Tengger people: A traditional community focused on making money
Tengger people: A traditional community focused on making money
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Probolinggo
Rudi, the owner of horses for rent in Ngadisari village,
Probolinggo, seemed angry when The Jakarta Post suddenly took
leave of him after taking several pictures of his horses.
Right away he asked the Post for Rp 5,000 for the time he had
spent for the interview.
"You have to pay for everything here, including taking the
pictures of Tengger people and their horses," he said in high-
pitched voice.
It is not entirely clear why the Tengger people in Ngadisari
village have made such a habit of exacting payment from
outsiders. According to several resource persons, locals now
fully rely on Mount Bromo for their livelihood.
"Money is everything here, but of course we do not justify
every (criminal) means to obtain money," said Rini, a 17-year-old
Tengger grass collector.
She added that the Mount Bromo area was quite safe as there
was neither theft nor robbery. Locals even keep their doors
unlocked at night. They trust one another and want to make sure
that visitors will spend a long time in Bromo.
Tengger women feel quite safe too they have no worries about
being raped. There is no gender discrimination so you can easily
find women looking for grass or wood while carrying their
children.
"Locals here share among themselves the duty of earning money.
Each will work in accordance to their capacity," he said.
The Tengger people inherited most of their values from the
bygone age of the Majapahit Kingdom. Most of them are devout
Hindus or Mahayana Buddhists, according to the Supreme Council of
Hindus East Java chapter.
Unlike other Hindu followers, who have temples for their
places of worship, the Tengger people perform their religious
services at a danyang, a sandy place where the Kasada rite is
performed.
Every month the Tengger people pray at Luhur Poten, which is
located in the sandy area to the east of Mount Bromo, led by
religious elders.
This monthly rite is compulsory for Tengger people of all
ages. If they fail to take part in this religious service, they
will be required to clean the poten for one whole month. A
menstruating Tengger woman, however, is not allowed to perform
this religious service.
"This penalty still stands today. Unfortunately, it is the
religious elders themselves that sometimes forget to conduct this
monthly rite. But we can't admonish them as they are very much
respected in our society," said Rini.
Besides religion, Tengger people, who believe they are
descended from the families of nobility, still clings to sayan,
their traditional practice of tilling their agricultural land
collectively.
The Tengger people practice sayan because there are no farm
laborers in their community. Tengger people help one another to
till each others agricultural lands. They do this without pay.
After school, teenagers will help their parents in the rice
fields owned by their own families or by their neighbors
The system of allowing non-Tengger people to rent land is also
alien to the Tenger people. Tenggers only rent land to other
Tenggers. The rent for a plot of land may be between Rp 300,000
and Rp 400,000. If the land is more fertile, the rent is higher.
"Trading here is going well. Tengger farmers can easily sell
their farm produce to vegetable traders. Many of them come here
regularly," said a Mount Bromo observer Suliyanto.
These vegetable traders come from Probolinggo, Pasuruan and
Surabaya. Farm produce like potatoes, carrots, shallots, tomatoes
and Chinese cabbage are sold.
According to Suliyanto, Tengger people, who still rely on
their traditional farming implements like scythes and hoes, have
recently enjoyed an increase in their standard of living. They
often own a car, a motorcycle and a television set.