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David LangdonPhD Candidate 2003-2007
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| Source: Garna 1998 |
Certainly, without adequate research and planning, the consequences of tourism encounters with an indigenous community may include disruption of traditional social patterns, causing cultural transformations which may lead to the erosion of cultural integrity and, ultimately, to the fragmentation of a unique society.
The Baduy People of West Java
This thesis examines issues relating to the development of eco-cultural tourism in a small-scale, traditional Indonesian community. The Baduy people are a reclusive tribal group that has lived a relatively undisturbed, traditional lifestyle in a closed society for more than 400 years until the recent encroachment of economic and social pressures from the outside world. Although they live in an isolated area of mountainous rainforest only 100 kilometres southwest of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city, the Baduy have in the past been able to effectively seal their community off from the rest of the world.
Baduy houses are uniformly simple, constructed only of natural materials, such as bamboo and palm thatching, and are devoid of any furnishings. They use no modern utensils, mechanized equipment or manufactured materials, such as glass or plastic, and no modern device or even domestic animal is used in their traditional swidden rice farming techniques. They are an anachronism in today’s rapidly industrializing Indonesia, rejecting all forms of modernization and still following unique cultural and religious practices as defined by the Baduy adat law systems handed down by their ancestors more than four hundred years ago.
Inhabiting a special reserve of some 5,000 hectares set aside for the Baduy people by the Indonesian Government, the population of about 7,200 people live in two separate clans. The Inner Baduy (Baduy Dalam), numbering only 350 in three villages (kampung) in the core area, are the strictest adherents to Baduy spiritual belief, while the remaining population live in the Outer Baduy (Baduy Luar) area. The Baduy Dalam is the centre point of culture and religious following and the focus of rituals and sacred sites within the Baduy territory. Symbolically, the Baduy Dalam clan members may wear white with the black traditional clothing, while the Baduy Luar clan members are characteristically dressed in black or dark blue. The Baduy Luar serves as a buffer zone between the Baduy Dalam and the outside world with members of the outer clan acting as intermediaries for the more pure members of the inner clan.
A most extraordinary aspect of Baduy society is the origin of this tribal group, which today still remains shrouded in mystery. According to one legend, when Muslim forces began to spread the Islamic religion through western Java and other parts of the archipelago in the early part of the 16th century, an ascetic group of people said to have originated within the ancient Hindu Kingdom of Pajajaran refused to embrace the new religion. Instead, these people fled to the upper regions of a nearby mountain range (Kendeng Mountains), forming their own religious clan based on strict adherence to uniquel religious beliefs; perhaps influenced in some ways by the Hindu religion of the Kingdom of Pajajaran before it fell to the Muslim invaders. The Baduy believe in one central diety, whom they call Batara Tunggal, and regard themselves as the descendents of seven minor deities sent to earth by Batara Tunggal at the beginning of human-kind on the planet. The Baduy hold as most sacred a remote place near the centre of Baduy territory, known as Sasaka Domasa, where this event is said to have occurred and where the spirits of their ancestors are protected and revered.
Today, the Baduy people exist as an isolated, small-scale traditional community
surrounded by mainstream Indonesian society, which in western Java alone is
comprised of some 40 million followers of the Islamic faith. In spite of the
external forces of modernization and the pressure for this small community to
assimilate within modern Indonesian society, the Baduy tribe still controls
its mountain stronghold where religious and cultural practices have remained
largely unchanged until very recent times.
The Research Problem - Tourism and the Baduy
While they have been able to maintain a relatively traditional life-style until recently, the Baduy people are becoming increasingly influenced by developments in the world around them, including the forces of modernity, industrialization and globalization. Ironically, the Baduy way of life has until now been culturally and ecologically sustainable and they have lived in relative harmony with the environment. Embodied within the Baduy society is great wisdom and knowledge about the conservation and sustainability of eco-systems and the interconnectedness of all living things with the earth and the cosmos.
