Bluntly Fresh Morning Overture

t...and then there was none....

First, it was my mom, then it's Auntie Isna, a while back it was Auntie Iyin, and this morning... Auntie Elly has passed away... the four sisters are no longer here with us, their family... Rest in peace, Auntie. May God bless your soul, forgive your wrongdoings and acknowledge all of your good deeds. Rest in Peace, Auntie. Our prayers with you......

March 7, 2008 the Hindus in Indonesia are celebrating Nyepi in tranquil atmosphere. Don't bother to try to look at Indian calendars, as it's only a national holiday in Indonesia. Hindu in our country have its own version, distinct versions which are very different from Hindu in India.
Nyepi is a day of seclusion where people meditate and remain in silence to welcome the Saka New Year, a lunar year's cycle. The island of Bali especially is in peaceful silence all day long. Not only the Hindus who are in silence, because the non-Hindus also keep to themselves out of respect, even the tourists are no exception.
Days before the actual Nyepi, people do all kinds of ritual, from cleaning, fasting, etc. At the actual day, people follow the condition of: Amati Geni (no fire), Amati Karya (not working), Amati Lelungan (not traveling), and Amati Lelanguan (no entertainment). This long chain of rituals end with the coming of Saka New Year.
For all of you who are celebrating, I'm wishing you a Solemn Nyepi and a Happy Saka New Year!

I wonder about how a country known to the world known as "Japan" proudly call their own country as "Nippon", just like Germany call their country "Deutschland", or Moroccans with their own "Al Maghribiyya". What about Indonesians?

Where did the name "Indonesia" come from? In the old colonial time, there were times when the people in this territory were called as Dutch East Indians. The term somehow wasn't favored by intellectuals, some of them tried to find other terms which they thought more agreeable. In 1850, an English ethnologist came up with the name Indunesians and Melayunesians to replace that term. "Indus" means India, and "nesos" means island. Actualy he preferred the term "Melayunesians", "Melayu" which means Malay and "nesos" which means island.

Not surprisingly, academics from the Netherlands were not really fond of these terms, but they couldn't do anything as the term "Indonesia" became really popular in academic circles outside of the Netherlands. Nationalist groups from the island looking for ways to express their political standings finally adopted the name. Ki Hajar Dewantara (Suwardi Suryaningrat) was the first Indoensian scholar to use the name "Indonesia" in his press bureau Indonesisch Pers-bureau in the Netherlands (1923).

Let's put aside the fact that "Indonesia" has already been established as our official name. The name "Indian islands" is a very incorrect way to call our archipelago. Even "Malay islands" would not suffice either, as the people in the eastern part of Indonesia has got nothing to do with the Malay. What is the right way to call our beloved archipelago, then? Didn't we have any term to call our cluster of islands back then? When you ask an Indonesian what alternative names does s/he got for Indonesia, you might come up with "Tanah Air" (which means Land and Water) and Nusantara. Now, what is the meaning of Nusantara?

To find the answer, we might have to dig into the ancient feudal times of our islands, to the history of the glorious Majapahit Empire to be exact. The Majapahit Empire which had a very big power over the islands had special terms for the areas under their sphere of influence. These terms were made famous by an otah made by a prime minister of Majapahit Empire, Gajah Mada, who vowed to unite "Nusantara". The terms are:

1. Negara Agung , the grand state, the core kingdom which covered the whole East Java and its surrounding areas.

2. Manca Negara, countries surrounding Negara Agung which receive strong influences from the Javanese culture that could even be perceived even today. This includes the entire Java island, Madura, Bali, and maybe some parts of Sumatra (such as Lampung and Palembang).

3. Nusantara, "nusa" means island and "antara" means other. It referred to the areas under the influence of the empire but were not exactly under its government, kingdoms which paid tribute to the empire.

Even though areas under the term "Nusantara" consisted of almost all of the areas now parts of Indonesia (and beyond, as it included parts of what is now Malaysia and the Philippines too), it still couldn't satisfy the need of a proper term as this term had a negative expansionist nuance in it and it doesn't cover the whole Indonesia either.

Still, "Indian islands" remained an annoying term. In 1920, Ernest Francois Eugene Douwes Dekker (who preferred to be called Setiabudi) introduced a new term for the country which had no word "India" in it, the name presented was "Nusantara". But this term is not the same with the 14th century one, it has a new spirit and meaning in it. Dr Setiabudi used the term in a non-agressive way, "Nusantara" is just the way he referred to the archipelago from Sabang to Merauke, an area of extend what is now known as Indonesia.

Furthermore, his version of Nusantara has a new meaning, as it does not have the meaning of "other island" like the one in Majapahit's time. His Nusantara is derived from the Javanese word "nusa" which means island, and the new "antara" was not taken from Sanskrit "antara" (which is a foreign word), rather, it came from a Malay word which means "between".

A fusion between the Javanese word and the Malay word created the new meaning of Nusantara, "islands in between". Yes, our archipelago are islands in between, between two continents (Asia and Australia), between oceans (Pacific and Indian), between cultures....

