Yesterday I went to Plaza Senayan with some of my friends, there was poster campaign posters outside the plaza everywhere, and yes, I saw a lot of these uncivilized supporters (I think it consisted of PKS and Demokrat) littering road with waste. That’s the last thing you want to after they made traffic jam anywhere in the already crowded city.

Now to my surprise, there are campaign poster especially directed to moslem voters such as this (big size):

The translation of the text is:

Feel Free to choose the couple wearing Jilbab or not wearing Jilbab

This is a huge disappointment. Many people actually start to think Jusuf Kalla is not a racist anymore, but now he starts polarizing people according to their religion identity. No matter how much we want to commit being a democratic nation, religious issues plays important role. It’s not only religion, it’s identity, and sadly, it is often politicized.

This blog is currently in construction, it will take several days before it looks normal again. Thank you for your attention.

Beberapa waktu ini saya memulai lagi membaca literatur mengenai eurasia dan orang Indo di Hindia Belanda.

Seperti yang saya tulis di artikel terkait mengenai eurasia, saya sedang mengadakan penelitian pribadi mengenai Indo di Hindia Belanda untuk memuaskan rasa penasaran. Nyaris semua saudara dari oma saya telah meninggal. Yang tertua sedang hidup di Belanda, dan mengalami kepikunan karena usia lanjut. Anaknya (sepupu mama saya) tidak terlalu tahu tentang sejarah keluarga kami, sekarang saya satu-satunya yang mau menginvestigasi.

Kakak saya ada rencana untuk studi ke Belanda, tapi tidak dalam waktu dekat, dan saya benar-benar khawatir kalau saya akan kehilangan sumber informasi terakhir. Teman saya mengatakan hal menarik, gereja di eropa mengdokumentasikan semua catatan pernikahan di masa lampau, artinya orang-orang bisa menyelidiki catatan keluarga mereka sampai 300 tahun yang lalu. Ini berita baik dan berita buruk, karena nama keluaga belanda saya, de Wilde adalah nama yang sangat pasaran di eropa, bisa dibandingkan dengan nama Li, Tan, Wu, Wang atau Smith.

Bulan lalu saya membaca jurnal dengan titel “The Eurasian Minority in Indonesia”, ditulis oleh Justus M. Van Der Kroef, pertama kali ditulis di American Sociological Review. Artikelnya berjumlah 10 halaman, mungkin akan membosankan untuk banyak orang, tapi sangat berguna bagi orang-orang yang berminat pada sosiologi dan eurasia. Artikel ini menjabarkan hidup minoritas eurasian sampai pada 1949.

Masa Kolonial: Kurangnya Data
Sang penulis mengatakan bahwa masalah keberadaan orang Indo adalah kurangnya data. Tidak ada data tepat akan populasi orang eurasia. Pada 1854 9,000 dari 18,000 orang eropa di jawa memiliki “warna kulit khusus”, dan 5,600 orang yang tidak memiliki sifat seperti ini juga dianggap eurasia. Secara hukum, orang eropa menganggap orang eurasia sebagai orang eropa. Hal ini akan menjadi kompleks saat orang eurasia menikah dengan penduduk lokal Indonesia, dan keturunan mereka dianggap sebagai penduduk lokal. Pada 1941, diperkirakan jumlah eurasia sekitar 300,000, dan ada sekitar 8-9 juta orang yang memiliki keturunan eropa.

Bahkan sebelum orang Belanda datang, telah ada orang Eurasia portugis yang datang dari Bengal, India. Ada juga orang Filipino spanyol. Orang-orang eurasia tersebut nantinya akan ditangkapi orang belanda sebagai budak, pedagang, karena mereka dianggap lebih baik dibandingkan orang lokal.

Pada 1617, orang kulit putih dilarang untuk menikah dengan orang lokal, atau mereka mengambil resiko terbuang dari masyarakat, dan nantinya ini akan diperpanjang ke kaum eurasia., Pada abad ke-19, diskriminasi terhadap orang Eurasia meningkat. Status orang eropa harus “dibuktikan”, kebanyakan bekerja sebagai PNS kelas bawah.

Diskriminasi Orang Belanda terhadap Orang Indo
Fasilitas pendidikan untuk eurasia sedikit, dan sedikit yang mendapat pelatihan di eropa. Orang eurasia masih hidup sebagai penduduk kelas dua, dan sering menjadi bahan ledekan dari orang belanda karena berbicara dalam bahasa belanda yang patah-patah. Mereka mengadopsi kultur yang khas, campuran dari lokal dan eropa. Mereka bagian dari penduduk lokal, tapi tidak penuh, mereka lebih mirip ke eropa, tapi dianggap sebagai penduduk kelas dua terlepas legalitas sebagai orang “eropa”. Banyak juga yang hidup sebagai penduduk miskin di kampung.

Pada abad ke 19, struktur dari komunitas eurasia mulai terlihat.

Yang paling atas adalah orang-orang eurasia yang kaya karena menjadi enterpreneur. Sedikit menjadi elit di pemerintahan dam militer, namun kebanyakan hasi dari simpati atasan.
Pada kelas menengah adalah kebanyakan orang eurasia yang bekerja sebagai PNS kelas bawah, dan hanya sedikit yang bisa bersekolah sampai melebihi sekolah dasar. Mereka hanya eropa di nama.
Di kelas bawah, adalah orang-orang eurasia yang terindonesianisasi. MEreka orang-orang yang hidup di kampung dan terkadang bagian dari kriminalitas terorganisir.

2 grup terakhir memiliki kecemburuan sosial pada orang eropa totok. Pemerintahan belanda juga menunjukkan diskriminasi rasial. Kelompok Indo menjadi hinaan karena bahasa Belanda yang buruk, namun mereka tidak dibantu dengan pendidikan bahasa. Struktur sosial membuat mereka inferior pada orang elit eropa.
Pada abad ke-20, polaritas ini makin berkembang. Orang eropa di Hindia Belanda makin eropa, dan membedakan eurasia dari komunitas eropa. Jumlah imigran eropa dan jumlah orang eurasia membuat kompetisi pada pekerjaan. Kelompok Indo juga harus bersaing dengan orang Indonesia asli (sebagi hasil dari politik etis)

Pada 1919, para Indo mulai bersatu, mementuk Indo Europeesch Verbond. Dibuat untuk mempromosikan emansipasi terhadap minoritas Ido dan unifikasi orang Eropa dan Indo. Namun gagal, walau menjadi bagian terbesar dari parlemen Volksraad (DPR). Pada awalnya orang eropa mendukung, tapi eropanisasi membuat mereka membedakan diri mereka dari eurasia.

Generasi Ketiga Orang Indo: Apa Kata Anda?
Setelah membaca sejarah bangsa Indo di INdonesia, saya kemudian mulai berpikir, kenapakah reaksi orang Indo generasi ketiga di Indonesia sangat berbeda dengan di Belanda? Pada saat ada cultural revival di Belanda, kenapa orang-orang indo generasi ketiga tidak tertarik untuk menemukan dan melestarikan kembali kultur mereka yang hilang?

Orang Indo mirip seperti orang Tionghoa. Mereka mengalami genosida budaya. Generasi pertama mengalami diskriminasi dari orang Indonesia dan Belanda, generasi kedua diberitahukan untuk tidak memperlihatkan ke-Indo-an mereka karena identitas “Indo” di masa lampau dianggap rendah, generasi ketiga tidak tahu sama sekali, tapi tidak sedikit diantara mereka yang tahu “sedikit” mengenai darah indo mereka, tapi tidak tertartik untuk mengetahuinya lebih lanjut.

Sebagai akibatnya, mereka mungkin merasa bingung dengan identitas mereka sebagai generasi ketiga, mereka mungkin terkadang tidak merasa nyaman karena memiliki darah campur eropa, tapi tidak berani menanyakannya pada orang tua atau kakek mereka karena sudah dianggap “tidak relevan dengan jaman”.

Salah satu yang cukup mengganggu juga adalah mitos bahwa orang Indo = Eropa. Tidak, ini kurang tepat. Ada mitos kuat bahwa orang Indo di jaman belanda dianggap sebagai orang Eropa oleh pemerintah belanda, tapi melihat deskripsi sejarah yang sudah disebutkan sebelumnya, hal tersebut tidak sepenuhnya benar. Orang Indo memang terbantu dengan status legal mereka sebagai orang eropa, tapi pada prakteknya, penuh dengan diskriminasi.

