Tag Archives: Kalimantan Tengah

Durian Season

Posted on August 18, 2015 by John Boyd Macdonald| Leave a comment

The dry season has begun here, and the smoke has started to thicken from the countless fires across the island of Borneo (especially our part of it…!). Soon it’ll be mask-wearing time again. The smoke is likely to worsen from now until the wet season starts some time around November – though the forecasts for a doozy El Niño event suggest that this year’s rains may be delayed into 2016. Everyone looks forward to the arrival of the rain.

And the wet season is also keenly anticipated because it is … Durian Season! This fabulous odorous fruit is available here from December through to February. Regarded here as raja buah (the ‘king of fruits’), the segments of this 1-3kg fruit segments have custard-like flesh around the seeds (which are also edible). It’s delicious, and quite unlike any other fruit that we’ve tasted.

It also smells a bit – well, a lot actually – even before the fruit is opened, and we often see signs at hotels and public transportation advising that possession of durian is prohibited. We like the smell (in moderation), though some people consider it repulsive. Having spent a couple of hours travelling a car with the back section stacked up with fresh durian fruit, we can confirm that the scent can be a little overpowering.

There is an Indonesian saying: Durian jatuh, sarong naik (“The durian falls and the sarong rises”), referring to the supposed aphrodisiacal qualities of the fruit, but we can’t directly confirm this to be true.

There are a number of different species of durian, at least nine of which are edible, and a large number of cultivars. They are all members of the Durio genus. The trees grow large, up to 25-50 metres depending on the species. They all have thick hard skins (to survive falling from the trees when ripe), which are adorned with hard sharp spikes. In fact the word duri means ‘spike’ or ‘thorn’ in Indonesian (and Malay).

Durian from the Katingan River region to the north of Kasongan, about an hour to the west of where we live, are prized for their flavour, and are priced accordingly.

The village of Tewang Rangkang, which we have now visited several times with our friend Lelie, is right in the heart of the Katingan durian-growing region. There are numbers of the big trees in plots on the outskirts of the village, each plot belonging to a local family. In each one there is a simple wood-and-tin shack/shelter (pondok). Throughout the fruit season, family members take turns to sleep overnight in the pondoks, to guard against thieves making off with the valuable fruit.

The pondoks may be simple constructions, but they always have a strong roof. A heavy durian falling from 40 meters onto your head could be fatal… (even worse than a coconut!)

Durian trees flower in September – October, and the fruit are collected as they fall from the trees around three months later. The flowers of most Durian species are pollinated by bats.

The ripe fruit fall to the ground with a bit of a whoosh and then a big thump when they land, making it easy to locate each new incoming Durian missile. While we were visiting, everyone made a game of racing to be first to get to the newly descended fruit.

With Lelie and her sister Susi we dropped in to visit at a neighbouring pondok. Ibu was preparing a meal of forest mushrooms, which she kindly shared with us. In her batik blouse, bathtowel cummerbund and leopard-skin tights, she displays a fashion sensibility of refreshing individuality. The mushrooms were delicious.

Attached to the outside of the pondok was a web with perhaps the biggest spider I have seen. I didn’t get close enough to measure it, but I estimate it to have been easily 20cm across. Those long spidery legs looked strong enough to pick up durian…

Back at Lelie’s family pondok, a barbecue was under way. Fish caught in the Katingan River (some fresh, some dried and salted), local free range chicken (ayam kampung), and rice and veggies from the family’s ladang gardens. I think that the only purchased ingredient was salt.

Tante (Lelie’s aunt) likes a good joke and a bit of teasing, and so she made an elaborate show of not wanting to share the barbecued food with anyone. Fortunately she wasn’t serious…

And so we tucked in. The sambal was mostly garlic, tiny onions and chili, crushed on the flat hardwood mortar (cobek) in the picture above. Karen enquired about the wooden cobek, which had been made by Uncle Itiu. He slipped away after lunch and came back with a gift for Karen – a ‘spare’ cobek that he had at home…

After lunch, Lelie, Karen and Enjel found a shady spot to relax – but it was NOT under a Durian tree.

And Enjel borrowed her mum’s fan to keep cool – or to play with.

As the day went on, the stockpile of Durian fruit grew larger and larger. And that’s how we came to be travelling in a car loaded up with fuming Durian when we returned home that evening.

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Tagged Central Kalimantan, durian, Kalimantan Tengah, Katingan River, Sungai Katingan, Tewang Rangkang

Tumbang Gagu

Posted on March 29, 2015 by John Boyd Macdonald| Leave a comment

Last week, accompanied by our wonderful Dayak guide Dodi (and ’trainee’ guide Jonathan) we travelled up to see the longhouse (betang) at a little village called Tumbang Gagu, right up in the headwaters of the Sampit (or Mentaya) River. They don’t get a lot of foreign visitors there – we checked the guest registration book and last year they had one group of three French people in May, and … no-one else all year.

In part, that’s because it’s a bit of a journey to get there: a three hour drive to Tumbang Samba on the Katingan River, a six hour journey upriver from there via klotok (motorised canoe’ like the one above), and then a two hour walk through the forest to Tumbang Gagu.

