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.