Tribal chiefs in Irian Jaya still play powerful role

By Dominggus A. Mampioper

JAYAPURA (JP): Former Irian Jaya military district commander, Maj. Gen. (ret.) R.J.K. Sembiring Meliala made an interesting remark in Mutiara magazine of January 1996: "We should maintain the adat (traditional) chiefs in Irian Jaya."

He also pointed out that the prototype in Law No.5/1979 is based on examples in Java.

"Where do you find lurah and carik (village head and secretary) outside of Java? Should there be such a system of administrators, the institution should be given new life," he added.

Anthropologist Prof. Mattulada of Hasanuddin University in Ujungpandang shares his opinion. Mattulada maintains there are two schools of thought in rural development in Indonesia.

One school considers uniformity of villages the most effective way to handle problems. The second school regards diversity the key to understanding the community's aspirations towards participation, he told Kompas daily.

Mattulada says the first approach was conditioned in Java, Madura and Bali. Some critics say that this should prompt decision-makers to worry about "the disappearance of typical rural characteristics which once showed many varieties." Centrifugal forces may increase, threatening integration, which could further weaken the nation's unity.

Uniformity is always seen as an imposition and makes people worry because uniformity of all symbols of rural life is quite alien to local cultures, says Mattulada.

"The general impression is that uniformity is identified with Javanization, and seen as non-nationalist," says Mattulada.

Dr. J.R. Mansoben in his book The Traditional Political System in Irian Jaya says the plurality of the Irianese population presents challenges of its own.

First, the communication problem. Irianese languages have a complexity and a range of nuances which need special attention. There are two main trees of languages, Austronesian and non- Austronesian, comprising 240 local tongues.

Second, land cultivation. One thing that must be understood properly is how land is allocated in Irian Jaya. The principle of the ulayat right to land among Irianese people under the collective ethnic system, regulates the ulayat right of one's land through the clan (communal right) or other collective systems which stipulate one's ulayat right through the nuclear family or the right of the individual.

Third, the diversity of ethnic groups in Irian's community creates various types of leadership. Mansoben, an anthropologist at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura, distinguishes the following : (1) the royal type; (2) the authoritarian male type (in Oceanian literature known as bigman leader); (3) the Ondoafi type (tribal chief); and (4) a mixture of the male authoritarian type and the tribal chief type.

In the same book -- his thesis at Leiden University -- Mansoben uses the question of the type of Irian's community leadership to study the traditional political system in Irian Jaya. Both the royalty and the Ondoafi systems choose leaders through heritage.

The former has a wider scope of power compared to the Ondoafi, encompassing a number of villages with the majority of the population located at great distance from each other. This system is the result of acculturation between the cultures of Irian and Maluku, found in the tribe of the Raja Ampat islands west of Irian.

The Ondoafi system predominates near the border with Papua New Guinea, especially in Sentani. Its scope is a small clan, at kampong or confederation level (a number of kampongs combined).

Three authoritarian male types elect the leader based on merit. A distinction is made between business skills (Muyu, Me, Meybrat) and the capacity to wage war (Dani, Asmat).

The mixed system takes both heritage and merit into account, meaning the scepter of leadership can only be passed to those with leaders' blood as well as proven skills in business or war and is practiced in Biak, Waropen.

The problem now is that the traditional leadership is being pushed aside as the role of village head in the formal governmental structure gains ground. However, in matters of land release and ulayat right, the traditional chief still has the authority. This is shown by the fact that it was the traditional chiefs who approved the transfer of 1,945,310 hectares for the transmigration program in Irian. (Data from the regional office of the Ministry of Transmigration and the Irian Jaya PPH office, 1995.) But gradually the role of traditional leaders is weakening. Besides, the village administration and its officials play a growing role in the activities of local communities.

Anthropologists are of the opinion that rural areas and villages in Irian Jaya are genealogical in nature, that is based on the origin of ancestors who formed groups in rural areas consisting of a number of houses built separately according to clans who formed batih (nuclear) families and constitute an extended family. The pattern of settlement areas also follows clans because co-habitants of a rural area have blood relations. They are of the same origin and are linked to other rural areas by inter-marriage.

Another matter is the difference in the basics in leadership of a village head. It is customary to have (non-formal) tribal chiefs alongside formal leaders. Consequently there is dualism in leadership in one rural area or village.

It is unfortunate that the new villages in Irian Jaya came into being out of necessity when hundreds of transmigrant families came to settle; the local community had to adapt themselves to the newcomers.

It is also regrettable that the newly formed villages, formerly called Transmigration Settlement Units, chose Javanese names as happened in Kertosari village in Jayapura and other towns in Irian Jaya.

Maybe the settlement of transmigrants should be slowed down or even stopped to allow the local community to maintain their way of life. The local communities should remain separate from transmigrant settlements, to allow the traditional way of life to hold its own. Reality shows that the role of village head is gaining in strength.

Window: The local communities should remain separate from transmigrant settlements, to allow the traditional way of life to hold its own.