In Tumbang Samba we stayed overnight in the Losmen Itah – the best (well the only) accommodation in town. From the upstairs balcony you can see Bukit Raya in the distance – it’s the highest mountain in the Indonesian part of Borneo. It’s even harder to get to – but one day we hope to make the 10+ day journey.

The walk through the forest was pleasant, and there was a chorus of birds all the way. Rattan vines hang over the path in places to create a little hazard, trying to grab on to your clothing or even remove your hat as you pass by. The forest here was mostly bamboo, and really muddy and slippery in places. We didn’t meet any other people along the way, and were more than a little steamy and sweaty by the time we arrived in the metropolis of Tumbang Gagu (population? “70 families”).

The betang at Tumbang Gagu was built in 1870 (though it took seven years to complete). It’s almost entirely built out of kayu ulin (ironwood – a wonderful hard, even-grained, decay-proof and termite-proof timber, which is so useful that it has now almost entirely disappeared from the forests).

The betang is 55 metres long and stands on pillars some 5 metres high. You get up to it by climbing a log with notched steps cut into it (hejan), which can be as hairy as it sounds. The steps can be pulled up and the betang becomes pretty much inaccessible. According to a label in the Museum Balanga, this design is intended to protect the occupants from “wild animals and bad-mannered people” – a nice euphemism for the former practice of head-hunting!

Inside it’s divided into several very large rooms (it originally housed six families). We stayed there four nights, and that’s our sleeping quarters in the photo above. It’s woody and creaky and supposedly full of spirits. But to me it felt for all the world like the inside of a big old shearing shed.

Only Lery (who as a trained nurse is the only medical care for five villages in the region) and her mother Ibu Silei live permanently in the betang. But other members of the broader family regularly stay there – one night there were a dozen or more sleeping there. The kitchen is in the typical simple Dayak style, but manages to produce a steady supply of meals from food grown in the slash-and-burn gardens or collected from the forest. Snack foods are about the only foods brought in from other places.

Out in front of the betang are several beautifully weathered wooden statues. Each one is about four metres high. These sapundu were constructed for some long-ago tiwah funeral ceremonies. They now stand with an austere grace like guardians watching over the river.

We had some really interesting excursions over the days we were there. One day we went out into a trackless part of the forest to check on several traps set for wild pigs (babi hutan). Didn’t get any, but we did learn how to make simple (but very effective!) animal traps. And on the way we got to sample some wild jungle fruits.

Another time we went out to an area where the family grows its rice and vegetables to see the harvest in process. (It was a nice followup to our trip back in October to help with rice planting at Tewang Rangkang.) Karen gave them some assistance (and much amusement) when she helped out with the harvesting (“Actually this is much harder than it looks!”)

We spent a couple of hours with a gentle man who wanted to show and explain his prized collection of Dayak weaponry, including a spectacular mandau (sabre) and various spears and a blowpipe and poison dart container. The mandau was particularly interesting. The various objects that hang off it give the wearer special powers and protections (including, handily, making you invisible to your enemies). There are bear claws, an orang-utan tooth, babi hutan tusks, a snake jaw, a jar of magical oil from his grandfather, and two tufts of human hair, apparently obtained during the Sampit ‘disturbances’ in February 2001, during which at least 500 Madurese were killed.

One day was spent going by canoe (klotok) for two hours up the Kalang River past the last village of Jembatan Kalang as far as can be navigated to the cascades at Maraku. There our crew (Rodi and Obi) used a net to catch some little fish which we barbecued for lunch, and then we cooled down under the waters of the cascade. There is some real Jurassic Park forest on the way up there, and we saw proboscis monkeys and hornbills in the trees above us. In other places however it is a landscape being badly scarred by the illegal gold dredging that continues unabated along all of these rivers.

On the way back we hit one rock too many in one of the rapids, and our klotok cracked all the way down one side and immediately started taking in lots of water. It only took Rodi and Obi about 20 minutes to effect repairs, using scavenged timber, plastic bags and bits of discarded clothing, a hammer and some recycled nails. We had to bail out a few times, but they got us (and our cameras!) home safe and dry.

Back at the betang, Karen bonded with Lery’s one-year-old niece. Her family really liked seeing the two them smile at each other. The baby is to be christened next month. And the name that has been chosen for her? “Karen Meilin”. That’s good – the world needs more Karens.

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Tagged Central Kalimantan, Dayak Ngaju, Kalimantan Tengah, mandau, Tumbang Gagu, Tumbang Samba

‘Our River’ – the Sungai Rungan

Posted on February 22, 2015 by John Boyd Macdonald| 2 Comments

The southern half of the huge island of Borneo is dissected by a series of parallel rivers running from the mountains in the middle of the island to the Java Sea at the south. Almost all of the settlements (cities, towns and villages) sit alongside one or another of these rivers or their tributaries.

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The Barito, Kapuas, Kahayan, Katingan, Sampit are the biggest ones, and they ARE big rivers, especially at this time during the wet season.

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There is now a growing network of roads, including some with bitumen, but in the past the rivers were the only way of getting around in Kalimantan. And villages such as Kanarakan (below), an hour upriver from us, are still only accessible by boat, and the roads to others become impassable during the wet.

