Taking Care of ‘Mini Indonesia’ in the Land of Hope

Kompas/Vina Oktavia

Nanik Birhaniah, 60, a migrant from Yogyakarta, holds up a photo of her family taken in the 1980s, in her house in Mulya Jaya village, Tulung Bawang Tengah district, West Tulung Bawang regency, Lampung, on Thursday (21/22). Lampung is a popular transmigration destination for people from Java and Bali.

Several decades ago, Lampung became a land of hope for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Java and Bali, not just for the economic growth of households, but also for the area’s diversity.

Nanik Birhaniah, 60, remembers the day she set foot in Lampung for the first time in 1974. At that time, the surroundings were still forests and bushes.

She was 17 years old at that time. She came with her parents and two siblings to follow the spontaneous migration program. The family from Yogyakarta was resettled in the Way Abung II area, North Lampung regency, now a part of Mulya Jaya village, Central Tulang Bawang, West Tulang Bawang regency.

"Besides my family, there were four neighbors from Yogyakarta who joined the migration," Nanik said on Thursday (21/12) while looking at photos of her parents who died dozens of years ago.

Muzakir, her father, at that time only said that they would go to a land of hope in Sumatra.

Each family did not get the houses and 2-hectare plots of land as promised by the government. They had to wait for three months, so that they could not work and had to be temporarily accommodated at the houses of migrants who had arrived earlier.

With the support of his savings from when Muzakir worked in Yogyakarta, Nanik\'s family bought a semi-permanent house from another resident in the village, measuring 4 meters by 6 meters. After receiving a house and land from the government, Nanik\'s father, who previously worked as a batik maker, was forced to switch his profession to a farmer. They had to work hard to open the land given by the state. Through mutual cooperation, they converted the land full of bushes into farms to plant cassava, rubber and oil palm.

In order to meet their daily needs, they were given basic materials by the government for one year. However, as the farms were not yet productive after one year, the families’ finances were in disarray. In order to survive, they were forced to hunt wild animals, mostly snakes and wild boars. After being cleaned, they were fried.

"At that time, we did not think whether the meat of the animals was halal or not. The most important thing for us at that time was that we could survive," Nanik said.

All the hard work bore fruit. Now, after 43 years, Nanik, who is married to Wisnu Katiran, 69, another migrant from Yogyakarta, has a spacious house and a motorcycle. The is able to send their three children to senior high schools. One of them even managed to get a university diploma.

Two of Nanik\'s children who work in Java also bought a rubber plantation in Mulya Jaya village to be managed by their parents. "We used to have 30 goats, but all of them were sold as no one could take care of them," said Wisnu, who is now active as a gamelan (Javanese traditional orchestra) player in West Tulang Bawang.

Preserving culture

Hard work and the capability to adapt to the local surroundings allowed Wisnu to survive in Lampung, by maintaining his identity as a Javanese. In 1982, he founded Sanggar Seribu Daya, as a place to accommodate migrants who long for their hometowns. There they practice ketoprak (traditional plays) and karawitan (music ensemble).

Occasionally, Wisnu also received a call to perform as a puppeteer. Even though invitations to perform are not consistent, Wisnu continues to be active in art. "I used to earn a living by farming, raising cattle and even selling ice cream, but art is my life," said Wisnu.

I Wayan Sukadana, 49, a second-generation migrant from Bali born in Lampung, also nurtures the tradition of his ancestors. Wayan, who manages a homestay business, decorates his accommodations with Balinese architecture. Wayan also transported Ganesha statues from Bali, and put them in the front yard near the gate.

The migrants came from various regions, have various ethnicity background and had to live side by side with the indigenous people of Lampung.

Assimilation can be seen in the personality of Wayan, who manages to speak in the local language or in Javanese with a Balinese accent. "There are also those who were married with residents from different ethnicities, so that we are more united," Wayan said.

Hermani, head of the advisory council of the Marga Empat Federation, which supervises communication among local residents in West Tulang Bawang regency, said that the indigenous people of Lampung accepted the newcomers.

Now, the majority of indigenous people in Lampung live in 11 old kampung in West Tulang Bawang. The old kampung are located near Way Kiri and Way Kanan rivers. The indigenous people of Lampung also still manage to preserve their tradition, among other things, by holding begawi (wedding ceremony), presentation of adokh (clan title) and cakak pepadun (tradition to appoint a leader of a big family).

The head of the Manpower and Migration Office of West Tulang Bawang regency, Hasan Badri, said about 80 percent of the population of West Tulang Bawang were migrants and their offspring, originating from Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java and Bali. They are spread in nine districts and were mostly able to adapt to Lampung.

The area’s diversity prompted West Tulang Bawang Regent Umar Ahmad to introduce a multicultural city concept by prioritizing cultural art as the foundation of regional development. Over the last two years, the regency administration has cooperated with the Hanafi Studio from West Java to accompany youths to develop their culture and present it at the Tubaba Festival.

"The government does not want to only prepare infrastructure, but also its human resources. West Tulang Bawang is expected to become a role model as a multicultural city," Umar said on the sidelines of the Tubaba Festival’s opening ceremony on Wednesday (20/12).