Орталық Тимор Бунак халқының тарихы мен мәдениеті

Ethnic group in central Timor

The Bunak (also known as Bunaq, Buna', Bunake) people are an ethnic group that live in the mountainous region of central Timor, split between the political boundary between West Timor, Indonesia, particularly in Lamaknen District and East Timor. Their language is one of those on Timor which is not an Austronesian language, but rather a Papuan language, belonging to the Trans–New Guinea linguistic family. They are surrounded by groups which speak Malayo Polynesian languages, like the Atoni and the Tetum. According to Languages of the World (Voegelin and Voegelin, 1977), there were about 100,000 speakers of the language, split evenly between the two nations.

According to legend, there was once a man named Mau Ipi Guloq who first domesticated the water buffalo. Together with his brother Asa Pharan, he one day caught two sows, which turned into women. His brother, however, claimed both women for himself, which eventually led Mau Ipi Guloq to part with him after a fight. One day a crow disturbed his buffalo, and so Mau Ipi Guloq shot a golden arrow at the bird with a golden blowpipe that he had borrowed from his brother. The crow flew with the arrow and Mau Ipi Guloq followed her into the underworld, where he met her sick ruler. Mau Ipi Guloq offered his help and discovered that his golden arrow was stuck in the ruler. He exchanged it with a bamboo arrow, which he soaked in his betel pouch. The ruler of the underworld was restored to health and gave Mau Ipi Guloq two oranges from a tree in the Underworld that turned into princesses. Asa Pharan asked his brother to exchange one of his wives for one of the princesses. But when he refused, Asan Paran threw Mau Ipi Guloq into a ravine and killed him. However, Mau Ipi Guloq's wives found him and brought him back to life by using an oil from the Underworld. He returned home healthy and brought back to his youth again; his brother also asked for a bath in the oil in order to be young again. Mau Ipi Guloq's wives heated the oil bath so much that Asa Pharan was scalded and died. Mau Ipi Guloq also married his brother's wives and became one of the main ancestors of the Bunak people.

Just as with any other Timorese ethnic group, there was originally no written tradition. All history and traditions were passed in by word of mouth until the coming of European colonization. Rich traditions do exist among the Timorese, especially the Bunak people. These narrative traditions are recited with repetition, rhyme and alliteration. This helps the performer remember the verses. In general, it is assumed that Melanesians migrated to Timor around 3000 BC, to be partially displaced by later Proto Malayo Polynesian groups from 2500 BC. Some claim that the Fataluku people might have reached Timor from the east only after the Austronesians and that they were repressed or assimilated. There has been speculation of such a scenario even with the Makasae language. In the case of the Bunak people, however, there are only place names of Papuan linguistic origin in the homeland country, thus the Bunak people must have settled here before the Austronesians. Moreover, as the Bunak people have common non Austronesian vocabulary with the Fataluku language, Makasae language and Makalero language, the existence of a Proto Timor Papuan language, from which all the Papuan languages of Timor originate, had been postulated. The present area of the Bunak people is the result of different migrations. Due to population growth, the Bunak people were forced to expand again and again to find new arable land. External influences also led to groups having to flee as well as forced resettlement. Portuguese colonization began on Timor Island in the 16th century, while in the middle of the 18th century the Dutch extended their influence into the area of the Bunak people, so that it was divided into two sections, comprising a Western Dutch and an Eastern Portuguese sphere of interest. However, European rule remained predominantly nominal, with rule exercised by local traditional rulers. It was only in the early 20th century that the two colonial powers succeeded in building up a real colonial administration. In the Second World War the Japanese occupied Timor from 1942 to 1945, ruling it as a single entity. There was fighting with Australian guerrilla commandos, with the aid of some Portuguese as well as many Timorese. After the war, the west became part of Indonesia, while the east remained a Portuguese colony until 1975. When the Portuguese departed from Timor, the Indonesians first occupied the border region of East Timor. Nine days after the declaration of the Independence of East Timor, a full invasion followed, and a 24 year long struggle for independence. The civilian population fled the invasion into the wilderness, to only later have to gradually surrender to the invaders; it was not until 1979 that the last of the Bunak people living in the forests were forced to capitulate. It was not until 1999 that Indonesia withdrew, and after three years of administration by the United Nations in East Timor did East Timir finally regain independence. however, the Bunak people and their homeland continued to be divided by the colonial border. Since independence, more and more people from rural areas have moved to the capital, Dili, including many of the Bunak people. Many took up residence according to their geographical origin. Bunak speakers live in the west of the city in Comoro, Fatuhada and Bairro Pite, as well as in the city center in Suco Gricenfor, Acadiru Hun, Suco Santa Cruz and Suco Lahane Oriental. In 2006 there was unrest in the county, started mainly by East Timorese from Firaku and Kaladi. Bunak people belonging to the Kaladi were also involved in the conflict. In Dili, for example, there was confrontation between the Bunak people from Bobonaro District and Ermera District and Makasae people from Baucau District and Viqueque District for dominance in the market place.

