Open your mouth [laugh] I am Samsul Maarif You can call me Anchu (Music) I have seen for a long time, indigenous communities often experience negative stigma In the colonial period, they were considered primitive, and so deserved to be colonized and modernized (Music) Since independence until now, they have continued, to be accused of animism (Music) (Music) They were forced to convert to one, of the religions recognized, by the government (Music) not enough by that, they are often accused of syncretic syirik and even heresy as a result they have to face various from of social exclusion and discriminatory treatment from the government (Music) I will verify the stigma assumptions and accusations which have been placed on indigenous communities I will show, that it's all based on a misunderstanding an anti-humanitarian sentiments, and problematic scientific rationale (Music) Amidst various discrimination and forms of social exclusion indigenous communities continue to struggle to survive. This situation encouraged me to learn and study study more depth the knowledge and experiences indigenous communities. Especially when the Covid 19 happened Indonesia (Music) (Music) The Covid 19 pandemic that shakes Indonesia and the world reveals many things The pandemic exposed, how vulnerabilities we are in the health sector in the health sector (Music) The pandemic also opens problem of hunger amidst abundance of natural resource natural resource The spread of the virus forces restrictions of community activities which results in many people losing jobs (Music) Restrictions on activities during the pandemic encouraged me to interact more closely with indigenous communities With (ICIR) Intersectoral Collaboration on Indigenous Religions We initiated the online thursday forum at the beginning of the pandemic , We invite (the adherent of indigenous religion) and indigenous communities to share knowledge and experiences particularly in facing this pandemic situation (Music) It turns out that indigenous people in Indonesia actually have stronger, resilience when facing a pandemic compared to the general public (Music) From this initial knowledge I decided to dig more deeper I decided to see firsthand how adat (traditional systems) can be an instrument of resilience for communities especially when they are facing a pandemic (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) Dayak Luhur is an indigenous community that builds an ecotonic identity A cross-cultural identity formed from the Java and Sunda (Music) They live in the Central Java region but they communicate in Sunda language (Music) Moreover they are strong in Islam at the same time, firmly implement their adat practices (Music) The Dayak luhur Community is spreaded across six villages In order to know more, I meet Ceceng Rusmana. Head of the adat or traditional who lives in Hanum Village. So here, in adat ceremonies, almost ritual begin with alms (sedekah). Because alms is basically like giving charity to present we present something, which is basically not only to humans, but also for others One of the rituals meant by Ceceng is the sedekah ketupat Sedekah Ketupat or ketupat alms is a ritual to respect guests, to respect relations between people (Music) The concept of the Ketupat alms event basically has value when we attend a traditional event, there is respect for the guests.
If we were present at the ketupat alms event, would be a garland. The garland does not use flowers, but instead uses a ketupat which is usually garlanded by traditional elders. If the guest is a woman, the caretaker's mother will drape it like that. Pengalungan has meaning
when we take part in the ketupat alms event with the same respect
as the native people, it means you are given the freedom to enter our
village. That means there are no obstacles in our village for you, so don't hesitate,
if you come to play at our place, Because by participating in the ketupat alms
it means that you as a guest have respected our event. Besides that
here are also rituals, to relate human with other creatures.
People often, ask why we carry food to the grave,
a forest, or elsewhere, to In the past Keramat or sacred place
In the past, people thought that giving food in the Keramat or sacred place is waste,
why did your ancestors eat that? It is based on the way you see it,
the problem is not like that, we need to go back to terms “alms” globally.
Are there really only ancestors in the forest? Are there really only ancestors in the forest?
There are other creatures who might be hoping hoping for that event, for example what?
there are and other creatures who eat the crumbs,
don't they also get blessings from that event? Maybe it was the ants' prayers that were answered,
maybe that's how it was (Music)
From the Ceceng’s story, I was encouraged to experience directly,
one of the rituals preserved by the Dayak luhur community.
[Music) Here, I meet Karso
a custodian at the Citalaga site who guides me, to do the sedekah bumi or earth alms ritual (Music) (Music)
If there is no one to take care of it, no one to look after it, what will happen, sir?