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The rivers were (until recently) the arteries through which everything and everyone (traders, visitors, warriors, diseases, religions and politicians) flowed, and so the cultural and language divisions of Kalimantan are all based around the river catchments. Two Dayak villages might be only 20km apart, but if they are on different river systems then they will speak different languages, and have quite different rituals, ceremonies and dances etc.

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Our ‘little’ river is the Rungan, a tributary of the much larger Kahayan River, which it joins near the provincial capital of Palangkaraya, 36km to the south of our home near Tangkiling.

Tangkiling (above) is the largest of the cluster of seven villages here in the Bukit Batu sub-district. But when I say ‘largest’, I mean that it has a Post office, a health centre (but no doctor) and, on Saturday nights and early Sunday mornings, a little fruit and vegetable market where we buy our week’s supplies.

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Out on the river, it’s mostly forest and solitude, with only occasional settlements or encounters with other river travellers. But such interesting encounters!

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) is based about 10km downstream from us at Nyaru Menteng. It is currently home to over 500 orang-utans, mostly rescued from captivity or orphaned (usually when their parents are killed by hunters). BOS aims to teach the young ones how to live back in the wild, in preparation for their release into remote forests in the north of Central Kalimantan. The last stage before their release involves them living on Kaju Island in the Rungan River (just about 2km from our home). There are about 50 there at present, with a big security presence protecting them the threats posed by predators, hunters, ranga-nappers – and photographers!

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The most common transport is still the narrow canoe, known locally as a klotok. Nowadays they are usually motor powered, but there are still some older ones being rowed around, often carved from a single log.

The guys in the picture above are out to capture parrots and songbirds for sale. They put that little metal frame out in the forest somewhere, with some live birds tethered onto the crossbar, or else with stuffed birds and recorded bird sounds. When other birds come in response to the sound of distressed birds, they land on some sticky material that captures them, or they get a net thrown over them. It’s probably illegal…

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Speaking of illegal: the floating contraption on the left of the photo above is a gold dredge, one of several hundred on this river, which is only one of a dozen or more rivers with alluvial gold dredges. And every one of them is illegal. They pump sand, sludge and water up from the river bed, and run it down the ramps so that the heavier sediment containing some gold ore gets trapped in the carpeted floor of the ramps. At the end of the day the sediment is rinsed out from the carpet, wrapped up in silk, squeezed and treated with mercury to extract the gold.

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This thriving industry has a big environmental downside. The sand dredging creates big sandbanks in the channels of the river, and destroys the integrity of the river edges. And the huge amounts of mercury that end up contaminating the river have made river fish, especially the larger predatory species, quite unsafe to eat.

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Did someone say ‘illegal’? Most of the big forests around here have been cleared of big trees, but there is still plenty of logging going on in the forests up north in the ‘Heart of Borneo’. Not all of it is illegal, though there are frequent reports of corruption and questionable practices in the granting of logging concessions. The logs are sent downriver in the form of huge rafts, the logs tied together with rope or rattan, and steered through the river bends by klotoks. The raft in the photo above is one of the smaller ones.

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There are not many of the traditional larger vessels (rangkang) on the river. They are still handmade in a couple of villages on the Katingan RIver (and maybe elsewhere), but they used to be the standard for transporting bulk freight and passengers on the rivers. This one above is the Rahai’i Pangun, which has been converted for use as a cruise vessel for Kalimantan Tour Destinations, co-owned and operated by our friend and neighbour Gaye.

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Away from the main course of the river, there is a whole big network of channels, ox-bow lakes, swamps and flooded forests, especially now in the middle of the wet season, with the river running several metres above its dry season level. Much of the countryside is inundated, the watercourses have no clear boundaries, and dry land is the exception. The flooded forest is a beautiful landscape, tranquil and teeming with life (and, downstream of villages, more than a few plastic bags and bottles!)

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Back in Tangkiling village, the riverfront is just as important as the road. It’s where you go to launch your klotok, fish, bathe, wash clothes, use the toilet – and play.

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Tagged Central Kalimantan, Gold mining, Kalimantan Tengah, Kanarakan, Logging, Orangutans, Rungan River, Sungai Rungan, Tangkiling

Betang Tumbang Manggu

Posted on February 1, 2015 by John Boyd Macdonald| Leave a comment

We were delighted when Sally came to visit last month. The three of us (plus our guide Indra and driver Pak Wondo) headed off on a three-day trip to the Dayak village of Tumbang Manggu, about four hours drive to the north-west of here, along the Katingan River.

The first hour’s travel is along the Trans-Kalimantan Highway (TKH), a mostly decent road built (in part, at least) by Russia in the late 1950’s. In return for their generosity, the Russians were given rights to all the forest for a kilometre on either side of the road. They clear-felled it, swamps and all, and much of it is now given over to oil palm plantations. (The guy in the photo above was moving at a fair clip, and making a lot of noise as the timber planks dragged along the road behind him).