Yang lebih meresahkan lagi adalah mitos bahwa orang Indo identitik dengan selebriti dan keglamoran. Hal ini dikarenakan artis-artis Indo di Indonesia kebanyakan adalah generasi kedua yang ayahnya ekspat dan ibunya orang Indonesia (tidak boleh dilupakan, rasio pernikahan laki-laki caucasian dan perempuan asia jauh lebih tinggi dibandingkan laki-laki asia dengan perempuan barat). Saya tidak akan kaget kalau ada orang Indo yang merasa takut mengaku “Indo” karena papinya tidak bule, dan mereka tidak merasa layak mengambil identitas “Indo” karena secara fisik tidak terlihat.

Mitos diatas menurut saya sangat mengkhawatirkan, karena itu membuat pemahaman yang salah pada identitas generasi ketiga orang Indo di Indonesia.

Tidak ada yang salah dengan menjadi keturunan campur dan mengakui bahwa darah Indo anda adalah bagian dari diri anda. Sangatlah manusiawi untuk merasa takut akan identitas Indo, karena sejarah telah memperlihatkan, bahwa Indo telah menjadi korban genosida budaya secara tidak langsung.

Sejarah yang hilang, genosida budaya
Saya saat ini membandingkan generasi ketiga Indo dengan generasi ketiga Tionghoa. Seperti yang kita ketahui, sejarah Tionghoa di Indonesia penuh dengan darah. Orang Tionghoa di Indonesia adalah contoh nyata hasil genosida kultural yang paling sukses, karena sebagian besar generasi ketiga tidak bisa bicara dengan bahasa nenek moyang mereka. Hal ini disebabkan tekanan pemerintah untuk meng-Indonesiakan penduduk Tionghoa.

Cara paling gampang tentu saja, larang budaya mereka, buat mereka lupa bahwa mereka orang Tionghoa. Beberapa dekade kemudian, penduduk Tionghoa yang sudah sangat Indonesia dan lebih mencintai Indonesia, tidak bisa menggunakan bahasa nenek moyang mereka untuk melakukan bisnis ke China yang padahal pada akhirnya menguntungkan juga untuk negara Indonesia.

Tapi ada yang menarik, dengan meningkatnya toleransi dan berkurangnya diskriminasi pada suku Tionghoa, generasi ketiga Tionghoa mulai menggunakan nama marga mereka yang tidak diindonesiakan pada profile mereka di social networking. Ya, karena secara legal, nama keluarga yang terdaftar di akte lahir dan ktp bukanlah nama marga mereka, sehingga paling aman adalah menggunakannya sebagai identitas di social networking macam facebook dan friendster.

Tapi hal yang sama tidak terjadi pada kaum Indo yang masih memiliki hak untuk menggunakan nama keluarga eropa mereka. Seorang teman saya menceritakan, ayahnya adalah keturunan Belanda-Yahudi, dan masih memiliki nama keluarga eropa, tapi tidak dipakai karena takut terdaftar WNA sehingga bisa mempersulit hidup disini. Teman saya sekarang menggunakan marga mamanya, karena lebih “Indonesia”.

Seperti yang kita lihat, belum ada atmosfier aman bagi orang Indo untuk mengakui identitas mereka, bahkan setelah era reformasi. Trauma sejarah mereka bisa dikatakan setara atau mungkin lebih parah daripada penduduk Tionghoa, karena ada stigma kuat bahwa orang Indo adalah orang Belanda alias penjajah, padahal tidak demikian, mereka juga didiksriminasi pada era pemerintahan kolonial. Di buku sejarah pun sangat sedikit pembahasan akan kaum Indo. Edward Douwes Dekker bahkan mengatakan agar orang Indo melupakan identitas mereka sebagai Indo.

Tadinya saya juga berpikir bahwa identitas Indo ini sudah tidak penting. Seperti yang saya bilang, saya terlihat terlalu Chinese untuk mengaku sebagai Indo. Tapi pemikiran seperti itu salah karena saya juga termasuk orang yang berpikir “kalau tidak terlihat seperti orang eropa, jangan ngaku Indo”. Jelas, dalam pemahaman saya, orang Indo adalah orang Eropa, padahal orang belanda sendiri tidak menganggap orang Indo sebagai Eropa.

Bahkan definisi Indo pun agak membingungkan, dan terkadang sulit untuk mengkategorikan orang-orang Indo di Indonesia sebagai identitas homogen karena misalnya:
1. Adanya golongan Indo generasi ketiga yang keluarganya mengalami diskriminasi sejarah
2. Adanya golongan Indo generasi kedua yang lahir dari jaman setelah kemerdekaan dan dilahirkan dari keluarga ekspat barat dan tidak melulu dari Belanda.
3. Golongan orang Indonesia yang bercampur dengan Arab/India/penduduk luar kecuali Chinese sering dikategorikan Indo, namun bukan eurasia
4. dan kasus2 lain dimana seluruh darah campur asing dilabelkan “Indo”

Tapi saat saya mendengar bahwa generasi ketiga orang Indo di Belanda mulai mencari akar sejarah mereka, lalu saya pun mulai mencari tahu tentang eksistensi orang Indo di luar negeri, dan pengalaman hidup mereka. Ini seperti menemukan keluarga dan identitas yang hilang. Mereka juga sama seperti generasi ketiga Indonesia, keluarga mereka juga mengalami diskriminasi serupa oleh pemerintah Belanda di masa lampau, tapi mereka mau mencari identitas mereka yang hilang.

Jadi… kenapa tidak? Jika anda yang membaca artikel ini adalah orang Indo, apakah anda tertarik untuk mencari tahu sejarah keluarga anda dan mengakui bahwa Indo adalah bagian dari identitas anda?

Atau menurut anda, ini hal yang sangat tidak penting, dan biarkan saja lenyap bersama waktu?

Blogging In English

Michael Jubel Hutagalung, a Web designer based in Bandung, West Java, started Jubel and the Unessential, an English-language blog, primarily to improve his written English. The blog offers Hutagalung

]]> http://republikbabi.com/blogging-in-english/feed 7 http://republikbabi.com/indische-in-eastindie http://republikbabi.com/indische-in-eastindie#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:31:51 +0000 calvinms http://republikbabi.com/?p=447 Ah just recently I start reading a lot of literature regarding Eurasians/Indische/Indo in East Indie.

As I have wrote in my related articles about eurasian, I was conducting personal research about indische in east indie to satisfy my curiosity. Indeed, most of all my oma’s siblings passed away already. The oldest one is in netherlands, and having memory detoriation due nature of her old age.

Her son (my mother’s cousin) didn’t know much about history of our family, now I’m the only one left to investigate. My sister has plan to study to Netherlands, but it won’t happen anytime soon and I really fear that I will lost my last information resource. A friend told me interesting information though, Churches in europe documented all the marriages in the past, it means people could trace back their origin as 300 years earlier. It’s good and bad news for me, since my family surname (de Wilde) is a very generic family name. Comparable to Li, Tan, Wu, Wang of China, or Smith family.

Last month, I read a journal titled “The Eurasian Minority in Indonesia”, written by Justus M. van Der Kroef, first published in American Sociological Review. It’s a 10 page academic journal, would probably bore most of people, but a hidden gem for sociology and eurasian enthusiast. The article was well written and described the life of eurasian minority up to year 1949.

The author described that one problem of indische was the lack of data. There was no precise data regarding the population of eurasians. In 1854, 9,000 of 18,000 european in java possessed “charateristic skin color”, and 5,600 without this charateristic also considered as eurasians. Legally, the european considered the eurasian as european.

Things would further complicated as eurasians married with indigenous indonesians and their descendants classified as native. In 1941, it was estimated the number of eurasians was 300,000, and by 1940, there 8-9 millions of Indonesians with european ancestors.

Even before dutch arrived, there was eurasian portugese that came from Bengal, India. There were also spanish filipino. These eurasians laters captured by dutch as slave, merchants because they were considered better compared to native Indonesians.

In 1617, Whites were forbidden to marry native indonesians, or they risk themselves being banned from society, and later, this is extended to eurasian. In the 19th century, discrimination to Eurasian sharpens. The european status must be “proved”, and eurasians mostly works as clerks, or low officials.

Educational facilities for eurasians were low, and few were received any training in europe. Eurasians were still living as second class, and often subject of ridicule to the dutch due speaking “broken dutch”. They adopted distinguished culture, mixture of native and european. They were part of native, but not fully native, they were more similar to european, but treated as second class citizen despite their legality being “european”. Many also lived as paupers, in kampung.

By the 19th century, the structure of eurasian community was shown more clearly.

