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Indonesia Dayak
Another group of ethnic minorities struggling for
recognition
in the 1980s were the peoples of southern Kalimantan.
Traditionally, most of the scattered ethnolinguistic
groups
inhabiting the interior of the vast island have been
labelled
collectively by outsiders as Dayak. Among the Dayak are
the Ngaju
Dayak, Maanyan, and Lawangan. Although they have
traditionally
resided in longhouses that served as an important
protection
against slave raiding and intervillage raids, the people
of this
region are not communalistic. They have bilateral kinship,
and the
basic unit of ownership and social organization is the
nuclear
family. Religiously, they tend to be either Protestant or
Kaharingan, a form of native religious practice viewed by
the
government as Hindu. The Dayak make a living through
swidden
agriculture and possess relatively elaborate death
ceremonies in
which the bones are disinterred for secondary reburial.
A number of the peoples in the region practice the
Kaharingan
religion. Through its healing performances, Kaharingan
serves to
mold the scattered agricultural residences into a
community, and it
is at times of ritual that these peoples coalesce as a
group. There
is no set ritual leader nor is there a fixed ritual
presentation.
Specific ceremonies may be held in the home of the
sponsor.
Shamanic curing or balian is one of the core
features of
these ritual practices. Because this healing practice
often occurs
as a result of the loss of the soul, which has resulted in
some
kind of illness, the focus of the religion is thus on the
body.
Sickness comes by offending one of the many spirits
inhabiting the
earth and fields, usually from a failure to sacrifice to
them. The
goal of the balian is to call back the wayward soul
and
restore the health of the community through trance, dance,
and
possession.
Modern recognition of the legitimacy of Kaharingan as a
religious practice has been the culmination of a long
history of
struggles for autonomy. Since the southern coast of
Kalimantan has
long been dominated by the politically and numerically
superior
Muslim Banjarese, Christian and Kaharingan adherents of
the central
interior sought parliamentary recognition of a Great Dayak
territory in 1953. When these efforts failed, a rebellion
broke out
in 1956 along religious lines, culminating in the
establishment of
the new province of Kalimantan Tengah in May 1957.
The abortive coup of 1965 proved that independence to
be
fragile. With the unity of the republic at stake,
indigenous
religions were viewed as threats and labelled atheistic
and, by
implication, communist. Caught in a no-win situation, the
Dayak
also were told that they did not have an agama and
thus
became suspect in the anticommunist fever of the late
1960s. By the
early 1970s, negotiations began between Kalimantan Tengah
and the
national government over recognition of the indigenous
religion of
the peoples of the province. This process culminated in
official
recognition in the 1980s of Kaharingan as an agama.
Data as of November 1992
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