Growing Up Sexually

INDONESIA, IRIAN JAYA (General Remarks)

Index → Indonesia, Irian Jaya

Bibliography

Featured: Alorese, Adjeh, Balinese, Batak, Bawean, Belu, Bonerate, Dayak, Dusun, Edopi, Endeh, Engano Island, Iban, Javanese, Kayans, Ketengban, Minangkabau, Mentawaians, Moni, Mpur, Murungs, Ngada, Sula Island, Sulanese, Sundanese, Tobaru, Tobelorese, Toradja, Orang Rimba

*** Please note that tentative translations of Dutch passages are offered by the compiler in accompanying footnotes ***

General Impressions

Male Age Stratified Patterns

Early Betrothal / Marriage

Current Age of Consent

Colonialism

Ethnographic Particularities

Contemporarily Uncovered SCCS Societies: Indonesia

Additional References: Indonesia

General Impressions

Though not introducing original material, Van Praag ([1934])[1] offers a convenient review of Indonesian courtship and sexuality as observed by the Dutch (henceforward “vP”). A further overview is found in Mallinckrodt (I, p412ff, cit. infra). Riedel (1885, 1886a,b)[2] found that premarital sexual freedom was marked for a range of societies. Wilken (1883[3]/1886[4], 1889:p435-60)[5], who offers a rich discussion of customs associated with the premarital dyad and sexuality, observes that this freedom would be only partially prevalent (1889:p440-1, 443-4; cf. Koloniaal Instituut te Amsterdam, 1921:p379-84). For an overview of circumcision customs, one is to consult Wilken (1885)[6]. A further report comes from Darwinet al.[7].

On Ambon, for instance, the young girl is, “van kinds af gewoon de grootste onzedelijkheid, hetzij van vader of moeder, hetzij van broeders of zusters rondom zich te zien en daardoor overprikkeld, geeft zich, nauwelijks de schooltucht ontwassen en tot maagd gerijpt, steeds over aan haar prikkel tot zinnelijken lust en werpt zich in de armen van den eersten den besten jongeling, die haar bevalt, om aan die neiging te voldoen”[8] (Van Hoëvell, 1875:p126-8)[9]. De Vries[10] notes that Amahei (south coast of Ceram) children until marriageable age cohabit with permission of their parents, being given explicit freedom at the lĕpas-kain-kadu (which entails a menarchal symbolic defloration) “om een ontuchtig leven te leiden”.

In selected societies, artificial defloration (“stupratio officialis”, officium deflorationis) would have been customary (Wilken, p441 and refs.)

Ploß (Die Frau, I) learned from Van den Burg that in the Dutch East Indies, “children surrender themselves to the sexual passions even before maturity, and coitus between brothers and sisters aged 5 to 6 is no rarity”. This seems to be interesting given the observation that girls are “[…] often betrothed at birth and married at six [years?], although they remain with their parents” (Wilken, as cited by Sumner, 1906:p383)[11]; the custom, however was declining at the time of writing. Smith and Wiswell (1982:p69-73)[12] sketch a childhood sexuality in Suye Mura characterisable as expressive and joking. Vatter (1932:p122)[13]:

“[…] eine besondere Belehrung über sexuelle Dinge scheint nicht stattzufinden. Vorzeitiger Geschlechtsverkehr under Kinderen soll selten sein; sexuelle Unarten zwischen kleinen Jungen haben wir gelegentlich beobachtet, doch wurden sie ihnen, vielleicht mit Rücksicht auf unsere Anwesenheit, von älteren Kinderen oder Erwachsenen verwiesen”.

Additional refs:

·        Pangkahila, W. I. / Elkholy, R. (2001) Indonesia, in Francoeur, R. T. (Ed. in chief) The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. New York: Continuum. Vol. 4, p247 et seq. Online ed. [IES]

·        Some material would have been offered in unpublished notes by Kennedy[14] according to HRAF listing.