A big proportion of the oil palms are cultivated by small-holders, who sell the fruit on to middle-men with trucks who take it to the processing plants around Sampit about two hours drive west of here. Most of the growers (like this guy, who had moved here from Flores to ‘make his fortune’ growing oil palms) seem to be pretty poor.

We stopped at a pineapple plantation along the TKH, and ate (and bought) some very fresh fruit from the friendly owners. They grow three varieties of pineapple here, with the sweetest and juiciest being the smallish nanas madu (honey pineapples). In the plantation there were a few really weird mutant fruit like the one above.

As we left the TKH and headed north alongside the Katingan River, houses in the villages were mostly pretty basic, and rarely more than a single storey high. But in amongst the houses were peculiar multi-storey structures like the one above. These are built to house ‘swallows’ (actually swiftlets) for the edible birds nest industry. The nests used to be collected from limestone caves in Borneo, but over the last 20 years or so a huge industry has developed here and in Sumatra to harvest nests from these purpose-built high-rise birdhouses. They play recordings of birdcalls at high volume to attract the swiftlets to enter and build a nest, and 35 days later you’ve got a nest which can be removed, dried and sold to the Chinese, who believe (according to Wikipedia) that eating the nests confers benefits such as: “aiding digestion, raising libido, improving the voice, alleviating asthma, improving focus, and an overall benefit to the immune system”. Apparently they retail in China for around $2,500 per kilo…

Eventually we crossed the Katingan on a two-vehicle ferry and arrived at the village of Tumbang Manggu, where we stayed two nights in the longhouse. The longhouse was built only recently by Bapak Syaer Sua, who wants it to be a centre for Dayak culture. It’s a massive, solid building, made from the traditional (and now rare and hugely expensive) ulin timber (‘Kalimantan ironwood’, Eusideroxylon zwageri). This wonderful timber is incredibly hard, smooth grained, lemon-scented, strongly resistant to weathering, water damage, termites and fungal attack. The catch: it’s hard to propagate, and VERY slow growing, with mature trees being many hundreds of years old. It’s now formally classed as a ”Vulnerable’ species.

The traditional betang (longhouse) is now very rare. It stands tall on high timber foundations, with only one or two steep narrow stairways for entry – even for longhouses that were the length of a football field. It’s a great place to play.

Inside it’s cool and nicely lit from the side windows. The walls are lined with gongs and drums, tanggui (Dayak hats) and tombak (spears), (carved wooden) deer heads, and framed photographs of family members, and local and national politicians. Along one of the long side walls are a series of closed-off areas for sleeping.

Ibu Emitha (Syaer Sua’ wife) (at left in the photo above) is a great host, with a livewire personality and a big laugh. In her ‘spare’ time she embroiders large ceremonial banners adorned with Dayak motifs.

Christianity and traditional Dayak Kaharingan religion sit side-by-side in most villages of Central Kalimantan. Around Tumbang Manggu there are a number of sandung bone-vaults like the one above, adorned with effigies of the deceased and various spirit protectors.

Carved ulin posts (sapundu) are usually found near to a sandung. When the tiwah funeral ceremonies are in progress, the buffalo or cattle to be sacrificed are tethered up to the sapundu. At other times the posts, which can be 5m or more high, just stand around looking mysterious and powerful, often half-concealed amongst vegetation at the back of homes.

The sapundu at above left incorporates three of powerful Dayak symbols: the balanga (Chinese jar), gong, and burung enggang (hornbill bird). And the symbolism of the crocodile at right? No idea…

The Indonesian Presidential election was held on the 9th July last year, but there are still a lot of banners and other promotional material around. And lots of people (mostly poorer people) wearing tee shirts promoting the candidates. There must have been millions of them distributed during the campaign. Interestingly, hardly anyone seems to be wearing tee shirts for Prabowo Subianto (the loser).

The main industry of Tumbang Manggu is logging. The logging company – PT Dwima – is (apparently) one of the better ones, although much of the country around the village appears to have been clear-felled. There is some preliminary milling done in town, and massive rafts of felled timber are assembled on the river and floated away to the big mills downstream. The company is the biggest employer in town and puts a heap of money into local schools etc.

We were taken out to a protected bit of forest on the three hills collectively named Bukit Bala, and climbed to the top through beautiful (but still mostly secondary) forest.

We were guided by a bloke from PT Dwima, who showed us wonders like the thick woody vine that releases massive amounts of lovely fresh drinking water when cut open, flowering tree trunks and huge fungi.

On the edge of the forest we came upon a huge convention of different species of butterflies all swarming around a patch of earth. They were quite stunning, and we were only slightly put off when told it was a indication that someone had recently urinated at that spot!

The forestry roads are windy, steep and muddy in places. The logging trucks have absolute right of way, and they hurtle along, cutting across to the inside of every corner that they navigate along the road. Consequently there are arrow signs all the way telling other drivers which side of the road they must drive on. The sides can change frequently, pretty much with every bend that you drive around, so it’s important to pay attention!

On our second night in the longhouse a Dayak dance and music performance was staged for us. The dancers, and most of the musicians, were teenagers from the local high school, and they were led and trained by teachers from that school. And they were remarkably good, and the boy who was the chief dancer was truly scary as he slashed around with that big mandau bush knife.