The heartland of the Bunak is located in the middle east of the East Timorese area of Bobonaro and north east of the municipality of Cova Lima District. Here is the only place where place names of Bunak origin are to be found, while in other areas inhabited by the Bunak there are also place names of Austronesian origin. Bunak settlements in bordering territories only have Austronesian place names. This indicates that the original homeland of the Bunak people lies in the center of the territory where the Bunak now cover. In the northeast, the Bunak people refer to themselves and their language as Gaiq or Gaeq, which is likely to derived from Mgai; the Kemak name for the Bunak people. According to Bunak oral traditions, they formerly belonged to the former kingdom of Likusa (Likosa), which once existed in the region of the Tokodede and Kemak people, which explains the adoption of anAustronesian name of the Bunak people. In Marobo (Atsabe Administrative Post) and Suco Obulo, the Kemak people intermingled with the Bunak people, leading to cultural differences between the Kemak people on this side compared to the neighbouring Kemak people of Atsabe.

According to Bunak folk history in the northwest, they originally migrated from the east to the region south of Maliana and the present Indonesian districts of Lamaknen and Raihat. There they mingled peacefully with the local peoples, these being, according to source, the local Tetun or Atoin Meto people. The existing village names of Austronesian origin support these accounts. Legends of the Bunak people from the upper Lamaknen district, however, report that their forefathers had either expelled or killed the Melus (Timor) people when they came into the region. Research so far has not clarified whether the Melus were Tetun, Atoin Meto or another people. Investigations of the Bunak dialects suggest that the Bunak from the northeast and southwest met and settled in Lamaknen district. In 1860 the region around Maucatar became a Dutch enclave, while the surrounding area was claimed by Portugal. The borders of the enclave coincided with the borders of the local Bunak kingdoms. The area now belongs to the Sucos of Holpilat, Taroman, Fatululic, Dato Tolu and Lactos. The territory of the then enclave of Maucatar is still inhabited by a large majority of Bunak. However, there are also Tetun place names. Therefore, it is assumed that the Bunak immigrated to this region and largely replaced the local Tetun, who today form a small minority. As a result of the various territorial shifts between the Bunak kingdoms, however, the border between the two colonial powers of Portugal and the Netherlands remained a long standing issue and was the subject of lengthy negotiations. In Lakmaras District, there were several deaths in the same year in clashes between Dutch and Portuguese troops. In 1910, the Netherlands took advantage of the overthrow of the Portuguese monarchy in order to regain Lakmaras with the help of European and Javanese troops. In February 1911, following the 1904 Convention, Portugal tried to occupy Maucatar. However, in June, it faced a superior Dutch armed force from the Ambonese infantry, supported by European soldiers. On June 11, Portuguese troops occupied the territory of Lakmaras, but on July 18, Dutch and Javanese troops regained it. After the Dutch victory, the Portuguese then sought a peaceful agreement. They soon fell into trouble with a rebellion in the Manufahi District, which brought them to the negotiating table. On August 17, 1916, a treaty was signed in The Hague, which largely defined the borders between East and West Timor. On 21 November the agreed areas were exchanged. Noimuti, Maubisse, Tahakay and Taffliroe fell to the Netherlands, At the end of August, the conflict crossed over to the other side of the border. Villages were destroyed, such as Henes in the Desa on the west side of the same name, which has not been rebuilt. In 1999, other refugees also came to Lamaknen district from East Timor after the independence of East Timor and remain there to this day. There was fighting with the locals and in the process fields, huts and streets were destroyed.