Today, a burgeoning population and increasing contacts with the outside world, including tourists, have led to the development of a more market-based village economy dependent on cash crops and sale of handicrafts. In recent years, the Baduy have placed an increasing emphasis on agro-forestry production, such as the timber plantation Albizia tree, fruit, palm sugar and other products grown almost exclusively for sale on local markets, rather than the formerly self-sustaining cultivation of hill rice (ladang). These changes have begun to cause some cultural, social and environmental impacts, which are most evident in the increasing use of non-traditional, western-style clothing, consumption of packaged fast-foods and use of other manufactured goods that are purchased with money obtained through growing cash crops. Although prohibited by Baduy adat law, many other modern articles imported from outside the Baduy territory, such as thermos bottles, radios and even the mobile phone, are becoming increasingly commonplace in Baduy homes.
Another important aspect of these recent developments may be seen in the impacts
of a rapidly growing, local tourist industry catering to outsiders who are drawn
to see and experience the uniquely spiritual Baduy way of life. Perhaps unwittingly,
the Baduy, who have opened their doors to visitors, and the tourists themselves,
are participating in a gradual process which may degrade valuable cultural and
environmental assets. In time, changes brought about by exposure to the steady
stream of tourists may destroy the local resources that are now a prime attraction
for tourists. Under such circumstances it is not necessarily tourism per se
that creates problems for local communities, but rather it is most often the
lack of planning and management of tourist demand, access and activities. The
impacts of unmanaged tourism may indeed pose the greatest threat of all to Baduy
culture and the greatest challenge to maintaining their sacred traditions for
the future.
Research Objectives
The research assesses trends in tourism to the Baduy community and investigates the potential for tourism development, taking into account the benefits, the risks and the impacts upon stakeholders and on the environment. Further, the study relates the research findings to eco-cultural tourism theory and particularly the established body of evidence about the relationships between tourism and the preservation of indigenous or local cultures. The thesis provides the basis for the development of a tourism strategy, which would be environmentally and culturally sustainable, while maximizing the economic and other benefits to stakeholders.
This research will therefore achieve the following objectives:
- Identify and evaluate all current tourism activities in the Baduy community.
- Taking into consideration the interests of stakeholders and the environment, identify an appropriate and sustainable eco-cultural tourism strategy for the Baduy community.
The specific research questions that will be answered are:
- What is a sustainable future for the Baduy community?
- Is the Baduy way of life under threat from the impacts of tourism?
- For the Baduy community what are the respective benefits and disadvantages of tourism?
- What are the respective values and needs of the stakeholders of tourism within the Baduy community?
- How can tourism in the Baduy community be effectively managed to meet the
needs of the stakeholders?
Research Significance
As a case study of tourism in the Baduy territory has not been attempted before, this thesis may fill a gap in the literature on eco-cultural tourism in Southeast Asia. Presently, there is no plan or organised program for tourism to the Baduy community and the surrounding environment. Despite the lack of planning and coordination, tourist visitation to the Baduy village has increased steadily in recent years and may pose a threat to this vulnerable community. Without adequate planning and management, tourism development in such traditional communities as the Baduy may lead to serious impacts on their way of life. In effect, the community is exploited as the object of tourism attraction without deriving significant benefit from or having direct control over the management of the tourists.
The research identifies for the first time key information about the tourist market, evaluates the relationships between tourists and the Baduy host community and assesses the relative needs of stakeholders. A key factor in the success of the research is to ensure the involvement of the Baduy community and other tourism stakeholders wherever possible in appropriate stages of the study. Thus, the findings of this thesis may lead to a better understanding of the problems that the Baduy people face in maintaining sacred tradition and may assist in some small way the development of a well-considered approach to tourism development for the Baduy people.
This research builds upon the information gathered as part of a BA Joint Honours study of the impacts of development and change in the Baduy community, which was conducted in situ by this researcher during a three-month period in mid-2002. Therefore, there is already substantial local knowledge and experience in the specific area of investigation. The support of a Flinders University research scholarship (FRS) has made this latest research project possible. The study has the approval of the appropriate Indonesian government authorities and is being conducted in association with the University of Pajajaran, Bandung, Indonesia under the guidance of an experienced Indonesian field research supervisor.
