Paramita:Paramita: Historical Historical Studies Studies Journal, Journal, 29(2) 29(2) 2019: 2019 178 -189 ISSN: 0854-0039, E-ISSN: 2407-5825 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/paramita.v29i1.16716 MISSION AND DEVELOPMENT IN MANGGARAI, FLORES EASTERN INDONESIA IN 1920-1960s Fransiska Widyawati, Yohanes S. Lon STKIP Santu Paulus Ruteng Flores, NTT ABSTRACT ABSTRAK This paper explores the mission and develop- Paper ini mengeksplorasi misi dan pem- ment in Manggarai Flores, Indonesia in 1920- bangunan di Manggarai Flores, Indonesia ta- 1960s. These two activities were carried out by hun 1920-1960s. Dua aktivitas ini dilakukan Catholic Church missionaries from Europe. oleh misionaris Gereja Katolik yang berasal Before this religion came to Manggarai, this dari Eropa. Sebelum agama ini datang ke region was in an isolated and backward condi- Manggarai, wilayah ini berada dalam kondisi tion. People lived in primitive way of life. The terisolasi dan terkebelakang. Masyarakat tidak new development was carried out with the mengenal infrastruktur modern. Pem- arrival of the Dutch colonists who worked bangunan baru dilakukan dengan datangnya closely with the Catholic Church missionaries penjajah Belanda yang bekerja sama erat beginning in the early 20th century. The dengan misionaris Gereja Katolik mulai pada Church utilized the support of the Dutch colo- awal abad 20. Gereja memanfaatkan nialists while running various development dukungan Belanda sekaligus menjalankan ane- programs as important strategies to gain sym- ka program pembangunan sebagai strategi pathy from the Manggarai people. As a result, penting untuk mendapatkan simpati orang the Church was accepted and became the Manggarai. Hasilnya Gereja diterima dan dominant force in the community. This proves menjadi kekuatan dominan di dalam masyara- that missions that are in line with development kat. Hal ini membuktikan bahwa misi yang or religion which at the same time pay atten- sejalan dengan pembangunan atau agama tion to religious and secular aspects can win yang sekaligus memperhatikan aspek religius the hearts of the people. By using the historical dan kultural dapat memenangkan hati approach, this paper aims to present a history masyarakatnya. Dengan menggunakan pen- of mission and development relations in dekatan historis, artikel ini bertujuan untuk Manggarai, Eastern Indonesia while providing menyajikan sejarah hubungan misi dan pem- a critical analysis of how religion, government bangunan di Manggarai, Indonesia Timur and society are interwoven. sambil memberikan analisis kritis tentang bagaimana agama, pemerintah dan otoritas masyarakat terjalin erat. Author correspondence Email: [email protected] 178 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/paramita Paramita: Historical Studies Journal, 29(2) 2019 INTRODUCTION of development in Eastern Indonesia. The Religious missions are usually not in ex- Catholic Church started its mission in clusively spiritual matter. Many religions Manggarai, the western part of Flores Is- carry out missions and development to- land, East Nusa Tenggara Province in the gether. Both are interventions aiming at early of 20th century. It was three centu- the transformation of people that comprise ries later than in the eastern part of Flores. them (Scheer, Fountain, & Feener, 2018, Manggarai was isolated and back- p. 1). The missionaries may offer develop- wardeness. This area began to be touched ment as a strategy to attract sympathetic by development with the arrival of Catho- of the people to adopt their religion. How- lic missionaries in the early 20th century. ever, it can also be the content of the reli- The missionaries came only a few years gious mission itself. The history of the after the presence of Dutch colonial in this spread of religion in Christianity in Indo- region in 1907. The role of the colonial nesia studied by Pedersen (Pedersen, government was not denied in presenting 1970) in Batak, of Aragon (Aragon, 2000) the missionaries in this land (Widyawati, in Celebes and of Hefner (Hefner, 1990) in 2013). In collaboration with the Dutch, Java clearly shows how missionaries em- the Catholic Church created changes to ployed development strategies to acceler- regional development through an educa- ate conversions as well as to smoothly or- tional program, house construction and ganize society according to their own con- resettlement, health services, road infra- cept. structure, etc. With funding from the Eu- During the colonial period, Europe- ropean Church, missionaries built Mang- an missionaries worked with the colonial- garai to slowly get out of isolation in the ists to win their goals. Mission and devel- early and middle of 20th century. opment coincided. Christian agents during Through this paper, the role of Ca- the colonial era often have considered tholicism in developing and shaping their role to provide a range of services, Manggarai Flores, Eastern Indonesia in including education, healthcare, new tech- 1920-1960s is described and