A group of bay, black, and gray horses ran through the savanna in Wunga village in Hahar subdistrict, East Sumba district, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
In the Sumba society, a horse is a symbol of transportation with great cultural value. It also has a historical value. Whenever people hear the word Sumba, they will imagine horses.
Horses have been part of the people of Sumba, one of the southern islands of Indonesia, since the mid 1800s, far before the Netherlands imported Ongole cattle and established Sumba as a cattle breeding center in 1914.
House Member, John Umbu Detta, in Kupang said that Sumba horses are an eastern breed believed to derive from Mongolian horses. Their spread to Asia was believed to occur with the spread of Hindu religion.
Sumba horses are closely related to the culture of the people. In every cultural event, horses are always involved. “In the Pasola festival, tens, even hundreds of horses are involved in the horseback javelin-throw event,” said Tuya Nggaba (46), a farmer from Pahunga Lodu, East Sumba.
Horses are seen as the ride of the ancestors. Whenever a horse in the savanna neighs, it means an ancestor is riding the horse. That is why herders must always wear traditional Sumba outfits whenever herding horses.
Besides being used as a burden animal, livestock, racing horse, or a ride to herd cattle, horses are also used in weddings (for the groom to gift to the bride’s family) and mass mobilization.
The price of a common horse would range between 2 to 8 million rupiahs, while race horses could worth from 10 to 250 million rupiahs, depending on how many times the horse had won regional or national competitions. The more trophies, the higher the price.
Lately, race horses represent high social status in the Sumba society. Even outsiders are involved in the business of buying and selling race horses. Horses are sold to Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Denpasar, and throughout East Nusa Tenggara, with prices reaching up to 250 million rupiahs for one horse.
The population of Sumba horses had declined in the middle of the 20th century because of Anthrax. The population had bounced back through cross-breeding with Australian horses.
Currently, said Umbu Detta, the population of Sumba horses continues to decline and could become extinct because the horses are freely sold to other areas such as Bima, Makassar, Denpasar, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta. Sumba horses are commonly bought to pull carriages/transportation, for racing, slaughter, or as dairy horses such as those in Bima.
The population of Sumba horses is estimated to be just 50,000. Head of the Livestock Service Office of East Sumba District, Robert Gana, ensured that Sumba horses would never become extinct. (KORNELIS KEWA AMA)
Umbu Haharu is the name given to Professor Makoto Koike by the villagers of Wunga Village in East Sumba when he was doing his ethnographic research for his doctoral dissertation in December 1985 - June 1988. The effort was done to delve into the culture (courtship, marriages, arts, dances and social manners) and beliefs (religious, myth and legends) of the village. "Wunga is the first Kampong in Sumba, mythical and interesting?" Makoto said.
In an interview with CRCS at Elvin Hotel in East Sumba, Makato disclosed that he chose Sumba because he had developed interest on Sumba while doing a library research on Eastern Indonesia for his Master Degree thesis at Tokyo Metropolitan University. This post-graduate work in the same university is a concretization of his desire of visiting Indonesia, especially Eastern Indonesia.
"I already visited Flores, Toraja, Timor, up to Habemanuk, but people there are almost Christianized. I found that East Sumba still preserve their ethnic culture?" the professor said in a lecture at St. Andrew University. He met his wife Naoko, a Japanese from Hiroshima during his first visit in the island while doing his research and Naoko was a tourist.
When the King was still alive, Makoto used to monitor his activities, especially those related to their traditions. "Wherever King Umbu Tobu went I followed him. When he went to Mamboro I followed him to ask for animals for sacrifice?: The King's power in Sumba is known by the number of animals that people under his domain gave for 'belis' as their token during marriage ceremonies. The king is measured by the number of animals he has. Nevertheless, some historical books the King of Wunga is not regarded as king, but just recognized as the head of a Kampong.
