Torch light in the city: Auto/Ethnographic Studies of Urban Kampung Community in City, West Java1

Hestu Prahara Department of Anthropology, University of

“Di kamar ini aku dilahirkan, di bale bambu buah tangan bapakku. Di rumah ini aku dibesar- kan, dibelai mesra lentik jari ibuku. Nama dusunku Ujung Aspal Pondokgede. Rimbun dan anggun, ramah senyum penghuni dusunku. Sampai saat tanah moyangku tersentuh sebuah rencana demi serakahnya kota. Terlihat murung wajah pribumi… Angkuh tembok pabrik berdiri. Satu persatu sahabat pergi dan takkan pernah kembali”

“In this room I was born, in a bamboo bed made by my father’s hands. In this house I was raised, caressed tenderly by my mother’s hands. Ujung Aspal Pondokgede is the name of my village. She is lush and graceful with friendly smile from the villagers. Until then my ancestor’s land was touched by the greedy plan of the city. The people’s faces look wistful… Factory wall arrogantly stood. One by one best friends leave and will never come back”

(Iwan Fals, Ujung Aspal Pondokgede)

Background

The economic growth and socio-spatial trans- an important role as a buffer zone for the nucleus. formation in Kota Depok cannot be separated Demographically speaking, there is a tendency of from the growth of the capital city of Indonesia, increasing population in JABODETABEK area DKI . Sunarya (2004) described Kota from time to time. From the total of Indonesian Depok as Kota Baru (new city) of which its socio- population, 3 percent live in satellite cities of economic transformations is strongly related to Jakarta area in 1961, increased by 6 percent in the development of greater Jakarta metropolitan. 2000 (Tim Faperta, 2004). In Kota Depok, the Thus Depok is a part of the greater Jakarta metro- number of its population is increasing from time politan, together with other satellite cities such as to time as well. It had about 805.542 inhabitants Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi. This metropolitan in 1999 which rapidly increased to 1.898.570 concept of the city development is well-known as inhabitants in 2012 (BPS Kota Depok, 2013). His- JABODETABEK in which the satellite cities play torically, this rapid augmentation of population

1 This monograph elaborates the anthropological discussion of place attachment among the residents of urban kampung neighborhood in one of Jakarta’s peripheral cities, Kota Depok. Within the socio-economic transformation in the cities and also alteration of physical landscape, the local residents who live in kampung neighborhood experience the feeling of ‘uprootedness’ but at the same time create place attachment through the act of incorporation. In this regard, kampung as a socio-spatial entity is discerned as potentiality within perpetual urban transformation. In particular, this monograph looks at the ways in which the production of place attachment constitutes a process mediated by practices related to social memories, kinship and ritual. Ethnographic data that I present in this monograph are gained through my ethnographic fieldwork during September 2011—Oktober 2012 among kampung residents in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, Depok City, West . Since I (as researcher) am also part of the community that I study in this research, this monograph can be regarded as auto-ethnographic study in which in some part I also integrate self-narratives that place myself within the social context that I study.

40 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 is accelerated by the network of transportations From time to time, the number of the services and infrastructure and the existence of public housing trades in economic sector keeps growing. Based provided by the national government within the on an official report of Kota Depok’s govern- satellite area. In 1974, the first public housing ment, in 1999 the city has about 5 hotels, 49 tra- project was built in Kota Depok under the na- ditional restaurants, 47 fast food restaurants, 15 tional company of housing or Perusahan Umum traditional markets, 17 supermarkets, 4 shopping Perumahan Nasional/Perumnas (Public company malls and 2.847 groceries. This number remains of national housing). This public housing project growing until today—especially for property provided by the national government, however, business such as ‘fancy’ dormitories for students was intended to solve the increased population in and apartments—concentrated in a certain part the center by providing the middle class workers of the area. In Beji, the tertiary sector (trade and in Jakarta with an affordable housing. With the services industries) with various undocumented network of transportations infrastructure which informal economic activities have flourished, enabled them to commute from and to the city’s concentrated mainly along the primary road center, this public housing seemed appealing. called Margonda Raya that connects the city to The development of the public housing in DKI Jakarta. Kota Depok was also followed by the other forms The government of Kota Depok attributes to of housing provided by the private sector. The the area along the primary road of Margonda transition of land use from agriculture to housing Raya ‘the fast growing area in services and and then the development of various commercial trade’ where the construction of offices and buildings were unavoidabe in certain parts of commercial buildings threaten densely populated Kota Depok. kampungs. As the result, an uneven competition The second trigger of the socio-economic occurs between the needed social space of urban transformation of Kota Depok is the relocation kampung community and commercial activities. of Universitas Indonesia to one if its sub-district Public space and open space where people could called Kecamatan Beji in 1987. This relocation interact are now disappeared and replaced by the was followed by huge migrations of students and commercial buildings. This is not to mention the university staffs to this area. The presence of social distinction and distancing created by the these newcomers has been perceived as income unplanned city’s development. This social dis- opportunity for the local inhabitants by renting tinction and distancing are explicitly marked in out parts of their house for students. Others also the spatial form within the urban kampung’s en- took the opportunity by opening small restau- vironment where the wealthy live separately from rants (warung), groceries, internet cafes and other the poor and are clustered in their own exclusive various services providing economic activities. housing estates. The city’s development marked

Table 1 Transformation of land use in Kota Depok, 1974—2005.

1974 1982 1999 2005 Housing 20.00% 47.18% 54.76% 46.51% Industry 0.00% 1.56% 1.72% 1.73% Agriculture 64.23% 34.81% 23.23% 22.22% Other 15.77% 16.45% 20.29% 29.54% Total 100% 100% 100% 100%

Source:Sunarya (2004)

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 41

Figure 1: Segregated environment in Kota Depok

by the commercialization of space and social to the locals. About that situation, he blamed the distinction unavoidably has transformed the local dwellers who, in his opinion, were already existing social relations among urban kampung ‘poisoned’ by the new lifestyle of individualism community. Segregated environment threatened and— especially young generations—already the urban kampung community through the new forgot their kin roots. He described this situation lifestyle of individualism and the loosening of ties as mati obor (literally can be translated as ‘the of households and kins. dead of torchlight’) that expresses the situation Jellinek who observed urban poor community of loosening ties of kin groups and families as in Jakarta argues that “the loosening of ties be- the moral basis of communal life of urban kam- tween households that had once shared so much pung community. The dispersion of kin groups’ was one factor that led kampung dwellers to ques- residences and neighborhoods resulted by the tion the moral basis of their society” (1991:21). massive construction of commercial buildings This argument, however, reminds me of my en- within kampung environments is one factor that counter with one of my old friends Mustakim in brings the ‘degradation’ of communal life among the beginning of my field research in 2011. The urban kampung communities and threats them last time I saw him before that was in 2002 when with anonymity in their own homes. he took a job in Surabaya and lived there with his Related to the social changes in the process wife and little son for almost four years. He came of globalization, Castells (2000) argues about the back to his kampung in Pondokcina, Depok, after birth of a new society that he called “network losing his job in Surabaya, and started to make a society” where the transformative of spatial struc- new living in his own home. Many things have ture occurs. He argues that “the space of flows” changed in his kampung after he left for Sura- as a new form of space emerges and transformes baya in 2002; the first time he came back to his the “space of place” that is based on meaningful kampung, he felt that everything in his neighbor- physical proximity and its specific characteristics hood was not the same anymore. One thing that of localities. From this standpoint, I’m interested he noticed was that many of his neighbors and to explore the existence of space of place and its the people he knew have moved to other places local characteristics within the urban transfor- (some moved far from the main street and the mation of Kota Depok. When physical distance others moved to more peripheral areas far from within one community disappears, space is only the city center). When I met him in 2011 he told perceived as a locus for economic exchange me a story about how upset he was with the at- where its configuration is a manifestation of its titude of newcomers—mostly the students in his economic functions (Harvey, 1985), and under kampung that in his opinion have no respect at all the capitalistic system, the meaningful attach-

42 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 ments of space based on social relations proxim- Methodology ity within urban kampung community is always Urban development in Indonesia, also in being threatened. My big question in mind is: Malaysia, is always followed by the formation Is meaningful physical proximity and the sense of urban poor community occupying certain of belonging attached to the place completely places within the city (see e.g. Brookfield, Hadi disappeared and replaced by the new form of and Mahmud, 1991) with certain features of com- commercialized space within city’s development? munal way of life (see Jelinek, 1991; Sullivan, This question leads me to the research of urban 1992) and in a form of ‘anarchist-like’ com- village community in Indonesia known as urban munity (Murray, 1994). In Jakarta, for example, kampung community where, unlike the city, the Murray (1994) describes the distinction between communal co-operation and solidarity are the kampung communities and modern elite ‘gated main characters of this group of people living in community’ as an inescapable feature of Jakarta. urban enclaves. One special attribute that is associated with this kampung-communal group is a broad set of ideas Research problem and practices of mutual support and self-help, Kampung is still important for certain groups solidarity and local cooperation known as gotong who live in city, as found by Guiness in one royong (Koentjaraningrat, 1989:2). This form of kampung in Yogyakarta that “‘kampung’ has community and communality is often perceived become more important as a symbol of identity, romantically with its noble character of indig- a nostalgic link to the past or to one’s kin or enous way of life that is somehow endangered adat (tradition)” (2009:33). It is in line with what by the emergence of individualistic way of life as I also found in my preliminary research, that the consequence of urban development. For some “kampung” as a symbol of identity is still articu- scholars, this view is somehow contradicted most lated especially in relation to newcomers in the of their findings. Murray (1994:48) who studied kampung environment. In many cases, it’s even kampung community in Jakarta, for example, used to legitimate the acquisition of certain public found that ‘kampung’ as a community is nothing place to be used in informal economic activities. more than an ideal conception of harmony that In addition, certain features that characterize the became an ideology once it was institutional- communal life of kampung community also still ized in the urban administrative structure as a exist and are practiced by most of the people in means of imposing order. Guiness (2009:12) also Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. In the context of reminds that Indonesian kampung in the form of rapid urban transformation, my research ques- neighborhood division of RT (Rukun Tetangga) tions are: Within what kind of circumstances that and RW (Rukun Warga) originated under the ‘kampung’ as a place as well as a certain form Japanese wartime administration and were ad- of social relationship is relevant to the current opted under post-independence government as situations of urban development in Kota Depok? an effective way of governing urban populations. How does the daily life of kampung residents In Yogyakarta, Sullivan (1992) describes about look like? How do the members of urban kam- the public harmony depicted by urban neighbor- pung community produce a meaningful relation hoods considered to be a construction of the state to the place that they inhabit while at the same programs rather than locally generated coopera- time the physical changes of their environment tion and solidarity. In the case of Surabaya, King continuously happens and alienates them from and Idawati (2010) argue that the solidarity of their place? the community that reflects in gotong royong activities is merely ‘a strategic manipulation’ and ‘dramaturgical action’ to avoid the eviction

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 43 of the people’s neighborhood and demolition of and determining the data collecting process, in their houses by local government. my interaction with my informants which in this Despite those critics about the originality of case mostly have close social relationship with communality in kampung neighborhood in In- me, it has been hard to differentiate my position donesian cities, somehow, for me, what’s more as researcher as well as a part of the community. productive for our elaboration here is to under- It has been also difficult to differentiate all my stand how the ideas of communality in an urban interactions with them in community events; context are put into practices in everyday life was I doing so-called participant observation or by inhabitants or members of community, and just living my life in my own environment? It is to see its correspondence to the production of true that when I was doing this research in my social space. In this regard, I agree with Anthony own hometown I might have been shadowed by Cohen (1985) who suggests that community is the danger of familiarity. Taussig (1980:3) warns best understood as an experience, and the task that ‘familiarity persuades us that our cultural of social observers is to identify the nature and form is not historical, not social, not human, but scope of people’s conceived community and to natural—“thing-like” and physical’ but the ques- analyze how they construct it symbolically and tion that I asked to my-self before I decided to do attach meaning to it. Despite the state construc- this research was ‘To what extent do I understand tion of kampung neighborhood as a set of ideas about the social life in my own home place?’ The to impose order for urban community through truth is in many aspects, I am not really familiar daily practices of its inhabitants, those ideas of with what really happens recently in my own idealized community are always being challenged home place. This research then, is not only an and constantly under negotiations. In other words, effort to understand the others’ lives but also a it is in the people’s practices within a particular part my own praxis, as what Lang (1985) calls context where we can found both continuity and ‘the act of familiarization’, that is an exercise to discontinuity of kampung as an idealized place absorb and incorporate strange entities, unknown for urban neighborhood community. environment, to become part of ‘embodied space’. To gain understanding about how people It is an activity that is continuously exercised by construct their social world in kampung neigh- all my neighbors and relatives who became my borhood as well as how they attach meaning to informants in this research. it, ethnography is a useful method to use. In this I started my first interview with one of the regard, ethnography is a science that studies kampung elders (orang tua) in September 2011 culture which consists of technical knowledge to understand their perspectives about current of research and theory formulation through changes in their environment. My purpose in various descriptions that are obtained through discussing this subject with the elders is to gain participation-fieldwork with the research subject a comparative understanding in the form of tem- (Spradley, 1997:12). In this way, ethnography is porality related to the changes in my research site. a situated activity, which puts the researcher or In other words, since spatial order is a social order observer in a world in which he is studying (Den- (see e.g. Retsikas, 2009), their narratives about zin, 2000). Most of the data I gained are collected the changes in the neighborhood cannot be sepa- through my participation in community events rated from the social changes they experience. and engagement in daily conversation with the Since my research’s focus is the experience of residents of Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. How- dwelling to understand the attachment of place ever, Kampung Bojong Pondokcina as a site of my of the inhabitants of urban kampung community, research is also a place where I spent most of my my main strategy is then to explore one impor- life time with friends and family. As social posi- tant question: To what extent those with whom I tion is a crucial part in ethnographical research live as friends, neighbors and also siblings share