If it isn’t taken care of the bamboo will run out, If somebody takes it
and takes care of it, it's okay, I'm just sincere.
Even if there's no salary, it's okay, I'm just sincere. I'm sincere. I want to clean up the place here.
You don't want this forest to be destroyed ?
Yes, I just want to protect this. If there is no one to look after it, the wood could run out
and the bamboo will be cut down by people. Even though the people who take it are not the same.
Many people will take the wood because it's this close so someone has to guard it; that's why the wood here is sacred.
[Musik] Pandemic, raves the world and indonesia, indigenous communities are facing it as if it was part of daily practice. daily practice, they understand the threat of Covid-19 observe health protocol rules but their social, cultural, and economic activities, still continue continue
Yes, basically, there are also people who come, migrants from the city here, but there are no people but there are no people who have (covid) here,
Even though Even though traditional events take place,
here we still use health standards, wash our hands, wear masks of all kinds, keep our distance but we don't reduce the sacred value of these rituals. Adat communities always face threats and challenges, but with their traditional systems, they have
sustainable social and ecological resilience. resilience
The concept is like this maybe we are no longer in harmony
with nature, we are greedy with with nature, right? Humans are basically able to
Humans are basically able to live, if they are not greedy, if they are not greedy, but when they are greedy,
that changes the balance in nature. (Music) For the Dayak Luhur community
in the Dayak Luhur Cilacap Adat is a heritage of life,
from the ancestors to the present generation, up to the next generation.
Life is inherited through various various series of cultural,
social religious, and natural preservation activities.
[Music] [Music] For the Dayak luhur community
water is a symbol of life [Music] Water comes, from the mountains through springs,
flows into the estuary, crossing the fields and residents' houses without stopping
[Music] Water's function is to preserve life,
preserve relations between humans preserve relations between humans and other living creatures
[Music] [Music]
Learning from people forest, earth, water, have the same interest
have the same interest to protect each other to maintain and take care of each other [Music] [Music] Our journey to study the knowledge
and experience of adat communities doesn't stop on on the land of Dayeuhluhur. I explore further in
other places, that is Dayak Iban adat communities in Sungai Utik
East Kalimantan [Music] The Dayak Iban community is strict with
their adat principles emphasizing their relation with nature
to preserve each other The Dayak Iban people are Catholic
however their adat system is as if they have not undergo any change
For the Dayak Iban people, the land is their mother, the forest is their father and the water is
the blood [Music] To get more information about the adat system
of Dayak Iban, specifically related to related to human-nature relation. I met Apai Inam
[Musik] He is the leader of the Sungai Utik area,
who knows well how the Dayak Iban community
is trying hard to maintain their tradition of preserving nature. Yes, the struggle is since the beginning,
our elders have defended this land and now it is our turn to keep maintaining it to keep maintaining it. If we do not make it, we ourselves, will suffer the consequences;
If we do not make it, we cannot drink from the rivers
from the rivers if the springs are damaged. We have to protect
this land, from generation to generation, emphasizing the importance of this forest
nature as well. From the leader, I met the main figure
of the Dayak Iban community This main figure is Apai Janggut.
He is the adat leader besides a community leader,
He is also a ritual leader and a religious or spiritual leader I learned from Apai Janggut about
the adat system as a way of resilience for the Dayak Iban Community. I told
the children,because this is at the adat school. Do not be naughty, that is all my message. If we are naughty, we are not respectful and there will be problems later. [Musik]
Moreover, our actions should not be bad,
do not steal people's things
If you want someone's things,
you have to hand them over to those who have them. Do not steal it, if you do not have it, tell me later. we are waiting for good fortune, where we can get it cheaply.
Maybe later we can get everything good. everything good.
