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.