The top one were eurasians who gained wealth due successfulness of being entrepreuner. Very few were elites in government and military, but often result of symphaty of their superior.
In the middle class were majority eurasians who worked as petty officials, clerks, subalterns, and only few managed to get beyond elementary schools. In most cases were European in name only.
In the lowest group was the paupers, the Indonesianized group. They were people handy in craft, living in kampung, and also part of organized crime.

The last two groups hade social jealousy toward the full-blood european. The dutch government themselves often show racial discrimination. These Indos were particulay ridiculed because of their broken dutch, yet didn’t provide proper language education. The social structure made them forever inferior to the pure elite europeans.

By the 20th century, the polarity grew greater. The european in East indie became more “european” and distinguished eurasian not as part of their society. number of europan immigrants and abudance of eurasians made a fierce competition toward jobs in officials and enterprises. The Indo themselves now also must compete with trained Indonesians (as result of Ethic Politic, education was also provided for native Indonesians).

In 1919, the Indos joined hand, forming Indo Europeesch Verbond. It was made to promote emancipation toward Indo minorities and unification of europe and Indos. It was largely unsucessfull despite being largest part of parliement in Volksraad (People’s Council). At first, the europeans supported the idea, but europanization made them distinguish themselves from eurasians.

The social discrinmations also reached the children. The chidrens at first were told as “Indian Children”, they spoke with same manner, same accent, but later the anti-thesis between europan and eurasians also penetrated the world of children.

Seeing how the authors describef the life of common eurasians, it’s almost like my oma said. My great-great grandfather, Christiaans de Wilde was exiled from his dutch family because married a chinese woman, Tan Anggoer.

There was also high probability that Christiaans came from successful family enterprise or even officials, but it was just my prediction because I have zero information about him. My oma was told by his father that Christiaans de Wilde had two other siblings, which her father never met due to the exile. I can’t prove the authencity of this story.

My great grandfather, Gustaaf de Wilde married with his wife, Soetirah, a javanese woman of Kebumen origin in Batavia, 1922. The fact that they married in Batavia shouldn’t be ignored, because that means they were classified as second class citizen because able to live in the capital.

I was used to wonder why my great-grandfather married her wife in 1922, when he was around 43 and her wife was 26.

I saw these marriage age unusual, I remember the elder people married during 15, 17 or 19. But here my grandfather was 43 during his marriage, I thought possibility of Sooetirah being second wife, but I apparently wrong. It’s possible that my great grandfather had the inferiority complex of being eurasian and economic difficulty that made him unable to have decent economic living, thus discourage him to commit a marriage or he just didn’t have interest to marry yet.

This scenario seems more probable, because in my great grandfather’s death certificate, he was typist for official, which suits the description of being second class citizen as described above.

My oma also told me that he was gentle person, taught bible to his children before sleeping, and he was Protestant Christian. This was also an interesting fact because Catholic was religion of european majority. I couldn’t tell whether he was born catholic or converted to protestant later or he was born protestant. Not enough documentation.

Now here comes the intersting question, how do third generations Indo should define themseles?

I referred to my last post of 3rd generations of Indo in Indonsia. Most were reluctant of conforming their identity. It couldn’t be helped, the myth of Eurasians = European was still strong in post independent era. People of dutch and chinese descent were careful. The 1st generation have experienced the discrimination and they warned their children to live and think as Indonesians, cutting off the language heritage, forgetting the history of their ancestors.

History is not to be forgotten. I really encourage the 3rd generation Indo to feel proud of their mixed heritage. If you still have living grandparents who surviving the history of our country, ask them before it’s too late.

You don’t want to have your identity awareness arise after your grandparents pass away.

I also would like to announce a sponsor message to all indo people in Indonesia and worldwide.

Professor Dewulf from University of California has launched a research project about the Indo Diaspora. Please see announcement below. If you would like to respond, you can either send me your information and I’ll gather it all together or contact him directly.

Dank je wel,
Bianca

The Dutch Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley recently started a research project related to literature from and about the

]]> http://republikbabi.com/indische-in-eastindie/feed 1 http://republikbabi.com/temporary-hiatus http://republikbabi.com/temporary-hiatus#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:10:27 +0000 calvinms http://republikbabi.com/temporary-hiatus Hi there, just a quick post. It has been awhile since I last posted on my blog.

My life becomes too busy these days. Working in insurance company is fun, I actually visited a lot of factories for survey risk, I learned a lot of things meeting a various kind of people, and actually yesterday I visited a chicken feed factory. I smelled the most terrible stuf in my life, I swear the smell was worse than durian. The oil fish is so strong that it’s enough to kill your nose.

I actually haven’t stopped writing, but I actually write more in facebook notes these days to protect my privacy. There are some writings I don’t want to disclose for public taste, and fortunately I could lock them so they are only readable to my friends.

This blog would probably abandoned for awhile. I hope it won’t be too long though. It’s just that I feel lack of serious subject to blog about, so I decided to writw more silly things in facebook notes. There is also my working-in-progress novel which consumes my concentration a lot. As soon as I finish this novel, I want to start writing english language novel, I think it will be good for me since I want to know how far I could go.

It’s not really writer block, but I just need time for settle things in real life. There is also a cyberstalker in my blog, which makes me feel want to stop blogging forever. Boy, I will tell you sometime the real story if you are in my facebook account and could access my notes, it’s scary :p.

Well see you later. This hiatus won’t be too long… I hope.

]]> http://republikbabi.com/temporary-hiatus/feed 9 http://republikbabi.com/quest-for-family-tree-part-3-memories-of-grandparents http://republikbabi.com/quest-for-family-tree-part-3-memories-of-grandparents#comments Sun, 24 May 2009 16:56:03 +0000 calvinms http://republikbabi.com/?p=440 Just returned a short trip from Makassar. My granny (from father’s side) just passed away at thursday 21 May 2009. I took a day off from office to attend the funeral.

This is just some miscelleneous story of my life and would probably not too interesting to the audience. I wrote it just for archival purpose and some sort of contemplation, about love and death of my grandparents.

I remembered 4 years ago, my world almost collapsed when my mom sent me a short message informing my Oma (my granny from mother’s side) passed away suddenly at 25 February 2009, around midnight. I could probably hear the news sooner, but I turned off my cellphone back then, I was concentrating to write some paper about israel and palestine.

In the morning, I read the message, dumbfounded. End of the world. I kept hoping that my mom just send me a very very bad joke. I cried like never I been before. I was thinking like “this couldnt be true, this is joke, a bad joke” all days long. I went to campus with teary eyes. I tried my best to concentrate during Indonesian Law Class, but it was no use, my mind was wandering nowhere. I keep denying my oma wasn’t with me anymore. I booked a shuttle to return to Jakarta after the class over.

I kept denying myself it’s joke. It’s early april mop. The scene was still clear in my mind, I kept gazing in the car like lifeless zombie. I kept saying to myself, it’s a bad joke. Bad joke. But that wasn’t till I arrived at mortuary and found my oma in white coffin, then I bursted into tears, sadness I never felt before. I grew with my oma, my mom was a very busy career woman, I spend about 10 years with her. She was our entire family’s mother.

My oma’s departure was unexpected. She was sick for years (I thought it was tumor or cancer), but she looked healthier than her husband (my opa, my mom’s dad) who suffered dementia. She actually on her way to my auntie’s home because she was preparing my sis’ birthday party in 28 February, and it was a week before my birthday.

It’s funny how you could meet your beloved ones during your sleep. Sometimes I was dreaming about my oma, unaware it was dream and that she wasn’t with me anymore. I even dreamed that I was dreaming she was dead, I thought all the funeral was nightmare.

In the dream, I usually ended up crying, because I usually noticed it was her, yet I couldnt’ tell what I really wanted to say for all these years. I haven’t told her once that I loved her. I still regret it till now. I don’t know how valuable she was, never once crossed possibility in my mind that my granny would leave me soon.

I dreamt I will have a trip for her to visit netherlands together. But things couldn’t change, my oma has left me forever.

Three words left. Unspoken.

It was different with my other grandparents. My engkong (my father’s dad) passed away some months later. I rushed to Makassar, attended another funeral, but I didn’t feel so much sadness compared when my oma was gone. My engkong was powerful man. He was from Shi family, proud of our chinese heritage. My family members often told me how he treasured me and I was his favorite grandson, because I’m the only bearer of our family surname. But again, it’s not like I didn’t love him. I just didn’t have enough memories about him, plus he was a very high-tempered person.