44 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 certain features of familiarity with me about form involving a tension between idealized or dwelling experience in a kampung community. imagined setting which he calls “background” In this way, related to my elaboration about the against which the “foreground” of everyday, real, sense of place, I compare my own memory about ordinary life is cast. In his scheme, landscape’s kampung with the others’ to understand to what foreground actuality is to background potential- extend those particular memories are shared ity, as place to space, inside to outside and image collectively. The reflexivity of my social life to representation (1995:4). with the others, about certain shared sentiments Unlike Hirsch, Retsikas (2007) takes another we have, about day to day routines in my own way around where he concentrates more on the kampung then play a crucial part in this research. importance of place as an active force in the con- One important advantage of my social position, stitution and animation of human subjects. In his compared to other researchers, was that I don’t work, he emphasizes the role that the experience need to spend too much time to build rapport and acting out of place play in the articulation of with my informants since I already do that, i.e identity, and elaborates how the production of the as an inhabitant, as a part of the community. category of both place and person is a process Hence, from this standpoint, this research has mediated by practices related to social memory, its own autoethnographic side, i.e. the combina- kinship and ritual. Like Retsikas, Gow (1995) tion of the character of ‘the self’ and ‘the social’ also elaborates how landscape’s meaning forms by interrogating personal experiences with their densely mediated relationship with place through broader relation with social and cultural life (see kinship. He argues that people know the land- Ellis, 2004). Related to my autoethnographic scape through actions in it together with others side, I follow the definition from Reed-Danahay and narrative—landscape implicates kin relations (1997:9) that ‘autoethnography is defined as a by acting as a mnemonic for recalling prior social form of self-narratives that place the self within events. This elaboration is also similar with Low a social context. It is both a method and a text, and Lawrence-zuniga’s argument (2003) that the as in the case of ethnography. relation between human and environment is more than just imbuing the physical environment with Theoretical framework: The practices of place social meanings but also about “the recognition making and cultural elaboration of perceived properties In recent years, the importance of human of environment in mutually constituting ways agency in place production has been well high- through narratives and praxis.” lighted in the social sciences literature. In anthro- The range of works we have here highlights pological literature, for instance, Hirch (1995) the importance of practices to understand the elaborates the importance of human agency in places formation that is formerly perceived creating place, turning impersonal geography merely as background of human behavior and into ‘home’ and ‘dwelling’. In The Anthropology social relations. Therefore, places and relation of Landscape: Perspectives on Place and Space, (always social in de Certeau’s sense), then, can- he uses the concept of landscape which, like a not be analyzed separately and instead perceived place, is used frequently by anthropologist in their as two dialectic forces. Urban studies, urban ethnographic descriptions. Hirsch (1995:1) identi- anthropology and sociology are very discipline fies two meanings of landscape in anthropology, in applying this idea to understand not only the the first as framing device used “objectively” to emergence of socio-spatial entity in human his- bring people into view while the second refers tory called city but also the complex relation to meanings people impute to their surround- between human and their current circumstances ings. He then defines landscape as a developing that are inevitably always under political control, plan and representation. The city, of which the

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 45 noted anthropologist Stuart Hall once wrote, is ideas, are powerful yet creative agents in the “always both socially, economically and cultur- sense of manipulating and transforming the ally constituted and, at the same time configured dominant social order in their use of city space in the imaginary through the representation” in everyday life. (2006:20). From this standpoint, he attributes a Differing from Michel Foucault in Discipline “machinery of representation” to the city because and Punish who privileges the productive appa- of its nearly unique role in materializing social ratus which produces the discipline, de Certeau relationship in space. concerns more on the other way around that is The presence and circulation of a representa- how the “popular procedure” of the users ma- tion in city space (created by the city planners, nipulates the mechanisms of discipline. This politicians and state agency) is the very point “way of operating” he said, “constitutes the where Michel de Certeau departs to seek another innumerable practices by means of which users point of view about the city, i.e. not from the pro- re-appropriate the space organized by technique ducers of the representation but from its users. of socio-cultural production” (XL). The goal of For de Certeau, the residents of city space (as the investigating the “way of operating” is to bring users of the representation) commonly assumed to light the obscure form taken by the dispersed, to be passive, guided by established rules and tactical, and makeshift creativity of groups or dominated by structure of powers, have a hidden individuals that are already caught in the nets yet muted microscopic power that lies in their of discipline. “way of operating” or doing things in everyday Focusing on the appropriation makeshift live. It is hidden because it is scattered over areas creativity taken by de Certeau is analogous defined and occupied by the larger system of the to the linguistic study on “performance” and production of representation. About the powerful “competence” where the act of speaking is not aspect in the way of operating taken by the users, reducible to knowledge of the language. It seems in the very beginning of his book L’invention du to me that this “performance-competence” or quotidien: 1. Arts de faire, he explains that: “the act of speaking-knowledge of the language” combination in linguistic study brings light to de La « fabrication » á déceler est une production, une poétique, mais cachée, parce qu’elle se dissémine Certeau’s investigation on the “way of operating”. dans les régions définies et occupées par les sys- It becomes obvious with the use of this logic in tèmes de la «production » (télévisée, urbanistique, de Certeau’s notions like “strategy-tactic” and commerciale, etc.) et parce que l’extension de plus en plus totalitaire de ces systèmes ne laisse plus aux “space-place”. While strategy and space refer to « consommateurs » une place où marquer ce qu’ils the stable form of the proper structure, tactic and font des produits. (1990:XXXVII). place are room for manipulation, appropriation If one asks, “What is left within the pro- and re-appropriation. Michel de Certeau distin- grammed yet standardized spatial form like the guishes place (lieux) and space (espaces). Place, city for the citizens’ creativity?” de Certeau will he said, refers to the locational instantiation of answer that it lies in the practices of everyday what is considered to be customary proper and life which result in appropriation and re-appro- even pre-established: priation of the representations imposed on the [...] est un lieu l’ordre (quelle qu’il soit) selon lequel residents of city space. For the users, de Certeau des éléments sont distribués dans des rapports de coexistence. S’y trouve donc exclue la possibilité, said “the strength of their difference lay in the pour deux choses, d’être à la même place. La loi du procedure of ‘consumption’ which in this context « propre » y règne : les éléments considérés sont les also corresponds with the logic of production. uns à côté des autres, chacun situé en un endroit « propre » et distinct qu’il définit. Un lieu est donc une By putting the “consumption” as another form configuration instantanée de positions. Il implique of production, the users, in light of de Certeau’s une indication de stabilité. (1990 :172-173)

46 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 Place is an order, a structure, ‘an instanta- Chapter I: The topostory of Kota Depok and neous configuration of positions’. Space, on the Kampung Bojong Pondokcina other hand, has none of this stability but instead In this section I will elaborate upon the nar- is composed of the intersections of mobile ele- ratives of the city’s landscape related to the de- ments which are ambiguous and often in conflict. velopment of urban enclaves. Kota Depok, long Space, as de Certeau points out, is thus lieu pra- before it held the modern status of a city within tiqué (practiced place). This distinction between hierarchical spatial arrangement of Jakarta’s met- place and space is analogous to the distinction ropolitan area, was not an isolated place. Before between a map and an itinerary. One signifies the colonial era, this area was already busy with the collective and ordered representations of the commercial activities, using the river transpor- state of knowledge about the world, the other tation in the era of Padjadjaran’s kingdom. The represents the actions or practices by which this emergence of early settlements of the kampung knowledge is produced, affirmed or transformed. community in this area was strongly related to The residents of a city space make its features the story of these commercial activities. This meaningful to them by the ways in which they story, however, was repeatedly told by the elder use them, creatively selecting in terms of their of Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, when they tried particular inclinations and interest. In this way, to explain the history of their origin and construct they produce meaningful space out of what is a their locality as different from the others to iden- temporally fixed place. tify their distinguish identity. The exploration in Therefore, in ‘walking’ in the city people con- this chapter, rather than perceived as a history, nect places, they ‘weave places together’ in their is a ‘topostory’, which I will use to convey the practices and in this way ‘spatializing,’ that is spatial character of historical narratives (see making and experiencing the city for themselves. Fox, 1997). In this story we can also elaborate ‘Walking’ in the city constitutes a series of illocu- upon how places are socially constructed and tionary acts or performances which create space in the same time personally experienced. Here I by imposing meanings on place. Just as language stress the importance of narratives of the past in contains potential, so does the city as a collection defining a landscape of specific places, and how of places. Just as speech realizes this potential, so it was imaginatively fashioned, giving people does walking the city realize the potential of place identification and attachment to place. by creating meaningful spaces within it through the practices involved in a relation to these. Just Early settlement of Kampung Bojong Pon- as speech acts often exist in relationship with dokcina each other in a series (e.g. criticism—offence taken—apology offered—apology accepted, Ci Aang told me that the early settlement in etc.), so are the spaces created by the walker our village was built by the soldiers of Padjadja- related to each other in a meaningful way as ran Kingdom. He was not quite sure when and part of the walker’s life experience and within a how the soldiers came and built their settlement, particular social context. Moreover, through de but, as he was also told by the older generation Certeau’s works it can be seen that it is through in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, the soldiers their practices that people provide sites with actually were in the mission to protect their port meaning and make places into spaces, and it is in from Dutch. These soldiers also through their practices that different places were transported from Padjadjaran (located in and qualities (such as sacred and secular, public the upland) to their port in Sunda Kelapa via and private) are linked and partially conflated Ciliwung river that connecting them. This jour- so that the relationships between them can be ney, however, takes a few days and sometimes discerned. they stop and stay in certain place. Our village,

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 47 Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, is believed as one helps to explain the historical context of the early of the transit place of the Padjadjaran’s soldiers. settlement within this area. This map illustrates Ci Aang believed that the soldiers not only used it the fact that Pakuan, the capital of Pajajaran as a transit place in their journey to Sunda Kelapa located in the headwaters of Ciliwung River, but also as military base which is latter known as and Bandar Kalapa (the initial name of Batavia) bojongan. The evidence of this ‘topostory’ is an located in the springhead of Ciliwung River, were old cemetery (kober) in our village that located two regions with different functions, but which near the Ciliwung River. This old cemetery is be- were united under one system of governance. In lieved to have been there a long time ago, before figure 2 we can see four routes that connected the village itself existed. Unlike the other cem- the capital of Pajajaran and its port in the north etery in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, no one coast of Java: two rivers routes (Ciliwung and knows for sure who it was that gave that place as Cisadane) and two land routes (to Karawang and benefaction (waqf) to be used as cemetery.1Since to Girang). every place in our village always associated with The physical and social conditions of Kam- the persons or families who occupy it hereditar- pung Bojong Pondokcina in the pre-colonial era ily, the unknown origin of place like the old were closely related to this context. In the context cemetery is an anomaly. But Ci Aang knows the of commercial activity at that time, it was com- answer: it belonged to the first person who built mon to build huts in certain locations as transit the first settlement that reflecting the transfor- places that gradually expanded to become fixed mative agency of ancestor who converted the settlements. Djamhur (1996 in Sunarya, 2011:32) place into cultivated fields and houses provided reported the presence of early settlements in Kota for an expanding community in our village. The Depok that had existed since the era of Padjadja- old cemetery (kober), as he put it, ‘functions as ran, such as Parung, Malela, Parung Balimbing, a remembrance of the ancestors struggle for the Parung Serab, Karang Anyar and Pabuaran. All young generations so we can learn from where of these places were located along the river stream we stared and where we will end.’ and Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, likely follow- The topostory that I get from Ci Aang, how- ing the same scenario during the formation of its ever, aptly corresponds with the findings of some early settlement. Furthermore, Appadurai has scholars who write about the early settlement argued that ‘all locality building has a moment of along the Ciliwung River. One of them is Dan- colonization, a moment both historical and chro- asmita (1983 in Sunarya, 2011) who explains that notypic’ (1996:183). In our village, the colonial Ciliwung River was already used as trade route era was also an important part of our ‘topostory’ since 15th century. He reports that about 1000 in which, like the story of early settlement, the sacks of pepper (1 sack equal to 20 Kg) were transformative activity of the older generation transported from Pakuan Padjadjaran to Sunda was also reflected in their dwelling practices. Kelapa via Ciliwung River. It was also reported In the following chapter, I will explore also the that at that time, Ciliwung River was a big river narratives of the formation of Kampung’s iden- that large ships from various placeswere able sail tity related to the social dynamic in the context to Pakuan, the capital of Pajajaran in the head- of Dutch’s colonial era and also under the post- waters of Ciliwung River. In figure 2, from Ten colonial regime. Dam’s painting (1951), Sunarya (2011:15) showed the location of Kota Depok within the trade route The settlement of ‘sinyo depok’ in Old Depok of Pakuan Padjadjaran to Sunda Kelapa, which During the 18th century, Batavia was emerged as a densely populated commercial city in Java. 1 Almost all public facility in our village such as cemeteries, mosques, and also schools was originated from the practice of waqf (benefaction) At that time, there was a trend among VOC’s elite from the older generations of the community.

