There‘s some incongruity here. My luxuriously appointed hotel suite, that steps out onto a tropical pool, is built in the style of the traditional village houses that I‘ve seen just up the road. Like theirs, its roof is thatched.
The craftsmen, I am told, also came from the village. But I doubt their little "villas" have a mini-bar, private bathroom, air-con, TV with satellite receiver, IDD telephone, video and 24-hour room service. Nor could they bop to their favourite CD‘s. I have on Frankie Miller, a "Best of" compilation that includes the scorcher Don‘t Stop, Baby. Now, there is some incongruity!
The hotel is the Novotel Coralia in Kuta--no, not Kuta, Bali; this is in the far south of Lombok, Bali‘s sister island to the east, which in many ways is a big wide world away for Lombok is a very different kind of place.
For a start, it‘s much drier, less exuberantly tropical and less given over to extravagant festivity and art. One reason is it‘s poorer and the people here just can‘t afford the time. Their priority is their farms. It is also pretty much unspoiled, with a traditional tribal culture that is remarkably intact. And that‘s its great appeal.
Lombok‘s indigenous inhabitants are the Sasak. They are believed to have migrated here via Java from northwest India or Burma, long before the Indonesians ever fanned out through the islands.
They customarily build their villages in tiers up a hill. This facilitates defence, conserves arable land and helps keep the houses dry. Of course, it also means they get a brilliant view--let‘s not discount the view! A good number of such villages still exist today, just like the ones at Kuta.
I decide to pay these folk a visit. The largest of the villages is Sade. To enter is to immediately immerse yourself in a very different, ancient world.
You come first to a plaza, around which are the meeting halls and the houses of the village elite, or higher caste. From here, a track winds up the hill and does its best to get you lost. How it does this I don‘t know, but I keep missing half the village and seeing the same bits umpteen times again.
The Sasak prove a very hospitable folk who are quick to see the funny side of life (like me getting lost!). Almost all of their houses are in the traditional style, with woven rice-straw walls and a thick mop of thatch.
The most distinctive structure is the granary. Built on high bamboo stilts, its roof looks like a giant woven bonnet. Chatting with the locals, it‘s not long before I am invited into one of their homes.
Its smoothly polished floor is made from compacted mud and buffalo dung. It is set on two levels, the lower one for cooking and entertaining, the upper one for sleeping.
There‘s one curious thing you notice about Asiatic tribal folk in general. It‘s the women who are more likely to wear their traditional attire. It‘s the same with the Sasak. Although in Sade, the conventional black lambung (sarong) has been most times replaced with a more colourful Balinese-style one.
The black V-necked tunic has likewise given way to more modern designs. But their famous weaving skills have been retained, as exhibited in the gorgeous cloths on sale throughout the village.
The Sasak are also expert basket weavers and potters. Certain villages on the island specialise in these, notably Banyumulek for large ceramic water pots and vases, and Beleka for the tight-lidded oval baskets that are so popular in Bali.
The curious belief system of the Sasak reflects their origins and history. By far the majority are Muslim. But Islam has by no means totally supplanted their original Hindu-Animist creed, which includes a strong ancestral cult, and a belief in good and evil spirits inhabiting natural phenomena--mountains, forests and rivers.
In the south-central villages, this trilogy of religions is known as Wektu Telu, literally "result of three."
Amazingly, the narrative stories pertaining to the Sasak‘s ancient god-kings and spirits have been extremely well-preserved. For centuries they were written on the dried and treated leaves of the lontar palm. Readings of these narratives are still quite common in the villages today.
The recital, or pepaosan, starts around dusk and is accompanied by music and movement, with the exclusively male audience joining in. The priceless lontar manuscripts are assured of preservation. They have now been copied onto paper.
Back at the hotel, I am told there‘ll be a cultural show at Sade tomorrow afternoon. Of course I attend. It is a riveting event, with folk dances, mimicry and martial arts all done to the frenzied rhythmic clatter of a gamelan orchestra, augmented by the banging of the burly jidur drums.
The village children seem every bit as enthralled by the performance as the tourists in their midst. And you feel happily assured that the Sasak‘s cultural heritage is in the very best of hands.
Of course, not every visitor to Lombok comes solely to absorb the island‘s tribal culture. Most actually come for its beaches--surfing at Kuta, dining out in style at Senggigi, budget fun and snorkelling at the pristine Gili Islands off the island‘s northwest coast.
The more intrepid will want to climb Gunung Rinjani. The mountain‘s 3,700m-high crater lake is--I am informed--a domain fit for the gods. It‘s here that the Sasak‘s chief deity resides--Princess Dewi Anjani.
On the slopes of Rinjani lies the village of Bentek, where ancient Sasak culture remains totally untainted and intact. I am now resolved to one day make the three-day climb.
Source: www.e-sinchew-i.com (22 Mei 2007)