(Music) But we do not need to steal, that was what I said. because in adat schools, if people understand something,
people will learn a lot from it. I see that Betang house has three functions
each function is interrelated is interrelated The Bilik functions as a private space
Then there is a Ruai which functions as a public space And the last is Teras as a symbol of
interaction space between human and nature or the outside parties These three spaces can be interpreted
as symbols of social and ecological management of the Adat Community of Dayak Iban So, if we look at it, it has
an orientation, to the south then the longest side
is the west and east it is interesting, why? Because it means it has controlled
Because it means it has controlled the shortest side. If this If this were a square there would
definitely be a short side and this short side was made
to control the sun's arrival. the sun's arrival, because it is tropical,
you cannot make a lot of this, you cannot overdo it. If it is open, the axis is tilted towards
the axis is tilted towards north and south, then it will be exposed to get more sun.
will be exposed to get more sun, So it is controlled Well, I saw air circulation as well,
it was the same as that. So this must be seen, how they also
placed themselves among the vegetation. How vegetation becomes a kind
of buffer or catcher for air circulation Rumah Betang or Rumah Panjang is
the center of socio cultural activities and spirituality or religiosity religiosity Adat Community of Dayak Iban Sungai Utik,
living in it and carrying out their daily lives based on adat rules and systems
They keep maintaining the solidarity community, earth,
forest, water for the community resilience and sustainability In terms of spatial layout and interior, this
is what is important, we observe and imitate,
to adapt to very tropical environment. So it’s very good
very good dan very clear how they treat the environment the environment and then enginer the building
engineer the building according to the natural landscape that occurs.
(Music) Dayak Iban community utilizing
ruai as a public space to conduct various activities [Music] One of them as I witnessed
was a blessing ritual, performed in traditional and catholic way for Bayu
A dayak iban young man and high school student who is preparing to
take the class up examination (Music) (Music) This blessing shows that
Bayu's interests are community support to Bayu (Music) If ruai functions to strengthen social behavior then bilik functions private space to hone independence Here I met Santi
she was making tumpe a traditional Dayak Iban snack
made from sticky rice We live in adat society
live in kampong, we have traditions traditions, o we need to preserve them
that is very important, that was the message of our ancestors in ancient times.
Tumpe will be served as part post-harvest party or gawai Gawai is a celebration of the results
of the Dayak Iban community's hard work over the previous year
They celebrate it collectively and should not do any activities other
than for gawai. They strengthen solidarity between families
and even between people and ancestors forests, rivers, land,
and all other creatures (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) How does it feel after going through
the Gawai process on the Utik river? Hard and challenging
It's not easy to understand and explore traditional communities
We need to have full commitment to make it go. What's interesting the challenge is
the challenge is something that's really exciting Exciting but also potentially
damaging The commitment required
is to control and navigate the destructive potentials (Music) Is there still a (drinking) tradition of going door to door?
Yes, That's a fun tradition After all finished, then people drink again from the other end of the house
Yes, all the way to the lower house (outside the betang house) until it's finished (Music)
[applause) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) What's the name of this, Apai?
This is, for the Iban language, called keduren pansud This is our way
of saying thank you for the reward of our income, which is
given by God
This is also our way asking for asking for something back so that next year
can get more than last year (Music) (Laugh) (Music)
Every year we hold this event To give back to nature again, isn’t?
Yes How many chickens are there?
one (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) After carrying out the entire practice
of gawai hey started the beginning of the year with knowledge and wisdom
that all creatures both human beings ancestors land forests rivers and others are committed to each other protect
care for each other and share each other
The Dayak Iban community respects the ancestors through preserving traditions
so that regeneration works Maintaining the soil so that the field
and productive Protecting forests so that basic needs
are fulfilled and
Caring for the river so that the water continues to give it life That knowledge and wisdom are the
basis of territory preservation/ and social resilience for the Dayak Iban community (Music)
If pandemic still felt in city until now
Indigenous community seem to have forgotten the story of pandemic
When Covid gets angry, it's because it's not being fed,
Apai and the Dayak Iban community here feed it, here feed it, so it doesn't come here, Why didn't it arrive? In Putussibau, it comes,
one or two getting covid comes, Because we, as what we called it, have ngampun That things don't want to violate that prayer
We are one family, equally healthy, we make no mistakes
we are together Doesn't that make people panic?
