Inside the World of Papua’s Dani Tribe

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Men from the Dani tribe in West Papua’s Baliem Valley carry weapons into battle. Evi Aryati Arbay

Years ago in the highlands of Papua’s Baliem Valley, “tribal war was a symbol” of maturity and power, says Dr. Semiarto Aji Purwanto, head of the research division at the University of Indonesia’s Papua Study Center.  In each tribal war, the Dani tribesmen native to the region would determine who would become a prestigious man – or “big man.”

Dani men paint their faces in preparation for mock battle. The battle is the main attraction of the Baliem Valley Festival. Evi Aryati Arbay

These men are not tribal chiefs, but men with power. They must be strong enough to take on a specific task and lead the rituals around it until their death.
A big man “must demonstrate certain skills,” American anthropologist Marshall David Sahlins wrote in a research paper in 1963. “Some are good at farming, hunting and diplomacy.” But above all, big men must have “magical power, the ability to guide rituals and bravely lead war.”
It’s the story of the Dani that Evi Aryati Arbay explores in her new photo book, “Dani The Highlander.” Ms. Arbay, a tour operator and hobby photographer, first visited Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua in 2004 as part of a group tour. Over the next decade she made repeated visits to Baliem Valley, and grew close to the Dani people. They even gave her a family name, Mabel.
“Baliem made such an impression on me,” she writes in the Prologue to her book. “Apart from the spectacular scenery, the culture in that place was still untouched. Only a few people could get a chance to get in and out of the Baliem Valley and develop an intimate relationship with the Dani.”

Photographer and tour guide Evi Aryati Arbay poses with people from the Dani tribe in the highlands of West Papua, where she traveled for 10 years capturing pictures for her new photo book. Evi Aryati Arbay

On each weeks-long visit, Ms. Arbay, 34, would take photographs capturing the daily life of the Dani people. Each year there was a heavy focus on the Baliem Valley Festival, an annual cultural event marked by mock battles, traditional music and dances and finished off with a pig roast.

Dani tribesmen conduct a pig roast, a common tradition in the Baliem Valley in Papua where they live. Evi Aryati Arbay

Ms. Arbay, who visited several times a year, observed the big men as they guided important rituals. One big man, for example, was responsible for leading regular pig slaughters. Others were in charge of agriculture or hunting – all the tasks outlined by the anthropologist Mr. Sahlins.

A Dani man with boar tusks in his nose. Evi Aryati Arbay

In one photograph, a war leader appears on the top of a bamboo tower: “His eyes continue to watch over his troops; [with] him boldly commanding,” said Ms. Arbay.
Traditions have changed since the days when the wars were a means of gaining power. The battles, which Dr. Aji described as magical and sacred, are now about solving disputes over things like women, pigs or even irrigation channels. The last war, which began in March between the Dani and the Moni, another major highland tribe, lasted until June.
These battles have also become a tourist attraction, drawing visitors and money to the Dani villages. The Baliem Valley Festival, started as a way of raising awareness and understanding about the Dani and the two other tribes that live in the highlands, has been running for 25 years.
The shift these changes have produced is what Dr. Aji calls “cultural disorientation.” For Ms. Arbay, the rituals remain distinctly captivating, regardless of the reasoning behind them. And the Dani, long one of the most feared tribes in Papua, she has found to be warm, smart and welcoming. And that, says Ms. Arbay, is what she wants to share through her pictures.

Dani men and women perform a tribal dance at the annual Baliem Valley Festival in Papua. Evi Aryati Arbay

“My wish of this documentation is only one,” she writes in her book. “Come and visit Papua, embrace the Dani and their world.”

A Dani man sits in front of a honai, a traditional house belonging to the Dani tribespeople, in Papua’s Baliem Valley. Evi Aryati Arba

 

 By Anastasia Ika

http://blogs.wsj.com/

THE BLACK PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA AND MELANESIA

WEST PAPUAN LEADER-CHIEF BENNY WENDA

The Black Presence in Australia: Fighting for Survival

Australia was settled at least 50,000 years ago by people who call themselves Blackfellas, and who are usually referred to as the Australian Aborigines. Physically, the Blackfellas are distinguished by straight to wavy hair textures, and dark to near-black complexions. In January 1788, when Britain began using Australia as a prison colony, an estimated 300,000 indigenous people were spread across the continent in about 600 small-scale societies. Each of these communities maintained social, religious and trade connections with its neighbors.

The dumping of British convicts into Australia proved catastrophic for the Blacks. Victims of deliberate poisonings, calculated and systematic slaughters; decimated by tuberculosis and syphilis; swept away by infectious epidemics; their community structures and moral fibers shredded, by the 1930s the Blackfellas had been reduced to a pathetic remnant of about 30,000 people, and perhaps twice that number of mixed descent.