The same goes for my opa (my mom’s dad). I didn’t have much memories of him. He was the reason I despise doctor very much. He was victim of malapractism. He was eating wrong medicine for years, causing his brain to degenerate and suffering dementia. He was like a baby in a body of an old man.

I grew watching him laying all the time in the bed. He was unable to do everything, everytime I saw him I felt life was so unfair. My opa didn’t do anything, why must he suffer that much? Why that doctor couldn’t be taken into court? When he passed away in 2006, our entire family felt so much relief. We all have prepared and actually expected this. His pain finally gone.

We also felt the same to my amma (spelled am’ma, makassarese, my dad’s mother), the one just passed away few days ago. She had this terrible tumor for 8 years. Her body was very thin, I couldn’t believe she was the beautiful granny I saw in the albums. She fortunately didn’t suffer so much memory loss, she still could identify me the last time she saw me during my engkong funeral in 2005. When she was gone, we felt relief. It was for the best. She was blessed with a long life, her pain should be ended.

What makes me feel terrible is that I didn’t feel very sad to my other 3 grandparents compared to my oma. My family members said I was my Engkong and Amma’s favorite. My mom told me that they kept me for three years after my birth and probably planned to keep me forever. It wasn’t too long before my mom made a sudden trip to makassar and “kidnap me” to Jakarta to reunite with my family. Yeah, it took three years before I could grow normally and being taken care with my mom.

As I grew in Java, I didn’t have a lot of chance to meet them. I seldom to visit makassar, and rarely made phone calls. We were busy with our life, and not forget to mention, I was being taken care by my oma. We were living together, she was my mom’s replacement, she told me a lot of stories about the lifes of indo people during world war II, or how the dutch and indo people were treated during japanese’s occupation. I have a lot of cherised memories of my oma, and almost nothing about my engkong, amma, and opa. I regretted that I didn’t have a lot of memories of them.

After a while, I was thinking. Maybe my oma’s sudden departure was the best. At very least she didn’t suffer like my other grandparents. She left us when she still was loved and remembered as person, not as someone in deathbed. Had her life prolonged, maybe it would have been different story, maybe I could end up as ignorant grandson, because I might end up stop caring for her.

I couldn’t deny that sometimes I still remembering my oma no matter how much I want to forget about her. I could end up crying before sleep, remembering the old memories. The moments when she was still alive and was with us. She provided us the meaning of “home”. Our house missing something everytime we go home. I don’t want to be attached with past, but I just couldn’t help it. As childish as it sounds, I don’t want her to be taken away. I wish things could have been different. Everytime I try to write about her, I always getting teary eyes of sudden. I don’t understand of myself. It was things of past, I thought. I thought maybe as time passes, I will eventually don’t feel sad anymore and I could smile when remembered her. But I’m apparently wrong, I don’t smile at all, I always ended up crying, I wonder why.

I’m still the same selfish grandson I used to be. I could only conclude that part of me wants to move on but the other one doesn’t.

I hope I’m not the only person alone in this matter.

]]> http://republikbabi.com/quest-for-family-tree-part-3-memories-of-grandparents/feed 6 http://republikbabi.com/kenapa-malu-mengakui-darah-campur http://republikbabi.com/kenapa-malu-mengakui-darah-campur#comments Tue, 12 May 2009 16:05:16 +0000 calvinms http://republikbabi.com/kenapa-malu-mengakui-darah-campur On the last few days, I have been busy reading a lot articles about mixed heritage which more popularly known as Indo. It’s interesting to note that Indo people (people with mixed European and Indonesian heritage and/or other blood such as Chinese, Arabic) identify themselves as unique ethnicity. (Indonesian version below)

Indo people is classified as Eurasian. They share similarity which is presence of Indonesian blood in their vein.

Revival of Indo culture in Netherlands and Chinese culture in Indonesia
I was surprised after reading that there are 3rd generation Indo people in netherlands who particularly proud of their Indonesian connection. These 3rd generations may never have gone to Indonesia at all. But they actually revives the eurasian culture in Netherlands. They established the Eurasian community of Indo people, and making annual events such as “pasar malam besar”

A similar phenomena actually happening in Indonesia as well

Third generation of Chinese Indonesians started to feel proud of their chinese descent, regardless their capability of speaking Chinese language. They started to use their Chinese name and do not conceal the fact they are Chinese Indonesians

It’s phenomena that should be celebrated. Most of Chinese Indonesians I met, both 2nd and 3rd generations are reluctant of admitting their Chinese Indonesians identity.

This is of course, result of decades of racial discrimination. Chinese Indonesians were “Indonesiasized” under Soeharto’s regime to make them integrate with indigenous people. They were forbid to practice their custom, language, and even converting their name into Indonesia-sounding name. Decades later, the decision makers should regret consequence of this policy. We are all talking about rise of Chinese, yet many Chinese Indonesians lost their supposed-to-be mother language which is necessary to conduct business with the monoglot Chinese in mainland. We are forced to import foreign mandarin teacher from mainland when we could have been polyglot country.

Many Indonesian Chinese must learn their ancestor language as second language. The Irony is too great. The Chinese Indonesians even feel more inferior to the Chinese people who capable of speaking Chinese language.

Under Abdurrahman Wahid’s policy and increase of ethnic toleration in Indonesia, Chinese Indonesians found their space again. The third generation also investigating their root and their history. They started learning mandarin and do not feel ashamed using Chinese name, Chinese attributes, etc. This is a positive development which should be appreciated.

Indo people in Indonesia: Lost Generations?
In contrary, such cultural renaissance doesn’t occur to the 3rd generations of indo people in Indonesia. Most of people with mixed heritage do not see the importance to preserve the Eurasian culture in their family

This could be happening because discriminations they suffered during Dutch’s colonialism in Dutch East Indie which placed Indo people lower then the lowest caste.

I am Eurasian, consisting of Chinese, Dutch and Javanese descent. I have been living with mixed culture of Chinese-Makassarese culture. We celebrated Chinese lunar year during Soeharto’s regime as well (which I never thought considered as illegal during that time), and I use hokkien honorifics to address people in my family.

Most of my Chinese family (from father’s side, the Shi) capable of speaking makassarese language and having a strong makassarese dialect. Whenever I went home to Makassar, I feel a bit alienated because I have lost my makassarese language and accent. I moved to Jakarta when I was three years old and virtually grow only with Indonesia as my mother language. Whenever people speaking with makassarese, I only could guess what they are all talking about.

How about the practice of Dutch-Javanese in my family? Virtually, we do not practice anything except that we like Dutch cuisine.

My Oma (from maternal side) is a Dutch-Chinese-Javanese descent. She is capable of speaking Dutch, Indonesian, and Javanese and keep her family surname till her last day, de Wilde.

Oma was an expert of cooking dutch cuisines. The culture of cooking dutch cuisines is still practiced by our family.

It was pretty amusing when I saw her children. My oma has 3 daughters and a son. All of them have different feel. One looked like a Chinese-Javanese, one looked like a Chinese, and another looked like Indo.

Similar things occurred when I saw photos of my cousins and their children in Netherlands. They all have different faces. One looked like Ambon-Dutch, one looked like Dutch, and another looked like Chinese-Javanese. Their children looked even more diverse. One looked like Hispanic, one looked like a dutch, but generally it’s hard to tell their ethnicity due to nature of their mixed heritage.

Being mixed heritage gives another problem. I found it disturbing that mass media glorifying mixed heritage and Eurasian in general, saying Eurasians are associated with “good looking” or “looked exotic”. The industry these days hunting for people of Eurasian descents because they looked balanced. They are not too asia, and not looked to Europe either.

The media is poisoning the public and glorifying story of mixed heritage celebrity. They troll and mindf*cking people with prince and princess story of being born from wealthy expat family. Media usually portrays Eurasian as some fabulous oriental being. This is as bad as selling dream of white skin beauty to country where the natives are tan by nature.

Such stereotype is an acute oversimplification and should be deconstructed, it made people of mixed heritage treated as object instead of human being. The technical term is sexual objectification.
I wont be surprised if there are people of mixed heritage feeling depressed being called “exotic”. They are regarded as object, not as human being. They have prejudice toward other people because they could only attract other people by their physique.

Is it necessary that mixed heritage should be “handsome?” “beautiful?” “exotic”? Then what should one do if she/he looked to asian, or too Caucasian? Should one lost confidence only because he/she doesn’t look “exotic”?

If people from mixed heritage started to think that way, maybe it’s a sign that media has successfully twisted our mind. We see ourselves as object before we seeing ourselves as human. We are too concerned about what other people think of our physical attributes.