48 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015

Figure 2: Location of Kota Depok in the middle of Pajajaran and Sunda Kelapa

(Source: Sunarya, 2011:15) to buy land in village areas in southern Batavia, to open plantation industries (Marzali, 1975; see to around Buitenzorg (now called Bogor), and also Sunarya, 2004:33; Anantatoer, 2005:55 and build villas for their leisure time. Some of these Wanrar 2011). Due to colonial regulation at that elites even decided to stay in the village areas time, the landlord had autonomous right in the and commute to Batavia for work. Dutch migra- property they purchased under the eigendom tion from central Batavia to peripheral areas right or landheerlijk rechten with which enable was also driven by unhealthy life conditions in them to have a state-like authority within their Batavia at that time. As reported by Van der Brug area such as collecting taxes. This practice of (2007:71) that worst sanitation system in Batavia land purchasing together with its full autonomy drove the outbreak of Anopeles Sundaicus and and rights was common at that time due to the many of the VOC’s elite and employee leave the colonial regulation to accelerate the production city and decided to stay in the peripheral area in in the colonized area. the south of Batavia to avoid the risk of malaria. As reported by Marzali (1975) and also Since 1680, there were a lot of villas built in many Wanrar (2011), with his landheerlijk rechten in areas in the south of Batavia such as in Pondok Depok, Chastelein not only set up a regulation Gede, Cimanggis, Tanjung Oost, and also Depok to accelerate the productivity of his slaves but he (Wanrar, 2011). also introduced the Protestant ethic and religion One of the landlords from VOC’s elite who to them. He also gives new family name to all his bought agricultural land in peripheral areas of slaves who already converted to protestant Chris- Batavia was Cornelis Chastelein, who also be- tianity in order to create a protestant community. came a central figure in the ‘topostory’ of Kota Chastelein’s slaves, thus, divided into 12 families: Depok. His story at certain part, however, also Jonathans, Laurens, Bacas, Loen, Soedira, Isakh, related to the dynamic of social class in Depok. Samuel, Leander, Joseph, Tholense, Jacob and It began with his purchase of about 1,244 Ha Zadokh (Laksono, 1994). In 1714, Chastelein agricultural lands in some village in Depok released them from slavery and, as mentioned such as Pitara, Kampung Sengon, and Kampung in his letter dated 13th march 1714, gave all his Parung Blimbing from the Chinese landlord Tio properties to them so they could continue to live Tiong Ko, and brought about 150 slaves from as one community. In his letter, Chastelein wrote different region in the Indonesian archipelago that the land must be managed for communal pur-

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 49 poses and should not be rented out or sold to other ‘criminalization’ of the Chinese that at that time parties (see Wanrar, 2011; Anantatour, 2002). The were often accused by the VOC as being about descendants of these families were latter known revolt against them (Lombart, 1990:65). More- as, as Marzali (1975) called it,orang depok asli over, after the power of VOC was weakened, or, as the villagers used to call them,sinyo depok many former employees of VOC, wholater be- or srani depok that after Chastelein dies become came ‘free citizens’, sought their fortune through exclusive Christian community with high social entrepreneurship in trade and agriculture. In status. The Christian community was, however, this case, Chinese traders however became their supported by the colonial regulation in 1849 to tough rival because they have more capability have higher social status among the other bumi to adjust (Lombart, 1990:67). Despite all this putra, as social assimilations attempt from co- speculation about the prohibitions of Chinese lonial government through religion (Lombard, settlement, the testament of Chastelein intended 1990:98). to purify the area exclusively for the growth of The exclusivity of this community is also Christian community. related also to the testament of Chastelein that In terms of social status, Orang depok asli or also mentions the prohibition for Chinese trader sinyo depok or srani depok identified themselves to settle in his area. The prohibition against as different social group from the villagers (orang Chinese trader settlement is also related to the kampung) who livedaround them, because they prohibition against the use of opium and against used Dutch when they spoke among them and gambling that at that time, both of which associ- more likely following European lifestyle and ated with the Chinese. As quoted by Laksono taste. In everyday life, orang kampung used to (1004:32), Chastelein said that “Chinese traders call them respectfully with sinyo or tuan (master) may not stay in Depok, no opium trading and reflecting the patron-client relations between no gambling.” This might be related also to the these two different social groups. As pointed

Figure 3: Cornelis de Bruijn’s painting of Cornelis Chastelein and his slaves in

Depok (Source: KITLV.nl)

50 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 out by Wolf (1966:10 —17), the clientship refers was formally dissolved on 14th of August 1952 to a dyadic relationship in which one party, the by notary Soeroyo to restore the eigendom right patron, is clearly superior to the other, the client; to the government of the Republic of Indonesia it is an instrumental friendship, in which striv- (Sunarya, 2004:36). ing for access to resource, whether natural or The historical process of the restoration of social, plays a vital part. Unlike orang kampung, the land right from Gementee Bestuur Depok to sinyo depok were well educated due to their op- the post-colonial regime was not only achieved portunity to access formal education that were through diplomatic approach, but also through provided by the Dutch colonial government. In violence. In 1946, there was violence against the 1870, Europese Largere School (ELS) was built in sinyo depok by orang kampung (the villagers). Depok dedicated exclusively only for sinyo depok This event known as Gedoran Depok, where and Dutch peoples. With better education and sinyo depok were attacked, robed, and killed by their inherited property, sinyo depok continued orang kampung. In this attack, their houses were to maintain their high social status. burned and their property was looted. Ci Aang After Chastelein died on the 28thof June 1714, was still young at that time but he remembers that the community grew2 and developed their own lo- almost all his relatives and neighbors participated cal autonomous government (zelfbestuur), which in this attack. He told me that his father at that was later known as Gementee Bestur Depok. time brought a lot of ceramics and marble table This local autonomous government was, how- from the house of sinyo depok during the attack. ever, acknowledge by the colonial government. According to the story of Ci Aang, this attack According to Marzali (1975), this local autono- was just a manifestation of latent hatred from mous government in Depok was legalized and orang kampung to sinyo depok, which at that formed its government administrative and ap- time were considered as stooges of colonialists paratus in 1872. Gementee Bestur Depok headed due to their special social position during the by a president and helped by one secretary, one Dutch colonial era. From the perspectives of treasurer, and two commissioners that elected orang kampung, this attack was a heroic event every three years. In their rules, only Christians related to the revolutions against the colonialism, inhabitant—i.e. the descendant of 12 families and the abolition of sinyo depok is considered of Chastelein’s slaves—have legal right to the as part of it. The way Ci Aang told me the story land. The main financial resource for this local also shows how the heroic the attack was. From autonomous government is gain from taxation in the perspectives of sinyo depok, this event was the agricultural sector. In terms of tax payment, very traumatic. Some of the sinyo depok, even there is a difference in treatment between Chris- left their village and never came back. Some of tian inhabitants and the others who are in this them who remained stay in Depok, in the village case are mostly Moslem peasants. The Christian recently known as Pancoran Mas, to this day, and inhabitants pay one-tenth of their harvest produc- still live with the trauma caused by the attack of tion while the Moslems (orang kampung) have to “Gedoran Depok.” The term of sinyo depok or pay one-fifth to the government. As Indonesia belanda depok is very sensitive for their descen- starts their revolutions against colonialism and dants because it’s reminds them of the traumatic then declares its independence on 17th of August event experienced by past generations. Marzali 1945, the post-colonial government of Indonesia (1975) notes that due to the attack, sinyo depok eliminated the regulation of zelfbestuur on 8th (in his word orang depok asli) experienced crises of April 1949. Gementee Bestuur Depok itself of identity, and do not participate actively in the political and social activity within their environ- 2 The number of their population has increased from initially only ment within the post-colonial government/state. 200 people when Chastelein still alive (Lombard, 1990:100) to 748 people in 1915 (Anantatoer, 2002:55).

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 51 Kampung (Bojong) Pondokcina Another version of the story tells that the name Pondokcina was already used much earlier than Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, administra- this Chinese settlement. According to this nar- tively known as Kelurahan Pondokcina, is one of rative, long before Cornelis Castelein came and the villages under the sub-district of Beji located brought his slaves, this area was already called in the north area of Kota Depok, province of Pondokcina. In this version, the name Pondokcina , Indonesia. In 18th century, Kampung was associated with the old house of the Chinese Bojong Pondokcina was a private estate (tanah landlord, located in the south of the village. partikelir) controlled by Chinese landlord.Orang Orang kampung called this house rumah gedong kampung called the landlord ‘Tuan Kapitan’. or rumah ba’er. “Ba’er” refers to the last known Literal translation for the name Pondokcina is descendant of ‘Tuan Kapitan’, the owner of the ‘Chinese’s hut’. According to local oral history, house. Due to the city’s development in Kota the name Pondokcina was originated from the Depok, the old house of the Chinese landlord of temporary settlement of Chinese merchants dur- Pondokcina was transformed into a restaurant ing the colonial era. Ci Aang told me that these and cafe in one of the biggest shopping malls Chinese merchants were intended to go to the in the city (see figure 4). As one of the elders of land of Chastelein in Depok. Since there was Pondokcina, Ci Aang didn’t consider this trans- a prohibition of Chinese merchants to settle in formation to be a violation of the history of his Depok, they built temporary settlement, or huts, village, because, to him, the old house (rumah outside the area. Before they built these huts, they gedong) only represented the bad experience of asked for permission from the Chinese landlord older generations during colonial times. that controlled the area. According to Ci Aang, As told by the elders, the village that is cur- after rceiving the permission of the landlord, rently known as Kelurahan Pondokcina, at the the Chinese merchants occupied a large area, beginning consisted of three villages: Kampung which at that time included the area that currently Bojong, Kampung Srengseng, and Kampung known as Kelurahan Pondokcina.

Figure 4: Rumah gedong Pondokcina in 2011

52 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 Rawa, which were under controlled of the lage, Kampung Bojong represents the place as landlord known as ‘Tuan Kapitan’. In the next experienced socially by its inhabitants, and is development, these three villages were merged often used to identify each person to the specific into a village named Desa Bojong Pondokcina places related the families or ‘siblingships’ to after the abolition of the private estates (tanah which they belong. In this way, place identifica- partikulir) in 1951. In 4th august 1952, Depok was tions are inseparable to the identification of per- formally part of sub-district of Bogor regency, sons where place are experienced and mediated which consisted of 21 villages (desa): Rangkapan, through social relations. Tanah Baru, Paladen, Kukusan, Beji, Kramat, Belimbing, Lio, Poncol, Mampang, Jemblongan, Kampung Pondokcina as private estate Sengon, Kekupu, Pitara, Depok, Gedong and In contrast to the sinyo depok, during colonial Bojong Pondokcina. The next major development era, the orang kampung did not enjoyed special came when, in 1981, Depok changed its adminis- treatment such as formal education in Dutch trative status from sub-district (kecamatan) into schools. Under the colonial law at that time, administrative municipality (kota administratif). every person who lived on the landlord’s land This new administrative municipality consisted estate belonged to their landlord as free labor. of three sub-districts: Pancoran Mas, Beji, and Orang kampung, in Kampung Bojong were Sukmajaya. In this new scheme, Bojong Pondok- not exceptional in this respect.They were free cina changed its name into Pondokcina, and be- labor for ‘Tuan Kapitan’, who owned the land. came part of Beji sub-district with the four other Ci Aang describes that the territory of ‘Tuan villages. Despite the changed administrative Kapitan’ stretched from the area in the east of scheme of the city, some of the local inhabitants Ciliwung River to the west of Cinere and Kam- of Pondokcina still use the old name of Kampung pung Bojong,an area with other villages. Under Bojong today. While (Kelurahan) Pondokcina the authority of ‘Tuan Kapitan’ every inhabitant represents the administrative location of the vil- over15 years of agewere obliged to work for the

Figure 5: Location of rumah gedong Pondokcina in the map of Java in 1900

(source: KITLV.nl)

