By Stephanus Djuweng
Among a score of Melayu (Muslim Malay) sultanates found throughout West Kalimantan, both along its coasts and on the upper course of its rivers, there once existed a Dayak kingdom known as Kerajaan Ulu Are or Kerajaan Ulu Aik ("Kingdom of the Headwaters"), which seems to be absent from the written historical record. The names Ulu Are and Ulu Aik refer to the upriver location of the village of Sengkuang, the kingdom‘s capital, in the Sandai District in the interior of Ketapang Regency. The kingdom of Ulu Are appears to have been the only non-Islamized kingdom in West Kalimantan.
Although the raja of Ulu Are lacked the executive authority usually held by a Melayu sultan, as reflected in the levying of taxes, his rule was recognized by a number of Dayak ethnic groups living in the region now comprising the Sandai, Sungai Laur, and Simpang Hulu Districts in Ketapang Regency, as well as by a number of other Dayak groups in Sanggau Regency. Furthermore, the kingdoms of Tanjung Pura, centered in the village of Tanjungpura near Ketapang, and Matan, centered near Teluk Melanau, in the Ketapang Regency, acknowledged not only the existence, but also the seniority and historical prominence, of the kingdom of Ulu Are.
The Raja as Symbol of the Dayak Federation
According to several ketua adat (customary leaders) from Simpang Hulu District, the king of Ulu Are was the symbolic leader of a regional federation of Dayak groups, as he was believed to have been entrusted by Pareman Tuan Datuk Patara Guru (the Creator) with the authority to maintain peace and security among the Dayak people. This authority was symbolized by an iron object known as the Bosi Koling Tungkat Rakyak, "the Koling Iron Staff, the People‘s Champion".
Local beliefs have it that, when the Koling Staff wears away in the middle, the Dayak people will face great difficulties, such as warfare, epidemics, extended drought, natural disasters, or famine. These calamities are believed to be entailed by disrespect of customs and traditions, or transgression of certain prohibitions--such as adultery, pregnancy outside of marriage, abuse of authority by a leader, or the burning of forests or sacred places--as such sins disrupt the balance and harmony between nature and mankind and between the Creator and his Creation, that is, nature and humankind. The ritual language, in the Simpang tongue, has a specific expression for this condition: Dank dah mee bamacan, tolok dah mee banabo, that is, "The tiger of the mountain has fled the dragon of the deep river pool has gone away".
If such disharmony were to occur, the Creator would punish mankind with the calamities described above. To mend the situation, the whole village where the transgression occurred had to be cleansed by way of a traditional ceremony, babantan, whose purpose was the atonement of individual and collective sins and, subsequently, the restoration of harmony between nature and mankind and of the relationship between humankind and its Creator. Everyone in the village participated in the ceremony by contributing rice, chickens, eggs, pigs, goats, or other items. This contribution to the babantan ceremony was known as pupu-caup.
The Legend of Karanamuna and Karanamuning
These beliefs and traditions are also found in the legend of Karanamuna and Karanamuning, which in its Melayu version is known as the legend of the Princess of Foam (Puteri Junjung Buih) or the legend of the Seven-Sectioned Bamboo (Betung Tujuh Ruas). This legend is summarized below.
"In the times when humans were still few on earth, there lived a woman called Aji Mantelok. She was given this name because she begot children by laying eggs, one of the left sides of a road, and the other one on the right side. From the two eggs were born a boy and a girl named Karanamuna and Karanamuning respectively. Since they had already been separated by a road, they were allowed to marry, and Aji Mantelok performed a marriage ceremony for the two children.
"Later, after Karanamuning had been pregnant for seven years, seven months, and seven days, but showed no signs that she was going to give birth, she had a craving to eat the liver of a white monkey. So her husband went to the forest with his blowpipe. Upon arriving in the thick forest, he saw a white monkey. As he was aiming his blowpipe, suddenly the monkey spoke: "I hereby inform all animals that we will meet at this place in two days. I will pass on some important tenets and then, I will die". Then, the white monkey suddenly disappeared.
"On the day of the meeting, Karanamuna returned to the forest, where all sorts of animals were already congregating. As he arrived, the monkey spoke again from a high tree: "Animals and humans have different norms and values. Humans live by their customs (adat) and are buried within the soil. Customs are the basic regulations of human life and those who violate them must be punished". The monkey then enumerated various regulations and the retribution for their transgression. One was that humans may not marry their own siblings. Offenders were to be placed inside a fish trap made of bemban stakes tied with wire and then thrown into the river. They were to be given a lead knife and, if the Creator wished them to live, they would be able to escape; if not, they had to accept the consequences of their act.
"Then, the monkey came down from his tree and Karanamuna shot him and took his liver. Upon arriving home, Karanamuna saw that Karanamuning had given birth to seven children. Then, in a ceremony, he entrusted the children to Patara Guru. He and his wife entered a fish trap, like the monkey had described, and floated down the river. As they were drifting downstream, the fish trap got snagged on the hooked thorns of a rattan vine and a cowry cut the trap‘s wire, so that they were able to escape.
"Meanwhile, Patara Guru placed the seven children inside a seven-sectioned piece of bamboo in the middle of the dry rice field of King Sink Bulan. When King Sink Bulan split the bamboo, the seven children emerged. The eldest, Tamongong (or Tumenggong) Ira Bansa, was holding a piece of iron and the youngest, a girl named Dayang Kutong, had a gold nugget the size of a cucumber, whereas the other five children had nothing at all. The king cut thin slices off the gold nugget and distributed them amongst the five children who had nothing, before returning the nugget to Dayang Kutong.