The Skin dilemma
I know there are lot of people felt alienated because their mixed heritage. They feel they are just different from community

They probably confused why their brother looked different to them. They may wondering why their big brother looked Caucasian, but they probably have slant-eyes or tanned skin. When they are entering a society of dominant culture, they are forced to reject their own culture and adopting the local, and most probably forced to alter their appearance to be accepted.

One of my family member told me that she was originally red-haired. To prevent any possible of discrimination, her mom routinely apply blackening substance to her hair so she didn’t stand out in the crowd.

I am fortunately, never experienced such discrimination. I was enrolled to private school which majority consists of Chinese Indonesians, and I never encounter serious discrimination. I was lucky, but I’m sure many other people have experienced worse case.

After reading a lot articles and discussion of people from various mixed heritage. I realized these feelings are always felt by people from mixed heritage. They always just feel “being different” from their friend, but to shy to ask what’s wrong with them because they might ended standing out in the crowd.

It’s hard to feel proud and admitting what running in our vein, but I think we should conform the fact we are mixed heritage. We didn’t choose to be born as gray.

We have freedom to choose either we are black or white. But in my opinion, it’s rejecting the essence of ourself, it’s inevitable that mixed heritage will always be labeled as gray. They will always be confused about their identity unless they accept the fact they are mixed heritage. They are neither black nor white, but mixed.

Are you still concealing your mixed heritage?
It needs guts and courage to feel proud of the blood running in my vein. I am Eurasian of Chinese-Dutch-Javanese descent. But that’s it.

I don’t really know about Chinese, I couldn’t speak mandarin (I know Japanese and german better). I don’t speak dutch at all, let alone Javanese. My face looks more Chinese than being Dutch or even Javanese. Simply, I’m afraid people would never believe me if I told them I am descent of dutch-javanese heritage because my look is not too “Indische”. It’s all about physical attributes. How I despise the eurasian beauty myth.

But the more I reject myself and cultural identity, the more I become tormented about my full self. It makes me uncomfortable, and I feel I’m rejecting my true self.

But now I could establish truce with these ambivalent feelings of my identity. I now could be proud of myself being mixed heritage. It made me feel as part of global community and made me appreciate other culture better.

I am sure I am not alone in this case. If we are mixed heritage, then why reject it? Don’t be afraid if you looked not too “indsiche”, it’s a myth and a sexual objectification. It’s part of uniqueness and being human. With the presence of mixed heritage, we could fo everywhere, appreciate other people better.

Good Readings
Indo People (Wikipedia)
Darah Ketiga (Indo Youth organization. I just recently joined, but the dutch language has alienated me)
The Rise of a New Generation: The Dutch-Indonesian Cultural Renaissance in the Netherlands. (a very good article about rise of indo culture in Netherlands)
Dutch-Indonesian Community @ facebook (I joined this group as well)

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Beberapa hari ini saya disibukkan membaca artikel soal keturunan darah campur, yang lebih kita kenal sebagai “Indo”. Hal yang cukup menarik, orang Indo (yang diidentikkan sebagai orang hasil percampuran orang Indonesia dengan ras lain seperti eropa diikuti dengan tambahan lain seperti arab, chinese) ternyata dianggap sebagai suku etnis unik.

Orang-orang keturunan Indo masuk ke klasifikasi etnis Eurasian. Mereka merasa memiliki kesamaan, yakni memiliki darah Indonesia, terlepas mereka tercampur darah apa selain darah belanda.

Kebangkitan Budaya Indo di Belanda dan Tionghoa di Indonesia
Unik sekali, ternyata orang-orang keturunan Indo yang ada di Belanda sangat bangga dengan darah Indonesia mereka. Mereka generasi ketiga yang mungkin tidak pernah mengenal bahasa Indonesia membuat gerakan kebangkitan budaya eurasia di Belanda. Mereka membuat komunitas eurasia indo-belanda, membuat pesta kultur eurasia terbesar di dunia seperti “pasar malam besar”.

Hal serupa terjadi di Indonesia.

Generasi ketiga keturunan tionghoa mulai bangga akan darah tionghoa mengalir di tubuh mereka, terlepas mereka bisa bahasa mandarin atau tidak. Mereka mulai kembali menggunakan nama tionghoa mereka dan tidak malu mengakui diri mereka keturunan tionghoa di hadapan orang lain.

Hal seperti ini belum pernah terjadi di tahun-tahun sebelumnya.

Hampir sebagian besar orang tionghoa yang saya temui, baik generasi kedua dan ketiga, tidak mau mengakui diri mereka tionghoa.

Kenapa? Tentu saja karena sepanjang sejarah ada diskriminasi rasial. Orang tionghoa di Indonesia memang sengaja di-indonesia-kan agar lebih cepat terintegrasi dengan Indonesia dibawah rezim soeharto. beberapa puluh tahun kemudian pembuat keputusan rasis tersebut harus menyesal: negara ini kehilangan peluang ekonomi karena generasi ketiga tionghoa di negara ini nyaris sebagian besarnya tidak bisa bahasa mandarin. Akibatnya, mereka tidak bisa menikmati kebangkitan China dalam ekonomi dunia.

Mereka harus mempelajari bahasa nenek moyang mereka yang hilang sebagai bahasa kedua. Ironinya terlalu menyedihkan. Orang-orang Tionghoa sering merasa inferior pada orang chinese yang bisa masih bisa berbicara dengan dialek mereka, tanyakan kenapa.

Seiring dengan meningkatnya toleransi antar etnis di Indonesia, didukung dengan peraturan yang memperbolehkan penggunaan simbol-simbol Tionghoa, para generasi ketiga mulai berusaha menemukan identitas dan sejarah mereka sebagai seorang Tionghoa.

Mereka mempelajari bahasa mandarin, tidak malu menggunakan nama tionghoa, menggunakan atribut tionghoa, dan lain sebagainya. Ini tentu hal positif yang harus kita apresiasi, karena etnis Tionghoa adalah bagian dari kekayaan budaya Indonesia yang harus dilestarikan.

Orang Indo di Indonesia: Generasi Hilang?
Sebaliknya, gerakan kebangkitan kultur serupa tidak terjadi pada generasi ketiga orang-orang Indo yang ada di Indonesia. Sebagian besar warga keturunan campuran tidak merasa penting untuk melastartikan budaya eurasia dalam keluarga mereka.

Hal ini bisa terjadi karena berbagai sebab, salah satunya adalah diskriminasi yang terjadi pada golongan darah campur pada masa pemerintahan kolonial yang menempatkan mereka lebih rendah dari kasta terendah saat itu (pribumi).

Saya sendiri keturunan Tionghoa, Belanda, dan Jawa. Saya selama ini hidup dalam kutur Tionghoa-Makassar. Semasa jaman Soeharto keluarga kami selalu merayakan imlek (yang tidak pernah saya bayangkan ternyata ilegal semasa itu), panggilan kekerabatan yang saya pakai di keluarga adalah Hokkien.

Sebagian besar keluarga Tionghoa saya (dari pihak papa) fasih bahasa makassar dan logat makassar. Kalau saya pulang kampung ke makassar saya merasa agak udik, karena logat makassar saya sudah hilang sejak pindah ke Jakarta sewaktu umur tiga tahun. Kalau keluarga saya berbicara pakai bahasa makassar, saya cuma bisa melongo.

Bagaimana dengan kultur Belanda-Jawa di keluarga saya? Nyaris tidak ada kecuali makanan tampaknya.

Almahrum oma saya (dari pihak mama) adalah keturunan Belanda-Tionghoa-Jawa. Mukanya memang sangat londo, dia fasih bahasa belanda, Indonesia, dan jawa. Dia menggunakan nama de Wilde sampai akhir hayatnya.

Oma sangat mahir memasak masakan-masakan belanda. Kebiasaan menyukai dan memasak makanan Belanda ini sampai sekarang masih ada di keluarga kami.

Yang cukup lucu adalah, oma saya memiliki empat anak, dan muka mereka beda semua. Satu seperti Chinese-Jawa, dua seperti Chinese, dan satu seperti Chinese-Belanda.

Hal serupa saya temukan saat melihat sepupu dan keponakan saya di Belanda. Muka anaknya beda semua. Sepupu saya di Belanda, satu seperti ambon-belanda, satu seperti belanda, satu seperti chinese-jawa. Dan keponakan-keponakan saya mukanya lebih variatif lagi. Ada yang seperti hispanic, ada yang seperti belanda, tapi kebanyakan susah dideskripsikan, karena mereka adalah turunan campuran.

