Sumbawans

PRONUNCIATION: soom-BAH-wuhns
LOCATION: Indonesia (Sumbawa)
POPULATION: About 320,000 (2000)
LANGUAGE: Sumbawan
RELIGION: Islam
RELATED ARTICLES: Vol. 3: Indonesians

INTRODUCTION

The name "Sumbawa" originally referred only to the western part of the island of Sumbawa, to the home of the Tau Semawa, the Sumbawan ethnic group. The eastern part belongs to the distinct Bimanese people; relations between the regions were distant. As late as 1920, there was no intermarriage between the Sumbawan and Bimanese sultanates. The island received some early Hindu-Javanese influence; four places on the island appear in the 14th-century Javanese poem Nagarakrtagama. In the 16th century, the Balinese kingdom of Gelgel extended its hegemony to the Semawa, while Bima entered the Makassarese sphere of influence; both peoples adopted Islam.

On 12 June 1674, the sultanate of Sumbawa made an agreement with the VOC, which included ceding territory to the Dutch company, thus enabling it to monopolize the island's most renowned export, sappanwood (an ingredient in dyes). In 1820, an adventurer from Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan) seized the sultanate's regalia; his descendants ruled as sultans of Sumbawa until Indonesian independence. Dutch direct rule only began in 1905. The island had suffered from frequent famine before the 1980s, when the Indonesian government succeeded in doubling rice production.

LOCATION AND HOMELAND

The island of Sumbawa (area: 15,448 sq km or 5,965 sq mi) lies between Lombok and Flores in the Lesser Sunda chain. The Gulf of Saleh virtually splits the island in half but for a narrow isthmus. Originating in the region of Sanggar, the Sumbawan ethnic group inhabits the land west of the gulf; their old sultanate was centered near the volcano Tambora before its catastrophic eruption in 1815 caused major population losses and displacements. Much of the island is covered by grasslands dotted with occasional clumps of trees and shrubs, partly the product of slash-and-burn agriculture. Wet and dry seasons contrast sharply.

According to the 2000 census, Sumbawans comprised 8% of the population of West Nusa Tenggara province or over 320,000; the two regencies of Sumbawa and West Sumbawa had a population of nearly 500,000 in 2006. Population is concentrated on the northern plains where wet-rice agriculture is possible; population density (2006 figures), at 59 persons per sq km (95 persons per sq mi, more than double 1990s estimates), remains low. By contrast, eastern Lombok counts 656 persons per sq km or 1,056 persons per sq mi. Although the coastline is highly indented, Sumbawan culture is not sea-oriented (most villages lie at least 5 km or 3 mi from the coast). A Southern Mongoloid people with minimal Papuan admixture, the Sumbawans are lighter in complexion than the more mixed Bimanese. Sumbawan communities can be found in eastern Lombok.

LANGUAGE

A Western Austronesian language, Sumbawan is most closely related to Sasak and Balinese, while Bimanese links with the Central Austronesian tongues of Savunese and Manggarai. For example, "people" in Sumbawan is tau, but in Bimanese it is dou. In the past, Sumbawans used an Arabic-derived script (now little used) to set down charters and documents pertaining to the administration of land and livestock ownership. In addressing social superiors, one employs deferential language, such as substituting kaku for aku ("I"), and using aristocratic titles, such as ruma, rato, dari, and ada.

FOLKLORE

See the article entitled Indonesians .

RELIGION

The Sumbawans are reputed to be more orthodox in their practice of Islam than the highly devout Bugis-Makassarese and even more than the Bimanese who are widely seen as "fanatical." No Christian missionaries have ever been allowed to gain a foothold on the island. Southern Sumbawa, however, has only been Islamized for 100 years.

The sultan of Sumbawa retains his religious role despite having lost political power with the Dutch takeover at the beginning of the 20th century. Other religious officials include the lebe, the head of the mosque who is also responsible for leading agricultural rites; the penghulu, his assistant; the ketip, who delivers sermons at the mosque and otherwise directs worship; and the marbat, who is in charge of the mosque building and administration.