And what a beautiful name he came up with! A name that we could proudly and full of affection say to ourselves: our islands, our country, our beloved Nusantara :)

For Indonesians like me, "Kalimantan" is simply the name we use to call the entire island known in international world as "Borneo", just like how we call your "banana" as "pisang". But apparently, some people actually thought that "Kalimantan" as merely the name of the Indonesian part of the island. It's understandable that foreigners to have this way of thinking, but what disturbing is the fact that even few Indonesians thought the same way. So I think it's important for us to discuss about the origins of these names.

Borneo is a corruption of the word "Brunai" as the British tried to pronounce it. In time, they use that term to call the entire island even though the Sultanate of Brunai Darussalam covered only the northern part of the island. Colonial Dutch occupying part of the island in turn caught on calling the island as Borneo too, a name they took from their fellow colonialist, the British.

While Kalimantan is the name that is closer to us, the natives of Kalimantan. According to the history, while the Portuguese called the island as "Borneo", the natives called the island as "Pulo Klemantan". According to Crowfurd in Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Island (1856), "klemantan" is the name of a sort of mango, he added that the name had a quality of a folk tale. While according to C. Hose and Mac Dougall "klemantan" came from the names of the local ethnic groups; Iban, Kayan, Kenyah, Klemantan, Munut and Punan. In Natural Man, a record from Borneo (1926), C. Hose explained that "klemantan" is a new name used by the Malay. W. H. Treacher had a different opinion, he thought that the name came from "Lamantah" which means raw sago. Lastly, Prof. Dr. Slamet Muljana in his book Sriwijaya had a theory that "Kalimantan" was derived from Sanskrit "kalamanthana" which means "an island so hot it burns".

A 1857 record says that in his correspondence with the Dutch Resident, Prince Tamjidillah of Banjar Kingdom referred to the island as "Kalimantan island" and not "Borneo island". This shows that even though the name Borneo was preferred by the Dutch Colonial government, the term Kalimantan was more popular among the natives.

Conclusion:
We could not do anything about how foreigners define "Kalimantan", the important thing is that we as Indonesians should realize that the term has always been used by the natives of Kalimantan and has a long history. Thus, we have the obligation to use it correctly. Now I don't understand why Malaysians stick to the name given byt heir colonialist, nor do I want to force English speaker to change the way they call the island, and I couldn't even do it if I wanted to.

We can't force them to call "Cologne" as "Koln", or "Greenland" as "Kallaalit Nunnaat", so I can't expect them to change for us too. Let's just call the island according to our own ways, but with it'd be nice if they acknowledge that "Kalimantan" is Indonesians' way of calling the whole island.

On the side note, though. There are few languages that refer to the island as "Kalimantan" rather than "Borneo", and I really appreciate them! Some examples: Eesti, Иронау, and Русский.

The black color on the Banjarese house in both South Kalimantan and Banjarmasin's coat of arms represent the high culture of Banjar people. As a Banjarese, it's my duty to appreciate and promote our own heritage. So from now on I will try to write about our culture.

For the first article I choose to do an overview of Traditional Architecture of Banjar people, the reason is because I've written parts of the article about this specific matter in Wikipedia, so it's easier for me. These types of houses could still be found in South Kalimantan, but unfortunately they are in a bad shape to say the least. Such a shame, because their existence resonates the glory of our past.

Not only we should preserve it for the sake of our heritage, but because this type of houses was built with great consideration and expertise. Traditional dwellings in Indonesia have developed to respond to natural environmental conditions, particularly Indonesia's hot and wet monsoonal climate. Banjarese traditional vernacular homes are built on stilts. A raised floor serves a number of purposes: it allows breeze to moderate the hot tropical temperatures; it elevates the dwelling above stormwater runoff and mud; allows houses to be built on rivers and wetland margins; keeps people, goods and food from dampness and moisture; lifts living quarters above malaria-carrying mosquitos; and the house is much less affected by dry rot and termites. "Modern" houses which most Banjarese prefer nowadays don't have that kind of sensibility.

Bubungan Tinggi:

Gajah Manyusu: the type of house of the nobles or "pagustian", the ones who bore the title of "gusti".


Balai Laki: the type of house for high officials such as the ministers.


Balai Bini: they type of house for the ladies of the court, such as women of nobility and nannies of the court.



Palimbangan: the type of house for high clerics and big merchants.


Palimasan (Rumah Gajah): this type of house was where gold, silver and other precious belongings kept.


Anjung Surung (Cacak Burung): This is the type of house of commoners. The shape of this house if seen from above is the shape of a cross(+), that is why it is also known as Rumah Cacak Burung.


Tadah Alas: A development of the Balai Bini style.


Rumah Lanting: raft house which floats on the rivers of South Kalimantan.


Joglo Gudang: This type of house has the roof that is similar to Joglo (Javanese-style house), hence the name. While the name “Gudang” (which means "storehouse") was given because the lower part of the house is usually used to store things. This feature makes this type of house is the preferred style of the Chinese-ethnicity who live in South Kalimantan.

Bangun Gudang: a type of traditional house in South Kalimantan.

My biggest and endless thanks to Alamnirvana for giving us such precious photos. Semoga tuntung pandang ruhui rahayu, dingsanak lah!