Recently, Bunak people migrated to the southwest of Cova Lima District in two independent waves. The earlier group lives in slightly higher areas of Suco Beiseuc (formerly known as Foholulik, 2010: 30% Bunak) and Suco Lalawa (35% Bunak). They came in a large stream of refugees from the community of Bobonaro, when they fled in the Second World War before the arrival of the Japanese army. Guerrilla units of the Allies had operated against the Japanese of Lolotoe and the village of Bobonaro, and the Japanese troops carried out reprisals against the civilian population in Bobonaro in August 1942. This probably cost several tens of thousands of people their lives and drove others to flee.

The Bunak of Namfalus village (Desa Rainawe, Kobalima District) originated in the same exodus of Bunak people in South Fohorem before the arrival of Japanese troops in the Second World War. Other Bunak people in this region are the descendants of the 5,000 refugees from Maucatar, who left the former Dutch enclave after the takeover by the Portuguese. The more recent Bunak people joined these villagers when they fled in 1975 and in 1999 when the violence in East Timor broke out. The resettlement of the Maucatar Bunak people led to controversy with the local Tetun people, causing the Bunak to shift repeatedly. It was only in the 1930s that the administration succeeded in settling the refugees at their present places of residence. The Bunak people in these areas still trace their origin to certain places in Maucatar, such as those from Raakfao (Raakafau, Desa Babulu) in Fatuloro and those from Sukabesikun (Desa Litamali, Kobalima District) in Suco Belecasac. Despite the threat of assimilation to the neighboring Tetun people, they are still able to trace their origins.

The Bunak settlements from Suai to Zumalai were also established only recently. The area was previously uninhabited. These relatively recent settlements also have connections to their places of origin. Thus, Beco village has a deep relationship with Teda village, east of Lolotoe, even though the migration was a few generations ago. Their dialect is close to that of the Lolotoe region, even if some of their vocabulary was taken from the southwestern dialect. Other settlements emerged only during the Indonesian occupation when all villages from the north along the southern coastal road around Zumalai were resettled. Their dialect is a Highlands dialect.