Remnants of pre-Islamic beliefs include berempuk, ritual boxing to spill blood to appease the spirit, and consulting a sanro, a healer who dispenses invulnerability treatments. The villages of Tepal and Ropang firmly maintain traditional customs, such as having heirlooms displayed to protect a bride and groom from witchcraft.

MAJOR HOLIDAYS

See the article entitled Indonesians .

RITES OF PASSAGE

Some parents still arrange samulung, marriages between their underage children, although this violates Islamic law. More usual is for a young man to propose marriage to a girl by sending a penati, an eloquent woman, to deliver his request in highly figurative language to the girl's representatives. The pebeli or bride-wealth is gauged to the bride's status and can be very high. Adat (customary) ceremonies precede the Islamic rites. On the eve of the wedding, there is all-night singing and rebana (Arab tambourine) playing.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Traditional Sumbawan society consisted of the following classes: the datu or dea, aristocrats (divided further into upper and lower categories); the tau juran(an), the descendants of immigrants from Gowa (Makassarese), once influential at court; tau kamutar, subjects of the sultan; sanak, free commoners; and ulin, slaves. Like aristocrats, free commoners could own land but were obliged (though not compelled) to do labor for the kingdom as compensation. Among slaves, there were sharp distinctions between native Sumbawan debt-slaves (tau marisi) and outsiders. Commoners were divided into "task groups" (often corresponding to kin-groups because of the tendency to endogamy), e.g., military or religious specialists, craftspeople, etc.

A village is defined by the presence of a mosque and is divided into wards, each with its own headman. These wards are often ethnically distinct, as in the case of the kampung Bugis in the capital of Sumbawa Besar. Under the sultanate, villages united into groupings headed by a kepala gabungan. A wakil kepala ("headman's deputy") governed each village with the help of a mandur (an enforcer) and a malar (an official in charge of distributing land titles and, formerly, a leader of agricultural rites).

LIVING CONDITIONS

The two regencies that comprise the homeland of the Sumbawan people, Sumbawa and West Sumbawa on the island of Sumbawa, have an average Human Development Index (combining measures of income, health, and education) of 63.7 (2005 score), considerably lower than the Indonesian national HDI of 69.6 though a little higher than that for West Nisa Tenggara as a whole). Sumbawa regency has a GDP per capita of us$5,248, very low for Indonesia (cf. us$9,784 for West Sumatra, us$8,360 for North Sulawesi, but us$6,293 for Central Java and us$6,151 for West Nusa Tenggara as a whole). In 2000, the rate of infant mortality stood at 87.55 deaths per 1,000 live births, among the highest in the country, though slightly less than the rate for West Nusa Tenggara as a whole, 88.55.

Houses on the coast resemble Bugis-Makassarese houses, consisting of four to six rooms with easily movable partitions; a room can be added for a newly married daughter and her husband. In the interior, houses are similar though smaller, resembling those in the eastern parts of the island.

A village is surrounded by its hamlets. Until harvest-time, the population lives in settlements near their swidden (shifting-cultivation) fields.

FAMILY LIFE

The Sumbawan lives within concentric circles of kin: his or her nuclear family; relatives up to and including first cousins on both paternal and maternal sides; relatives up to and including second cousins on both sides; and relatives up to and including third cousins on both sides. In the isolated mountain villages of 60-100 families, many people are third cousins, but villages do not correspond exactly to an individual's bilateral kinship group.

The desire to keep wet-rice lands in the family makes marriage between kin (first to third cousins) the preferred pattern. In 1967, only 19% of marriages were between non-kin in villages around Sumbawa Besar. A newlywed couple resides with the bride's parents at first while the husband performs bride-service. Divorce is common because many partners were brought together by their parents while still children.

CLOTHING

See the article entitled Indonesians .