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 53 landlord, and they also had to pay taxes for every became the first village chief (kepala desa) in plot they cultivated. Orang kampung called this Kampung Bojong Pondokcina with new village type of work kerja kemit, which includes domes- administrative under the post-colonial govern- tic work in landlords’ homes, taking care of the ment. This era called by the villagers as zaman livestock, planting paddies, processing paddies rikiplik (republic era) where the constellation into rice, etc. Since ‘Tuan Kapitan’ also had a of land ownership was changed. Based on the rubber plantation on one of his territories, some government regulation no. 1 1949, reinforced of orang kampung also worked in this plantation. by the laws of 1958 concerning the abolition Most of the workers on the plantation at that of landlord’s private estates (tanah partikulir), time werefrom other village named Kampung every piece of landlord’s private estates have to Serdang, while the others villages located around be returned to Indonesian government and every the landlords’ house, such as Kampung Bojong, land cultivated by the villagers are belongs to Kampung Rawa, and Kampung Srengseng, them. Since then, every villager in Kampung mostly did domestic work, farmed rice, and raised Bojong Pondokcina and elsewhere were flocked cattle. All jobs done by orang kampung were to register their land to the village government controlled by a supervisor called pecalang. As in order to get a legal proves of their ownership narrated by Ci Aang, whoever was absent from (surat girik). the obligation to work, was expelled from the village, and the landlord took all their property. The socio-economy dynamic of Kampung Thus, in this situation, the villagers of this period Bojong Pondokcina (1950s—1970s) defended their existence in the village through The existence of transportation infrastructure their participation in kerja kemit for the landlord. connecting Batavia and Buitenzorg (Bogor) play “It’s from our ancestors’ bloods and sweats we the important role in socio-economic dynamics are come into being in this village” said Ci Aang in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. The contempo- when he finished his story. rary metropolitan conception of Jakarta, with the Village-level administration at the time was periphery connected to the center, was a project set in kemandoran system, a governing system with a history stretching back into the colonial that mobilized orang kampung as free labor to era. It began with the first train operated in 1873, work in the rubber plantation and rice fields for which connected Batavia to private estate (tanah their landlords. Every village, including Kam- partikulir) areas such as Tanjung Barat, Lenteng pung Bojong at that time was headed by one Agung, Pondokcina, Citayam, and Buitenzorg. mandor selected by the landlords. In this way, as With the network system of train transporta- the head of the village that plays the important tion, each private estate area included in Kam- role in mobilizing labor, the mandor and his ap- pung Bojong Pondokcina was integrated to the paratus became a buffer group that connected the greater area of Batavia, the commercial center at ruling class with the working class, i.e the land- that time. As reported by Sunarya (2011), since lords with the peasants that lived on their estates. the electric train that connected Batavia and As told by the elders of Pondokcina, the mandor Buitenzorg began running in 1925, the flow of was selected based on certain criteria: he had to commodities became more intensive and gradu- be respected by the villagers, and usually had to ally integrated Kampung Bojong Pondokcina and have capability in martial arts (pencak silat). In also other private estate areas into the center of Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, there were at least economic activity in Batavia. Table 1 and table 2 three persons known as mandor: Mandor Sidan, show the circulation of person and commodities Mandor Ardani, and Mandor Mamat Tohir. After related to the presence of transportation infra- the abolition of the landlords’ authority in 1951, structure. Mandor Mamat Tohir was the last mandor,and

54 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015

Table 2: Circulation of train passenger in Pondokcina station 1958—1960

1958 1959 1960 Leave 94.723 79.067 78.772 Come 59.559 53.046 48.717

Table 3: Circulation of commodities in Pondokcina station 1958—1960 (in ton)

1958 1959 1960 Send 1.457 995 2.306 Receive 171 81 130 Source: Sunarya (2011:10)

This flow of commodity, was also followed as farmers, either in irrigated rice fields, or in by the massive migration of Chinese merchants multi-crops gardens. The irrigation system in to Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, which further Kampung Bojong Pondokcina has existed since accelerated the economic activities of this area. the area was controlled by the Chinese landlord. The Chinese merchants, who at the beginning It stretched from south to north through Kat- opened the temporary settlements in the land- ulampa in Bogor, Cilebut, Bojong Gede, Depok, lords’ territory, started to buy land from orang Pondokcina, Srengseng, kampung, permanently settled, and became part Lenteng Agung, Tanjung Barat until Pasar of the society. Some of them worked as rice farm- Minggu (Sunarya, 2011:13). Ci Aang told me ers just like most of the other villagers, while that the rice cultivation was always vulnerable others open small shops, providing access to at that time and that is why the villagers also everyday goods to the villagers. My 70 year old rely on their multi-crops gardening to survive. grandmother tells me a story that at that time, Laksono (1994:61) reports that during the period when she was a little girl, there was a Chinese of 1966—1973, the irrigation system in Kampung peddler who sold various goods (from rice, to Bojong Pondokcina was dry, and as the result of cloths, to children’s’ toys) in the neighborhood. this situation the rice crops of this period failed. The villagers called this Chinese peddler as cina Ci Aang told me that as the consequences of the cingkaw. She also remembered that there was one harvest’s failure, the villagers experience a crisis Chinese traditional healer (tabib) who lived in the due to the scarcity of rice. To cope with that situ- neighborhood called ‘Baba Tabib’. The tabib at ation, the villagers switch to multi-crops gardens, that time was the only medical treatment acces- which demanded less water. Papaya and oranges sible for the average villager. There is no certain were the favorite crops at that time, and were data about the Chinese population in Kampung planted on almost every piece of land in Kam- Bojong Pondokcina at that time, but from the pung Bojong Pondokcina. However, in the era of stories I received from the elders, one gets the what was called “guided democracy” (Demokrasi impression that the Chinese and the Moslems vil- terpimpin) under Soekarno’s regime, the fruit lagers in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina coexisted farmers in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina expe- in the same neighborhood and even assimilated rienced a repression from the unknown group through marriage with the local villagers. that claimed to be supporting the implementation Rice farming and multi-crops gardening, at of government regulation known as “economic least until the end of 1980, were dominant sights declarations” (Deklarasi Ekonomi / Dekon). At in the landscape of Kampung Bojong Pondok- that time, the villagers’ fruit fields were destroyed cina. The villagers at that time mostly worked by this unknown group. The fruit crops that had

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 55

Figure 6: Paddy fields in Pondokcina (Source: KITLV.nl)

almost entered the harvest phase were entirely In 1970s, papaya was the most important fruit damaged by this group’s attack. Apparently, this commodity from Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. violence did not stop the villagers from keeping At the first time, people only planted this crops the fruit plants in their gardens because that was in their backyards in limited number, until the the only rational choice they could make, given cultivation was intensified for the first time by a their lack of irrigation at that time. group of families known as the ‘eleven families’ Compared to rice cultivation, the fruit crops (keluarga sebelas) that are the family of H. Ab- were not necessarily planted in specific fields dul Rodjak, H. Ahmad Ingkus, H. Abdul Karim with irrigation systems and certain techniques of Ingkus, H. Nawawi Nisan, H. Musa Mawih, H. land management. Since the utilization of houses’ Mansyur Ketjil, H. Suryadi, H. Ahmad Tohir, yards for various crops was part of the villagers’ H. Idup Tohir, H. Muslim Ahmad, and Romly habits, almost every household in Kampung Ali. As told by Ci Aang, the ‘eleven families’ Bojong Pondokcina planted at least one variety initiated the massive cultivation of papayas to of fruit. The most popular fruit, which could cope with the crisis experienced by the villagers have been found in almost every house, was in 1966—1973. Due to the work of the ‘eleven star fruits. Generally, as reported by Lombart families’, every idle rice field in Kampung Bo- (1990), it was common in every village in Java jong Pondokcina was used to cultivate papayas. for peoples to plant various plants in their gardens This cultivation of papayas was successful, and or in the backyards of their homes ranging from this effort is remembered as the golden age for fruits crops to vegetables and medical plants. In Kampung Bojong Pondokcina because it success- Kampung Bojong Pondokcina people grew those fully improved the economy and quality of life in plants in their backyard mainly to fulfill their the village. One of the mosques and elementary own subsistence needs, but some of them—espe- schools in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina built by cially those who owned relatively large fields— the members of Islamic organization of Muham- cultivated fruit crops for commercial purposes. madiyah in the late 1970s is one of the results. H. The commercial activity with fruits as primary Tamami, one of the elders in the Muhammadiyah commodities was accelerated by the presence of organization in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, transportation infrastructure, especially after the tells me that the first capital gained to build the electric train started to operate regularly in 1925. mosque and school of Muhammadiyah in Kam-

56 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 pung Bojong Pondokcina came from the surplus Cohabitation and the production of “sibling- of papaya selling. Every member and sympathizer ship” of Muhammadiyah organizations in Kampung The presence of a transportation network that Bojong Pondokcina at that time donated some accelerated the circulation of commodities has of their papaya trees for the organization to use integrated Kampung Bojong Pondokcina and to build the mosque and school. other peripheral areas into the greater economic The papaya harvested from Kampung Bojong system in the center and elsewhere in the periph- Pondokcina was transported every week to Sun- ery since the era of pre-urbanization, i.e. during day market located in Pasar Minggu in South the era pre-colonial and with greater intensity Jakarta. This market at that time is the biggest during the colonial era. This economic integra- market for fruit commodities, collecting various tion in Kampung Bojong Pondokcinabrought kinds of tropical fruit from different villages in monetization, or the utilization of money in daily the peripheral area of Jakarta. Pasar Depok is lo- life, to the local economic system. The presence cated in the south near the Chastelein’s territory, of Chinese merchants in the neighborhood, and Pasar Pal Sigunung in the north of the village, the intensification of fruit cultivation by the vil- and Pasar Lenteng Agung is another market for lagers were both part of the process of monetiza- Kampung Bojong Pondokcina’s fruit commodi- tion in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. In the next ties. With the exception ofPasar Pal Sigunung, development, the trade sector developed widely all the commodities were transported by train in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina and supported and distributed to the marketplace in Jakarta. the agriculture sector that had developed earlier. “Do you remember that song? Papaya, mangga, The utilization of money in the economic system pisang, jambu… dibeli dari Pasar Minggu… provided the opportunity for some villagers to (papaya, mango, banana, guava were bought accumulate agriculture lands from the surplus from Pasar Minggu)” Ci Aang asks using the old of trade activity in which they engaged. The sur- song quotation that I used to sing when I was a pluses that they accumulated from trade activity child. As I nod my head to answer his question, also allowed some of them to make pilgrimage to he continued “Those fruits are planted here in Mecca, and to obtain the religious title haji. The Depok, in our village by our ancestors.” How- persons with this title were not only associated ever, this story explains the usage of fruits name with the piety in religious terms, but also with for many streets and alley in our village such as their possession of relatively large agriculture Gang Jambu (from Guava), Gang Sawo (from lands. Today, we still can see that, streets and Sapodilla), and Gang Pepaya (from Papaya). In alleys of Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, there this way, the name of each alley in our village remain a few named after the initial land owners reminds us of the past economic activities of our in that area such as Gang Haji Mahali, Gang Haji ancestor as fruits farmers and also represents the Yahya Nuih, and Gang Haji Naidih, reflecting landscape from the past. One of my relatives who these owners’ past ability to make pilgrimage. live on Gang Pepaya told me that “Ini dulu nih Related to this economic surplus, it was also kebun paya semua… sekarang mah payah!” (In common for people to donate some of their land the past, here was papaya’s orchards… but now to be used for public facilities such as mosques, it’s [become] just lame!). His comment about the schools, and cemeteries. This practice is a part of changes of the landscape, however, was mixed religious practices called waqaf, which concerns with the feeling of the landscape: it was never the belief that the merits (pahala) obtained from merely the changes of landscape; instead it was the donation will continuously multiply as the also the changes of the structure of feeling related land is sustainably and widely used for good. to the experience of that landscape. After the person who donates his/her land dies,

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 57 the descendants are responsible to ensure that the other members of their patrons’ family until his/ land will always be used as their ancestors wished her ‘non-biological relation’ with the patron is no so that the merits will always multiply for the longer questioned. donators. In this way, people will always attach The sibling relation that is obtained by the cli- themselves to the place sustainably. The practice ent after the patron has died has to be maintained of waqaf provides a spatial concretization of the by his/her participation in the patron’s family’s sibling relation within the society as a whole. events. Rituals such as the commemoration of Another form of spatial concretization of the ancestors known as haul are one of the most sibling relation for orang kampung in Kampung important events wherein the people reallocate Bojong Pondokcina is housed both in physical and and redistribute the two most essential elements institutional form. Thus, as also found by Retsi- in the production of sibling relations, namely kas (2007), the sharing of the same ancestors that ancestors and food’ (Retsikas, 2007). I will go characterize sibling relation is both realized and back to the detail of this commemoration ritual manifested spatially through cohabitation where in another section, but in this regard, ritual ac- it also involves the sharing of all the households’ tivity, as Retsikas (2007) puts it, ‘allows the possessions, which include the physical structure, production of personhood,’ i.e. the integration of landed property, and other inherited objects. the client into the sibling relation in the patrons’ The cohabitation that characterized the sibling family. Given to this kind of relational mode in relation in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina was Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, people with no also manifested in economic cooperation in the means of production can be incorporated into production and distribution of fruit commodi- the landowner’s family. In this regard, it is hard ties and in the trade sector. In many cases, fruit to see in their social relations of production at cultivation is a family business, and the laborers that time as being oriented merely to the capital who work in the business usually share the same accumulation, because in the practice it is also ancestor, or have a sibling relation. Although have another implication in the production of in some cases those involved in the economic sibling relations. ۞ cooperation have no kinship relation or shared ancestor, “siblingship” has still become the rela- tional mode that operates in the social relation of For the conclusion of this chapter, I would say production. The participation of non-kin labor in that I agree with Foucault’s notion that “We are the economic activity was known as ngebujang living not in a homogeneous empty space but, on where in practice, this kind of relationship is the contrary, in a space that is laden with quali- based on patron-client relationships between the ties, a space that may also be haunted by fantasy” landowner and the others who do not possess any (1998:177). As I already described, the topostory means of production. In this relation, the client of Kampung Bojong Pondokcina has always been (bujang) serves the patron as if he/she was one of associated with the transformative activity of the their parents, and the patron protects the clients generations in transforming the place into dwell- as if they were his/her own children. There is no ing place. Each landscape or other material object definite wage system or fix contractual agree- that has existed in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, ment in the ngebujang relationship, because this such as mosques, schools, cemeteries, streets, relationship is typically maintained through the alleys, and old houses are condensed with the feeling of indebtedness from the client to their story from the past. The topostory also reflects ‘generous’ patron and his/her family. In some how people imaginatively formed their identity cases, the client even gets inheritance when their by contrasting the history of another community ‘social parents’ die. In this way, they become (e.g. sinyo depok community, the Chinese mer- fully integrated to the sibling relation with the chants, etc.), as well as giving them identification