On our last morning we accepted an invitation to visit the high school and meet with teachers and students. It was recess when we arrived, and the headmaster made an announcement over the PA that we would be visiting two specific classes. There were immediate loud cheers across the playground, and the students of those two class raced back into their classrooms. We talked to them for a while in our clumsy Bahasa Indonesia, and our even clumsier Bahasa Dayak. In fact, “Selamat hanjewu! Narai kabar?” (“Good morning. How are you?”) is about the extent of it. But they seemed to enjoy it, especially when Sally and Karen got the kids to stand and do a one-legged yoga pose!

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Tagged Central Kalimantan, Dayak Ngaju, Kalimantan Tengah, Katingan River, Sungai Katingan, Tumbang Manggu

Weddings

Posted on January 25, 2015 by John Boyd Macdonald| Leave a comment

The ‘traditional’ institution of marriage is very much alive and well in Indonesia. Wedding receptions are big happy noisy colourful affairs with crowds and amplified music spilling out onto the street, so it’s impossible to miss them. When we were returning to Palangkaraya from Banjarmasin recently (a four hour drive, much of it through sparsely inhabited swamplands) we passed ten wedding celebrations along the way.

The laws about marriage in Indonesia are interesting. Everyone in Indonesia must be registered as belonging to one of the six authorised religions: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Protestantism, Catholicism or Confucianism. This gets recorded on your national identity card – and agnosticism or atheism are not accepted. There is a prohibition on interfaith marriages; if a Muslim and a Catholic want to marry, for example, one has to convert to the other’s faith.

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The national law is that the minimum age for marriage is 16 for girls and 19 for boys, but this is often ignored. UNICEF has estimated that 3% of Indonesian girls are already married by the age of 15. By law, anyone getting married at 19 or under is required to have written permission from both sets of parents. Having children outside of marriage is not acceptable. In Bali for example, neither mother nor child will be permitted to enter a temple – a significant sanction there!

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There are three parts to a wedding: the religious ceremony, the official registration, and the celebration or reception. It seems that the social conventions are sort-of the reverse of those in Australia i.e. the ceremony is a small private affair, and the reception is open to just about anyone who shows up.

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We have now been to six Indonesian wedding receptions, though we only had an invitations to two of them (and in only one case – Katie and Yoyok’s wedding back in 2009 – did we actually know the bride and groom!) Three were Javanese Muslim, one Banjar Muslim, and two Dayak Christian.

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But at every wedding we have been made to feel like honoured guests – and not at all like the freeloaders that we actually are! In fact at a couple of weddings we have felt like celebrities, and wondered if we were getting photographed more often than the bride and groom!

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Styles of clothing, food and entertainment vary, but they always have a similar structure. The reception may go on all day (or one case, all night!), and the guests come, pay their respects to the couple and their families, leave a gift of money, eat a meal, and then leave. People are coming and going all day, some only staying for a matter of minutes.

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Outside, there may be specially made billboards, festooned with flowers, from well-to-do well-wishers. When you enter, your are greeted by numerous members of both families. They’ll be lined up in two rows, maybe 20 of them, and you run the gauntlet between them to get in. You are expected to shake hands with EVERYBODY, touching your right hand to your heart after each greeting.

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You sign the guest register, and make sure everyone sees you deposit an envelope of cash into the gift box. Wedding presents are unusual, but a gift of cash, no matter how small, is expected. This helps to defray the significant costs of hosting a wedding.

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The bride and groom sit enthroned on a dais or stage at one end go the hall or pavilion, possibly with their parents on either side of them. They will be dressed either in traditional wedding costumes – or in western-style white wedding attire. They may go through a couple of changes of clothing during the day.

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Before any socialising or eating, you go up and congratulate the happy couple, and usually get photographed with them. There may be a queue waiting to pay their respects; at one particularly large wedding, there were hundreds of people lined up at one point waiting their turn.

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Then it’s down to the serious business of eating. Because there is no set time for the wedding banquet, there are meals lined up ready to eat throughout the day. Good food – and plenty of it.

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The entertainment will vary. There may be Dayak dancers and music. At a Javanese wedding there may be a wayang kulit (shadow puppet) or kuda lumping. Or else, for something more contemporary, that perennial Indonesia favourite: karaoke!

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A little socialising, a few photographs – and then you leave. The well-known Indonesian expression: “Sudah makan, pulang” (After eating, go home!) applies here. So you run the greeting gauntlet in reverse, shaking hands with and thanking all of the family members on the way out.

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Tagged Banjar, Central Kalimantan, Dayak Ngaju, Kalimantan Tengah, Palangkaraya, weddings

Tiwah ceremony

Posted on January 8, 2015 by John Boyd Macdonald| Leave a comment

Just two days after our November visit to Tewang Rangkang to help with the communal Dayak rice planting, our friend Lelie’s grandmother (Nenek) passed away at her home in the village, after suffering a stroke. The family decided to hold the full Tiwah funeral ceremony immediately, rather than waiting (often up to a year or more) as is usual in other places. We were honoured by being invited to attend, given food and accommodation for the three days that we were there, encouraged to participate in all ceremonies, to ask questions and to make lots of photos.

