A Reminder of Dayak Culture

KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO

Kusni Sulang

The name Kusni Sulang is familiar to many people, especially readers of books about the Dayak culture. The 80-year-old is a well-known writer and poet, and wears many more caps. His ideas have led him to walk from village to village to reintroduce Dayak culture.

On a cloudy afternoon one Sunday (20/12/2020), we met Kusni Sulang at his house, filled with books, cats and flowers. The house is straightforward, like its owner.

Kusni is a writer and poet who has devoted his life to writing about many subjects, including culture. In recent years, however, he has spent a lot of time walking from village to village to reintroduce the Dayak culture to its people.

"I did not teach them [the Dayak people], because I learned from them. I just returned their memories about their cultural values,” said Kusni, who doesn’t go anywhere without his trusty tote bag.

He has visited at least five villages in Manuhing Raya district of Gunung Mas regency, Central Kalimantan, where he spent more than a year. Doing so allowed him to build an emotional connection with the local communities.

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Traveling to and staying at each village was not like the impromptu visit of a government official, nor was it “riding a horse to gaze upon flowers”. He wanted to integrate into the lives of the indigenous Dayak people. He stayed at one house on one occasion, and then stayed at another house. He ate the same rice, played, conversed and even worked with the villagers.

He holds to the "three equals" principle of working, eating and sleeping as a single community when he associates with the villagers he views as both his teachers and friends.

The emotional connection he established enabled him to help remind the Dayak people of their cultural values during each ritual or traditional practice in the villages. For example, he demonstrated manetek pantan (cutting wood), a traditional welcome that is observed when visitors arrive.

"In this tradition, conversation should follow cutting wood. Someone should ask the guest the purpose of [their visit], and not just freely receive the guest. The tradition is currently practiced in many villages,” said Kusni, who is a research advisor at the Borneo Institute (BIT).

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In addition to discussing cultural values, Kusni founded a cultural school and learned skills like how to make mandau (Dayak machetes), weaving rattan with a variety of Dayak motifs, and sculpting.

"Many Dayaks are trapped in illicit activities such as illegal gold mining or illegal logging. This happened because they were forced to do it. It is necessary to open their eyes so that self-initiative can emerge,” he said.

He presented not only his own thoughts, but also the views of others that he believed were relevant to the history of the Dayak people.

Kusni also introduced Dayak history at the cultural school. He has written many books and articles on the subject. He presented not only his own thoughts, but also the views of others that he believed were relevant to the history of the Dayak people.

He also explained the laws and government regulations on community rights to the villagers. One of the things he enjoys discussin most is Law No. 6/2014 on village development. "The people there understand [the law] even better than members of the DPR [House of Representatives]. That is important, because the people have so far been afraid of legal enforcement,” he said.

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Kusni believes that the responsibility of preserving the indigenous culture and encouraging communities to take initiative is not just the government\'s, but also belongs to many institutions, organizations and individuals.

In collaboration with the BIT, Kusni initiated a project to develop traditional villages. Five villages have already been recommended to be declared as customary villages. The project started with the participatory mapping of village boundaries and introducing the concept of the Dayak customary villages to the residents.

KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO

Kusni Sulang

A series of discussions were held until, in the end, the community arrived at their own decision by vote on whether or not they would develop their village into a customary village. Of the five villages in Manuhing Raya district, three villages voted to become a customary village, while the other two villages voted not to.

"We hope that the government can be more responsive in ratifying the policies on indigenous people from the center to the regions," he said.

Cultural awards

In 2020, Kusni was recognized with the Indonesian Culture Award’s Traditional Arts Maestro for Guardian of Dayak Traditions. But for him, no single award category can cover the expanse of his activities, so he refused to be called a “guardian of traditions”.

It is an obligation that must be fulfilled under any and all circumstances.

“Adat [tradition] is dynamic, it evolves and is not static in both form and content,” he said. According to Kusni, it is the Dayak people’s duty to preserve and protect their cultural values. It is an obligation that must be fulfilled under any and all circumstances.

Kusni explained that every ethnic group in Indonesia had a duty to preserve and protect their culture according to the Dayak Katingan tribe’s oral tradition of ”rengan tingang nyanak jata”, which means “the children of hornbills, the descendants of dragons”.

"The vision and mission of the Dayak is to [cultivate] the earth, the homeland and their villages into a place suitable for human life," he said.

He hopes that his way of safeguarding and maintaining the Dayak culture might foster ethnopolitics that prioritizes the creative minority concept, which could be realized through cultural decentralization and the promotion of indigenous cultural values.

"Standing on the land of the Dayak, or Flores, or any ethnicity, is important because being Dayak, Indonesian and human are not [mutually exclusive]. Ethnicity in the nation is the border of a single humanity,” he stressed.

Kusni Sulang

Born: Kasongan, 25 Sept. 1940

Wife: Andriani S.J. Kusni

Education:

- Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Gadjah Mada University

- Economic Development, School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris

- International Law, New South Wales University, Sydney

- Anthropology (EHESS)

- History (EHESS)