58 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 and thus attachment to place they occupy. This Chapter II: The growth of the city and the attachment, however, is always related to the experience of anonymity complexity of social relations that manifested in Jakarta is the most dynamic city in Indonesia, dwelling practices. The cohabitation of sibling and, during its development, it has affected both groups, as I have described, was economically as physical and social conditions in its surrounding well as socially important for the people, espe- areas, such as Bogor, Depok, Tanggerang, and cially in the context of the agricultural economy. Bekasi. Jakarta plays an important role as the When agriculture was still the dominant eco- nucleus that integrates the peripheral area under nomic sector in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina a hierarchical system called “Jabotabek.” Under (at least until the end of 1980s), people lived this system, the economic growths in the center together in households that contained groups of affects the economic growth of the peripheral siblings. They live in lands inherited by their area. Jakarta, as the capital city of Indonesia, is parents or grandparents, and were socially as very attractive to urban migrants coming from all well as economically dependent upon one- over Indonesia. Giebels (1986:109) reported that another. The groups of siblings living together within a few decades the population of Jakarta was economically important, as the labors needed jumped from 500,000 to 5,000,000 and since the in their mode of production were, or through push factor from rural poverty does not meet a cohabitation became, members of their family. complementary pull factor from a labor-intensive Clusters of houses contained groups of siblings industry in the urban centers, the peripheral areas is not only economically important for the inhab- of greater Jakarta augmented the population of itants of Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, it was the center. From 1961 to 2000, the Indonesian also an ideology of dwelling that intrinsically population in the greater Jakarta (Jabotabek) existed in the inherited land that they occupy. increased from 6 percent to 11 percent and in The inherited lands, in their very materiality are the peripheral areas (botabek) the population semantically and practically associated with the increased from 3 percent in 1961 and 6 percent transformative activity of the parents creating, in 2000 (Tim Faperta, 1994). from place, spaces of dwelling, and in doing so The increasing population living in Jakarta’s lies their desire of sustainability for their descen- periphery is also the result of the massive migra- dants’ livelihoods. In other words, the inherited tion of Jakarta’s working class (followed by the lands are actualizations of this desire that the middle class) to the periphery due to the exis- descendants have a responsibility to insure the tence of cheaper and more affordable housing, sustainability of the land—not only the economic compared to the price of housing in the center use of the land for their livelihood but also the of the city. The existence of this more affordable value of living together in harmony because only housing in the peripheral area, however, was also with the harmony among the siblings can the facilitated by Indonesian government through the commemoration of the ancestor be possible to implementation of the national housing program celebrate. However, due to the urbanization of in 1974. Under the national housing program, Kota Depok, the cohabitation that characterized the peripheral area played an important role as the sibling relations in Kampung Bojong Pon- a buffer zone for Jakarta to absorb its growing dokcina has been gradually replaced by the new population by providing affordable housing for form of modern urban landscape, as well as new its middle class workers. The residential area sur- forms of social relation, due to the demographic rounding Jakarta is also supported by the network mobility of the city. In the next chapter, I will of public transportation, which links Jakarta with elaborate how this urban transformation in Kota this buffer zone. As a result this network has Depok is experienced by the people in Kampung created a massive circulation of commutation. In Bojong Pondokcina.

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 59 this regard, there has been a huge impact in the 805,542 people in 1999 to 1,898,570 people in peripheral area, as land use has been converted 2012 (BPS Kota Depok, 2013). To support this from agriculture to residential and commercial population dynamic, the main road that connect- uses. Depok City, which is located in the south of ing Jakarta and Depok through Lenteng Agung Jakarta, is one of the city’s that played the role of was developed, and it accelerated the economic a buffer zone of Jakarta’s. Its transformation of activity in this area, making it very attractive to both social and physical condition is marked by urban migrants from all over Indonesia. at least two important developments: the public Starting with the implementation of public housing built by the national government under housing provided by the government, many of the national housing program in 1974, and the Jakarta’s middle class residents started to buy relocation of Universitas Indonesia in 1987. This land in Depok, both for their individual homes development was also followed by other forms and for economic investment in early 1980s. of development carried out by the private sector Within this process, the landscape of Depok (mostly in property business and trade/service gradually changed. The main road gradually wid- economic sectors). In this section, I will elaborate ened from only two tracks in 1980s, to 8 tracks the process of urban transformation in Depok that exist today, and as a consequence leave no City from my experience in my research site space for pedestrians. During the peak hour of Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. The description in transit (07.00-08.00 p.m.), about 2.558 vehicles this sections elaborates more on how the physical pass through the main road to and from Jakarta change in the urban landscape is experienced and (Gerbatama, 2013). perceived by the region’s inhabitants. With integration into Jakarta’s transporta- tion network, Depok become more appealing Urbanization and commercialization in Kota for investment, mostly in property businesses Depok such as dormitory houses for students, as well as In terms of the administrative status, before apartments. Along the main road of Margonda it became an administratively independent city, Raya, there are currently 7 shopping malls and Depok was part of the region of Bogor Regency 5 apartment complexes. In the area of Kampung West Java Province. At least until the end of Bojong Pondokcina, there are three apartment 1980s, Depok was still considered as a rural area, buildings located along the main street of Mar- marked by its main economic sector of agricul- gonda Raya, and two of them were still under ture, and lack of a “proper” public infrastructure. construction when I did my field research. The Marzali (1975) reported that when he was doing first apartment building ever built in Kampung his research in Pancoran Mas Village in Depok, Bojong Pondokcina is the Margonda residence, the train was the only feasible means of transpor- followed by Park View Condominium, and Ta- tation by which to reach the area, because the pri- man Melati Margonda. All of these new luxury mary road from Jakarta trough Lenteng Agung, residences were built in response to the high Pondokcina, Depok was not well developed at demand for residences from university students that time. He mentions that at that time that the and staff of Universitas Indonesia and Universitas asphalt road was still under construction, and Gunadarma. Both Park View Condominium and only reached Lenteng Agung, the southern part Taman Melati Margonda are located just next of DKI Jakarta. The presence of public housing in to the two train stations that serve the student Depok and also Universitas Indonesia’s campus commuters: Pondokcina station and Universitas complex affected the dynamic of demographic Indonesia station. Due to their strategic location, mobility, as well as the economic activity in many these new residences are appealing for invest- areas in Depok. The population was jumped from ment. In Park View Condominium, built by PT Lippo Karawaci Tbk, for instance, about 80

60 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 percent or 300 units of its 389 units were already ments, renting them to other tenants. One of the sold before its launch on November 19Th 2011 owners of these studio units, who owns about (Kompas, 8/11/2011). From my observation in three units in Margonda Residence, once told the first apartment building in Kampung Bojong me that his intention to buy studio units was for Pondokcina: Margonda Residence, a lot of people investment due to the high demand from students that owned the studio units used them as invest- or urban middle class workers in Jakarta.

Figure 7: the main road of Margonda Raya

Figure 8: the construction of Taman Melati Margonda

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 61 The area along main road that connects owner’s family. At that time, room renting was Jakarta to Depok, Margonda Raya, has been not the primary income earning opportunity, as continuously transformed into a commercial the owners also worked as fruit farmers or par- area. Margonda Raya was attributed by the city’s ticipated in informal trade and the service sector. government as the center for trade and education, Gradually, some of wealthier inhabitants begin to and will continuously developed due to the new build houses that were designed specifically to be toll road section 1 Cinere – Jagorawi that started dormitory houses in certain areas. In this regard, to operate in early 2012. This new operation of land became a more valuable economic asset due toll road makes Kota Depok more integrated to to the development of rent economic activity in the centers and other peripheral areas of greater the area. In addition to this change, the presence Jakarta (see figure 9). of bank and other credit-provider institutions in Depok City and elsewhere accelerated the devel- Transformation towards the landscape of rent opment of this new mode of production. Within dwelling in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina this development, the agricultural lands were In 1987, when Universitas Indonesia was gradually replaced by residential areas, dormi- relocated and followed by massive migration tory houses, and other commercial properties. of students and university staff, the inhabitants Not only did the number of rent business that of Beji sub-district, suddenly learned of a new developed in the neighborhood increase, but, as opportunity to earn income, besides trade and the state of competition on the market fluctuated agriculture, by renting parts of their homes to from time to time, the business evolved to become students as dormitories (kos-kosan). At first it more organized, modern, and massive. was unorganized business where the tenants Due to the market forces of the city, a lot of usually lived together with other members of the inhabitants were swept out of the competition.

Figure 9: Greater Jakarta toll road network (source: jasamarga.com)

62 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 In many case, the inhabitants sold their houses negeri (state official) or pegawai swasta (private and land then moved from the street side (which enterprise’s worker), I found that some are forced was a strategic location for commercial activ- into other income-generating activities beyond ity) to the interior part of the village or to other the formal sector (wiraswasta) usually in trade or (mostly more peripheral) town. This situation service sectors. In this regard, the distinguishing emerged because in the economic development of ‘formal’ from ‘informal’ sectors is a difficult of the city, the location became central to the task because in many cases the informal sector commercialization of the land, where relative depends heavily on income from the formal sec- proximity to the transport network or to some tor (see Ghezzi and Mingione, 2003). highly concentrated activity was increasingly Statistically speaking, the informal sector, important. In this regard, the investors have been mostly in the trade and service sectors, emerges willing to pay a premium for the land because as the main source of economic activity, con- of its accessibility and competition is the main tributing about 31 percent to the city’s gross feature in this highly concentrated economic ac- regional domestic product, and absorbing about tivity. This aptly corresponds with Park’s notion 57 percent of labor (DTRP Kota Depok, 2009). that competition of space is one of the prevalent This number, of course, covered only economic phenomena that emerged in the development activity under the license from city’s government, of the modern city (1952 in Hannerz, 1980:27). while household informal economy with small Thanks to competition for locations, almost every capital remains statistically untouchable. From piece of land has a heightened value either to be the urban planning point of view, the areas along used for informal economic activities, or to be the primary road of Margonda Raya, including rented to other parties. The presence of informal Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, are identified as economic activities like shops and food stalls has “fast growing” areas, with the mixed land usage mushroomed in almost every part of the city, including high populated residential areas and both along the primary road, and in the interior retail/non-retail economic activities. The no- part of the neighborhood to serve kampung resi- tion of “fast growing” that is attributed to this dents. In Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, houses area also reflects how the economic growth and are usually not only functioning as living space transformation of physical conditions in this area for families, but are also mixed with various is beyond the control of the state authority. If we economic activities that are characterized by look at the statistical data provided by department family labor, relatively small capital, and opera- of housing and urban planning of Depok City, it tion beyond state licensing or ‘informal sector’ shows the discrepancy of the government plan in Keith Hart’s sense. Although many of the and real situations in the ground (see table 4). residents also worked in formal sector as pegawai

Table 4: Built environment in Kota Depok (source: DTRP Kota Depok, 2009)

Plan (Ha) Real situation (Ha) Residential area 9,111.19 11,806.81 Commercial use 799.16 1,023.71

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 63 This situation corresponds with Castell’s no- and high fortress walls, in the middle of the kam- tion that “’urban’ disorder was not in fact disor- pung neighborhood. The presence of this gated der at all; it represented the spatial organization housing complex reflects the limitation of social created by the market, and derived from the interaction between the gated communities and absence of social control of the industrial activ- their surroundings. Dormitory houses where ity” (1977:14—15). Commercialization of land students were not under the scrutiny of neigh- in highly concentrated economic activity creates bors and provided more freedom are somehow what urban planners used to call ‘urban sprawl’ more appealing for them rather than living under within the urban neighborhood as the impact of the same roof with the landlord’s family. These high segregation between residential of urban changes are thus considered as the causes of the community and commercial use. The presence behavioral changes of students today, due to their of Universitas Indonesia in Kampung Bojong limited interaction with the kampung residents Pondokcina somehow added to property values in who surround them. the area, allowing the property business to market In early 1990s, these luxurious dormitories apartments or individual housing complexes built were usually located on the street side, near in relatively small spaces called “town houses” shops, restaurants, and any other consumption to students and university staff. This town house facilities in the city. Since the street side was rap- complexes often appeared in the middle of resi- idly developing into a dense commercial area, the dential urban kampung, and displayed segregated development of luxury dormitory houses began to landscape that spatially separated the town house invade the interior part of the neighborhood, even gated community and urban kampung commu- the riverside area. The riverside in Kampung Bo- nity living outside the gate. jong Pondokcina that used to be an oasis of fruits Another example of this segregated landscape and other trees, bamboo clumps, and fish farms was also created by the presence of luxurious until at least early 1990s, was transformed into dormitory houses, complete with security guards residential area including town houses and dormi-