I put off writing about it because it was pretty intense, hard to try to summarise in a few words and photos (and I have exactly 999 photos to choose from). It was also – as well as a ceremony, a performance, and a party – a time of grief for a family that has been very kind to us, so I wanted to be sure they were OK with the text before sending. And, with the ritual slaughter of a buffalo, two cows, four pigs and a number of chickens, some of the details are … a little grisly. So, rather than try to string together a narrative, here’s some selected pictures and a few words which try to explain them. (And I haven’t included the more disturbing pictures.)

The traditional religion of all the Dayak peoples is known as Kaharingan, though practices and beliefs vary across different groups and regions of Borneo. Officially, it’s called ‘Hindu Kaharingan’, because everyone in Indonesia must register as belonging to one of the government-recognised religions (Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Protestant, Catholic, Confucian). But apart from the name there’s not a lot that’s recognisably Hindu about it. It has more in common with the pre-Hindu and pre-Islamic beliefs of much of the rest of Indonesia.

It’s an animist faith, with a strong belief that the spirits of the dead need practical assistance to make the journey from earth to heaven, where they will live with their family members in ’the Prosperous Village’. The hugely complicated (and hugely expensive) ceremonies of the Tiwah are intended to help the soul on that journey, and supply them with food and supplies so they will be comfortable when they arrive. Officiating over the proceedings is a Basir (Babak, at the right of the picture above), a shaman who is an expert in the rituals of Kaharingan.

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Nenek’s house is quite traditional in design and fitout. No chairs, tables or beds, but with a full set of gongs (five large, four small) and drums for performance of ritual music. The gongs played almost non-stop while we were there, day and night. The performers (all male) would change over regularly, with just about everyone, young and old (yes, even me) having a turn. It was strangely hypnotic and soothing in a clanging techno-rhythm kind of way, and the music is still bouncing around my head.

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We were invited to become honorary members of the family for the duration of the ceremonies (and for the following week), a select group amongst the 250 or so people at the Tiwah. That required a short ritual with the Basir (and Lelie beside us), and a red band of fabric with a coin inside tied around the right wrist (“Don’t take it off until 4pm next Saturday!”) It also meant that were expected to participate in all the ceremonies (including, we were surprised to find out later, the ritual spearing of the buffalo and cattle prior to their slaughter).

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Two large wooden posts (sapundu) were erected in the yard. One unfortunate black chook was carefully placed at the bottom of the hole before the heavy ironwood post was dropped into place. Fresh-cut logs were lashed together with rattan to make a holding pen for the pigs, which were (yes) ‘hog-tied’, and several chickens were tied up outside. None seemed to be particularly pleased with the arrangements.

The cow and the (very expensive) buffalo (kerbau) were yoked to the poles, each held by a heavy collar made out of rattan. They were tied up there overnight, and given nice food, kind words, massages and offered prayers.

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The family members (plus the basir and us) assembled on a number of occasions in a circle around the sapundu. With the gongs playing loudly, we would proceed, facing in towards the centre, repeating the same set of actions. It was my kind of dance: very simple. You raise both hands over the head, lower the arms with palms facing downwards, then make a sort of sideways pelvic thrust motion, then take a long step to the right. Repeat for 20-30 minutes, with periodic pauses for two low chants and a loud falsetto ‘whoop’!

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At one point in the circle, you stop for three women to attend to you; one puts an oily drop on your neck, chin and forehead, another sprinkles some coconut water and rice grains on the top of your head, and the third rubs two knives together over your head before putting one into your mouth (blunt side!) for you to bite on. You go through this routine many times, and end up with a lot of rice in your hair!

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And then next morning the cow and buffalo were speared (on the left side only) by each member of the family in turn. Although it is an honour to be invited, we decided not to participate. When each poor beast collapsed, after 30 minutes or so, it was tied up and dispatched with a large knife.

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Suffice it to say, there was a lot of blood. Sacrificial blood is considered to have great power and to have a very purifying effect, so a number of people were keen to collect it or to bathe their feet, hands or faces in it.

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The complex logistics of keeping all 200+ attendees fed and comfortable over the days of ceremony must have been challenging, but as always seems to occur here, everyone just pitches in and divides up the work amongst themselves without any obvious project management. And meals kept being prepared and served up. In this photo our friend Lelie is doling out plates of fresh (VERY fresh) beef stewed in coconut milk.

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There was rather a lot of tuak and baram (homemade rice wine) consumed during the ceremonies. Actually, a great deal of tuak. The tuak was carried around in a number of containers: kettles, tubs, and even this ‘Hello Kitty’ jug. But there were only a couple of glasses, which were refilled and passed around more-or-less continuously.

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For some reason I was a very effective magnet for the intoxicated, and got befriended by a number of amiable and largely incomprehensible blokes. But there was never any hint of any anti-social behaviour.

The fellow on the left above was closely involved in the business of sacrifice (as his face and hand attest), and the other guy is a keen handphone photographer. They were both sometimes quite intense.