In one 'mangajingu bakulu' (great prayer of Wunga people commemorated every 8 years) that Makoto participated (in 1986 the last prayer year), he observed about 50 pigs being sacrificed and some ritual materials. The ritual materials were collected from the people and their surroundings, but nowadays, these are difficult to find, that half of which are bought from marketplaces or in other distant places.
This situation happens because their environment has changed, and degraded, and some other factors like the death of the King. Money is more used now rather than barter of goods and belongings. Prayer is no longer performed well now because Uma Ratu (the house for prayer) is heavily damaged. People now do their prayer in their houses without the materials that mangajingu bakulu requires.
The condition of the houses like Uma Ratu above all else affects people's social and religious activities. Houses, especially in the Praingu Wunga (Wunga Kampong), serve important roles. If one role does not go well, this influences and affects their whole activities. This situation motivates Makoto to help the Wunga people reconstruct some of the houses. He helps them because the resources are difficult to avail of and the Wunga people are economically marginalized. In year 2008, he already helped Wunga people reconstruct three important traditional houses, the Uma Makatembak, the Uma Bakulu, and the Uma Rua. Presently he is supporting to rebuild the most important house, the Uma Ratu.
In supporting the Wunga people rebuild those traditional houses, Makoto solicited donation from Taneka Carpentry Tools Museum (TCTM) and the faculty at St Andrew University. Miniature houses will be exhibited at TCTM in 2010. His present visit to Sumba is to observe the Uma Ratu reconstruction process and to turn over the donations to them. Ironically, so far local government has not extended any support to the project. Instead, they leave the responsibility to Makoto's Japanese donations.
When asked whether his reconstruction project can conserve people's belief to Marapu, the professor is pessimistic. "Later on all Sumbanese people will be converted to Christianity, and educated people will become Christians?" For him, it's because there is no effort from the local people or government to promote the existence of Marapu as an ethnic religion.
The situation is different in other places in Indonesia. In Kalimantan, people till strive to preserve their Kaharingan. "I hope they themselves will not marginalize their culture itself. When only the house (Uma Ratu) exist but no prayer. It means the house only exists materially, but that does not have any meaning?" said Makoto explicitly.
For a 53 years old man, the fact that the Sumbanese people are developing cannot be avoided. The young generations have already acquired higher education that means they are already Christians. "But, for the future of the Sumbanese people, that is ok, for education is more important for global competitiveness. But the culture must be preserved too though how difficult it takes?" said Makoto with dilemmatic intonation.
In concluding the interview, the Japanese anthropologist said that he will translate his dissertation in Nippongo (Japanese language) to Bahasa Indonesia. He also advanced his plan to visit Wunga as often for the reconstruction project. He has been collecting data for the project. "The data on how to build the house will be prepared in multimedia presentation and copied in DVD for distribution. How to build the house materially, socially, religiously or ritually?" said Makoto. He already asked the services of a local person to help him document the process while he is not in Sumba, he closed. (JMI)
To travel to Sumba is to travel slow, but I much prefer this mode than the bustle of Bali. Even the hassle of getting to the Bali airport was enough to tear my hair out, so the quiet and rural Tarimbang Bay is a breath of fresh air.
My flight was delayed in Bali, so I took a deep breath and just tried to bear the anticipation of Nusa Tengara. Sumba is surprisingly unknown compared to the other islands on the Nusa Tengara chain. I guess it’s that way for a reason, as the accommodations and facilities here are not much to be excited about.
I was greeted at the airport by the owner of the Tarimbang homestay, Marthen. We spent an hour or so doing some much-needed shopping and the like before heading south. The first half of the journey from Waingapu to Tarimbang was quite beautiful and scenic. The whole island is covered with rolling green hills, starkly drier than the lush green of Bali, but pretty in its own way. The second half of the road was quite bumpy and almost reminded me of my travels in Myanmar, taking a 15 hour bus ride on a road that, if paved, would only take 2-3 hours.