FOOD

See the article entitled Indonesians .

EDUCATION

In 2005, the level of literacy stood at 86.59% for Sumbawa regency and 88.4% for West Sumbawa regency, substantially higher than for most other parts of West Nusa Tenggara and is comparable to that for more economically developed if far more densely populated provinces such as East Java and Bali (See also the article entitled Indonesians .)

CULTURAL HERITAGE

See the article entitled Indonesians .

WORK

Since the Dutch takeover in 1905, there has been a significant expansion of wet-rice cultivation. Dry-rice (swidden farming) has become increasingly confined to the highlands where fields are worked for five years then left fallow for eight to ten years. Surrounding the villages are gardens with perennial crops, such as fruits and vegetables. The island exports onions, beans, and some tobacco and coffee.

Sumbawans raise small, sturdy horses (their export goes back at least to the 14th century). Some individuals own hundreds of cattle, and the island is one of the major areas in the archipelago for the raising of water buffalo. Sumbawans do not hunt the numerous wild boar (because of Islam) but often take deer. They leave fishing to Buginese, Bajau, and Selayar immigrants but do raise fish in fish ponds (alternately used for salt-making in the dry season). Arabs monopolize the horse and cattle trades, as well as money lending, while the Chinese buy up produce for resale and sell merchandise. Before the 1905 opening of a steamship line, Bugis-Makassarese sailing ships carried Sumbawa's trade (horses, water buffalo, hides, onions, beans) to its two main destinations, Surabaya in eastern Java and Makassar in southwestern Sulawesi.

In 2006, 10,280 people from Sumbawa and West Sumbawa regencies were registered with the Indonesian government as working in Saudi Arabia; almost all were women working as domestic servants (there were only 56 men among them).

SPORTS

The racing of water buffalo yoked to a sled or plow through flooded fields has now become a spectator sport, though its original practical aim was to churn the mud before planting. A sanro helps prepare the buffalo with special oils and incantations on the night before the race.

Another sport is boxing after the harvest. The fights follow no rules and consist of wild flailing moderated by self-appointed referees. As no judges preside over the contests, each fighter assumes his own victory.

ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION

See the article entitled Indonesians .

FOLK ART, CRAFTS, HOBBIES

See the article entitled Indonesians .

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

See the article entitled Indonesians .

GENDER ISSUES

The Gender-Related Development Index (combining measures of women's health, education, and income relative to men's) for the ethnic Sumbawan region (average of the Sumbawa and West Sumbawa regencies) is 57.4, somewhat below Indonesia's national GDI of 59.2. Mataram's HDI, the average of the two residencies' Gender Empowerment Measures (reflecting women's participation and power in political and economic life relative to men's), however, is 45.4, far lower than the national GEM of 54.6 and slightly lower than the GEM for West Nusa Tenggara as a whole.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Badan Pusat Statistik: Statistik Indonesia. http://demografi.bps.go.id (November 9, 2008).

Government of West Nusa Tenggara—Lombok and Sumbawa. http://ntb.go.id/ntb.go.id/demografi.php (November 9, 2008).

LeBar, Frank M., ed. Ethnic Groups of Insular Southeast Asia. Vol. 1, Indonesia, Andaman Islands, and Madagascar. New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files Press, 1972.

Muller, Kal. East of Bali: From Lombok to Timor. Berkeley: Periplus, 1991.

Project for the Inventorization and Documentation of Regional Cultures. Permainan Rakyat Nusa Tenggara Barat [Folk Games of West Nusa Tenggara]. Jakarta: Department of Education and Culture, 1984.

Project for the Study and Recording of Regional Cultures. Adat Istiadat Daerah Nusa Tenggara Barat [Customs of West Nusa Tenggara]. Jakarta: Department of Education and Culture, 1978.

Situs Resmi Pemerintahan Propinsi Nusa Tenggara Barat—Lombok dan Sumbawa [Official Site of the

—revised by A. J. Abalahin