Photo exhibition explores lives of Java’s Samin tribes
Identity cards display more than just your name, date of birth and address. They also reveal your job, your marital status and your religion.
If you take a close look at the ID card of a Central Javanese Samin tribesperson, you will notice the religion section is left blank.
“It’s because our religion is not one of the five religions recognized by the government,” said Gun Retno, a Samin from Surabaya.
Little is known about the Samin tribe and, unfortunately, they are often stereotyped as lazy and anti-development.
This stereotype is derived from Samin Surantiko, a public figure who lived in the Samin community at the border of East Java and Central Java. Samin led his people through the struggles of Dutch colonialism and was known to refuse to do anything ordered by the Dutch.
His resistance inspired people in Pati, Blora, Kudus and Bojonegoro to respond to the Dutch in the same way. Their resistance to the Dutch, however, created the Samin stereotype, known as sedulur sirep.
Peter Dwiyanto, a photographer from Surabaya and alumni of Petra Christian University, has long felt troubled by the stereotype. He felt motivated to research the tribe for his final major work as a student. He lived for a month with the Samin tribes in Pati, Kudus and Blora to learn more about them.
He learned the people, who wear black clothes and batik headscarves, value honesty, reflected in a list of the tribes’ 20 taboos.
The taboos include being jealous, envious, frugal and easily upset. Stealing, pilfering, touting, lying and being ungrateful are also taboo.
“Essentially the Samin people are honest in their activities and attitudes,” Peter said.
Following this philosophy allowed Peter to enjoy unforgettable experiences during his stay in the communities.
“Someone left some money in a Samin community in the 80s and it is still being well-kept,” he said.
Gun said the Samin maintained honesty in everything they say and do. They do what they say and say what they do. If they think they will not be able to do it, they will not say they can. Because of this tradition, the Samin are often regarded as strange.
Gun, who has four children, is reluctant to speak Indonesian because he thinks he is not proficient in the language.
“I prefer to speak Javanese because this is the language I know and understand best. When I speak Indonesian, I feel afraid I will make mistakes,” he said in Javanese.
The farmer in black said that his choice to speak Javanese did not mean that the Samin rejected anything new introduced to them, including technology.
“We also have TVs, tractors to harvest the rice fields and other modern items in our village. But we only use them when necessary, not excessively,” he said.
When it comes to education, the Samin prefer to teach their children about life based on their own experiences. The sons learn how to farm from their fathers while the girls learn cooking from their mothers.
“We don’t teach them reading and writing, but if they want to, they can learn from their friends,” he said.
As a result, most of the Samin do not have the same type of education as other Indonesians. After graduating from elementary school, they work on the land.
The Samin refuse to pretend they belong to one of six recognized faiths — Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
“If we say we are Muslim or Christian, we have to live a way of life in accordance with the religion. But we are not Muslim and we are not Christian and we don’t have any religion recognized by the government,” he said.
The Samin have their own religion they call Adam so they prefer to keep the religion section on their ID cards blank.
“It seems we can’t do that anymore because we have to fill in that part,” he said.
A two-week photo exhibition featuring the life of the Samin people is being held at the French Cultural Center in Surabaya until March 11.
Source: The Jakarta Post
Add comment March 10th, 2008