Bunak people live among the Mambai people in the south of Ainaro District and in the south west of Manufahi District. Speakers of the Bunak language in these districts recognize their origin from the north eastern Bunak region. Through the close contact with the Mambai people, most of the Bunak people are bilingual in Mambai, which is a Malayo Polynesian language; their language also shows influence from Mambai. Maununo was a suco that consisted of only three villages during the Indonesian occupation. The population of Maununo is 60% Tetun, 30% Bunak and 10% Mambai. In Suco Cassa the Bunak people form 55% of the population, followed by the Tetun and a small minority of Mambai. Even in Fohoailiku the Bunak people represent the majority. According to oral traditions, the Bunak people of Fahoailiku originated from western Ainaro, which they left due to conflicts with other Bunak groups during the Portuguese colonial period. The linguistic characteristics of the three Bunak groups in Ainaro suggest a common origin. After the failed rebellion of Manufahi, a part of the Bunak people of Loti was moved by the Portuguese to the location of today's Loti. Others were settled in two new villages in Suco Betano. One of them is Bemetan as it is known in Mambai language or Il Guzu (meaning "black water") in Bunak language, and the second being Leoai (Leo Ai / Leouai). During the Indonesian occupation, Bunak people who remained in the old Loti was also relocated to the new Loti. These three villages share their own extraordinary dialect. The fourth Bunak village in Manufahi is Sessurai (Sesurai) in Suco Betano, on the road between Loti and Leoai. According to their traditions, these Bunak people fled from the region around Zumalai to Manufahi during the Portuguese colonial period. Their dialect corresponds to that from Zumalai, but has taken over some words from the Bunak people of Loti. The man traditionally moves into the clan of the bride (Matrilocality), where the later children also grow up. The husband has to provide as a mane pou ("new man") his children and wife, but is not considered a family member. He also has no claims or rights over his wife and children, even if he had to pay a high bride price. In 1991 this was about US dollars 5,100. If the wife dies first, the widower must leave the village and even his own children, and return to his old home village. This may also be necessary through certain ceremonies. He is not allowed to take any valuable property, therefore he is dependent on the help of his clan and his family. He also does not receive the support from his own children as a clan. When the woman moves into an ai baqa clan, one speaks of the clipping of the woman from her clan. She is admitted to her husband's clan, where the family forms a new line of lineage (dil), establishing a new malu ai baqa relationship. The children also belong to the clan of the father. Clans can maintain as much as fifteen malu relationships but there can never be more than three to six dil. They maintain their status in the further course of the mother line. The members of the dil lead the name of the maternal clan and keep their property and their sacred objects. The rain is also linked to the self sacrifice of Bei Suri. After his death, he asked people not to cry anymore, and took the form of a bird that predicts the rain. The researcher Claudine Friedberg explored the rituals of the Bunak people in Abis (Lamaknen) during the 1970s to the early 1980s and described in detail the ceremonies of the Bunak people in this region. However, the place no longer exists and a road now connects the region with the outside world, which previously could only be reached with horses at that time. Agriculture here is entirely dependent on the amount of monsoon that occurs. The reliability of sufficient rainfall is the critical moment of the agricultural calendar during the sowing season. It takes place in Lamaknen before the rain comes between October and December. The fields are prepared by means of slash and burn. Then the 'Lord of the Seeds' and the 'Rice Masters' lay down the dates for numerous ceremonies. The 'Lord of the Seeds' belongs to the clan to whom the legend is attributed to the sacrifice of Bei Suri. It is, however, none of the nobility houses. On the other hand, 'Rice Masters' are the guardians of the holy objects of certain, distinguished clans. The prey is associated with the kukun, "the obscure ones". This refers to the local spirits of the deceased Melus who were once expelled by the Bunak people from the region. The kukun are the masters of heaven and earth (pan o muk gomo) and the masters of the prey. On the contrary, the living are the roman, the "clear ones". For the kukun there are small, inconspicuous altars from only a few stones in the surroundings that are scattered. About these muk kukun ("earth obscure") are the sites where the Bunak people make contact with the kukun spirits. The main altar stands near the village. In the evening of the first day of the hunt, the 'Lord of the Seeds' puts a liana around the wide cairn and binds its ends to two wooden stakes standing a few centimeters apart. The liana symbolizes the circling of the pigs, which can only flee through a narrow gate where the hunters are waiting for them. Seeds are being sown on the fields after it is directly slash and burned without being worked on. The digging stick (nut) has an eight to ten centimeter large metal blade and it also the same tool used for weeding. Irrigated fields did not exist in Abis village, but in other parts of Lamaknen. These irrigation are prepared with the help of water buffaloes and cattle. Kapitan and 'Master of the Firstfruits' came from the same clan, the house Sabaq Dato, at the Bunak people in Abis village. Mangoes and candlenut are the first to become ripe. The entire harvest of both fruits is collected on the main square of the village. The clans of the male and female chieftains are the first to get their share of the mangoes, which is also larger than that of the others. Only the female chief receives a share of the candlenut. The rest is kept by the kapitan for general use.