Page 334 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

always prosperous and never lack food because of their closeness to nature. People should
never worry about their daily needs because nature will always be generous and attentive
to human beings.
In the Majapahit, prosperity was seen in a concrete way from the wealth they had. It
was because they thought of King Rajasa Nagara as the god of wealth, Kapila Jembala, like
Sang Hyang Aji Saraswati as god of knowledge, and Mansija as god of love. Besides, King
Rajasa Nagara was also compared to Yama Raja, the god who could calm people’s anger
and danger to make the Majapahit safe, prosperous, and peaceful (Riana, 2009). Three key
words that were vital to keep people together were safe, prosperous, and peaceful, and
they were spread to everyone in the world.
In the perspective of the kingdom, Tidore has been an important name. It started
initially as an Islamic kingdom (Tidore Kingdom) and finally became a part of Indonesia.
The meaning of humanity is led by the three elements, safe, prosperous, and peaceful as
a reference to keep a peaceful life. The location of the kingdom and the calm, beautiful
ocean helped Tidore develop into an interesting area. Around the 14th and 16th centuries,
Tidore Kingdom included Papua, the islands in Raja Ampat, East Seram Island, right to the
Isles of South Pacific, like Micronesia and Polynesia (Reid, 2011).
The beginning of the effort to reconstruct social reality has to refer to culture and
language although in history, social reality has never been completed or revealed
completely. An effort to review culture and language usually ends up with the strategy of
naming things to find a way in a difficult situation and to find meanings of what happens
(Peursen, 1976). Melanesia as a life event didn’t have a name in the beginning. The name
Melanesia began when European people came and gave meaning every time they met
with social reality and called all the black people ‘Melanesian.’ This was not the ultimate
name but it was used in many scientific and popular writing in many events.

Seeking the Essence of Melanesian Culture
Melanesia is a network of collected experiences from the awareness of the social reality
of the Melanesian race. Indonesia is one of the countries with a lot of cultures which have
become prominent in world history with the same Melanesian race’s ‘experience’. The time
when Indonesia joined the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in the 20th Melanesian
Spearhead Group (MSG) Leaders’ Summit in June 2015—and before as an observer—needs
to be noted as searching for the core of the Melanesian race. If seen from a historical
point of view, the Melanesian race existed before Indonesia as people and country.

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