Lampung unites diverse ethnic groups

Lampung unites diverse ethnic groups

The Jakarta Post, Teluk Betung, Lampung

An old man hovers around eight people who are busy building a
ship in the coastal village of Cungkeng, Kota Karang, West Teluk
Betung. Once in a while he stops to discuss things with the
workers, his hands busy gesturing while giving directions to the
workers. Once in a while, he picks up a hatchet and splits a
small log into pieces.

The old man is Hartaslim, 60, a resident of Cungkeng, a
coastal village of around 1,000 people located off the Sunda
Strait.

Nearby, a young man is busy cleaning dozens of plastic drums
used to make a bagan, or scaffolding, to trap fish. Some women
bake fish for lunch.

The site is a typical coastal village in Indonesia. Cungkeng
is filthy. It does not reflect modern Bandar Lampung, which is
only about a 15-minute drive away. The whole village is littered
with garbage, and no one seems to mind. Many of the houses are
unpainted and some of stand on high pillars like Bugis houses in
South Sulawesi. A few are designed in the joglo style of Central
Java. There are several elementary schools and mosques and many,
many kiosks. There is a small kiosk for every block.

Despite its desolate appearance, Cungkeng is a peaceful place
where people from various ethnic backgrounds have made it their
home. It is a miniature of Lampung, home to various ethnic groups
including the Rawas, Pasemah, Semedo, Sunda, Java, Dayak,
Balinese and Bugis. The settlers make up 75 percent of the total
population.

Traditionally, Lampung's population has been divided into two
groups, the peminggir who live in coastal areas and the pepadun
who live in the hinterland. Most settlers build their new homes
in areas that resemble their place of origin. The coastal people,
for example, settle in coastal areas and maintain their old
trades. Shared skills and love of their profession unite the
various ethnic groups in their new home.

Cungkeng is a typical coastal community built by settlers from
coastal areas. Hartaslim, for example, is one of the ethnic Bugis
settlers who arrived in Lampung in 1970 and who maintains the
South Sulawesi shipbuilding tradition. The Bugis people are known
for their mastery in building wooden ships, Phinisi, without
using a single piece of metal.

Hartaslim's employees come from Banten and Cirebon, West Java,
from the northern coastal areas of Java.

Most of the villagers are fishermen. In a good season, they
can earn up to Rp 3 million one night, but in bad times Rp
180,000 is the most they can collect from a night's catch, mostly
of ikan teri (tiny sea fish).

This time of year is the low season and the fishermen pass the
time cleaning their fishing gear, fixing broken nets or building
new bagan.

Like the shipbuilding business, bagan construction also
involves the whole village, everyone contributing their skills
and experience to the process.

It may sound a simple, common thing, this bagan and
shipbuilding business. But the people of Cungkeng village have
shown that ethnic and professional differences should not create
problems.

Rather than produce conflict, the differences help build a
community whose members rely on each other for survival. United
in needs and dreams, the villagers have created a legacy of
harmony that serves as a good example to the rest of the nation.