Figure 10: Development of ‘town house’ in the middle of kampung neighborhood

64 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 tory houses. Many of the kampung residents who make it economically valuable either you create your used to live on the street side were moved to the own business, rent to other parties, or if necessary sell it to rich investor. Here our land is not only a riverside after they sold or rented their previous place where you sleep but it can make you sleep well homes. Sri who moved to the riverside with her and comfortable.” family after selling her house on the street side in Under this new form of landscape in the kam- early 1990s told me that when the first time she pung neighborhood, how do people perceive this moved to this area there were only few houses of transformation? What is the impact of this new her relatives, fruits gardens and fish farms, but landscape on their daily lives? The next section now it’s densely packed with houses. Considering will elaborate on this question. her decision to move, she told me that:

“There is no life in the street side. Everybody already Geographical changes and fear of the un- leaved the neighborhood. If you still live there, you might have no neighbors because ruko (commercial known building) will be your only neighbors there. That’s The new landscape of assets and investment why I moved here (the riverside) where I can still have neighbors, friends and relatives. Although it’s in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina not only trans- far from Margonda (the main road), at least I don’t formed the physical condition of the kampung feel alone here.” neighborhood, but also affected the structure of feeling for the inhabitants. The new landscape, Thanks in part to the World Bank’s urban somehow, has brought a new affordance of neighborhood development programs known as social interaction between the inhabitants and Program Nasional Pemberdayaan Masyarakat ‘the anonym’ mobile population in kampung /PNPM (National program of social empower- neighborhood. Due to the sporadic development ment), which helps the improvement of public of dormitory houses in kampung neighborhood, infrastructure, almost every area in Kampung the dynamic of its population is unpredictable. Bojong Pondokcina is now accessible with asphalt Related to this dynamic, the mobile population in some alleyways in the kampung neighbor- (comprised primarily of students) is increasingly hood. What were originally off-street, chaotic following the increasing number of dormitory urban settlements have been transformed by the houses and apartment development. Many for- construction of sealed roads, and the provision mer kampung areas now resemble middle-class of running water. This improvement of public neighborhoods, where residents can access their infrastructure in the interior part of the kampung homes directly by car or motorcycle where neighborhood has accelerated economic activity neighbors may put more emphasis on relation- and investment in this area. It also reflects the ships beyond the neighborhood than those with process of commercialization of living space in their neighbors. In this regard, within this new the kampung neighborhood, where the new form landscape, the neighborhood is now populated by of landscape, i.e. the landscape of rent dwelling the anonymous that live as neighbors, who walk and commerce, gradually brings significant im- through the alleyways but keep their distance pacts towards the community life. Unavoidably, from kampung residents. The high fortress walls this new landscape and current economic activity of their dwelling place and their mobile activi- surrounding it also affects people’s perception to- ties have disguised their personality from their wards land, while, at the same time, they actively surrounding neighbors. In this regard, the earlier participate in the production of this landscape. As inhabitants in former kampung who experience one of my neighbors once said to me, these changes are no longer able to gain compre- “Peoples from this neighborhood, especially those hensive knowledge about the new landscape and that still have a piece of land but just let it idle is, in its population’s composition. These neighbor- my opinion, stupid. If you have a large land, house, or even only a small hut you have to find an idea to hoods, therefore appears as unrecognizable: as

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 65 something strange, and suspiciously harmful. development but at the same time our neighborhood There is nothing that man fears more than the also become more vulnerable from the invasion of the new comers (pendatang) and that’s beyond our touch of the unknown. He wants to see what is capacity to control. We cannot predict that the new reaching towards him, and to be able to recognize comers in our neighborhood are good peoples or, the worst is, they might bring something bad for us or at least classify it. Man always tends to avoid so we have to be careful these days. physical contact with anything strange. In the dark, the fear of an unexpected touch can mount In early 2000s, the population of Cang Rohm- to panic. Even clothes give insufficient security: it an’s RT neighborhood decreased significantly is easy to fear and pierce them through to the na- because 15 households in the neighborhood sold ked, smooth, defenseless flesh of the victim. All their land to a businessman who planned to the distances which men create round themselves build a gas station there. After these 15 house- are dictated by this fear. They shut themselves in holds moved to other places, there were only 5 houses which no-one may enter, and only there households left in Cang Rohman’s RT neighbor- feel some measure of security. The fear of bur- hood. The inhabitant houses in Cang Rohman’s glars is not the fear of being robbed, but also the RT neighborhood exist today side by side with fear of a sudden and unexpected clutch out of the commercial activity complexes and gated dor- darkness (Canneti, 1960:15). mitory houses. This transformation has made a Somehow, in Canneti’s sense, administrative significant impact on the neighborhood’s com- control is one of their vain efforts to “recognize” munal life. With only 5 households left in Cang and “at least classify” the unknown intruders. Rohman’s RT neighborhood, communal activities Given to the unpredictability of population such as arisan (saving association/social gather- dynamics in dormitory houses, this effort is ing) and pengajian (Koran recitation) in RT level considered to be insufficient. The RT leader, as are currently rare and difficult for residents to neighborhood representative, is the one who is hold. Considering the question of why communal responsible to administratively “recognize” and activity in his neighborhood was disappeared, “classify” the neighborhood’s population. Re- Cang Rohman told me: garding administrative control toward the popu- It’s off course difficult with only 5 households left lation dynamic in kampung neighborhood, Cang in our neighborhood but it’s also because peoples Rohman, a RT leader in one RT neighborhood in here are busy and each of them have different sched- Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, said to me that: ule. After many people leave this neighborhood, somehow we still continue to held arisan but there As RT leader, it’s almost impossible to collect suf- were only two or three people coming so I think we ficient data about who is coming in and out in our cannot continue. neighborhood because those who have a dormitory houses business here are mostly does not live in our Although arisan on the local level in RT no neighborhood. They just buy land and than do they longer exists, each household participates in the business. They come to collect their money and that it. In this situation, it’s difficult to collaborate with same activities outside the RT’s neighborhood them to keep updating how many students that live such as arisan and pengajian with the members in their dormitory houses by collecting their identity of their extended family groups and religious or- cards. We do the best we can, in that case usually we ask helps from the security guards or whoever ganizations. As Guiness found in his research in work there to collect the copy of their identity cards Yogyakarta, kampung is now merely functioning but it’s often don’t works. To collecting the student population data also difficult because in many case as an address rather than social tag (2009:33). In they just stay there in a very sort period, maybe just the case of Cang Rohman’s RT neighborhoods, two or three months and somebody will replace their RT functions as nothing more than an administra- room after they move to other places. The inhabitants of dormitory houses always changes and before we tive unit, and does not directly link to the social can identify them they already leave. It’s true that cohesion of kampung community. the presence of dormitory houses in our neighbor- hood brings good impact in terms of economic

66 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 Another interesting example of the adminis- At the end, Margonda Residence is, adminis- trative effort to “recognize” and also integrate the tratively speaking, still registered as part of RT new form of residence within kampung neighbor- 01 and RT 04, and after the objection from the hood in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina can be local government there is no more effort from found in the RT 04 and RT 01 neighborhoods, its residents to realize their aspiration to form where the first vertical residence in the area, Mar- their own RT. Although, at least in terms of gonda Residence, is located. Margonda Residence administration, they are still part of the larger has 2 towers of apartments, the first one built in kampung RT unit, most of their needs, which RT 04, and the other in RT 01. According to the might typically be addressed by RT administra- RT leaders in RT 04 and RT 01, the residents tion, are already taken care of by the management inside the apartments were administratively un- office of the Margonda Residence. In this way, touchable due to bad relations between the RT there is no chance for RT leaders in RT 01 and leaders and the management officer of Margonda 04 to know personally the residents who live be- Residence. As told by RT leader of RT 04, there is hind the walls of Margonda Residence. Both RT no coordination with management officer of Mar- leaders in RT 01 and 04 say that there is almost gonda Residence related to the changes of resi- no coordination whatsoever with the apartment’s dents in the apartment. Without this coordination, management office, especially regarding their some of apartment residents have difficulty when residents’ information. This situation brings un- they need to apply some administrative letters avoidable social anonymity, which has led to an such as identity card (Kartu Tanda Penduduk/ experience of anxiety to the moral condition of KTP), family card (Kartu Keluarga/KK), and kampung life, and also to attitudes towards crime others items that require RT leader recommenda- within the kampung neighborhood. tion. Once, due to this administrative difficulty, some residents of Margonda Residence proposed Rent dwelling landscape as “pollution”: to form their own RT unit, but this proposal was Moral evaluations of urban transformation rejected at the kelurahan level and by the LPM Due to the augmentation of anonymity and (Lembaga Perwakilan Masyarakat). As a member vulnerability towards crime in the kampung of LPM, Ci Aang told me that the formation of neighborhood, another concern of kampung the RT unit in Margonda Residence will make residents is related to the moral condition of their legitimate the social segregation between the surroundings. This moral concern correlates with upper-middle class community residing in these contrast oppositions between rural and urban apartments and kampung residents, and will also life i.e. rural life associated with the image of risk weakening social control, moving towards a something natural, pure, and authentic which is gated community as such. Supporting Ci Aang’s opposite to urban life that is artificial, immoral, argument, Ahmad Yusuf, another member of corrupted, and anomie (Ferguson, 1997:138). LPM, told me that: Related to this, Gray (2003:238) argued that this What we have to do now is strengthening our coor- rural-urban contrast opposition plays an impor- dination with the management officer of Margonda tant role in structuring people’s experiences to- Residence and not to let them create their own RT. We’ll never let them do that [forming a new RT] wards place, and creates local identities attached because if we let them we will lose our control on to these places. Furthermore, I found that this our own neighborhood. If there is some thing hap- rural-urban opposition becomes a scheme of pens there that will affect our society like terrorist or drugs dealers, we’ll never know. They built their reference for kampung residents to evaluate their apartment here in our neighborhood and they have changing environment. As often mentioned by obligation to coordinate with us. my informants, ‘current’ urban society is totally different with the ‘previous’ rural society, and

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 67 their concerns about ‘degradation of social cohe- picious persons such as male guests in female sion’ or ‘social disintegration’ formed a distinct dormitory houses (or female guests in male dor- discourse every time they spoke about their mitory houses) as they will interfere to warn if neighborhood. Löfgren (2003:157) argues that the any dormitory residents seen acting criminally images of social disintegration in these peoples’ and immorally. neighborhoods should rather be seen as meta- In extreme cases, this scrutiny through com- phors for other social anxiety, where ideal images munity patrol towards dormitory houses could about social stability and home-centered life tells potentially lead to violence. I still remember one us more of their own aspiration and ideals than incident in August 1997 in Gang Kober (one most about ‘exact’ historical realities. Within this ideal, crowded neighborhoods in Kampung Bojong the neighborhood in the past was perceived as a Pondokcina). I witnessed unmarried couple bust- place that reflects social stability with a strong ed for adultery in a dormitory house. As people sense of communality and urban transformation in the neighborhood were gathered on a volley- towards rent dwelling and commerce perceived ball court not far from the dormitory houses to as a threat for that ideal community life. celebrate Indonesian Independence Day. Those crowded there were easily directed to violence to- Furthermore, the new comers (pendatang) in kam- pung neighborhood, especially the rent dweller, con- wards this poor couple. When some people forced sidered as potential cause of moral degradation and the couple out from their room, others started to consequently their behavior should be monitored. provoke the couple to strip, and forced them to About the newcomers in kampung neighborhood, Pak Njun as BKM member once told me that: walk only with underwear covering their body. A celebration of Independence Day was turned As the impact of the city’s growth, now we into a parade of violence and brutality in kam- have a lot of new comers who mostly only stay pung neighborhood. This violence, as Guinnes temporarily in our neighborhood and mostly we argued, was an expression of community, and an do not know them because they almost never affirmation of the moral order of that community interact with us. Life in this neighborhood now (2009:198). In this regard, people in the neighbor- is more open. Different kind of people come to hood tended to enforce community morality by our neighborhood, from religious people, drugs enacting violence against what they perceived dealer, to adulterers. These two kinds of people as the practitioners of ‘immoral’ behavior. The (drugs dealer and adulterers) are ‘neighborhood incident in 1997 is the most brutal violence that polluters’ (pengotor kampung) and we have to I ever witness when I lived in Kampung Bojong aware of their presence in our neighborhood. All Pondokcina. Related to the 1997 incident, Cang owners of dormitory house and also all element Rohman, an RT leader in Gang Kober, once told of our society should be aware of these pollut- me that people in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina ers because if we let them stay I’m afraid they were actually not brutal people. He believed will also pollute our moral order. This, we can’t rather that the economic crises, which started in tolerate. We have to protect our neighborhood 1997 when many people in kampung neighbor- from them. hood lost their jobs and lived in great uncertainty, In this regard, the rent dweller, especially made the community more prone to anger, and those who lived in the densely populated kam- that this energy spilled through as brutal violence. pung neighborhood, often live under the scrutiny Cang Rohman’s opinion in relation to these in- of kampung residents. Dormitory houses often cidents corresponds with Appadurai’s argument become a target of kampung residents surveil- that uncertainty and social anxiety gave rise to lance where ‘immoral’ behavior such as adultery violence (1998:290). or uninhibited sex (perbuatan mesum) usually In Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, people’s taken place. The residents often monitored sus- responses toward ‘immoral’ behavior did not