Male Age Stratified Patterns[15]

Its perverse nature being debated, institutional prostitution of 9 to 12-year-old boys was prevalent among the Lampong of southeast Sumatra (Karsch-Haack, 1911:p189-90[16]; Davis and Whitten 1987:p85)[17]. The boys were called Sedattis who waited upon men and danced to entertain them. A comparable custom prevailed on Bali(ibid., p210; also West, 1977:p135-6)[18]. Further observations suggest the practice of pederasty among the To Bada’ (Woensdregt, as cited by Van Praag, p508). De Zwaan (1910:p176-9)[19] states that in Solok, the natives admitted that among the Singkara Lake, little boys were used for pederastic purposes. In Sidjoendjoeng the author was insured that “a man keeps a boy to practice pederasty. Such a boy is called anak djawi (cow boy?). Further, boys would have pederastic intercourse among themselves, which was suggested to me in Goenoeng too”. The author further cites Jacobs[20] in the observation “that on Bali little boys of ten to twelve years, dressed as girls, offer themselves for such practices. Hardeland [?] noted such lads, the basirs, among the Olo-Ngadja Dajaks, while Meyer [[21]] writes about this occurring in the Philippines. […] According to Kruyt [vide infra], most Adjeh chiefs possess some sedatis, children of 9 to 12 years who are used for pederasty and are also trained to entertain their lords in alternative ways [“om hunne heeren op andere wijzen te vermaken”]”. Kruijt (1877: p63, 65-6)[22] speaks of “jeugdige dansjongens, sedatti’s,” being “kinderen van negen tot twaalf jaar, de meesten waarschijnlijk van Nias afkomstig, die fraai in zijde getooid, met gouden en zilveren arm- en voetbanden versierd, door zang en dans de avonden en nachten der mannen opvroolijken. De meeste hoofden bezitten eenigen dezer sedatti’s in eigendom [sic], en geven er gewoonlijk aan de bevolking hunner afgelegen peperplantages een paar tot amusement”, including “de ruwste en onnatuurlijkste onzedelijkheid”[23]. Jacobs (1894, I:p234-7[24]; cf. 1883:p13-4, 134)[25], a high official of military health, however, writes that this picture is quite exaggerated: “as soon as such a sedati [sadati] might reveal inclinations for perverse sexual acts, he ceases to be a sedati and is dismissed” (p235). Nevertheless, “[a]lmost no Atjeh chief, when on an official trip, goes out unless accompanied by a half or whole dozen of sadatis, catamites, as is claimed, who are recruited [aangeworven] by […] that chiefs for perverse inclinations”. The Bali boys would be called gandrungs, would be required in other ways of “corpere quastum facere” after their hour-long dances (Jacobs, 1883; also cited by Wilken, 1889:p458; cf. Van Eck, p169[26]; Duff-Cooper, 1985:p415)[27].

Chabot (1950:p156)[28] speaks about a dance titled masri in which boys of 8-12 years perform dances for apparently highly enthusiastic men. “De sexuele prikkel, die van de combinatie van vers, rhythme en de half als vrouw verklede jongetjes uitgaat is de hoofdzaak”[29]. The dance was temporarily forbidden by the Government.

Williams (1990:p579-80)[30] states that in the Ponorogo area of Eastern Java, boys were used by men, traditionally by waroks (spiritually and physically powerful masculine adult men) as a gemblakan, some as young as seven, but mostly in their teens. These gemblak[an]s (Wilson, 1999; Permadi, 1991:p64-5, as cited by Utomo, p13[31]; Weis)[32] date back to the 15th century, and survived until recently in Ponorogo, a small town east of Yogyakarta:

“Warok [students of Ki Ageng Kutu, the court poet of the last king of the Majapahit kingdom, Bra Kertabumi,in the fifteenth century] were said to follow a strict regime of ascetic discipline, one of the parguron’s rules being that they were forbidden to have sexual intercourse with women. This prohibition was predicated on the belief that the resulting loss of sperm would deplete their supernatural powers. To aid them in their endeavour, each warok enlisted the aid of a young boy known as a gemblak who acted as a “substitute” woman. […]As a 'substitute' for a wife the warok chose a beautiful young boy, who acted as his companion as well as a jatilan dancer in his reog troupe. The beauty of the gemblak, in the eyes of the warok, came from their androgynous like features, grace, and poise. The boy was chosen from a neighbouring area and usually aged between eight and sixteen years. The warok would send a delegation to the home of the boy's parents to ‘propose’, the patterns of ritualised speech employed being very similar to that used in proposals for heterosexual weddings. […] Warok are reputed to use magical powers obtained through extended periods of fasting to 'seduce' [ merayu] reluctant gemblak. […] For many young boys, being a gemblak was accepted as a certain stage in the journey to manhood and the majority of gemblak stayed with their warok until their late teens” (Wilson).