"Because she was still a baby, Dayang Kutong was not strong enough to hold the heavy nugget, which fell on the floor where it was bitten by a dog, then fell to the ground (under the longhouse) where it was bitten by a pig, then sank into the ground. The little princess cried and cried. To cheer her up, King Siak Bulun told Dayang Kutong that the gold would bring peace on earth ("keep the world cool") and make the land fertile and that her five siblings would repay her in the form of their crops for 17 generations". The story then goes on.
Briefly, Tamongong Ira Bansa, the first king of Ulu Are, settled near the headwaters of the Keriau River, a branch of the Pawan River, whereas Dayang Kutong‘s children began in the coastal area a line of Melayu kings, who would later become sultans. As for the other siblings, they dispersed throughout the surrounding regions. The piece of iron that Tamongong Ira Bansa was holding when he emerged from the bamboo became known as Bosi Koling Tungkat Rakyat.
The Koling Staff
According to Timotius Ajim, a descendant of the kings of Ulu Are who now lives in Pontianak, the people of Sengkuang and the surrounding area still very highly regard the Koling Staff, Bosi Koling Tungkat Rakyat. Sixty-year old Poncing, the direct descendant of the kings of Ulu Are and Ajim‘s uncle, now is the guardian of the Koling Staff (as pusaka).
The Koling Staff is stored in a special chest wrapped in yellow cloth, inside a special room. No one may see it, except the king himself on the day of his enthronement, and even then, he may only look at it with one eye, because the eye that sees it will become blind. Thus the kings of Ulu Are were usually blind in one eye (picing).
This piece of metal, according to Ajim, is about one hand-span long (jangkal, about 20 cm) and about as broad as a lalang leaf (Imperata grass; about 1 cm). Oral tradition has it that, at the times of Tamongong Ira Bansa, the Koling Staff was broader, but it grew thinner and thinner as the years passed and more and more sins were committed. When the Koling Staff finally wears out, tradition states, the whole world will come to an end.
So that it would not wear out completely, a ceremony called maruba was held every year during the full moon in July--now, says Ajim, it is Poncing who leads this cycle of rituals lasting three days. On the first day the king, with his eyes closed, would examine the Koling Staff and spread over it some oil mixed with various spices. Then, he would meditate while fasting the whole day.
Relations of Ulu Are with Matan and Tanjung Pura
Another story about the Kingdom of Ulu Are was related by a ketua adat of the Simpang Dayak of Simpang Hulu District. In the 1930s, he witnessed a meeting between the then king of Ulu Are, Patinggi Jambu, and the sultan of Matan (also called the Sultan of Simpang), who were both travelling. At the longhouse of Bukang village, the Sultan of Matan first met with a group of Dayak tribal leaders then, shortly thereafter, the king of Ulu Are arrived at Bukang.
After Patinggi Jambu entered the longhouse, he paid homage to the Sultan of Matan. But the latter swiftly stepped aside to avoid the homage. At that instant, the main pillar of the longhouse, just behind the spot where the sultan was standing an instant earlier, split in two. The sultan of Matan then paid homage to the king of Ulu Are. According to eyewitnesses, the sultan stated that he was a junior (i.e., from a junior genealogical line) to the king of Ulu Are, and therefore it was not proper for him to receive homage. If he had not stepped aside, it might have been his belly that had been split in two.
Indonesian independence brought about the end of the Melayu sultans‘ power. It also ended the payment of tribute in kind (pajak bumi) by the Dayak people to the Melayu sultans. This was regarded by Dayak leaders as the fulfilment of King Siak Bulan‘s pronouncement to Dayang Kutong, that she would receive tribute from her siblings for only 17 generations. True or false, for centuries this story had marked the relations between the Dayak groups and the kingdoms of Tanjung Pura and Matan (Simpang). The seven-sectioned bamboo has been exalted as the symbol of Ketapang Regency.
Long-lasting Effects
Belgian researcher Mil Roekaerts noted that the Dutch colonial authorities use the Melayu sultans as their proxies in order to govern the Dayak groups, thus creating a two-tiered colonization system. The behaviour of the people in power toward the Dayak was occasionally less than humane. Many Dayak groups (known in the literature as Dayak Serah), such as the Linoh near Sintang (see Roekaerts 1986), were virtually enslaved by the local sultans.
Researchers with the IDRD have determined that this two-tiered colonization has had traumatizing effects on Dayak youth. Before the 1995s, the Dayak felt contemptible and ashamed to have their names written as Dayak with a final k (see Djuweng 1992), and many changed their names to imitate Javanese or Batak names. It is regrettable, as one IDRD researcher stated that many Dayaks including highly educated intellectuals are unaware of this situation. Low self-esteem, usually found among oppressed people, is still reflected in the daily attitudes and behaviour of the West Kalimantan Dayak peoples.
This note was translated by John C. Ryan in Pontianak and edited by Bernard Sellato.
References
Djuweng, Stepanus. 1992 Dayak, Dyak, Daya‘ dan Daya, Cermin Kekaburan Sebuah Identitas. Kalimantan Review, 1:7-11.
________. 1993 Dari Dayak menjadi Daya, Sejarah dan Implikasinya. one of a set of articles published by the IDRD under the general title "Orang Dayak, Rakyat Kecil yang Terperangkap Modernisasi" in the national daily, Suara Pembaruan, Jakarta.
Roekaerts, Mil. 1986 Tanah Diri. Kalimantan Barat, Land Rights of Tribals, Cooperation Internationale pour le Developpement et Ia Solidarite, 50 p.
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