discussed. niques in agriculture and new culture in as This is a period in which Manggarai a complement to religious activities Church was still seen as part of mission (Scheer, Fountain, & Feener, 2018, pp. land, not yet an independent local 107-108). Meanwhile, before the 20th cen- Church. It was only in the middle of the tury, European colonials began justifying 20th century, to be exact in 1961, that the their transnational empires with the word Manggarai Church became an independ- "civilizing mission". By which colonial ent diocese, a local church (Boelaars, rule was considered a moral duty that had 2005). By using a historical approach, this to be maintained for the sake of the colo- paper aims to present a history of mission nialized (Grubb, 2009, p. 9) (Hirono, and development relations in Manggarai, 2008). In so, doing the colonial authorities Eastern Indonesia while providing a criti- drew heavily on Christian mission rhetoric cal analysis of how religion, government, and incipient humanitarian morality. and society are interwoven. Christian mission was used to buttress co- lonialism. It was included similar justifica- RESEACRH METHOD tions for the moral and political necessity This study is a social research which basi- of development projects (Jewsiewicki, cally develops historical approach. It is a 1989, p. 3) technique of finding, analzing and describ- This paper elaborates mission and ing information relating to certain histori- development in Manggarai, Flores East- cal periods. It elaborates both field and ern Indonesia in 1920-1960s. It brings how hitorical-literature survey. Writing re- the Christian missionaries have engaged sources about the coming of the Catholic modern program in a broad range way missionaries and its the development of and being transformed by diverse projects Catholic Church of Manggarai from early 179 Paramita: Historical Studies Journal, 29(2) 2019 20th century up to 1960s are limited. society). What the king meant by Freijss, Some of which were written by clergy and of course, referred to the King or Sultan of for the interest of the Church. Some were Bima who at the time of the arrival of from the side of the Ducth colonials writ- Freijss to Manggarai, was mastering this ers. Both had internal point of view. In region (Freijss, 1860). But Dami N. Toda addition, this study also uses the Ruteng (Toda, 1999, pp. 67-70) a researcher in Diocese’s archives and some parishes’ ar- Manggarai historiography stated that chives that record about their programs. Freijss made a misinterpretation because Some contemporary studies of the Mang- of his lack of understanding of the local garai Church have also become important language. In the Manggarai language, sources for this research. Though limited, "mangga" or "manga" means "there" and they are helpful to this study. "raja" contains several meanings namely To supplay more data, this study something, problem, or cause. It does not also conducted a field research. It focuses refer to king (raja). Therefore, the word " on evidence of missionary involvement in manga raja" should not be translated development work in this region. Part of "there is a king" but "there is a cause" or the data was obtained from the interviews "there is a problem" or "there is some- of the related informants and partly from thing" (Verheijen, 1967). the physical evidence of the development Another version tells us that in an- carried out. cient times a group of people came to Manggarai via a sea route using a simple RESULTS AND DISCUSSION boat. Upon arriving at one of the beaches Manggarai: The Story Behind the Name in the area now called Manggarai, they Manggarai is a place, ethnicity and also anchored the anchor and went down this the name of a language. Manggarai is in land. After traversing the land, they re- the western part of Flores and occupies turned and found the anchor had been about one-third of the island's territory. washed away by the waves. They asked Originally, Flores was named Nusa Nipa, each other where is the anchor of their which means the island of a snake. This boat. Some people answered, "Manggar name is associated with the shape of this rai" which means "missing anchor". This island resembling a snake as well as the event inspired them to call this place habitat of various types of snakes Manggarai (Heerkens, 1930, pp. 30-31; (Orinbao, 1969). The name Flores origi- Erb, 1999). Besides this version, there are nally came from the Portuguese language, also other versions circulating in the com- Cabo de Flores, which means cape of flower munity. Until now, there is no agreement or Tanjung Bunga in the local language which version is considered the most cor- (Laan, 1962-1968). This name was given rect. by a Portuguese, S.M. Cabot when he set Before 2003, the Manggarai region foot on the eastern point of the island in was a single district. It is bordered by Nga- the 16th century. Since 1636, this name da Regency at the east and by Sape Strait was officially used by the Governor- near Bima, Sumbawa at the west.