When the continent was invaded by Europeans in the 19th century, the white historians who wrote about Australia invariably included a section on the Blacks, and acknowledged that the original inhabitants of the continent had had a historical role. After 1850, however, few writers referred to the Blacks at all. The Blacks were thought of as a “dying race.” By 1950, general histories of the continent by European-Australians almost never referenced the indigenous people. During this period, the indigenous people, whether part or full blood, were excluded from all major European-Australian institutions, including schools, hospitals and labor unions. They could not vote. Their movements were restricted. They were outcasts in white Australia.

Today, the Blacks of Australia are terribly oppressed, and they remain in a desperate struggle for survival. Recent demographic surveys, for example, show that the Black infant mortality rate is the highest in Australia. The original people have the shoddiest housing and the poorest schools. Their life expectancy is 20 years less than Europeans. Their unemployment rate is six times higher than the national average. Aborigines did not obtain the right to vote in federal elections until 1961, nor the right to consume alcoholic beverages until 1964. They were not officially counted as Australian citizens until after a constitutional amendment in 1967. Today, the indigenous people constitute less than 2 percent of the total Australian population.

West Papua in Melanesia: The Struggle Continues

New Guinea is the biggest and most populous of the islands of Melanesia. Indeed, it is the largest island in the world after Greenland. It is tremendously wealthy in mineral resources, including: uranium, copper, cobalt, silver, gold, manganese, iron and oil. Now split into two by colonial design, New Guinea has until lately contained a racially homogeneous population of 5 to 6 million Africoid people. The eastern half of the island became independent in 1975 under the name of Papua New Guinea. The western half of New Guinea, however, along with a significant portion of the islands’ total population (estimated at 3 to 4 million people), has been seized by Indonesia as its 26th “province.”

For the people of West Papua, (the western part of New Guinea), Indonesia has been and continues to be a brutal and aggressive occupying power. Under Indonesian rule since 1963, the Melanesians have been prone to both physical and cultural genocide. Indonesians generally have a condescending view of Melanesians, who they consider their racial inferiors — except, of course, those who turn away from their own culture and choose to identify with Indonesian cultural values, behavior modes and language. Additionally, members of the Indonesian military and other high government officials possess considerable wealth in West Papua, and are firmly resolved not to share it with the Melanesians.

Melanesians living in the forest communities of West Papua have been subjected to forced labor schemes, while in urban areas Melanesians face overt racial discrimination. A major part of the Indonesian regime’s genocidal policy, in fact, is the physical replacement of Melanesians with Indonesian nationals. This poses the distinct possibility that the Melanesians of West Papua could become a minority in their own country. The struggle of the people of West Papua today is deserving of far more of the world’s attention, particularly the Black world.

http://atlantablackstar.com/

Suku Kamaro di Papua, Ngemil Ulat Sagu & Cacing Tambelo

 
Timika - Salah satu yang unik dari suku-suku di Indonesia adalah apa yang dimakan mereka. Suku Kamaro di Papua, biasa makan ulat sagu dan cacing tambelo. Proteinnya sangat tinggi lho. Seperti apa rasanya ya?

Suku Kamaro tinggal di sekitar Kabupaten Timika di Papua. detikTravel pernah mengunjungi mereka beberapa waktu silam, ketika mereka menggelar semacam festival. Selain menari dan berjualan ukiran kayu, orang-orang Kamaro mengajak pengunjung mencicipi makanan khas mereka yaitu ulat sagu dan cacing tambelo:

1. Mengenal ulat sagu
Ulat sagu adalah ulat-ulat besar segemuk ibu jari. Ulat sagu adalah salah satu bahan makanan dan sumber protein penting untuk mereka.

Untuk mereka yang asing, mungkin jijik rasanya melihat ulat-ulat gemuk itu akan dimakan. Tapi serius, kandungan gizinya tidak diragukan lagi.
 
2. Dimakan mentah, tapi dibakar lebih enak
Ulat sagu bisa dimakan mentah, tapi bisa juga dibakar dulu. Rasanya lebih enak kalau dibakar, seperti disate. Kepala ulat sagu sangat keras dan tidak dimakan. Nanti cara memakannya adalah pegang kepalanya, gigit badannya, dan kepalanya lantas dibuang.
 
3. Rasanya kenyal dan berlemak
Rasanya adalah kenyal. Tekstur kulitnya seperti karet, namun daging di dalamnya seperti lemak. Rasanya nyaris tawar dengan sedikit beraroma seperti nangka.

Sungguh makanan unik dan tiada dua. Variasi lain dari ulat sagu ini dimakan dengan sagu dan dibungkus daun seperti pepes. Ulat sagu pun semakin berasa bumbunya.

 
4. Mengenal cacing tambelo
Cacing tambelo, adalah cacing yang hidup di dalam kayu lapuk di hutan bakau di Timika. Suku Kamoro memang tinggal di dataran rendah dekat pantai. Oleh karena itu, mereka menjadikan cacing tambelo ini sebagai makanan pokok mereka.

Nah, cacing ini biasa dimakan mentah-mentah. Bentuknya seperti tentakel cumi-cumi yang biasa kita liat di pasar ikan.
 
