Raja Singa Bansa: Dayak monarch without power or wealth

Raja Singa Bansa: Dayak monarch without power or wealth

By Edi Petebang

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): Kings are identified with
power and wealth. But this is not the case with Raja (King) Singa
Bansa, a 27-year-old Dayak monarch.

There is no reference in Indonesian history books to him and
many of the Dayak themselves do not even know they have a king.
But some Dayak, including those in Malaysia, still come to offer
tribute and still believe in the king and respect him.

Singa Bansa, the sixth ruler to sit on the Hulu Aik throne, is
calm and quiet. But when he speaks, his charisma as a king shines
through. Very modest and honest. That is him; the one and only
Dayak king in Indonesia.

The Hulu Aik kingdom was established around 1700 in Pancur
Sembore and Tanjung Porikng on the upper course of the Krio
river. The region is now part of Menyumbung village, Sandai
district, Ketapang regency in West Kalimantan. The first leader
was Pang Ukir Empu Geremeng, who was succeeded by Bihukng Tiung.

Under Bihukng's leadership, the area was called Hulu Aik and
he was proclaimed the first Hulu Aik king. Because there is no
clear-cut territory, the center of the Hulu Aik kingdom moves all
the time, following the king along the Krio river.

Singa Bansa's family leads a very simple and even poor life,
materially speaking. Their "palace" is located in remote
Sengkuang, Menyumbung village. To get there, one starts heads
from Pontianak in the direction of Ketapang and continues by
speedboat for six hours. After changing to a smaller boat, it is
then a four-hour trip to the destination up the rapids of the
Krio river.

Singa Bansa lives in an eight meters by seven meters wooden
house. There is a staircase made of iron wood shaped with joints.
There is not single chair in the drawing room. Guests sit on the
floor covered with traditional pandan mats.

"This house is a government gift," he said. In the past, it
was the people who built the house for the king.

In one of the rooms a sacred heirloom of the kingdom is kept.
It is the Bosi Koling Tungkat Rakyat (Yellow Metal in Support of
the People), a kris made of yellow metal, believed to have
magical powers.

For Singa Bansa, to become a king was an obligation. "It is a
very heavy task. But since it is inherited, it cannot be refused.
That is perhaps the course of my life," he said.

He was born into a Catholic family but had to give up his
religion when he was crowned king. His wife, Anastasia Bijau, 33,
also had to abandon Catholicism. The couple took up believing in
Duwata (the God of the Krio Dayak). Their son Elius Edi Kurniawan
has remained a Catholic.

The Hulu Aik king's main task is to hold the annual Meruba
ceremony to bathe the Bosi Koling Tungkat Rakyat. The holy
object, the source of life according to the Krio Dayak, must be
kept in the care of the king, because if it expires, they believe
the world will also end.

Initially the kris was 20 cm long, Singa Bansa said. It has
now shrunk to only five centimeters.

"The kris has shrunk over the years because people made many
mistakes," he said.

In order that the holy object does not wither to nothing, the
Meruba ceremony must be held annually. It also enables the king
to ascertain what will happen in the following year.

At the ceremony in 1997, dry sand was found in the case of the
kris, which meant a long drought was coming and all living
creatures would face difficult times. Was it a coincidence that
in 1997 El Nio brought a long drought?

At the ceremony in 1998, mud and water were found in the case
and the kris, wrapped in seven layers of yellow cloth, was hot to
the touch. This was interpreted as that the situation would
remain tense, chaotic and dirty like mud and there would be heavy
rains.

While cleaning the kris with coconut oil, the king is not
allowed to look at it. He is only permitted to touch it while
taking the dirt out of the case. If they look at the kris they
will gradually become blind. The only time the king is allowed to
look at the kris is when he is crowned. Hulu Aik kings have
typically been blind in one eye as they closed the other one when
looking at the ornate decorative weapon.

Hulu Aik kings are obliged to farm land. As farming is the
source and center of Dayak culture it is an activity that is not
dependent on other people. Kings are now allowed to receive
wages.

When crowned king, Singa Bansa was aware that his knowledge
was inadequate in relation to the complexity of problems in
contemporary society. He only graduated from junior high school.
"I regularly read books sent by friends in Pontianak to extend my
knowledge," he said.

His hope now is centered on his seven-year-old only child,
Elius, an elementary school student. "If possible he should not
only be a king but should have adequate schooling." However, his
son's education is at risk because of financial difficulties.

Symbol

The Dayak used to consider the Hulu Aik kings their unifier
and intermediary in requests to God for aid. The kings' power
started to fade when the Dutch started playing the Dayak and the
Malay off against each other. According to Mill Rockaert, a
Belgian historian, the Dutch dominated the Dayak by making the
Malay group their proxy, thus increasingly weakening the
existence of the Hulu Aik kings.

Today the Hulu Aik kings have hardly any place in Indonesia.
Through various methods of submission and cultural
colonization, presented as development and modernization during
Indonesia's 53 years of independence, they are becoming gradually
irrelevant.

Dayak traditional chiefs say the government has deliberately
made the Dayak unaware about the existence of their kings.

"It is not that we do not want to recognize or respect the
existence of the Hulu Aik king, but the people have never known
about them because of the engineering," said Unus, 65, the
traditional chief of the Kayong Dayak. This was confirmed by
Patinggi Aris, the traditional chief of the Simpang Dayak.

Singa Bansa's first appearance in public was when the people
held a ceremony called tolak bala (warding off misfortune) in
July 1998. This inspired pride in the Dayak community. They now
know they have a king. Not a king as a powerholder with a
territory, but a king as a symbol to unify the Dayak people.

"The Hulu Aik king is the symbol of the marginalization of the
Dayak in this republic. His appearance in public will hopefully
rouse the spirit of the Dayak to become agents of development,"
said S. Djuweng, Director of the Institute for Dayakology in
Pontianak.

The writer is executive director of Kalimantan Review, a
monthly magazine published by the Institute of Dayakology in
Pontianak.