Reclusive Baduy cope with tourism and materialism

Reclusive Baduy cope with tourism and materialism

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): The river straddling the picturesque village of
Gajeboh, one of the many highland communities of the reclusive
Baduy people of West Java, shimmers translucently in the gentle
morning glow.

A handful of boys scurry across the bamboo bridge carrying
sacks of palm sugar. A group of women pound padi (unmilled rice)
underneath the thatched roofs of their rattan huts. Across the
river lies the harvest of the their hard work: dozens of leuit
(rice barns) storing enough rice for a decade.

But my peaceful riverside stroll was soon interrupted by the
blare of a battery-charged radio and the loud chatter of the high
school kids turning up the music. In their neon Benetton T-shirts
and fancy sports sandals, they bounded past the muddy paths by
the dozens. Trailing behind them were men of the more traditional
Baduy Dalam (Inner Baduy), who carried the kids' rucksacks
throughout the hour-long hilly trek to the Baduy border town of
Kaduketug.

Quiet returned as the last tourists grumbled their final
gripes. But while the kids may eventually have little
recollection of their Baduy journey, they left more for the Baduy
than the community bargained for. Along the dirt trail were
scraps of styrofoam -- the remains from dozens of Pop Mie
(instant noodles) containers. Plastic packets of Sunsilk shampoo
and Aqua bottles floated on the clear water. Old batteries lay
among the shrubs.

When I returned to Kaduketug, the kids were camped out at the
dozen dwellings which comprise this buffer zone between the Baduy
land and the outside world. There were more than 400 kids in all
that weekend, who toured the Baduy territory on school-sponsored
"cultural" expeditions. They came from SMA 10, East Jakarta, SMA
Negeri, Tangerang, West Java, and SMA 3, Serang, West Java. Many
stayed at the Inner Baduy village of Cibeo, a hamlet of a few
dozen families. The entire Baduy community, made up of 44 Outer
Baduy villages and 3 Inner Baduy settlements, counts a population
of 6,500 people.

Tourist influx

The tourist influx may be small compared to other tourist
destinations, but the effects must be seen in the unique context
of Baduy society. The night before, Kaduketug was an
anthropologist's dream: an oasis of tradition and tranquility,
fueled only by oil lanterns, children's laughter, and composed
conversation among the elders about the Baduy's self-imposed
isolation from the modern world.

The adat (traditional laws) of the Baduy has always raised
controversy, but particularly now as Indonesia accelerates into
high-technology civilization. In the highlands of Lebak Regency,
the Baduy live only several hours drive away from Jakarta, but
light years away in accepted terms of "sophistication."

Among those things considered buyut (taboo) by the Baduy
religion of Sunda Wiwitan -- a blend of ancient Hinduism and
shamanism -- are formal schooling, modern tools (including roads,
cars and electricity), the raising of four-legged animals, and
modern agriculture. The Baduy continue to practice a nomadic
farming system on their 5,000 hectares of land, resorting to a
four-year ritual-rich planting cycle rather than the aid of
fertilizers, which they regard as "poison" for the earth.

Tenacious traditionalism, however, has been a mixed blessing.
While many Baduy preach the virtues of their isolation, citing
crime and poverty as the price of urban life, as many Baduy
lament their seclusion.

"I couldn't put up with the adat anymore. You can't change
things in the Baduy Dalam. You either conform or you leave," said
Sarif, a 40-year-old former Inner Baduy who became an Outer Baduy
a year ago. Jaro Pulung, the 50-year-old village head of
Kaduketug, said that contact with the modern world has lured some
Baduy to leave not only the inner community, but the Baduy life
in general. "We can't tell the young not to leave, and some do
leave," said Jaro.

Sarif himself decided to leave his Inner Baduy village after
making six five-day trips on foot to Bandung; as a Baduy Dalam,
he was forbidden to use modern transportation. He and his family
moved to the Outer Baduy in order to make their lives easier,
since Sarif often travels to Jakarta and Bandung. When asked why
he goes to the city, Sarif's eyes lit up with the spirit of a
small-town man wanting to experience a larger world. "I go to
play, to see people, to make friends," Sarif answered.

Other Baduy are not only bored with their limited social
circle, but wary of the material scarcity tradition requires.
During my stay, a group of dental hygienists was conducting a
study on the Baduy's health conditions. Not only are their teeth
in a deteriorating state, but the children's bloated stomachs,
red eyes, and brown hair are all indications of malnutrition.

"They won't buy food because it's taboo," said Budi, a dental
hygienist from Bandung's Padjadjaran University. "But if you
bring food to them, like fish, they will eat it."

The most frustrating aspect of the Baduy's health problems is
that they are caused by false poverty and pride. "They never
consider themselves poor, because if you have one leuit (rice
barn), you have enough rice for one year. Some families have 10
leuit," said Budi. The Baduy also sell petai (beans), durian,
bananas, and palm sugar, as well as various bark-cloth crafts, to
the outside world. But despite the riches that bartering brings,
tradition still forbids the Baduy from dietary and medicinal
improvements that could make their lives easier.

And Baduy life is relatively easier, at least for the outside
world to see. Access to Baduy lands have been opened in recent
years. One use to have to walk for days to reach even Kaduketug.
Today, an asphalt road and a two-hour bemo ride shorten the
journey from Rangkas Bitung to Kadukatug's Moslem sister town,
Ciboleger. There the road stops, but every month, the Baduy see
hundreds of visitors, from high school kids to nature lovers to
anthropologists. "The government built the road for tourism
reasons," said Sarif. "They support us in maintaining our
culture, because they want tourism to grow here," he said. Every
visitor to the Baduy territory must obtain written permission,
which includes a monetary fee, from either the village headman or
a government office.

This formal method of traveling through Baduy territory makes
it difficult for the Baduy to control the number of tourists. In
addition, Baduy adat requires tolerance of visitors. "We don't
mind if they come and go, as long as they don't ask us to change
our adat. It's our responsibility to welcome guests, to feed them
and clean up after them," said Jaro Pulung.

What the Baduy did not expect was intolerance on the part of
the visitors. Ibu Ellawaty, a sociology teacher from SMA 10, East
Jakarta, said that she brought her students to the Baduy so,
"they could learn differences between cultures, and learn more
about traditional societies."

Whether the cultural exchange was mutually beneficial,
however, is debatable. When the kids left, the villages were
littered with plastic and other garbage. Many of the kids also
asked the Baduy Dalam to carry their bags, bringing on an unequal
social dynamic regardless of monetary payment. "I couldn't bear
to have those tired kids carry their bags but who will pay the
carriers?," said Ellywaty, momentarily forgetting the sensitivity
required of better sociologists and anthropologists.

The Baduy themselves are also confused about their
relationship with the visitors. "Some of the kids left without
saying goodbye," said Medi, Jaro Pulung's son. "It was very
rude."

Medi further complained that the normally passive Baduy Dalam
were upset that there was no reward, financially or gesturally,
for their carrying the kids' luggage. Both the complaints of Medi
and his Baduy Dalam friends signal not only the encroaching
threat of a culturally ignorant and impersonal modernized world,
but also its demonstrative effect and influence on sensitive folk
societies. Voicing his bewilderment in coping with traditional
simplicity and modern materialism, Medi said: "It's very
difficult for us Baduy because it's not part of our culture to
talk about money, to ask for money, but how can they treat us
like that?"