forces in 1942 Maluku Tenggara became involved in the Second World War. Until 1945 the Japanese controlled the region, of which the eastern islands were of great strategic significance due to their location with respect to Australia. Especially on the Babar and Kei islands, the Japanese presence caused deep wounds which have not been healed to this day.31
After the proclamation of Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945 and the final Dutch recognition of this independence in 1949, an arduous process of decolonisation and of reconstruction began. Ambon's separatist strife, resulting in the declaration of the Republic of the South Moluccas (Republic Maluku Selatan) in 1950, was not supported by the population of Maluku Tenggara. The southeast Moluccans preferred a situation in which the dominance of Ambon would be "diluted" into a broader political unity.32 That broader unity arrived: the Moluccas form one of the provinces of the Republic of Indonesia and have been governed since 1966 by President Suharto's administration of the Orde Baru, the "New Order."
After three centuries of Dutch domination, Maluku Tenggara has been pacified and—according to Dutch standards—civilised: peace, education and Christian religion have been made common property, albeit under economic circumstances that reveal little perspective. During this process the population was deprived of an important part of its cultural treasures. However, cultural patterns are difficult to erase and some have endured, though in forms other than previously, as will be seen in the next chapters.
Photographs 2.8 and 2.9. In 1507 a punitive expedition was launched against the village of Wakpapapi on Babar. Afterwards the Dutch government official Schadée (centre) stood with his adversaries near the scaling ladder that was used. The village was captured via a staircase at the back. During the action a part of the wall, about two metres high, was broken away.
Prow decoration from the island of Dama. length 61/68 cm (RMV).
Letinese rusna, made of ivory. This statuette (2.5 cm in height) was worn on a chain around the neck as a "war talisman" (TM).
Wooden fish figure, used as an emblem at the stem of an Aruese boat Length 35 cm (RJM).
Stone garden statue from Yamdena (Tanimbar). Height 102 cm (RMV).
Photograph 3.1. Prow decoration from the island of Damer. Length 89 cm (RMV).
The cultures of the islands between Timor and Tanimbar, in western Maluku Tenggara, are related in many ways. There are, for example, close resemblances in the social, economic and linguistic fields (see also Introduction). Besides this there have always been great parallels in the religious sphere. A central element in traditional belief was the performance of a great, orgiastic fertility ritual, best known under the Letinese name of porka (see Chapter IV). Until the arrival of Christianity, the "holy marriage" of heaven and earth was celebrated during this ritual.
In the former porka communities comparisons can also well be made in another field: mat of boat symbolism. This predominates on many islands and has functioned as an essential part of the culture presumably since prehistoric times (see Chapter I). This nautical symbolism will have a central place in this chapter.
In general two kinds of applications can be distinguished. Boat symbolism is used as a principle of ordering, notably in a spatial respect, and as a means of expression, to convey a message. Both applications will be dealt with based on the culture of the islands of Dawera and Dawelor, which belong to the Babar archipelago. In essence the description is representative of how nautical symbolism functioned in the old porka cultures.
Life on Board
Soon after arrival, every visitor to Dawera and Dawelor will be aware that the boat signifies more to the islanders than a means of transport. As a model of ordering it plays an important role in the local culture. This is above all apparent from the symbolism relating to the village.
The settlements have been built according to an age old pattern, in which nautical concepts such as pilot and helmsman function as spatial categories. The basic structure has undergone many adaptations in the course of the years, but can still be clearly recognised.
From the stories of "olden times" it appears that the present-day location of the villages—they are almost all of them located at the beach—is the consequence of a relatively recent development. Traditionally each settlement lay on an elevated cone of rock which was difficult to reach, in many cases only accessible via one or more series of wooden steps which could be pulled up if necessary. The reason for this isolated location was the continuous threat of war. Out of fear of enemy attacks most of the villages were also surrounded by walls.
Within each of these "eyries" lived merely one large descent group, in and around an impressive house which was called the "sacred" or "great house." The structure resembled a "roof on poles." On poles measuring about two metres in height a bamboo floor was applied, on which a roof of coconut palm leaves rested without any form of walls. In this house or in one of the outbuildings one was born, entered into marriage with a member of the group, had children and died. The village, or better said the "great house," was a completely self-sustaining community.
The members of such house communities saw themselves as the crew of a boat, a fact that was elaborated on in many ways. This was most strikingly evident in the architecture. On either side of the ridge beam of the "great house" gable ends were applied, providing the ridge line with the basic shape of a ship. The gable ends (called sorsorlol) were shaped in a "forked" fashion, a characteristic motif of both the prows of sailing vessels and the tree-trunk canoes on the islands (see Photographs 3.6. and 3.14).
Less visible was the elaboration of the notion of a ship in spatial orientation. The "great house" was associated with a boat, "sailing" following the orbit of the sun, from east to west. Inside the house this symbolic course was reflected in the names of the living spaces. The interior was divided into two halves, separated by a relatively narrow, central space (see Figure 3.1). In accordance with the "sailing direction" the eastern living-half was called the helmsman's part, whereas the western half of the house was called the pilot's part.
Both halves of the house were, in turn, divided into two "rooms," separated from each other by a fireplace. The names of the four compartments thus created also reflected the symbolic course. Standing with one's back to the east, looking westward, the "right helmsman's room" and the "right pilot's room" could be found on the right side of the "great house," and on the left side the "left helmsman's room" and the "left pilot's room" (see Figure 3.1).
The symbolic crew of the ship was led by a symbolic helmsman, the head of the descent group. He was a man who was traditionally connected with a specific room of the "great house." Each of the four rooms represented a descent line which went back as far as the founder of the house. The mutual relationship was compared to that between older and younger brothers, denoting the "right helmsman's room" as the oldest descent line. Of old this line supplied the leader of the house community, the man who represented all members of the descent group to the outside world and officiated at rituals in the name of the group. The symbolic helmsman was addressed in the local language with the word orletol "lord of the village"; in the Moluccan Malay he was called tuan tanah, "lord of the land."
Figure 3.1.
Traditional