68 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 always culminate in brutal violence, like what and female residents. These ‘unisex’ dormitory happen in 1997. In another case in early 2000s, houses can be found usually in the areas with in a different neighborhood, one dormitory house the lowest kampung residents’ population, such not far from my parents’ house was knocked by as RW 07 especially in the neighborhood closest the neighbors because one of its residents brought to university area (popularly known among the a female partner to his room. Based on the de- students as Barel). In this area, the rent dwellers nunciation of the landlords, they were suspected (mostly students) could live more freely without doing adultery because the door was locked and any scrutiny from kampung residents. They the lights were turned off while the female guest can walk peacefully without having to greet or was inside. The landlord, accompanied some of ask for permission to kampung residents every the neighbors, knocked on the door to interrogate time they enter an alleyway to reach their living the suspects. Until the neighbors felt that they place. Apartments such as Margonda Residence gathered enough evidence, one of them called are another option for rent dwellers who want to the RT leader to make a ‘formal’ denunciation. avoid this community scrutiny, or the neighborly In this situation, the main function of the RT obligations that come with it. For kampung resi- leader was merely to prevent the occurrence of dents, both Barel neighborhood and Margonda mass violence towards the suspects. As the crowd Residence reflect an urban lifestyle character- of neighbors would have been easily triggered to ized by individualism, anomie, and lack of moral vigilante action, the RT leader was expected to guidance. Through rumors and gossip, the images become an intermediary to achieve what commu- of Barel neighborhood and Margonda Residence nity wanted through non-violent means. In this were constructed in the kampung neighborhood case, after the RT leader talked with the suspects, as examples of ‘social disintegration’, and as he kept their identity cards then asked them to representative of a loss of social cohesion that leave the neighborhood. These adultery cases leads to the moral degradation of their residents. was not only brought against the rent dwellers in As the appearance of ‘urban’ individualistic dormitory houses. In late 2013, I witnessed the lifestyle in kampung neighborhood was in the neighbors knocking on the doors of a local resi- spotlight, some of kampung’s residents were dent’s house, due to their suspicion of adulterous concerned about its impact on their community behavior. The RT leader came to the scene when life, especially for the existence of sibling or the angry crowd intended to use violence towards family groups. Once again, people often use the suspects. After the crowd was calmed, the their ideal past to evaluate current condition of RT leader then called family members of both social relation. As argued by Löfgren (2003:158) the adulterer suspects to become a witnesses, that ideal social cohesion in the past tends to in- and then asked them to sign an agreement letter, crease as the world becomes more complex and in which they stated that they would never make problematic. It is simply because people need a the same mistake in the future. coherent coordination even in current situation, Although these ‘immoral’ behaviors such as as Zijderveld (1970:57) argues, “…modern man adultery were not limited to the rent-dwellers in seems to stay in an open universe with its coor- the dormitory houses (like what was happened dinates crumbling off.” Back in my case, not only in the later case), the kampung residents still as- because current urban landscape has changed the sociated dormitory houses with misbehavior of proximity of sibling group residence, but also their residents. Elsewhere, luxurious dormitory because of the current individualistic tendency houses with high fences and private parking of urban social relations to undermine the com- lot were often spared kampung residents’ scru- munal life of sibling groups. People forget their tiny. In current developments, some dormitory sibling relations and the community fragments houses no longer make separation between male into more atomistic individuals. Anxiety about

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 69 this sibling group amnesia is expressed by Kam- even have enough space for parking the students’ pung Bojong Pondokcina peoples through the motorbikes. In this condition, many students park notion of mati obor, which literally translates as their motorbikes on the sidewalk of the alleyway ‘the death of torchlight.’ The young generation without surveillance, which makes these bikes is usually described as no longer following old vulnerable to theft. Due to this vulnerability, lo- customs of politeness, just minding their own cal police officers put a warning banner signed business, and expressing reluctance to participate “Hati-hati pencurian motor. 5 menit motor anda in communal activities with their neighbors or bisa hilang!” (Beware of motorbike theft. Your family groups. These young people are often bike could be lost within only 5 minutes) in sev- portrayed by the older generation as examples of eral corners of the neighborhood considered as a mati obor, which is perceived as the result of the hotspots motorbike theft. In early 2011, the resi- contemporary urban individualistic lifestyle. In dents of kampung neighborhood were shocked this regard, urban transformation has detached by an armed burglary that happened in one of people from place, in the sense that people tend the dormitory houses in the area. Amir, an ojeg to loose their control over their environment, (motor bike taxi) driver based in Gang Kober, the which brings anxiety about social atomization. most crowded alleyway in the neighborhood, told me how this was happened: The appearance of security gates in kampung It was during the day when I just came back to the neighborhood base (pangkalan) and I heard the noise of people In January 2011, Kompas reported that the yelled “thief!” repeatedly. I knew at that time that peoples in the neighborhood just spotted the motor- peri-urban areas have increasingly become bike theft and the thief was try to escape. After that hotspots for criminal activities: “Hotspots for I saw two motorbikes run very fast heading to the main road. When they approached to our base, my crimes seem to have been increasingly happen- friends and I try to stop them. We actually already ing at the borders of Jakarta, Tanggerang, and catch one motor bike but suddenly the other guy ap- Depok, especially the theft of motor bike […] peared with a gun in his hand. The guy that we catch leaved his bike and jump to this guy’s bike and then There are also thefts taking place in informal they escape just like that. We cannot do anything, rental places (kos and kontrakan)”. The reason, they have gun! Motorbike theft was become more according to Kompas, is “the weak social ties dangerous these days. between people who live in those areas.” These A few months after the armed burglary inci- are petty crimes, but they are significant, because dent in Gang Kober, some of RW neighborhoods the targets are modest-to low-income people who built security gates in several alleyways. It began travel to work (very likely in Jakarta) by motor- with the initiatives of RW 06 to build security bike, and, as newcomers, rents rooms or houses gates in its three alleyways in its neighborhood, in the peri-urban areas. In 2013, according to and was gradually followed by other RW neigh- poskotanews.com, about 320 cases of motorbike borhoods in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. As theft and burglary occurred in Depok. This num- the result, almost all the alleyways in Kampung ber makes Depok the city with the third highest Bojong Pondokcina are equipped with security frequency of motorbike thefts, after Jakarta and gates. These security gates will be closed from Tanggerang.In Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, 00.00 a.m. until 05.00 a.m. and controlled by the student dormitory houses often become easy security guards from each RW neighborhoods. targets for this petty crime. Although currently Njun, a member of BKM Pondokcina and a some of dormitory houses are equipped with resident in RW 04, told me that the aim of the security guard, many others still lack sufficient construction of security gates in the kampung security facilities. Many small dormitory houses neighborhood is to help the security guards in located in middle kampung neighborhood do not each RW neighborhood who are responsible for

70 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 night watch (ronda) in the area. With the security scheme, but also functioned as a gathering place gates surrounding kampung neighborhood, it is for leisure. Guiness (2009:199—200), based on expected that the increase in crimes, especially his observation of kampung neighborhoods in from motorbike theft, can be reduced. Yogyakarta, argued that gardu or security posts The appearance of security gates in Kampung were central elements in community life, used Bojong Pondokcina, however, is another form for providing security and companionship, as of a community defense scheme that evolves well as occasionally serving as bases for more from the former one, i.e. the guardhouse (known nefarious activities. popularly as gardu or poskamling). The limited Referring to my own experience, having lived space as well as the rising economic value of land in the kampung neighborhood in Kampung Bo- in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina left no place jong Pondokcina, the guardhouse is always dense for the development of guardhouses (gardu or with interaction among the neighbors, and also poskamling). Hendrik, one of my neighbors in with the outsiders or newcomers. In the after- RW 05 once told me that: noon, the guardhouse was often occupied by the female residents for gossiping while sometimes Before our kampung turned became like this [urban- ized], peoples were really easy to donate their land other bring their children and feed them outside for the society (masyarakat), either for guardhouse their houses. The guardhouse was also used by (gardu) or another collective interests. It’s because various peddlers as a shelter when at the same people believed with their society but now we are like orang kota (urban people), we are not easy to trust time— since it’s also a gathering place—they somebody. Besides, today it’s better to use your land were easily able to find the customers there. The for commercial use rather than for the guardhouse. Currently, the land has more [economic] value and no presence of peddlers in the guardhouse some- one wanted to give it for free so now portal (security times became a magnet for the neighbors to come gate) is more reasonable because its do not need too to this place in the afternoon. On Saturday nights, much space. the youngsters usually gathered in this place to At least until the late 1990s, several areas in hang out with their friends, play guitar, play Kampung Bojong Pondokcina still had examples carom games (karambol), or simply to chat with of simple guardhouse made from bamboo, wood their friends. When the youngsters or other resi- planks, and thatched roofs that were built by the dents were gathered in this place, the kampung residents in that particular neighborhood. These outsider or the new comers in the neighborhood guardhouses were usually located in relatively should greet and show good manners by asking crowded alleyway in the neighborhood. Presided for their permission to pass by (numpang lewat), over by security guards known as hansip, these and, if it was necessary, to bend their body while guardhouses were also equipped with night walking in front of them. This attitude applied watch instruments known as kentongan— hol- not only to the outsiders, but also among the lowed tree branches with clefts down the middle kampung residents as an acceptable manner of that produce sound when they are struck with a behaving every time they passed by in front of a stick—hung on the doorway of the guardhouse. group of people who gathered in a certain place This instrument is used to sound an alert or send in the neighborhood. messages to the community in the neighborhood. This particular attitude towards the group of Starting from midnight, the hansip usually sat in people occupying a certain place reflects a collec- the guardhouses to start their night watch activity, tive understanding of the kampung residents to- sometimes with the companionship of other male wards such a place, which is beyond the “modern” residents of the neighborhood. This community dichotomy of public and private. The alleyway defense form was typical in urban neighbor- in the interior part of the kampung neighbor- hoods in Java. As reported by Kusno (2006), it hood is used in multiple ways by the residents was not merely associated with the night watch and instead of perceived it as public, it’s rather

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 71

Figure 11: The security gate (portal) in one of alleyway in the kampung

neighborhood

Figure 12: the residents uses of alleyways as part of their “yard” in one of the

most crowded neighborhood in RW 06, Kampung Bojong Pondokcina.

considered as the common. The streets in front have small houses without yards, people hang of the house, for example, are often perceived as their clothes, put out some pots of plants, hang parts of their houses, or as front yards. In many cages of singing birds, and park their motorcycles ways, this practice toward the streets shows the in the street in front of their house. Not only put- overlapping understanding of the public and the ting their private goods in the streets, people often common. As I observed in my own neighbor- use this space for recreational purposes such as hood, because most of the people who live there soccer, badminton, or simply socializing in the

72 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 afternoon. In this way, the alleyway often appears maintaining sense of community, defining terri- for the by passer as “quasi-public,” where they tory and collective identity of kampung residents must ask for permission when passing through in (Kusno, 2006:98). order to show some respect to the people who live Due to the transformation of urban landscape in the surrounding houses. With this collective that left no space for guardhouses, in my ethno- perception imbued in the social consciousness graphic case here, they have been replaced by of the kampung neighborhood, the passerby who other security mechanisms, i.e. security gates walks without greeting or asking for the permis- or portals. Although both portals and gardus are sion of the residents who gather in certain places, similar instruments for securing the “inside” is regarded as impolite, and as having no com- from the unpredictable “outside”, they operates munitarian sensibility. in different ways. This security form has a differ- Collective understanding towards public in- ent sense and meaning for community life. One frastructure such as alleyway as the common, in obvious thing about its difference is that, while this regards, derived from the absence of public a gardu is dense with social interaction among facilities accessible for the kampung residents. In residents in order to maintain the sense of com- this way, the presence of guardhouses as gather- munity in kampung neighborhood, portal lack ing places for leisure in some ways fills the needs such a social quality. Compared to the former of kampung residents for a place for socializing. system, the portals are merely associated with Furthermore, as an instrument for neighborhood the neighborhood’s defense against becoming security, the mechanism of greeting one-another an insecure and harmful environment. Under the and asking for permission for the passerby in gardu defense mechanism, almost every adult the guardhouses helps the residents to identify male resident were obliged to participate in the every person who enter the neighborhood. In this night watch activity in the area. In this way, by regard, the guardhouse plays an important role in participating in night watch activities, people