Petkovic(1999)[33]:

“Gemblak help the warok maintain the state of abstinence by providing companionship and a kind of woman substitute. For this reason, gemblak are selected for their grace, pose and beauty. While, publicly, sexual activity between warok and gemblak is not condoned, some petting and kissing is allowed. There is usually an intense relationship between warok and gemblak and there have been many instances when different warok have fought one another over the possession of their favorite gemblak. […] The warok’s relationship with their gemblak companions is amplified by their 'sexual games' on the one hand, and moderated, in the end, by professed abstinence”.

While the relationship was said to be innocent (as elderly say, “with gemblak the most that can happen is a bit of harmless kissing and cuddling. But close association with women will definitely lead to sexual intercourse which will result in the warok losing his powers”), local government regarded the warok/gemblak relationship as “morally offensive and in conflict with the ‘national personality’ [kepribadian bangsa]. The relationship is deemed to be unacceptable because it is considered to be nothing more than ‘socialised homosexuality’, and a potential threat to public order”.

Oetomo, one of the leading gay-rights activists in Indonesia and an academic at AirlanggaUniversity, East Java, marks its essentialist character[34]:

“I think what they do sexually, we have to call homosexual acts. This is widely known all over Java. Anybody who is in touch with the traditional way of life in Ponorogo, knows that there are these older men called warok who, instead of having sex with their wives, have sex with younger boys - eight to fourteen, fifteen - and they do that as part of looking for prowess. Whether we can call them a homosexual community is questionable. They don’t call themselves homosexuals; they don’t identify themselves as homosexuals, such as one finds in the West or in modern Indonesia. They would call themselves warok-gemblakan”.

[For contemporary Dutch notes on Indonesian homosexualities, see Oostvogels (1990)[35] and Buitendorp (1995)[36]]

Webster (2004)[37] in a study of Yogyakarta lebians:

“All of the ‘butch’ respondents felt a same sex attraction from an early age, one as young as four. This woman felt a strong sense of love and mutual responsibility for a kindergarten friend who was always “giving me food and not wanting to see me sick, we were always together”. The ‘butch’ respondents indicate they preferred girls to boys in an emotional sense but “I did not know what it was, actually I didn’t tell anyone because I feared my parents would find out. When I entered junior high I learnt the name, lesbian”. Despite not knowing what her sexuality was or what it would be perceived as, she already had a developed notion that it was bad due to a large extent to an absence of positive role models in her immediate environment and in the media [...]”.

Early Betrothal / Marriage

In the “Indian Archipelo”, marriage could take place at puberty (Wilken, 1886:p141, 143), including cases concerned with (elaborate) additional regulations, and of child marriage and betrothal (detailed and referenced in ibid., p161-7)[38]. Early betrothal before 1900 used to be fairly common in Indonesia[39], at least in the case of Java[40], Buru[41], Savoe[42] (petaga), and among the Bataks, Sundanese[43], and other Malay peoples[44]. An very detailed historical literature overview of Indonesian prepubertal betrothals and marriage was offered by the Amsterdam Colonial Institute (1921[IV]:p467-506)[45]. Mallinckrodt (I, p436-8) further mentions the Kajan (pre- and neonatal), central tribes (Badhau: gen. strat.), Ngadjoe (gen. strat.), and Tajan (Schadee). Commenting on the Borneocase, Schwaner (1853, I:p194, as cited by Sumner, op.cit.)[46] mentions that children are betrothed and married in their childhoods, their intimacies “left to chance”. Mallinckrodt[47] (I, p423-4, 436, as cited by Van Praag, p392-3) speaks of prenatal betrothal on Borneo, while Nieuwenhuis[48] and Schadee[49] report on generationally stratified marriage among the Kajans and Dayak (very rare)[50], respectively. Child marriages among the Minahassa of Celebes, as mentioned by Graafland[51], were banished in 1861.