5. Cara makan cacing tambelo
Bagaimana memakan cacing tambelo? Pegang kepalanya, angkat tinggi-tinggi di atas mulut, masukan ke mulut sambil dikunyah pelan mulai dari buntutnya.

Warga Kamoro memakan langsung cacing tambelo. Tapi cacing tambelo ini biar lebih enak direndam di air jeruk nipis, jadi tidak perlu takut jijik. Rasanya enak! Sama saja seperti makan seafood seperti cumi.
 
6. Untuk keperkasaan pria
Cacing tambelo ini ternyata dipercaya sebagai afrodisiak. Warga Suku Kamoro meyakini memakan cacing tambelo bisa menambah kejantanan para pria suku mereka.

 Fitraya Ramadhanny
http://travel.detik.com/

Hutan Sagu Terluas, Papua Barat Miskin Infrastruktur

Sambil menggendong Lobeka, anaknya, Agustina mengumpulkan sagu yang telah dipangkurnya di hutan di pinggir Sungai Welderman, Distrik Kaibar, Kabupaten Mappi, Papua.

 SORONG - Papua Barat merupakan daerah dengan hutan sagu terluas di dunia, sekitar 2 juta hektar. Jika ditambah dengan Papua dan Papua Nugini, luas hutan sagu sekira 4,5 juta hektar.

Potensi sagu begitu besar. Permintaan domestik tepung sagu saja mencapai 5 juta ton per tahun, namun baru dipenuhi sekitar 3,5 juta ton. Belum lagi permintaan pasar manca negara yang juga tak kalah besar.

Indonesia, yang kaya akan potensi sagu, justru terancam Malaysia yang sudah jauh lebih dulu mengembangkan industri sagu di Kuching sejak 1969.

"Masalahnya tidak mudah. Infrastruktur di Papua ini sangat terbatas. Kalau swasta mau bangun pabrik, saya yakin tidak mau. Kebutuhan energi di pabrik sagu saja 1,5 megawatt, dan PLN mengaku tidak mampu," kata Direktur Utama PT Perhutani (Persero) Bambang, kepada wartawan di Kais, Sorong Selatan, Papua Barat, Rabu (3/9/2014).

Dalam kunjungannya menengok pembangunan pabrik sagu di Kais, Bambang menuturkan, pihaknya sangat kesulitan dengan ketersediaan listrik, jalan, dan pelabuhan.

Bambang menuturkan, industri sagu sebenarnya juga menghasilkan produk samping yakni residu sagu yang bisa diolah menjadi biomassa. Namun tentunya pada tahun-tahun pertama pabrik berproduksi, residu sagu tidak akan banyak, sehingga belum memungkinkan untuk dijadikan energi alternatif.

Atas dasar itu, pada tahap awal, Perhutani menggandeng PT PLN Engineering untuk ketersediaan energi. Jual beli listrik dari PT PLN Engineering belum disepakati. Yang pasti, saat comissioning pada Maret 2015 mendatang, listrik sudah mengalir. "Kelebihan listrik, nanti bisa dimanfaatkan oleh warga setempat," kata dia.

Selain listrik, tidak adanya infrastruktur jalan diakui Bambang menjadi tantangan tersendiri baik bagi investor maupun masyarakat setempat untuk mengembangkan perekonomian. Padahal, ini adalah tanggungjawab pemerintah untuk memberikan pemerataan pembangunan.

Pabrik sagu Perhutani di Kais, bisa diakses melalui dua jalur, darat dan air. Perjalanan melalui air memakan waktu sekitar tiga hingga empat jam. Sementara dari darat, bisa memakan waktu 2,5 jam hingga 3 jam, dari peradaban terdekat yakni Teminabuan.

Teminabuan sendiri bisa dicapai dari kota Sorong setelah menempuh perjalanan darat sekitar enam jam. Jalanan licin, sebagian besar tak beraspal, dan berkelok-kelok dengan tebing dan jurang di kanan-kirinya. Total perjalanan kota Sorong sampai Kais bisa mengabiskan waktu 12 jam.

Tidak tersedianya jalan yang layak di Kais juga menyulitkan warga untuk memasok sagu-sagu mereka ke pabrik sagu Perhutani. "Mengambil sagu dari rakyat itu teknis, tapi sebenarnya masalahnya adalah transportasi," aku Bambang.

Solusinya, lanjut dia, Perhutani juga akan menormalisasi sungai-sungai kecil, sehingga mempermudah pengiriman sagu rakyat ke pabrik. Nantinya, sagu-sagu itu bisa diantar ke pabrik dengan menggunakan rakit.

"Untuk pelabuhan kita harapkan segera dibangun, guna mempermudah distribusi produksi tepung sagu. Sementara ini memang ada kapal kecil-kecil. Tapi tidak efisien transportasinya kalau ngirimnya kecil-kecil (volumenya)," kata Bambang.

http://bisniskeuangan.kompas.com/