Keberadaan darah campur-campur ini memberikan persoalan sendiri. Jangan kira enak menjadi seorang keturunan darah campur. Salah satu stereotype paling mengganggu menjadi darah campur adalah orang turunan eropa atau lainnya biasanya cakep atau terlihat eksotis.

Ini dikarenakan glorifikasi media massa dan perfilman Indonesia (dan dunia secara umumnya) yang membutuhkan wajah yang bisa diterima secara internasional. Tidak terlalu asia, tidak terlalu eropa. Tengah.

Itulah yang menjadikan banyaknya orang-orang eurasia menjadi sangat laku di dunia entertainment. Menurut pendapat saya pribadi, ini tidak sehat.

Media massa menjual mimpi tentang artis sinetron A, artis sinetron B, yang ayahnya mungkin adalah orang barat, kaya, dan menjadikan si artis tersebut punya kesan yang “wah”: sudah cakep, kaya, keturunan barat pula (karena orang asia tampaknya memang memiliki inferiority complex pada orang barat). Ini tidak kalah buruk dengan menjual mimpi tentang kecantikan kulit putih di negara yang mayoritasnya berkulit sawo matang.

Stereotype tersebut adalah sebuah simplifikasi sangat parah, karena fakta tidak seindah itu. Stereotype ini harus didekonstruksi, karena ini membuat orang berdarah campur seperti dianggap obyek. Istilah kerennya adalah sexual objectification.

Jangan heran kalau orang-orang berdarah campur mungkin merasa depresi karena mereka dianggap “eksotis”. Mereka dianggap seperti sebuah obyek, bukannya manusia, sehingga mereka menjadi lebih cepat prejudice pada orang lain yang mendekati mereka.

Apakah seorang keturunan campur harus ganteng? Cantik? terlihat eksotis? Lalu bagaimana kalau dia terlihat terlalu asia? terlalu barat? Lantas apakah dia harus kehilangan kepercayaan diri karena dia tidak terlihat “eksotis”?

Jika ada yang berdarah campuran mulai berpikir ke arah itu, mungkin ini pertanda media massa sudah berhasil meracuni otak kita, karena kita sudah menganggap diri kita obyek sebelum menganggap diri kita manusia. Kita terlalu dipusingkan oleh apa yang melekat di diri kita.

Dilema Warna Kulit
Saya tahu banyak orang-orang turunan campuran merasa minder karena ada darah campuran. Mereka dari kecil merasa berbeda dengan lingkungan mereka.

Mereka mungkin heran kenapa wajah saudara mereka berbeda dengan wajah mereka. Mereka mungkin heran kenapa kakak mereka berwajah agak bule, tapi wajah mereka agak lebih sawo matang, atau sipit. Saat masuk ke masyarakat yang memiliki kultur dominan, mereka harus melepaskan segala kultur yang sebenarnya melekat pada mereka, dan mungkin harus mengubah penampilan fisik mereka agar diterima masyarakat.

Seorang famili saya menceritakan bahwa sewaktu kecil rambutnya berwarna merah. Untuk mencegah diskriminasi sewaktu di sekolah, mama si pihak yang bersangkutan secara rutin memberikan kemiri pada rambutnya, agar rambutnya jadi hitam dan tidak dianggap berbeda dengan anak-anak lain. Ternyata ini menjadi persoalan serius.

Saya untungnya tidak pernah mengalami masalah serupa. Saya dari dulu bersekolah di sekolah swasta yang kebanyakan siswanya adalah Tionghoa jadi saya tidak pernah mengalami rasisme serius. Saya beruntung, tapi saya yakin beberapa orang lain mungin tidak demikian.

Setelah browsing di Internet tanpa henti, membaca berbagai diskusi orang-orang keturunan darah campur (saya menggunakan kata kunci seperti “eurasia” atau “mixed heritage”), ternyata memang persoalan identitas darah campur dialami oleh sebagian besar orang-orang tersebut.

Ada yang susah untuk berbangga atas darah yang mengalir di tubuh mereka, tapi banyak yang mengatakan, justru, kita harus berbangga akan darah itu, karena kita tidak memilih untuk lahir sebagai abu-abu.

Kita sendiri yang memutuskan mengaku hitam atau putih. Tapi itu menyangkal kebenaran: pada faktanya, keturunan darah campur adalah abu-abu. Mereka akan selalu berada dalam posisi kebingungan akan jati diri kalau mereka tidak mau menerima fakta bahwa mereka memang campuran. Tidak hitam, tidak putih. Tapi campur.

Masih Malu Mengakui Darah Campur?
Butuh keberanian bagi saya pribadi untuk merasa bangga dengan darah yang mengalir di tubuh saya. Saya seorang generasi ketiga Chinese-Belanda-Jawa.

Saya tidak terlalu mengenal kultur Chinese, saya tidak bisa mandarin. Saya tidak bisa bahasa belanda. boro-boro bahasa jawa. Muka saya apalagi. Lebih condong ke Chinese. Tidak ada sedikitpun pertanda ada Belanda-Jawa-nya.

Tapi semakin saya ingin mengatakan saya bukan orang Chinese-Belanda-Jawa, saya makin menyangkal identitas diri sendiri dan itu membuat saya merasa tidak nyaman dan seolah menyangkal diri saya yang sesungguhnya.

Saya akhirnya bisa berdamai dengan segala perasaan ambivalen pada identitas ini. Saya merasa lega karena bisa mengatakan dengan bangga bahwa saya darah campur. Ini membuat saya merasa bagian dari masyarakat global dan membuat saya merasa senang mempelajari kultur yang berbeda.

Saya yakin saya tidak sendiri. Jika kita memang berdarah campur, lalu kenapa menolaknya? Itu adalah bagian dari diri keunikan diri kita. Justru dengan adanya darah campur ini, kita bisa kemana saja dan lebih mudah mengapresiasi budaya dan perbedaan orang lain.

Bacaan Referensi:
Indo People (Wikipedia)

]]> http://republikbabi.com/kenapa-malu-mengakui-darah-campur/feed 18 http://republikbabi.com/mythological-deities-in-indonesian-words http://republikbabi.com/mythological-deities-in-indonesian-words#comments Tue, 12 May 2009 11:51:11 +0000 calvinms http://republikbabi.com/mythological-deities-in-indonesian-words As mythology enthusiast, I came to realize that many words from various languages survived into modern area, have their root from mythology deities. Greek and Latin is probably the best example, there are many modern words from Greek and Latin that was originally name of their gods, take for instance:

• Sophia (Wisdom) = Usually considered as female aspect of God, associated with Holy Spirit and consort of Christ.
• Luna (Moon) = Often considered as moon goddess in Roman cult
• Sol (Sun) = Worshipped as sun god in Roman cult, counterpart of Greek’s Helios. His day was celebrated in 25th December, later on Jesus was syncretized with this.
• Mnemonic = God of memory, Mneme
• Somnia = From Somnus, god of sleep
• Easter = from “Isthar”, fertility goddess of Babylon. It’s the most important christianized pagan ritual in western hemisphere.

There are many more, even day in english actually are remnants of pagan worshipping from pre-christian era:

• Sunday (Sun Day, too obvious)
• Monday (Moonday)
• Tuesday (Tyr’s Day, Scandinavian counterpart of Mars/Ares)
• Wednesday (Wodan’s Day, High god from German’s paganism, early considered as Hermes/Mercurius and later evolved into Sky Father Odin)
• Thursday (Thor’s Day, god of lightning of Scandinavian mythlogy, counterpart of Zeus/Jupiter )
• Friday (Frigg’s Day, goddess of fertility, Venus counterpart)
• Saturday (Saturnus, the Titan in Roman mythology. Originally considered father of Jupiter, but later introduced as agriculture god)

Indonesian’s weekdays are derived from Arabic, though unfortunately I couldn’t find whether the original arabic days have their root on myth. Pre-islamic Arabia is noted as the most obscure period in Arab history, and this is also the reason I failed the name of pagan gods before introduction of Allah to Arab.

But interestingly, Javanese and Balinese calendar adopted from Sankrit and hindu practice, which means they might originally have mythological aspect which I am yet to investage.

