Page 234 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

Geology, a historical science, can play a role in this because the migration of modern human
beings or hominids happened on the land and the seas formed by geological processes.

Malagasy Ethnogenesis
Madagascar, the fourth biggest island in the world, was isolated in the southeast of Africa
since it was separated from Africa approximately 165 million years ago. This isolation is
behind the unique biodiversity where 90% of its animals and trees are endemic, existing
only in Madagascar and not anywhere else. Its abundant natural resources include big
logs, minerals, and jewelry. One third of all of the sapphires traded in the world come
from Madagascar.
Madagascar has a forest of protruding stone towers (National Geographic Indonesia,
September 2010).
However, rich natural resources in a developing country do not guarantee the welfare
of its people, as often the people are remain poor. Social scientists call this phenomenon
the “resource curse” (Auty, 2002). Madagascar has a number of problems typical of a
developing country: the pressure of population, internal political chaos, smuggling, and
looting. People loot the wood, protected by the authorities who are bribed by money from
other countries. People in the government also enrich themselves. This has put pressure
on the environment. Slowly but surely, Madagascar’s environment is being damaged.
In Madagascar, the Malagasy language is used. Malagasy is an Austronesian language,
the same family as Indonesian. A looter of Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia; Indonesian
‘sonokeling’) said, “Aleo maty rahampitso toy izay maty androany”... (better to die tomorrow
than today) explaining the reason for his actions due to hunger and poverty. However, the
language he used would seem familiar to anyone who knows the Indonesian language.
Between around 3,000 BC-1,000 AD there was a dispersal of the Austronesian people
south and eastward to occupy the vast are which it covers today, bounded by Madagascar
in the west, Taiwan in the north, Easter Island in the east and New Zealand in the south
(Bellwood, 2000). This is based on work by archeologists, linguists, and geneticists.
However, geology can also contribute in the discussion.
The majority of speakers of Austronesian languages are found in Indonesia. The western
border of Austronesian language group is Madagascar. It is now known that the ancestors
of Madagascar’s inhabitants were people who originated in Indonesia (Simanjuntak et al.,
2006). The question is where in Indonesia did they come from. One view, first proposed
by Dahl (1951), is that the people speaking this Austronesian language in Madagascar

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