Page 248 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

Makasar descent, can still be found, especially in centers of trading ports in Maluku, Papua
and Timor. Arab clans like Alkatiri, Assegaf, Atamimi, Musaad and several other Arab clans,
can be found in Maluku, Papua and Timor.
Islam, which entered Maluku in the 13th century, was brought by Arabian traders who
came from the island of Java, named Jafar Shadik (also called Jafar Noah) (Mansoben,
1995). The son of Jafar Shadik named Kaicil Mashur Malamo was the first king of Ternate in
the sultanate system and was in power between the years 1257 and 1277. The local kings of
Ternate, Tidore, Hitu, Jailolo, Bacan and Iha, converted to Islam and changed their titles to
Sultan. Traders from Maluku, especially those from East Seram who had already embraced
Islam, played a role in the spread of Islam into Papua. In the sixteenth century, the tribes in
Papua and the islands in the northwest parts like Waigeo, Misool, Waigama and Salawati,
had submitted to Sultan Bacan, one of the kings in Maluku. Then, Sultan Bacan expanded
his grip as far as Onin peninsula (Fakfak) in northwest Irian (Papua) in 1608. Under the
influence of Sultan Bacan and the Muslim merchants, the community leaders of the
islands converted to Islam, although people who lived in the jungles of Papua still followed
animism. But the people of the coastal region of the Bird’s Head embraced Islam. The
oral history of Islam in the west coast of Papua and Raja Ampat, generally mentions that
the entry of Islam into the local area was brought by Arabian preachers from Maluku. In
addition, the role of East Seram traders who had embraced Islam helped the development
of Islam in the west coast of Papua and Raja Ampat. East Seram had become a trading
center as well as a center of Islamic education. According to the information from the
inhabitants in Fakfak Fatagar kingdom, the King Fatagar (Mafa) and his brother Ira were
sent to Geser by their parents to study Islam. In contrast to Maluku and Papua, in East Nusa
Tenggara, the spread of Islam, in addition to the Arab, was also conducted by the people of
Makasar (Usmany et al., 2013).
When Arabian, Chinese, Javanese and Malay traders began to come to Maluku to trade,
the Papuans also sailed to Maluku, in addition to headhunting and doing barter trade. The
Papuans sailed far to the west for the purpose of headhunting (Onim and Sitompul, 2006).
In the Biak Noemfoor, voyages to Maluku had been made since the middle of the 15th
century30 as a prestige as well as for educational purposes of the initiation of boys when
they became teenagers. The objects taken from the voyage included porcelain dishes and
textiles acquired through barter trade or as booty (Kamma, 1947/1948).

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