S. African of Indonesian descent back home with arts
By Mehru Jaffer
JAKARTA (JP): They left with chains around their feet and sorrow filled their soul. But 300 years later their descendants have returned to their ancestral home dancing, with a song on their lips and nothing but joy in their hearts.
Indeed, there is much to celebrate at the Gedung Arsip Nasional where a colorful exhibition on Indonesians in South Africa: Historical links Spanning Three Centuries" opened recently.
"I don't believe that I am actually here," says Faeza Rossier, dressed in traditional clothes for the occasion. A mixture of white, Arab and Malay people, the fair and lovely Faeza traces her ancestry to Syekh Yusuf, perhaps the most important person amongst hundreds of Indonesians exiled to the Cape of Good Hope in 1624.
It is an extremely emotional moment for Faeza and all the others of the group of over 60 people belonging to the Malay community of Indonesian descent in Cape Town who are visiting here, most of them for the first time in their lives.
The aim of the exhibition is to illustrate the historical bond that exists between South Africans of Indonesian descent and this country by way of culinary arts, photographs, documentation, dance and music from the time of the Dutch occupation of the Cape of Good Hope and the East Indies.
"I cried when the airplane landed in Jakarta," says Hassiem Salie, president, South African Melayu Cultural Society, one of the three organizers of the exhibition along with the South African embassy and the foundation for the Indonesian Archives Building.
Hassiem first visited Indonesia about two years ago and went straight to Banten which is mentioned as the original home in many manuscripts and books left by his ancestors.
Syekh Yusuf was born in Gowa, South Sulawesi but settled in Banten where he became a spiritual guide to the ruler, Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa and married his daughter. He also commanded a force of Buginese and Makassarese troops against the Dutch who eventually captured him and put him aboard the ship The Voetboog.
At the age of 68 years along his two wives, 12 children, 12 imams, several followers and servants the soldier and sufi scholar arrived at the Cape of Good Hope to live in exile. Five years later the Syekh died, but only after he had converted thousands to Islam.
His shrine at Faure, in an area called Makassar, in Cape Town is considered sacred today, second only to the shrine of Kaaba in Mecca.
"Most of us trace our ancestry to either Syekh Yusuf or to the 52 members of the sufi saint's entourage," Hassiem told The Jakarta Post.
The Dutch shipped off thousands from all over the Indonesian Archipelago as slaves, criminals or political prisoners in the 17th century to far away South Africa where members of the community continued to defy the Dutch.
They were prevented from practicing Islam or communicating in their native language, making the other famous exile, Imam Abdullah bin Kadi Abdus Salam or Tuan Guru from the royal family of Tidore advise his community, "Be of good heart my children and serve your masters; for one day your liberty will be restored to you, and your descendants will live within a circle of kramats safe from fire, famine, disease, plague, earthquake and tidal wave."
For centuries all children of the Cape Malay community have grown up with stories told to them by their elders of the beauty of their culture and love for the homeland.
"It took us so long to trace back our origins to Indonesia because travel was forbidden to us under apartheid," says Ibrahim Manuel who found a book in the family that was written in a language none could read.
When travel restrictions were lifted in South Africa only a few years ago, he promptly came to Indonesia clutching the handwritten book by one of his ancestors and was told to visit Pemangong, a village in Sumbawa.
There it was revealed to Ibrahim that the author of the book in his possession was Imam Ismail whose full name was Lalu Ismail Dea Malela, son of king Lalu Abdul Kadir Jaelani Dea Kowasa. It was at the court in Pemangong that political leaders and members of the aristocracy met to plot against the unfair domination of the Dutch.
When the hideout was discovered some from the group were killed and others banished to the Cape in 1674.
"I cannot explain to you what joy I experienced in meeting with my relatives from the village. I feel like a total person now after the visit to Pemangong," says Ibrahim who also discovered that the name Manuel is his slave name, his actual name being Lalu Ibrahim Dea Malela.
A chef by profession, Ibrahim helped to lay out a generous spread on the inaugural evening of dishes representative of the Cape Malay cuisine that is a combination of Indonesian, and not just Dutch food but also Indian, Arabia, Turkey and English. The exhibition also includes a model of the ship that carried people from here to the Cape, the common spices used by both communities and similarities in clothing.
The Lingo Ayoen dance from the Cape traces its roots back to Java and it was discovered that the Debus is nothing but a variation of the trance dance similar to the Barong and Kris dances. A glimpse into many other similarities between the two cultures is also on display at the exhibition that ends on June 27.