Page 265 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

In agriculture people were taught knowledge of small-scale agriculture and subsistenc
in nature, to large-scale farming, in plantations of products such as nutmeg, cloves, coffee,
potatoes, tobacco, and chocolate, which were demanded by the Europeans. In the area of
East Nusa Tenggara, cattle ranches and horses were introduced, so now East Nusa Tenggara
is a center for cattle, especially Bali cows. In Papua in about 1920, the Dutch Government
sent homesteaders from Java to the Merauke region to increase rice production and
food availability in the area. In addition, the government has built educational facilities,
The bow and arrow dance conducted courses in agriculture, sago processing business, exploitation and processing of
copra and co-operatives and built an airport (Sinaga, 2013: 196-197).
From 1954 to 1956, the Dutch started to promote the development in Papua. The
development undertaken by the Dutch were building oil mining, construction of a seaport
in Sorong, Manokwari and Merauke and building garages on Marokwari, Merauke,
Hollandia and Sorong for repairing vehicles. The development had resulted in a change in
the ability of some Papuans, but due to limited manpower, the Dutch still brought some
labor from outside Papua (Sinaga, 2013: 196-197).
In a political system, after the entry of modern religions, there was a change in the
legitimacy of a leader. Before the arrival of modern religions, a leader was regarded as the
embodiment or messenger of god, so he was considered sacred, where every utterance
that came out of his mouth could contain positive and negative things. Given this view,
everyone in the community was very careful to be respectful of him. The best results of
any operations should be dedicated to him, because it was believed that a leader would
give the blessing so that the crops would be still plentiful and good, but after the arrival of
modern religions, the legitimacy of these leaders was greatly reduced. The sacred values
as the leader who became the messenger god, were handed over to the missionary or
evangelist or pastor. Leaders were no longer feared or respected by society. Rules and
restrictions imposed by the evangelists considered indigenous education to be pagan
and incompatible with Christian teaching. In indigenous education there are rituals with
magic elements, accompanied by magical practices like hobatan-hobatan. Although
unintended, the ban resulted in the weakening of the traditional leadership system in
Maluku, Papua and NTT.
After the arrival of the Europeans, the status of local political leaders began to shift.
Local leader was the highest leader in the customs of his tribe, but structurally, they were
under the Dutch government officials. That position led to the position of a local leader to
be replaced by the Dutch, when it was felt that these leaders had not sided with the Dutch.

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