I also have listed some words in Indonesia modern language which etymology might/might not have relations with the ancient mythology from ancient near east such as:

• Anu = Anu is the god in sumerian pantheon. The word Anu in Indonesia means “something”, or “what”, highly unrelated to its original meaning.
• Lelet = Maybe from the angel of Eleleth or Lilith? Eleleth is angel of Gnostic Myth, whie Lilith is Adam’s 1st wife as informed by Talmud. She also appeared in Babylon myth, and probably when Genesis was written during babylonian captivity. Lelet means “late” though.
• Matahari = Hari could be derived from Horus, Egypt’s sun god. Often associated as counterpart of Christ. His eyes are considered as sun. Mata means Eye, Hari means Day. Mata Hari = Eye of Hari = Eye of Horus = Eye of Day.
• Bulan = From Philipine mythology, Bulan is originally a moon goddess, daugther or Bathala. Bulan means moon in Indonesian language
• Kala = Archaic word of Time, this one is derived from Time god of Hindu origin.
• Maut = From Ugaritic mythology Mot, means death.
• Hawa = means ‘breath’ in our language, originally from Jewish/Hebrew Hawwa that means breah/life as well. Unconsciously used to indicate unexplained power.
• Sabda = From sanskrit origin, counterpart of Greek’s Logos, the divine words of God
• Ya ilah/elah/Allah (Interjection) = Ilah is originally means gods in arab, el is ugaratic god of earth, usually personified as mother goddess (later adopted syncretized with YHWH). Allah of course, Allah, High God of Islam, combination word of al+ilah.
• Alkitab = Indonesian word for Bible, derived from al+kitab (arabic), kitab means book or sacred texts.
• Harta Karun = I never heard the folk tale before, but apparently, there is tale of treasure owned by a man named Qarun, thus it survived into our language as Harta Karun, Treasure of Karun
• Bumi = From Sanskrit origin, means earth, mother goddess
• Sang Hyang = This has interesting origin, because Sang Hyang is sky father and creator which is counterpart of Allah and christian God in Balinese.
• Sri= Demeter’s counterpart, adopted from Shri, Hindu goddess of grain. Usually told to children if they don’t eat all of their rice, they will make Dewi Sri cry
• Ibu Pertiwi = poetic title for a great mother, derived from Hindu Pritivhi
• Alam Baka = There is hebrew word Olam that means ‘World’. I’m still uncertain the original word of Baka, it’s possibly have root from arab. The word Alam Baka means afterlife world.
• Budi = from the word Buddhi, equal to Gnosis in gnostic christianity. Achivement of ultimate knowledge of supreme creator.
• Mentari = The female personification of Sun, another name of Mata Hari.
• Alat = Alat means tools, there is one Goddess of pre-islamic Arabia called “Allat”. The resemblance is striking, but I can’t imagine how to relate between one to another
• Amin = from the word Amen/Amin. The word amen itself has root from Om, the sacred syllable in sanskrit. There is also sun god called Amon-Ra in egyptian pantheon.
• Manusia = from the word Manu, which means human (sanskrit).
• Malak = Malak means blackmailing, but it originally means “King” (Arabic/Hebrew)
• Hikmah = from the arabic, Hikmah. Means Wisdom. Corresponding  Chokmah in Jewish Kabbalah or Sophia in gnostic myth.

Due to my limited knowledge, that’s all the only words I could think of. I’m still trying to confirm whether there are sky god called “Langit” in any of oceanic mythologies, because the word that means sky from other languages usually derived from the name of sky god.

Take a look the relations between word of Zeus-Deus-Dyaus, they all name of sky gods from Greek, Latin, and Hindu. Jupiter made from word “ius pater”, means “our Father”. From the mythological root, it’s pretty interesting to note, christian God is result of syncretized deities of El (High god in Canaanite), Yahweh (War God of Median origin), and Jupiter (Roman Sky god).

In Indonesia and arab-speaking community, christians and moslems in these community thought they are worshipping same God, because they use “Allah” to translate the word “God”. As the result, the community often more peaceful.

This is probably the result of Indonesia being melting pot between Hindu, Buddha, and Arabic civilization. I was also told that the first translation of Indonesian bible actually using names resembles Quran (or probably Arabic bible), not the original septuagint written in greek.

There is also another name of God in Indonesia which is “Tuhan”, which is probably derived from the chinese word “Tian” which means “Sky” or “Heaven”. The word “Tian” oftenly used to address “Lords” and “Kings” in chinese. The word “Tu(h)an” derived from this word as well.

For various political reason, catholic and christians in non-arabic-speaking world or these who do not have language with strong arabic/hebrew root do not address their God as “Allah” or “Yahweh” or “Elohim”.

I also often wondering why mythological deities are written as “god” (lowercase). instead of “God” (uppercase). We subconsciously considers these sacred deities nothing more than folklore, forgetting they were once part of daily life and a belief. This is another proof that history is written by winner, and they could determine what is right and what is wrong.

I guess in the end it’s religious leader who shapes the definition of God in accordance to their own interest.

Maybe the world could have been more peaceful if all Gods in the world are assimilated, just like how Ptolemy Soter I fused the gods of Greeks and Egyptian into one. Though such idea sadly, would be considered blasphemous, offensive, and derag
otary.

]]> http://republikbabi.com/mythological-deities-in-indonesian-words/feed 5 http://republikbabi.com/the-role-of-women-in-ancient-mythologies http://republikbabi.com/the-role-of-women-in-ancient-mythologies#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:34:38 +0000 calvinms http://republikbabi.com/?p=424 Celebrating Kartini’s Day, I decided to write this post which is related to my interest. Here is a fragment of my arduous research of Ancient Near East mythology. I have been reading extensive amounts of Sumerian-Babylonian mythologies in last few months for my next novel. I will probably read Persian, Ugaritic, Akkadian, and Hitite mythology eventually, but it will probably later, because I don’t have enough resources.

At this occasion I will write about Woman and Mother archetypes in ancient mythologies.
Woman in Mythology: Mother Earth
Have you ever thought that woman plays very important role in ancient myth, which extends to this modern day? The archetypes of woman in various ancients religions are pretty interesting to look at because we could see similar pattern in various type of myth.

Woman is usually portrayed in various forms, she is usually identified as “Universal Mother”, “Mother Earth”, and “Queen of Heaven”. This mother earth usually is the first being created in universe along with Sky Father, she is usually the cause of all possibilities because later deities born from her.

Gaia is probably one of the well-known depiction of Mother Goddess in greek myth. She is usually manifested into various different goddess such as Goddess of Grain. Agriculture is usually associated with this mother earth.

In Indonesian mythology (which is lack of documentation), we have Dewi Sri or Ibu Pertiwi. I remember there used to be wise proverb taught by my teachers: “if you don’t eat all of your rice, Dewi Sri will cry.” Rice is associated as blessings from Dewi Sri and shouldn’t be wasted.

Dewi Sri is parallel with Demeter, Greek Goddess of vegetation. There is also term of “Ibu Pertiwi” appears in our national songs, she is originally Hindu Earth Goddess, also called “Bumi”, the Indonesian term for “Earth”.

Dewi, Indonesian loanword for “goddess” is originally aspect of universal mother. She is manifested in various forms which is ranging from gentle Goddess, companion, fertility goddess, but even war goddess (just like Durga). If you are seeing a goddess in a mythology, it’s safe to assume they are all basically same entities (Mother) with different manifestation.

Inanna-Ishtar-Isis-Mary: The Queen(s) of Heaven
Aside from Mother Goddess, there is also occurrence of Goddess with complex persona, she is usually portrayed as temptress, seducer, fertility goddess, mistress of magic, etc. She is commonly associated with planet Venus.

Inanna from Sumerian mythology is the first portrayal mother goddess. Later on, Babylonian absorbed Sumerian pantheon and Inanna is later called Ishtar.

Isthar evolved more than just a mere mother goddess. There are three myths as I could recall:
1. Ishtar descended to underworld, to visit her sister Ereshkigal, the queen of underworld. But Ereshkigal later killed Ishtar, but was revived later.
2. Ishtar has husband (part of many) which is also her son, born by virgin birth, therefore, they are equal. Tammuz, vegetation God (associated with grain) was later died during hot summer, and later revived by Ishtar through many ordeals. I won’t be surprised if this story will remind you to Abduction of Persphone/Prosperina
3. There was also story of Ishtar tempted Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes in Epic of Gilgamesh. Later, Gilgamesh rejected her, saying she is unfaithful goddess for her lovers are many. Ishtar was offended, sent Gilgamesh bull of heaven, causing plague to the city, and later killed by Enkidu. Ishtar complained to council of Gods, and Enkidu was later killed and became part of underworld. The story is terrible, no?

Ishtar is celebrated in Easter day, because it was resurrection day of Tammuz, which is parallel to resurrection of Jesus.

In later myths you will retelling of her stories in various forms such as Isis, which is the most important goddess in ancient Egypt.