Some further data are collected in Lebar (1972)[52]. The Bisaya (Borneo) practice informal “pairing” of eight- and nine-year-olds. Premarital chastity, however, was of great concern and sexual initiation was determined by the mother-in-law associated with future residence. Child betrothal was reported for the Muruts in the Trusan-Lawas districts (p161)[53]. Prenatal and infant betrothal was occasionally practiced by the Timugon (p157), was the rule on Wetar (p111), and formerly customary among the Sumatra Niasans (p39) and Batak (p21). Among the Toradja child betrothal was customary (Adriani, 1951 [II]; vP, p521). Dusun children would be betrothed when “still young” (Straal, 1923/4:p129)[54]. The Atjeh practiced child marriage (Jacobs, 1894, I:p74-5; cf. Van Praag, [1934:p7, 9-10]). In Indonesia, sexual intercourse would take place with the girl child-bride among the Bantam and the Atjeh (Fischer, 1952:p116-7)[55].

Wealthy parents controlled their children’s marriage arrangements in some parts of Southeast Asia where Islam was very influential (Utomo):

“In Southeast Asia, too, the elite were anxious to avoid unacceptable liaisons by their daughters or doubtful parentage for their grandchildren, and therefore sought betrothals with appropriate spouses at an early age. In the wealthy trading cities most firmly committed to Islam-Aceh, Banten, Brunei, and Patani-the habit of arranging marriages for daughters at the age of puberty appears to have spread through a wider sector of society, in reaction to the prevailing premarital sexual permissiveness. Aceh and Banten were notorious for exceptionally early female marriage in the nineteenth century (Reid, 1988:p159)”[[56]].

The contemporary pattern of premarital courtship on South Sulawesi occurs at the interface of traditional and modern curricula (Ford et al., 1997:p253-4)[57].

Locher-Scholten (2003:p41-2)[58]:

“Child marriage occurred but generally in the mitigated form of a kind of betrothal (kawin gantung). Unlike its British counterpart, the Dutch colonial government did not take legal action regarding child marriage.  Indonesia did not have an Age of Consent Act of 1891, raising the age of  consent to sexual relations for girls, married and unmarried, from ten to twelve, or a Sarda Act of 1929, or a Child Marriage Restraint Act, forbidding marriages of girls below age fourteen and of boys below age sixteen. Only the marriages of Christian Indonesians were regulated by law, including a minimum age, free partner choice, and monogamy. The issue of child marriage was a matter of temporary concern of some Dutch administrators in the 1920s, but notice was mainly relegated to private initiative of nationalist and women's organizations in the 1930s[59]”.

Current Age of Consent

According to ECPAT[60], the age of consent is 15 years for girls and 18 years for homosexual relations.

Colonialism

The impact of Dutch mores on Indonesian sexual pedagogies has not been studied. However, it is learned that the Dutch warned the Indonesian mother for “ontegenzeggelijk slechte gewoonten” [irrefutably bad habits] as caused by sibling co-sleeping, and by nursemaids[61].

Ethnographic Particularities

Pangkahila and Pangkahila (1997)[62]: “Sexual exploration and sex rehearsal play are common among children as a natural part of their psychosexual development. However, many parents are afraid of such behavior, believing that it results in sexual abnormalities. […] Homoerotic or homosexual activities are not common among Indonesian children, although some sexual exploration involving exhibiting the genitals is known to occur”. [In his intimate study of Indonesian homosexual development, Howard (1996)[63] did not cover, or does not mention, childhood (homo-)sexual behaviour, nor do autobiographical accounts]. “School curricula do not offer students any education on sexual topics or issues”. Furthermore, “[s]ex education is not generally given at schools and parents are reluctant to talk about sex to their children“[64].

The use of courtship dwellings is only occasionally mentioned[65].

Featured:

Alorese, Adjeh, Balinese, Batak, Bawean, Belu, Bonerate, Dayak, Dusun, Edopi, Endeh, Engano Island, Iban, Javanese, Kayans, Ketengban, Mentawaians, Moni, Mpur, Murungs, Ngada, Sula Island, Sundanese, Tobelorese, Toradja, , Orang Rimba

Contemporarily Uncovered SCCS Societies: Indonesia

Badjau (2-,2-,2-,2,-,-;-,-)

Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. VolumeI. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology

Last revised: Apr 2005