The whole journey took just 3 hours by car. I’ve heard it takes twice that long by bus, but it’s also 10 times cheaper. I was pleasantly greeted by Marthen’s family, who showed me to my bungalow – a cute pink bamboo thatched hut with a table and chairs on the patio and a twin mattress with a mosquito net inside. Despite the sparse furnishing, I’m finding my little hut quite comfortable.
“Next door” dwells a South African hotelier named Rod and to my other side are Kay (Australian woman), Peter and Kate (Czech couple), and Tom (Kiwi). Everyone here is very friendly and accommodating – and all of them surf. We had a big dinner in the dining hall, and then prepared for “lights out” at 9 p.m. (when the generator shuts down).
It was difficult getting settled at first, as the generator had drowned out the night noises of geckos, dogs, pigs, chickens, horses and distant motorbikes. I thought I could hear the ocean as well. I finally did go to sleep and was awakened by Rod and Kate preparing for a morning surf at 5:30 a.m. I too readied for my first taste of Tarimbang surf and paddled out to the break by 6:30. It was quite a long paddle. According to the crew (who were all already out at the break), today was the smallest day this week. I wasn’t too upset by that news, though, and caught some pretty decent waves.
The waves at Tarimbang
We had breakfast (a big banana pancake) when we returned to Marthen’s. I fixed some of the holes in my mosquito net and before I knew it, it was time for lunch! It was an enormous lunch, so after reading just a few pages of my book I snoozed for a bit. It just rained, so I’m thinking it might be worth walking down to the bay to hop in for a surf or a paddle, depending on the size.
Tomorrow, I have every intention of writing more meaningful things, but I figured I would take my first day in Tarimbang and relax. More later!
-- ONE WEEK LATER --
It’s now been a week since I arrived in Tarimbang. Since my arrival only 5 other guests arrived: a Frenchman named Bernard, a Belgian named Celine, British guy Daniel, and Aussie/French couple Mark and Laure. Everyone has left camp, and now there are just two of us: Kay and me. Turns out Kay is a very cool 50-year-old surfer chick. I’ve enjoyed sharing the wave with her and we’ve slowly gotten to know each other – enough that we will be traveling to West Sumba together tomorrow.
The food is very decent
Life in Tarimbang is slow but nice. All my mornings have been spent surfing. Then breakfast quickly followed by lunch. The afternoon is spent at the beach. The wind here in Tarimbang is onshore from 10 a.m. on, so my afternoons are usually made up of walking, swimming, snorkeling, reading or napping. One unfortunate thing about all of Indo right now is the heat. By noon the day is sweltering hot – to the point where you’re sweating just sitting still – and there are mini-mosquitoes buzzing in your ear. It’s not very fun during the day, so I’ve made a habit of hitting the beach soon after lunch to catch the onshore breeze and hop in the water. The only problem with this routine, however, is that there isn’t really a good time to do work/typing because it’s too hot, and I have to take two showers. My hair is a matted mess at this point – there’s very little hope due to sun and saltwater damage. I have, however, managed to stay out of the sun enough to avoid a sunburn.
I can’t say I’ve had the greatest luck avoiding mosquitoes, though, but I’m still feeling healthy enough that I haven’t yet taken any anti-malarial meds. I consulted Jason after purchasing 20 tablets of Fansidar only to learn that it has given many people a very severe skin rash and is no longer advised as an anti-malarial medication. After talking to people at the camp, though, the best prevention is long clothes and DEET, which I’ve been pretty good about, but still managed to get at least 5 bites a day. : ( We’ll keep an eye on my health.
So, it’s farewell to Marten’s Homestay tomorrow, after a final morning surf,. The waves consistently declined through the week until this morning, which had some fun-sized high-tide surf. Tomorrow, if the wind lets off, the waves should be good! Depending on the swell, Kay and I will either stay in Waikabubak (if there aren’t waves) or in Pero (western coast) tomorrow. We have every intention of surfing another week or so before making our way back to Bali. Coincidentally, we both fly out of Bali on October 16.