Mechanisms exist for the provision of feedback to participants and tourism stakeholders and for the findings of the research to be made available to other interested parties through the University of Pajajaran and Flinders University. The output of this research on eco-cultural tourism in the Baduy community may serve as a basis for further study, perhaps in the form of academic research, or even as a stimulus for the development of a tourism plan by an Indonesian government approved authority, in conjunction with the Baduy community.
Research Methodology
Using a qualitative approach, the methodology of this research includes fieldwork in Indonesia, which commenced mid-2003 with discussions involving representatives of the Baduy community and other tourism stakeholders in the area. During four periods of study totaling 12 months from 2003-2006, tourism activities are assessed by direct observation and by the use of semi-structured interviews with tourists, tour operators and other representatives of the tourism sector. A survey of attitudes of the members of the host community toward tourist activities has also been conducted to obtain information about the views of the Baduy people. Thus, different approaches are used in data collection to provide a multi-viewpoints triangulation and to corroborate results from differing perspectives, which will increase the validity and reliability of the findings.
In addition to gathering qualitative and impressionist information about tourism in the Baduy community, extensive use of reference materials and the established literature on eco-cultural tourism, including materials in Indonesian language, will be included in the study methodology. Indonesian government sources will be used to gather background information on the past and present trends in national and regional tourism and to provide the broader perspective of government policy that tends to determine tourism planning and development.
Each phase of the field study is comprised of six separate research sessions in the Baduy kampung, each session being of approximately one week’s duration. This enables enough time for the collection of sufficient data to begin assessing tourism issues and trends while, it is hoped, not unduly interfering with the members of the Baduy community.
During this time the researcher has maintained a high level of awareness of his own potential impact upon the Baduy community and will attempt in every way to become bicultural – living simply and behaving much as the Baduy themselves do – to minimise any impacts. Within the context of the village setting, all research activities will be conducted with absolute sensitivity and respectful consideration, reflecting a high regard for the Baduy beliefs and way of life. In this manner, the researcher appears in sharp contrast to other outsiders, but rather similar to the Baduy themselves. Given enough time, it may be possible to establish a rapport with members of the Baduy community. This may in turn lead to more fruitful interactions and a more inclusive approach to the research with correspondingly more genuine and reliable responses from research participants.
Further field trips have been conducted to increase the amount of research
data recorded, while refining and progressively improving the qualitative approach
and the processes of gathering and analysing information. A major consideration
in planning the timetable for the field study component of this research is
the recognition that a dynamic state of rapid change is taking place, which
requires comparative observations and data collection to occur over as wide
a span of time as is possible. Expected completion of the research and the thesis
is early 2007.
More Information
For more information about the Baduy, the following references may be useful:
Garna, J. 1998, ‘Badui: The centre of the world’, in Religion and Ritual. Indonesian Heritage, ed. J. Fox, Archipelago Press, Jakarta.
Iskandar, J. & Ellen, R. F. 1999, ’The contribution of Paraserianthes (Albizia) falcataria to sustainable swidden management practices among the Baduy of West Java’, Human Ecology, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 79-95.
Time International 2000, ‘Sacred people: Eschewing the allure of the
modern world, the
Badui cling to their spiritual way of life’, vol. 156, no. 7/8, 21 August,
pp. 23-24.
Badui cling to their spiritual way of life’, vol. 156, no. 7/8, 21 August,
pp. 23-24.
Current Events Update
David is presently studying at Flinders University. He can be contacted directly via email or through Flinders University, Australia or through the University of Pajajaran, Indonesia.
Other Interests
- Environment
- Sustainability
- South-east Asia
- Indonesian language
- Indonesian culture
- Indigenous cultures
Updated 15 September 2006
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