Sumbawa keris
 

I am curious to understand the connection between Sumbawa and Banjarmasin. I have recently acquired a Sumbawa keris, with a Banjarmasin hilt, which is not unsual, and looking on the forum, I have found this Benjarmasin keris http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7840 , which has a blade very similar to mine.
I know there were a lot of exchanges by sea through the Bugis, but why this special connexion, since these two places are pretty remote?

Sorry Dominique but IMO also the handle is a Sumbawa hilt

Dominique, the concept of "remote" is one of perspective.

Here in Australia there is a little saying that Aboriginal people will sometimes use:-

"Whitefeller's wilderness, Blackfeller's backyard"

this points up the difference in the way different people can think about the same place. It was/is the same in SE Asia.

Before the Dutch occupied Jawa it was covered in dense forest with isolated settlements joined by poorly maintained tracks. The only slightly better tracks were where important people needed to pass from time to time. Transport wherever possible was by water. The Bengawan Solo, the major river joining the interior with the coast was navigable from Surabaya all the way up to Solo.

Indonesian peoples never have, and do not now, think of water as a barrier, they think of it as a highway. They do not speak of their "Motherland", or "Fatherland", they speak of "Tanah Air Kita":- "Our Land and Water".

All of those places scattered across the Archipelago, and the adjacent mainland, were not remote, they were within sailing distance and were no problem at all to get to.

Long before the Dutch touched on Australia, long before Captain Cook claimed it for the British, fishermen from what we now know as the Indonesian Archipelago were visiting Northern Australia for trepang fishing. They would sail down and spend a few months there, when the boats were full, they would sail home again.

They took wives from the indigenous people, and sometimes these wives would return north with them when they sailed home, so that now there are recognised blood ties and family ties between Australian indigenous people from the north coast of Australia, and people living in Sulawesi and other islands.

Makassar is usually thought of as the centre of this contact, but in fact there was contact with people from other islands as well, usually Bugis people. The Bugis went everywhere --- and very probably other cultural groups of the Archipelago were not far behind them.

Nothing in SE Asia was remote for the people living there.

Alan I was not aware of the intermarriage of Aboriginese and Sumbawans!

Many thanks! :D

A lot of people are still not aware of it, but the people concerned have known about it all along. The visits by the fishermen stopped in 1907 when the new Australian government outlawed them.

The relationship between peoples who are now Indonesian and the long term contact of these people with Northern Australia was something that was being pushed by the new nation of Indonesia from the 1950's through to the 1960's as the foundations for a claim on Northern Australia to become a part of Indonesia.

School atlases during that period showed Northern Australia as "South Irian" (Irian Selatan).

The new masters of Indonesia wanted everything that had been Dutch. It was an emotional thing, but they tried to justify it by claiming that West New Guinea was a part of the old "Mojopahit Empire", which never existed except in imagination.

When they invaded West New Guinea they named it Irian Jaya, so when they cast eyes on Northern Australia they named it "Irian Selatan".

Right through into the 1960's Indonesia was considered a possible threat to invade Northern Australia, and our defence strategy was based on this possibility.

Actually, the Indonesian take-over of West New Guinea makes very interesting reading, there is a heap of info on the net that covers the genocide and brutality of the Indonesian military in this place. The indigenous people will never win though, they'll be wiped out and bred out. Google "Grasberg Mine" or "OK Tedi Mine" and you will understand the reason why Indonesia needs this place.

Thank you for the history lesson Alan, an aspect I was not aware of either...

Here is a little info readily found on the subject;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makass...with_Australia

Gavin

Yep, that's a pretty fair outline of the trepangers story. I think ABC TV aired a doco. on it a few years back, ABC or SBS, one or the other. They interviewed indigenous people who at the present time have family connections in the islands to the north.

Hello Dominique,

All the silver work on this keris that you are showing looks brand new.
Í assume we are discussing the old keris from the other thread ?

Best regards,
Willem

I tend to agree Willem. This dress is well executed and tasteful. I really like it. But i don't believe it is very old.

I don't know how old it is, but I can tell you it is not brand new, it has just been cleaned. The decoration is made of pure silver wire, this is why it might look new.

No, not brand new. I could be wrong, but this looks very much like a style of passio sumange (toli toli) in high quality silver work being done in the late 20th century, so i would say contemporary. The blade is much older.

It is probably from the 20th century, but it has been worn since it has signs of wear.

Why is there a Bugis Bima keris
 

The relationship between the kingdom of Gowa and the kingdom of Bima and its surroundings is very close, according to the book of Islamic Religious Courts in the Sultanate of Bima (1947-1957) written by Prof. Dr. Abdul Gani Abdullah. It was explained that there had been a relationship between Bugis Makassar and Bima since the time of the maritime period (1565 - 1575). Bima was conquered by the expedition of Sultan Alauddin Sombaya Ri Gowa in 1619, then followed by the Karaeng Ribura'ne expedition (a kind of army commander and minister of arms and war affairs), to defuse the rebellion against Bima. According to Bo's script on April 26, 1618 Daeng Mangali of Bugis and his three colleagues from Luwu, Tallo, and Bone, became emissaries of King Gowa, to teach Islam to the king and the people of Bima.
Since then, the Gowa-Bima relationship is no longer perceived as a political relationship, but also a trade relationship and mawin marriage. In statistics in the 1930s the Bima and Bugis Makassar tribes were entered in one column. Who is the Milky Way Makassar Bugis was not separated in statistics at that time. Makassar Bugis become one with the Bima people. One of the ingredients of the Makassar Bugis trade is KERIS and FABRIC woven from Bugis.
Married to the royal family and the aristocracy of the two parties closely intertwined, Sultan Abdul Kahir (Sultan Bima I) married to Daeng Sikontu Putri Karaeng Kasuarang (Sultan Alauddin's sister-in-law). Many Bima people converted to Islam and studied in the kingdom of Gowa. Batara Gowa II, namely Amas Madinah (son of Kumala Bumi Pertiga and Abdul Kudus Putra Sultan Gowa) had also been enthroned in Gowa.
Political, social, cultural and kinship relations last for more than 200 years. Bima escaped from Gowa's rule, since 1666. In the Bungaya agreement Article 14 said 'the Kingdom of Gowa had to surrender Bima and its conquered territories to the Company, as a war fine for the control of Goa on the VOC and Bone. After that the Bima and Bugis Makassar relationship was controlled by the Kingdom of Bone, because it won the war against Goa.

best regrads