly Islamic are the Bugis
communities, and the most important of these is at Loloan.
Like the Jews who fled the Romans after the fall of Jerusalem,
it was the fall of Makassar in Sulawesi in 1656 which began the
Bugis diaspora.
After Makasar's Sultan Hassanudin's defeat by the Dutch in
1656, his staunchest warriors, men of the sea, refused to
surrender and simply sailed away with wives and children, opening
settlements all over the region, from Johore in Malaysia to the
coastal areas of Irian Jaya.
From these settlements, some of which turned into powerful
sultanates, the Bugis controlled much of the interinsular trade
for the next two centuries; pirates to some, traders to others
and fighters for the truth to themselves.
The Moslems of the Loloan area made up, at least originally,
the Balinese wing of this diaspora.
Until 30 years ago, the Bugis ships would sail up the lazy Ijo
Gading River and anchor four kilometers from the island.
To the people of the area, this village, rather than the
neighboring state capital of Negara, was long the "city" itself
-- it is still called the "kampung" by the local inhabitants.
Some of its boats and sea captains would sail as far as
Singapore or the Philippines, and the sons of the richest
merchants were educated in Mecca.
Negara itself was an agrarian principality, holding sway over
the local Balinese hinterland, but it almost never interfered in
the affairs of its Moslem citizens. This was except to collect
the syahbandar harbor dues, or to ask the local Bugis sailors for
a hand in its wars with other principalities, especially with the
powerful kingdom of Buleleng to the north.
With the arrival of the Dutch after the first Bali war (1846-
1849), trade expanded further, in particular with Java, for which
Loloan was the main transit port.
The youth of the area had their hour of glory during the war
of the country's independence (1945-1949), when they helped in
the transfer of men and weapons from Java for the Balinese
guerrillas.
It was only after the construction of the modern harbor of
Gilimanuk that the role of Loloan dropped sharply.
Nowadays, no big ships from Loloan ply the high seas, and
youths of the area have reverted to being, if anything, poor
fishermen.
From an architectural and urban point of view, Loloan, now a
specific Moslem quarter of the small city of Negara, is easily
recognizable from its neighboring Balinese areas.
Adjacent to the nondescript houses of urban Indonesia, there
are still many tall wooden stilt houses of Bugis origin.
Most women wear the traditional Bugis veil, and mature men the
national peci hat, often an indicator of adherence to Islam.
Instead of Balinese, the people use their own dialect of
Malay. Although of similar origin to Indonesian, it takes a few
weeks for an Indonesian speaker to be able to understand it
properly.
Jobs
Their art is similar to those of the larger Malay communities
of the archipelago, a somewhat stern diversion from the art of
offerings practiced by the ethnic Balinese.
The main problem for the people of Loloan is employment.
Although the scions of proud merchant seamen, they have missed
the modern urban and technical revolution the Chinese-Indonesians
-- their erstwhile partners in trade -- have taken advantage of.
They have withdrawn into their ethnic and religious identity,
thus preventing themselves from becoming active partners in the
multiethnic Bali now in the making.
But while looking at the boats at anchor, visiting the nearby
Crocodile Garden in Pengambengan, or joking with youths at the
local tea stall, visitors should think of the seas and how they
united the islands of modern Indonesia rather than separated
them.