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Nenek’s coffin remained in a room of her home until the third day we were there. During that time, she was brought meals and drinks of water and coffee, even sirih (betel), which were placed beside her a she lay in state. After the coffin was finally closed and carefully brought outside on the shoulders of family members, Berry (one of the grandchildren) was chosen to be hoisted up to walk the length of it and jump off the end (three times!) This signifies everyone ‘letting go’ of their attachments to the one who has died.

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In a small clearing in the forest stands a little wooden ‘house’ (sandung), erected four years earlier to hold the coffin and remains of Nenek’s husband. Before Nenek joined him inside, a small ceremony outside prepared all the material objects that were to accompany her on the journey to ‘the Prosperous Village’ i.e. heaven. There was a little bag of her clothing, baskets and small household items, snacks and two glasses each of coffee, rice wine and water (one for her, one for her husband). Her other clothing and linen was piled up and burnt nearby, so that her spirit wouldn’t be tempted to come back home. The sacrificed animals would have already joined her in the spirit world.

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The climax of the Tiwah ceremonies was over, but the ceremonies continued for at least another week (that we know about). Meanwhile there was still plenty of tuak and baram to share around.

The whole Tiwah process is really expensive and, like in Bali, it’s common for families to co-host Tiwah for a number of the recently deceased, so as to share the funeral costs. It’s also becoming less common as so many Kaharingan Dayak people have converted to Islam or (more usually) to Christianity. Interestingly, however, a lot of the converts will still hold or participate in Tiwah ceremonies, saying that it reflects their Dayak identity and tradition (adat), and is no longer a matter of religion (agama).

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Tagged Central Kalimantan, Dayak Ngaju, Kaharingan, Kalimantan Tengah, Katingan River, Tewang Rangkang, Tiwah

The YUM Agro Project

Posted on November 29, 2014 by John Boyd Macdonald| Leave a comment

Some of you asked to know more about YUM (the ‘Yayasan Usaha Mulia’), which is the Indonesian charitable foundation that I am working for here. Here is an article I wrote for publication in the Jakarta Globe about the work of YUM Agro. It doesn’t describe my particular role, but gives a reasonable overview of the valuable work being done by YUM on the ‘Agro’ Project here in Central Kalimantan. Note that only one of the photos (the last one!) is mine – and all are ©2014 YUM.

Planting the Seed in Central Kalimantan: The YUM Agro Project

Bukit Batu, Central Kalimantan. Central Kalimantan may be better known for depressing reports about the loss of its forests, but there are also some good news stories. For one, the Yayasan Usaha Mulia (‘YUM’– the ‘Foundation for Noble Work’) is working with local communities in the Bukit Batu district to establish hundreds of home vegetable gardens, providing a year-round supply of tasty and nutritious produce for local families.

Home gardens provide a rich bounty of fresh produce

YUM has been working to improve the lives of people in some of the poorest communities in Indonesia since 1975, and in Central Kalimantan since 2000, with targeted and highly successful projects to combat malaria, provide clean water and improved sanitation, and to support early childhood education. It became increasingly clear that lack of access to fresh and high quality vegetables and fruit was undermining the nutrition and basic health of people in the district’s seven villages. So, in mid-2011, with support from Susila Dharma International and the German Government, the ‘YUM Agro Project’ was born.

The district suffers from poor soil fertility, with acidic soils of sand and peat, and the equatorial climate is rather challenging. The environment has been compromised by logging and burning of forests, drainage of wetlands, siltation and mercury contamination of the rivers. Most vegetables and fruit are imported, rarely fresh, and often contain high levels of chemical residues.

The YUM Agro Project aims to help by facilitating the establishment of home gardens, delivering a continuous supply of clean, fresh, healthy and delicious vegetables. “I worry about pesticides in the imported produce”, says Ibu Khoiratun from the village of Suka Mulia. “But thanks to YUM I can now plant and grow my own organic vegetables – and reduce my spending at the market”.

Preparing to make compost

Prior to working with the local Dayak and ‘transmigrasi’ (mostly Javanese) communities, YUM established two Rural Centres. These incorporate model gardens to demonstrate what can be achieved, and a small laboratory and other facilities for research and trial of ‘best practice’ techniques (adapted to local conditions) – before their use in the field. The focus was on developing a successful Homegarden Model, using sustainable organic practices and permaculture principles. Newer techniques such as bokashi, biochar and beneficial bacteria are employed – indeed, any techniques to improve soil quality which are proven to be effective, practical to implement, and sustainable over time.

Entrance to the YUM Kalimantan complex

YUM hasn’t tried to ‘reinvent the wheel’, but has worked closely with a range of external organisations with relevant expertise. These have included the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology, Bogor Agricultural University, the Indonesian Research Institute for Animal Production, the Indonesian Development of Education and Permaculture and Sukabumi Freshwater Aquaculture Development Centre, amongst others.

YUM employs a young team of agriculture graduates, all with enthusiasm, local knowledge and connections to the communities. Their technical skills, and their ability to deliver training in culturally appropriate ways, have been critical to the project’s success. They provide training to new participants over a total of 15 days, broken into stages to coincide with key milestones such as bed preparation, planting, Integrated Pest Managment, Seed Saving and harvesting. This is backed up by ongoing monitoring, assessment and support.

