A Ritual Resurgence in Eastern Indonesia
361
Anthropos 100.2005
1987). I am not aware that there have been any
such attempt in Kedang, where the vast majority
accepted at least nominal conversion.
Local usage does not always oppose religion to
adat. For example, anciently Catholic Larantuka,
the capital of the East Flores Regency, regards
Catholicism to be its adat (Dietrich 1997: 13). No
doubt much the same could be said about Islam
in Lamahala, Adonara, and elsewhere. Kipp and
Rodgers (1987; 3) have commented that in Java,
Islam sometimes becomes adat. In a common
place usage, adat is simply the cultural practices
inherited from the ancestors which in certain ways
distinguish a community from their neighbors or
persons farther afield. Many an anthropologist has
found it a very useful term for opening conversa
tions or explaining research aims, whereas agama
must be used with some care and is best avoided
in Indonesia when explaining research objectives
to officials, especially if your interest happens to
be religious conflict.
Inspired by the successes in attracting tourism
to Bali and Tanah Toraja Sulawesi, the Suharto
regime began to encourage a process of commod
ification of culture.
With a view to “domesticating” ethnicity, the authorities
suddenly took the bull by the horns, as it were. Regional
cultural expressions, instead of being merely tolerated,
were given active support in a way that was designed
to take the wind out of the sails of any adherents of
separatist ideas. One important symptom of this policy
(albeit a relatively marginal one politically speaking)
was greater tolerance of tribal traditions. But what must
be striking to anyone visiting Indonesia recently is the
well-nigh patronizing tendency to champion everything
that in the government’s view gives positive expression
to the cultural pluralism of the country. It is hardly
surprising that this patronage is selective, reducing what
are in fact ethnic way[s] of life to folkloristic elements
(Schefold 1998: 276).
Cultural performances for consumption by pack
age tourists were organized with some success in
the 1990s in East Flores and western Solor, before
the economic collapse in 1997 and subsequent
disruptions including the bombings of recent years,
severely damaged the tourist industry. On Lembata
the primary tourist objectives became the He Api
region in the north and the whaling and fishing
village of Lamalera in the south. Kedang is too
remote to have ever exploited this potential form
°f income. Nevertheless, the positive valuing of
local culture, even if only in a limited and tightly
controlled, indeed manipulated, way, must have
contributed to greater local self-confidence and in
deed renewed interest in questions about “who we
are.” The two events in Leuwayang in July 1998
were certainly in part celebrations of local identity,
quite explicitly so in the case of the exhibitions and
performances at the beach.
There is considerable literature on the relation
between government and the performing arts and
between government and culture more broadly in
Indonesia, and of course in many other parts of
the world as well. This is not the place to re
view that literature, but a brief indication of the
variety of studies pertaining to Indonesia may be
indicated; see for example Acciaioli (1985, 2001),
Feinstein (1995), Hutajulu (1995), Lindsay (1995),
Sutton (1995), and Yampolsky (1995). The effects
of government intervention in the arts and local
culture are various depending on period, on place,
no doubt on personality, and of course on shifting
government policy. The end of the Suharto regime
brought a freeing of the communications media,
a sharp diminishing of the surveillance of the pop
ulation, reinvigorated party politics, and a return
of grass roots political participation. Not all of the
processes had completely worked themselves out
by July 1998, but the change was already making
itself felt. People were much more open about ex
pressing their views than they had been since 1965.
However, it must be remembered that the village
birthday celebrations and the annual harvest ritual
had been held for many years by 1998, so their
constitution or reconstitution cannot be attributed
to these at the time very recent changes.
Village Birthday
A young village head is said to have reinstated the
harvest ritual in 1979. The reason for doing so was
that the village felt that there had recently been too
many deaths. In 1984, when Ursula Samely first
witnessed it, it was a sparsely attended affair. The
same village head instated the annual village festi
val in 1981. It was intended to mark the establish
ment of the official village (desa) of Leuwayang in
1960. This event in 1998 began on July 7th with a
flag raising ceremony, formal speeches and some
dancing, and a tug-of-war. The next evening was
devoted to staged dancing. The program started
at 6:00 in the evening. A temporary stage had
been erected outdoors near the schoolhouse and
chairs lined up for the audience. After a general
introduction, a schoolteacher spoke a prayer and
then read a long bureaucratic letter giving police
permission to hold the event. Next a representative
of the district officer gave a speech followed by