There's not too much panic, the residents feel it's normal, the important thing is that we all don't mind it too much.
All activities are going on But like what Apai say earlier
residents are not allowed to go out of town but they can still go to the fields
If outsiders come here, there are guards too. Hasn't anything changed at Betang's house? For example, there is a ban on gatherings,
Does this mean that gatherings with outsiders are prohibited?
Yes, that's what it means. Because the Betang residents here
have not changed, hose who live together still keep
heir distance, or are close together. Don't get close, this means outsiders,
okay? Not to the people inside. There isn't any.
(Music) I also discovered similar knowledge
and wisdom in the Dayeuhluhur through their ritual practices
(Music) The concept of alms or sedekah correlates with the concept of sacred Dayak Luhur community, sacred are embedded
to those who are have a service or contribute to life (Music) Ancestors are sacred because
hey started and passed on wisdom life and identity guidelines
In Dayak Luhur, it is not only about maintaining human relationships it is not only about maintaining human relationships
We maintain traditional life of humans and nature so does the environment and ancestors. This also
lies in how we actually treat our ancestors whether our ancestors whether, they are still
alive or not, We treat ancestors, who have died,
as if they were still alive. Springs are sacred because
they share life through water (Music) (Music) Forests are sacred because they offer wealth that human needs as Ceceng and citizens and
citizens do in the Mayangkar mountain forest/ Mayangkar mountain forest which are located
on the border Hanum village Why do we go to the forest during the corona pandemic?
The medicine is in the forest. Philosophically and socially, that's how it is. Besides that the concepts of animism and
syncretism are problematic scientific theories because they interpret
traditional practices as worship of ancestors (Music) (Music) All this time many scientists understand
animism as a belief in spirits or worshipping ancestors
Even today some scientists still frequently scientists still frequently to accuse indigenous communities who perform rituals on a site as worshipers of ancestors or spirits Whether we realize it or not the accusation legitimate government discrimination which treats indigenous communities as not or have not been religious (Music) As a result the government discriminates and
marginals them to In order to be recognized citizen indigenous communities must
must accept one of the religions recognized by the government
(Music) (Music)
After they accept one of the religions they are frequently accused of syncretism
because they accept a religion but still practice their traditions still practice their traditions// Indigenous citizens were then
accused of being impurely religious syirik and heretic Indigenous communities do not worship but
but respect their ancestors for their services Like a child who continues, praying
for his mother and father who have died
More than that the act of respecting ancestors is also the act to preserve traditions and
territories they do not worship the forest or forest guardian spirits but
respest and maintan them for the preservation of their area and life
(Music) (Music)
From what I witnessed in the two indigenous communities I can conclude that accusation of indigenous communities as primitives
animism and syncretism and are anti-humanitarian
(Music) What people accuse as primitive
is a sustainable system of developing is a sustainable system of developing social and ecological resilience (Music)
Practices of gawai that support guests and practices of alms or sedekah to guests effectively
strengthen solidarity and social resilience
so indigenous communities remain solid in facing challenges such as
a pandemic (Music)
Gawai practices that bless the land And ritual practices that bless forests, water
Have successfully Made nature sustainable As a result, their needs are still,
Fulfilled including during the pandemic (Music)
In the forest we will survive more survive more easily than in other places
at least we have water
Whether we cook the water or not Whether we cook the water or not
at least we have met our water needs So does the food.
nstead of going to the market, we can directly look for vegetables here.
Even for hundreds of thousands of people, if there were forests, we wouldn't starve.
In ancient times, humans basically lived in forests humans basically lived
in forests they didn't farm they didn't cultivate rice fields
they didn't create industries like that
Even in the forest it self there are many types of food
(Music) [applause] By learning directly from them,
we can understand how intelligent and visionary indigenous peoples are in building regional systems
ecological preservation and social resilience Their resilience in facing the pandemic
provide us a lesson that with their adat system with their adat system they are resilient
(Music) With their modesty, adat communities preserve water culture as well as national character (Music) (Music) (Music)