Fresh from garden to kitchen

Small groups of (mostly) women go through the training together. After contractually committing to the project, they are provisioned with basic equipment to get them started (a hoe, watering can, a bucket, fencing materials and seeds). Within three months, each home gardener has prepared eight garden beds, and is already harvesting and enjoying their first crops of legumes, leafy vegetables, tomatoes, eggplants, chilli and tubers.

Three-and-a-half years after inception, 300 active family gardens are established and supported by monthly visits from YUM field staff. Feedback from mothers is that their home-grown vegetables are tastier and stay fresh longer, and that their children are eating (and enjoying) more healthy fresh food. As Ibu Yanti from Habaring Hurung village said: “I’m so happy that I can now do this gardening work that is useful for my family. And the vegetables – so fresh and sweet!”

From its focus on home gardens, the project has expanded into small animal husbandry, with village participants raising poultry and commencing small pond fish farming, to supplement existing protein sources. And secondly, YUM conducts a popular program of cooking classes at each of the local community health centres (posyandu) promoting good nutrition and healthy cooking practices to local women.

Cooking and nutrition classes are enjoyed by mothers and children alike

The Project involves a complex web of culture, technology, botany and local sensitivities. The program has been continuously evaluated and refined, and has had to overcome many challenges and obstacles. Future plans for the YUM Agro Project include expanding selected home gardens into small scale farms, improving food sources for chicken and fish, and further development of the nutrition program.

[More information at www.yumindonesia.org ]

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Tagged Central Kalimantan, Kalimantan Tengah, Yayasan Usaha Mulia, YUM, YUM Agro Project

Flamboyant Palangkaraya

Posted on November 29, 2014 by John Boyd Macdonald| Leave a comment

The rainy season has finally and properly arrived, which (counter-intuitively) means that we are getting more clear blue skies and sunshine – with a heavy storm every day or two. We are continuing to see new and often surprising things, and to have some interesting experiences. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Canberra anymore”.

The capital of Central Kalimantan (Kalimantan Tengah, or ‘KalTeng’ as everyone calls it), is Palangkaraya. It’s a city of almost 250,000 people, about 40km southeast of the Bukit Batu district where we are living. It’s where we go, every week or two, for a taste of the high life (there are restaurants – and a coffee shop!) or to buy exotic products which can’t be procured in our local area (like dairy products, breakfast cereal, toilet paper, cracker biscuits).

The city lies beside the Kahayan River, on the site of an old village/town called Pahandut. It was only established as a city in 1957, when President Sukarno decided that it should be the location for the new capital of Indonesia, in place of Jakarta. That plan sort of lost momentum – as did Sukarno himself – in 1965. But before then, lots of money was put into town planning and constructing wide gracious boulevards and roundabouts, so in a strange way it resembles Canberra (with some fairly pronounced differences…)

The old and low-lying part of the former Pahandut that fronts the river is known as ‘Flamboyant’ – presumably because there was (or is) a Royal Poinciana tree somewhere there, but no-one has been able to clarify the origin of the name for us yet. It’s certainly not ‘flamboyant’ in the Folies Bergère sense of the word. It’s on the floodplain of the Kahayan River, and soon after the start of every wet season (i.e. any day now) it gets inundated and remains under water till the rains ease in about March.

For the residents, the solution is to raise everything up on wooden stilts: the houses, the narrow streets and lane ways, the little shops, masjids and churches, schools and all.

It has a surreal village-like atmosphere in the midst of the city, with the clattering sound of motorbikes (but no cars) rattling past over the wooden walkways.

The residents are fishermen, river traders, plus teachers, shopkeepers, hairdressers and public servants just like any community. It’s by no means a wealthy part of town.

We spent last weekend in Palangkaraya, much of the time exploring the boardwalks of Flamboyant. We were greeted and questioned and photographed everywhere we went. Being regarded as celebrities (or perhaps just novelties) everywhere we go is alternately flattering, puzzling and annoying, but we certainly get to meet people. Friendly, warm, polite people. The lady in the doorway above was keen for Karen to photograph her – but she insisted on putting on a fresh blouse and jilbab for the picture.

At the Islamic Boarding School the kids in the playground (yes, it is a wooden platform on stilts) shyly paused doing their gymnastics when we walked through. But after I did my ‘froggy handstand’ for them (you have to see it) the ice was broken, and the boys then showed us some of what they could do. In thongs!

The downside of life in a wooden house on wooden streets on wooden stilts is the inevitability of fire. About once a year, a serious fire destroys a section of Flamboyant. There’s no way for firefighting equipment to get in, and typically a number of house are destroyed. Apparently the government tries to get people to relocate to other places, but the residents of Flamboyant always want to return, so they rebuild over the top of the fire damage.

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Tagged Central Kalimantan, Flamboyant, Kalimantan Tengah, Kayahan River, Palangkaraya

Tag Archives: Kalimantan Tengah

Durian Season

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‘Our River’ – the Sungai Rungan

Betang Tumbang Manggu

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Tiwah ceremony

The YUM Agro Project

Planting the Seed in Central Kalimantan: The YUM Agro Project

Flamboyant Palangkaraya

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