Isis, the universal mother of Egyptian Pantheon was an exceptional example of woman’s role in mythology. She is part of Egyptian Trinity of father-mother-son, Osiris-Isis-Horus. Later, her cult dominate the entire Egypt. In Hellenistic Egypt period, the gods are merged, and known as Serapis-Isis-Harpocrates. Among all three, Isis’ cult was the most popular and considered the most important deity, surpassing the sun god Ra. Isis and Harpocrates later merged into Roman Pantheon, and known as Venus and Cupid.

Here we see a pattern of Mother-Child archetype. Roman Catholic church later converted Isis’ temples to sites dedicated to Virgin Mary and crowned him Queen of Heaven. Baby Yeshua/Jesus is often portrayed with Mother Mary, just like little Horus was suckling to Mother Isis.

Trinity also follows the same archetype. The God-Son-Holy Spirit is based of this culture. Holy Spirit is sometimes seen Sophia (Wisdom), the consort of Christ in esoteric Christianity. Jesus was really a mortal, but he was given insight of his Divine Identity as divine Christ through Sophia who manifested in form of Dove. Mary Magdalene is also portrayed as companion of Jesus, and manifestation of Sophia.

If you are wondering the origin of Cross in Christianity, it’s originally from Egypt, symbol of Ankh which is used by Isis. Roman later adopted this into symbol of Venus, and later, adopted as symbol of Christianity.

Masculinization of Religion
It seems strange that with significance of goddess in ancient religion, women were getting marginalized. I was often wondering why there was High Priestess tarot in Major Arcana deck because there was no sign of Woman pope in entire roman catholic church. But I later found out, High Priestess is portrayal of universe mother, but never incorporated in reality due to masculinization of religion practices.

Now let’s take a quick glance to the root of all this cause. If you are thinking all ancient religions follows the same pattern (Sky father, mother earth), it is rather inaccurate.

Here are the clues:
1. There is one god that doesn’t have consort and a destructive one. Genociding other tribes, leaving no space for other religion except his cult. He said to his people that he is jealous god, saying there is no other gods but him.
2. This god put distance with his worshipping people, a distance called holy. He is very different than the down-to-earth god and goddess of Greek Gods or Abraham’s God who assumed human forms whose encounter was more human than being divine.

It’s easy guess right? The god is none other than Yahweh Sabaoth.

Yahweh was originally god of war, parallel with Ares and Mars. Remember the time when Moses first contacted Yahweh in Midian? It was burning fire, full of fear and distance, unlike the epiphany encountered by Abraham with El.

Later, Yahweh obliterated other gods and goddesses, and the cult of Yahweh became more masculine, and woman role in religion grew less important compared to primitive times because reduced role of Mother Goddess in religion. People stopped worshipping goddess of fertility.

Yahweh and ever-loving New testament God mentioned by Jesus was considered separate entity during the early Christian period due to different nature of their attributes. One is brutal and savage, one is full of love and forgiveness.

Both were merged later on to unite the diverse tribes in Roman’s colonies. Christianity is seen more effective measure to unite the people. Later on, the Roman Catholic church will demonize other gods and telling they are inferior beings, which could also be interpreted as elegant chauvinism in name of God.

In Popular Culture
If you have played Xenogears, a Japanese role playing game released by Squaresoft in 1998, you will be delighted to identify various archetypes in the game.

The protagonist, Fei Wong Fong was in love with a girl called Elehayym van Houten (called Elly in the game). After a very complicated long adventure and long blah-blah-blahs (it took about 30 hours before getting into the real story), Fei was really Abel, the first man/child in their planet.

In the lonely world, Abel was longing out for a protective figure. Zohar, an omnipotent object from another dimension heard his cry, and thus Elehayym was born. If you are familiar with Ugaritic Mythology, you will probably thrilled to know that Elehayym is feminine name of “Elohim”, which is Abraham’s God.

YHVH and Elohim was later merged, but back then they were separate deities. Elohim was High God in Canaan, identified as sky father, such as Zeus. Incase you haven’t noticed, Elly is read as “Eli”, which means ‘god’.

In the game, they are portrayed having endless cycle of rebirth, ended with tragedies, and they never have children because they are originally Mother and Son and later evolved as lovers.

Best Seller Means a Girl Must be Kidnapped and Rescued by Handsome Prince Later
If you hate the pattern of “damsel in distress”, you should blame “Perseus and Andromeda”, the archetype of story where “woman is being kidnapped by some wicked evil being, the hero saved her, having marriage, and they live happily ever after”. The pattern appears in forms of fairy tales such as “snow white and 7 dwarfs”, “Sleeping Beauty”, etc.

Back then, woman is the one came to the rescue. Just remember the story of powerful Ishtar revived Tammuz, or how Isis revived his husband, Osiris from death after his body was cut into 13 pieces (his p*n*s was replaced by Isis with magical one).

Twilight was heavily criticized because Bella is a damsel in distress (Atri told me that she was called ultimate mary sue… btw what is mary sue?).

Indeed, girls could easily associate with her due nature of girls who love story of “Knight in Shining Armor” type, Edward Cullen is a perfect archetype “Tragedic Knight in Shining Armor” because he was seen as imperfect (alienated from society due his eternity, but wtf an eternal vampire is doing in school is he an eternal student as well?), but also portrayed humanly perfect (handsome, gentle, shy, cold, RICH, etc etc.).

I have seen dozens prince types in japanese manga (called “bishonen”, means beautiful man/boy) so I’m not really surprised. The portrayal of Cullen being glittered under sunshine was hilarious, it reminds me to sparkle effects when a bishonen character appears in a scene of manga (usually ornamented with roses and such).

It seems girls starting to have fetish in cute Japanese/Chinese/Korean guys thanks to internet to distribute newest doramas from these countries. It was amusing to read girls idolizing “cute asian guys”, because from my observation, it seems Asian men are effeminated in western stereotype, they are considered less masculine and less attractive compared to other tribes. Since this is stereotype, I couldn’t say it’s true or not, well… it’s stereotype, it’s up to you to decide.

Conclusion: What can we learn from these?
If you are asking me, who is my most favorite Goddess, I would probably vote for Isis.

I was catholic, and knowing that Virgin Mary was aspect of Universal Mother, it made me even thrilled. Everyone in Catholic prayed to Virgin Mary, the universal mother. She was seen as everloving and understanding mother just like how Mary was always portrayed as loving mother. I was once told praying to Virgin Mary is praying to devil, I think this statement is terrible.

I don’t understand why protestants condemned Mary, because everything has same root. Jealous monotheist religions probably despise my opinion, but there is nothing
bad about paganism because you could see it everywhere.

Holy Spirit is also portrayed feminine, another form of universal mother. Protestants worship God as Holy Spirit, which they say shouldn’t be considered as separate being. Islam considers Christians worships three Gods, the Father, the Son, and the holy spirit, while just like Judaism, they believe God is the only one and none others.

See the pattern here? Protestants don’t agree that Catholics should pray to Mary (as intermediary between people and Jesus), Islam don’t agree to both because God/Allah is only one and incomprehensible, but Christians won’t admit Holy Spirit is also aspect of Universal Mother and has root of long pagan tradition. Protestants and Catholic, in this sense, unconsciously continue the tradition of worshipping the Universal Mother. They are believing same things in different manifestation.

We could learn a lot about toleration and compassion from the ancient polytheistic religions in ancient Greco-Roman civilizations. Roman was depicted as “Great Harlot” in revelation because of this. In the monotheist point of view, this is considered a blasphemy because they are products of evil and misleading. It’s even worse because some people probably read holy scriptures literally and insisted they are actual unquestionable facts.

Why was Isis immensely popular? Probably because everyone in this world idolizes her mother, and Isis is the archetype, ideal figure of Perfect Mother.

Now here comes interesting question, why do people worship the Universal Mother? What is the root all of this?

Freud said because our mother/father is our first love.

Conscious or unconsciously, a man or woman will seek for companion that is reflection of his/her parents, and it is manifested in the interpretation of the universe. People interpret the warmth and goodness of earth as feminine (mother) aspect of the unknown, incomprehensible God that is source of our physical realm. Man and woman idolizing their mother, because she is your life-giver and it’s manifested in various aspects.

God is neither verifiable nor falsifiable, but religion practices and their interpretation is made by man.

I could write this forever, but I will just end it here. Happy Kartini day, respect yourself, respect woman, respect your mother, respect our mother earth, the life-givers.

I will be more than happy if you could analyze and identify the archetypes in my novel, Jukstaposisi, especially if you could find inspiration of Ashra Trivurti, the protagonist, which later realized she is really god.

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