Figure 13: location of security gates/portal in kampung neighborhood

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 73 were able to maintain their ‘membership’ in the houses, bike thieves not only operate at night, and neighborhood community, and to build their because most of the portals are left unguarded, sense of communality. Broadly speaking, the the thieves could easily break the portal’s key to presence of the gardu defense scheme reflects the escape. Akim’s critique towards the portal secu- quality of social cohesion in one neighborhood, rity scheme was based on his experience when because of its need for wider participation from one of the bikes in his workplace was stolen, kampung residents in its operations. and the thief escaped by breaking the portal’s Compare to the former security scheme, por- lock. For the supporter of this security scheme, tals appear as a possible strategy in the absence the portal is the best solution not only to prevent of community participation in the neighborhood’s crime, but also to help to reduce disturbing noise security. The gardu security scheme disappeared at night especially from motorcycles that before is not only because of the lack of available land the curfew restriction often passed through the for gardu development, but also due to a growing alleyway in the kampung neighborhood. The lack of willingness from the kampung residents to alleyway in kampung neighborhood was often participate in such a security scheme. This situa- used as short cut to reach the main road to Ja- tion is also strongly related to the diverse occupa- karta or from Jakarta to Margonda Raya, where tions and limited time of kampung residents for people were able to avoid traffic jams or police communal activities. As security is an important raids. This circulation of motorcycles in kam- discourse in urban life related to the augmenta- pung neighborhood at night, especially for those tion of anonymity and social diversity (see Low who live in the most crowded alleyway, is very 2003), another form of security must be created disturbing. Thanks to the curfew restriction, this and in the case of Kampung Bojong Pondokcina disturbing noise in kampung neighborhood can it was appear in the form of portal. Under the new be reduced. form of security scheme, community participa- In this regard, the portal security scheme in tion in the night watch transformed into monthly kampung neighborhood, despite of its mixed paid security officer and “ask-for-permission” reputation amongst residents and also its lack of (numpang lewat) mechanism while restrictions social significance for maintaining community on entering the kampung neighborhood were life, is, once again, a possible choice among ‘replaced’ by the curfew restriction. other possibilities that appear within certain Concerning this new form of security in Kam- dynamic of socio-spatial in Kampung Bojong pung Bojong Pondokcina, the residents’ response Pondokcina. Just like the gardu, the portal also was surprisingly diverse. Some people support can be seen—borrowing Kusno’s notion—as an this initiative, but there are also some critiques ‘urban artifact’, which, in my ethnographic case, and complaints. The critiques and complaints appeared as a modality of urban life that also re- toward this security scheme mostly come from flects people’s perception and response towards the residents who often work with unpredictable their changing physical and social environment. ۞ schedules, and who have difficulty with curfew restrictions if they have to return home late. The young people who often spent their time outside As I already describes in this section, the their houses at night with their friends are also city’s development marked by the presence of disrupted by this curfew restriction. Some of the massive commercial activity and huge number of kampung residents even expressed their doubt migration from urban middle class has brought about the effectiveness of this kind of security significant impacts upon the community life of system in reducing crime, especially from bike Kampung Bojong Pondokcina residents. The first theft. As explained by Akim who works as se- obvious impact was transformation of physical curity guard in one of the luxurious dormitory proximity of sibling group residence. In this re-

74 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 gard, as the result of spatial competition, and the Chapter III: Experiencing Kampung commercialization of space in the urban scene, neighborhood as a home sibling group residence has scattered to different The augmentation of anonymity marked by areas. The other impact was social segregation as the massive migration of middle-class mobile the result of the spatial transformation towards population and scattered residence of sibling landscapes of dwellings for urban middle-upper group are spotlighted by kampung residents and class marked by the presence of luxurious dormi- trigger social anxiety regarding loosening ties tory houses and fancy apartments. As this social among kin and sibling groups. In such situation, segregation appeared in kampung neighborhood, most of the young generations that now adays no it also led to people’s concerns about the degra- longer know their relatives perceived by older dation of social cohesion in their neighborhoods. generation as anomaly that undermine commu- In this regards, the presence of middle class nal life to function. Regarding this situation, it rent dwellers in their gated residences within is often said reflexively by older generation that kampung neighborhoods was often perceived as now we are entering the era of mati obor, as an something unrecognizable since their interaction anxious expression towards anonymity. In this with their surroundings was very limited. The part, I elaborate how community group maintain augmentation of anonymity in kampung neigh- as well as produce kinship ties and ‘siblingship’ borhood brought social anxiety among kampung through neighborly obligations in their everyday residents that manifested in their spatial practices, life and rituals. Through the mechanism of reci- i.e. community patrol and security gate in the procity and participation in communal rituals, neighborhood. I argue that people objectify themselves as part Elsewhere, peoples’ evaluations of the current of community group regulated by siblingship condition of their environment was based on values. In this way, people who currently live contrast opposition between the images of rural far away from their relatives could still maintain and of urban life. Although the image of the past their membership in kampung community as rural social cohesion is merely an ideal aspiration well as their attachment to their ‘origin’ place rather than an historical fact, it reflects peoples’ in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. Moreover, the expressions of their detached experiences from active process of self-realization through day- their neighborhoods undergoing urban transfor- to-day exchange and ritual participation in the mation. The term mati obor is a perfect expression neighborhood or siblings group enables people for this situation, wherein the new socio-spatial to produce their personhood as well as create configuration of the neighborhood is perceived their spatial niche. as a challenge to the social cohesion of an urban I already described in the previous chapter that community. Not only reflecting peoples concerns urban development in kampung neighborhood is about social cohesion imbued in place, the no- experienced by kampung residents with a sense tion mati obor also allowed people to highlight of detachment and uprooted feeling. Social anxi- the importance of the system of siblingship that ety towards anonymity and urban individualism structuring their experience living in kampung that are articulated in the notion of mati obor is neighborhood. In the next section, I will elaborate an expression of kampung residents’ aspiration on how people in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina about the importance of kin and sibling groups. build their attachments to their neighborhoods Scattered residence of sibling groups is perceived with the mediation of siblingships and rituals. as a scourge and unpleasant reality. As kin and sibling group is important for kampung residents, physical proximity with kin and sibling matters much in their dwelling preferences. In this regard,

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 75 for kampung residents, to live with kin is life itself beverages so normally they also serve their (Gow, 1991 in Sahlins, 2011:2). This is because guess with food and beverages they got from for most of them, knowing their kin and sibling other guesses. Families usually will have special groups is another way to understand themselves, Lebaran meal during breakfast, brunch or lunch. i.e. kin is inseparably part of the self. As Sahlins Special dishes will be served such as ketupat (2011:11) argues, “…a notion of personhood (rice cake covered with the weaving of coconut where kinship is not simply added to bounded leafs), opor ayam (chicken soup with coconut individuality, but where ‘relatives are perceived milk), sambal goreng ati (spicy stir-fry potatoes as intrinsic to the self”. Furthermore, kampung with beef liver), and sayur nangka or labu siem neighborhood is inseparably associated with so- (jackfruit or pumpkin soup with coconut milk). cial relation as such where kin and sibling is the Normally in the parents or older relative’s house, central element in its meaning. In this regards, people will eat those special meals together with being in kampung neighborhood also means put- siblings and other relatives. ting oneself in neighborly obligations to maintain For many people in Indonesia in general and social relation of kin and sibling. particularly in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, In this part, I follow Retsikas (2007:969) who Lebaran is not merely a religious celebration but states that the production of the categories of both also an occasion for reconstituting siblings and places and personhood is a process mediated by relatives ties. On this very occasion, children are practices related to social memory, kinship and introduced to all relatives and they learn the fa- ritual. First, I explore the practices of production milial linkage among them, as parents often teach of kinship through day-to-day exchange and also them to use certain terms of address to certain its implication to the perception of personhood. relatives. As familial linkage is sometimes a bit In the second part, I concentrate more on how complicated to explain, usually there is some this relationship is reconstituted through rituals. confusion in the usage of certain terms of ad- dress. Therefore, Lebaran day usually becomes a Merluin sodara: Crafting kinship ties through good occasion to discuss this confusion to avoid practices mati obor or loosening ties among kindred and relatives due to memory loss of the terms of ad- Kinsmen are persons who belong to one another, who dress. However, it is through these activities that are member of one another, who are co-present in each other, whose lives are joined and interdependent people transform and give special temporal and (Sahlins, 2011:11). spatial meaning to their homes during lebaran while reinforcing and expressing the importance On Lebaran day, after performing Eid prayer of family and kinship. in the morning, as common in most parts of Lebaran period may be the peak occasion Indonesia, people dressing in their new clothes for the practices of exchange and articulation of will gather to greet their family and neighbors. kinships values in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, In kampung neighborhood, alleyways look busy but day-to-day practices of exchange with certain with people going here and there, using bikes relatives or neighbors somehow also play an ex- or walking with their family to visit their rela- tremely important role not only in expressing the tives. Younger families usually visit their older importance of family and kinship ties but also in neighbors or relatives to wish and greet them a producing one. This is because what we call rela- “Happy Eid” as well as to ask for forgiveness. tives or ‘family’ in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina In their visit, people usually exchange food and does not necessarily have genealogical connec- beverages such as canned biscuits and syrup or tion or consanguinity but also create it through an soda. Due to these exchanges, during Lebaran active process of exchange of goods or services day people will have abundance of food and which enables people to be incorporated into one

76 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 group of relatives. In this regard, kinship and in fact has no genealogical connection with my group of relatives are not an entity that’s stable, family. Kinship relation between my family and but rather open to appropriation and re-appro- Mak Guni somehow was created through a long- priation through praxis. First, we can ask: what standing process of exchange involving many in- constitutes a ‘family’? In Indonesia, it is not easy dividuals. Mauss’s notion of ‘gift economies’ may to define a ‘family’ based on a Western concept, help to explain this process where in the web of or an essentialist point of view. Betawi people relations of gift exchange, people are tied together like kampung residents of Kampung Bojong with moral debt to one another (see Graeber, Pondokcina define the literal word of ‘family’ as 2001). Moreover, within this web of relations cre- consisting of their bilateral relatives, or kindred, ated through a long-standing process of exchange, from both father’s and mother’s sides. Family somehow, it’s hard to see those people involved members, siblings from one parent with their cou- in those processes use ‘western’s glasses’ about ples and children, usually live in one house-yard ‘unique and autonomous individual’. Rather, it is with several houses built close to one to another. more likely as Strathern’s explanation about per- Each couple and children staying under one roof sonhood in Melanesian society (1988 in Graeber, are called keluarga, referring to the Indonesian 2001:39), which are partible person and multiple word used by state to identify a ‘family’, or in person. In this regard, partible person is related anthropological concept: a ‘nuclear family’. More to the sense that identities are perceived as all often, people refer to those staying in one house potential that people can ‘make certain part of (under one roof) as one rumah tangga or house- it visible’ in certain given social situation while hold. In the government’s term, the household multiple person is related to the sense that persons is usually referred to KK that stands for Kepala are brought into being only through social rela- Keluarga, or translated in English as ‘the head tions and always seen as part of those relations. of the family’. Officially ‘the head of family’ is Back to the case about my relationship with the husband or, if the husband has deceased, the Mak Guni, I was born in a pre-existing gift- widow in that family. Despite the fact that the exchange relation between my mother and Mak state’s definition of family is relatively limited Guni, and then inevitably was part of it since, in to household, in reality, it is wider than that due Strathern’s sense, as a multiple person I cannot be to its dynamic related to the possibility of other detached from my relationship with my mother people’s incorporation to this category through from whom I come into being. My mother told day-to-day exchange practice. To explain this, I me that Mak Guni was close to my grandmother have to consider my own experience regarding and always helped her on many occasions, from the production of relative’s ties in my families. assisting my grandmother in her food stall to do- Every year, in Lebaran period, there are sev- ing domestic routines. Within this relation, Mak eral houses of relatives that my family usually Guni has been incorporated into the group of visits. First is my grandparent’s house from my kinship of my mother’s family; not only through father’s side and the second is my grandparent’s long-standing gift-exchange with my grand- house from my mother’s side. With my grandpar- mother’s family but also through participation ents family, usually we also visit other relatives in the life-cycle rituals held by both families. that have a sibling connection with them such as Starting from gift and services exchange between my grandparents’ brothers and sisters. Some of Mak Guni and my grandmother, the relation has them live in the same neighborhood where my been continued by my mother’s family. The moral family live but some others live quite far, and debt that ties them together is somehow inherited for the latter I practically only see them (at least) to their children. In such situation, it’s not only once a year, i.e. every Lebaran period. Another Mak Guni and my mother who are involved in house that we used to visit is Mak Guni’s, which this long-standing process of gift and services

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 77 exchange but also all members from both families Kakak Miah would still have the willingness to that continuously participate in order to maintain take care of my brothers and me since she had a the pre-existing “kinship ties” regulated by moral moral debt to my mother who had also taken care debts. of her; and without being helped by Kakak Miah However, within this relation, the important in ‘baby-sitting’, my mother had already treated element in the exchanges that have consequences her like her own sister, giving her money or other to the process of incorporation to kinship ties is stuff or gift which was the common practice in cooperation in taking care of children. As Sahlins such relation. Both parties are bonded together, put it, “It is the nurture, rather than the transfer depending on one to another, and none of them of bodily substance, that makes the relation- are willing to jeopardize such relation by not ship” (2011:4). In this way, what we consider as participating in such reciprocal activity. our parents are not necessarily our biological Countless acts of exchange of gift and services parents but also other persons who participate in in the production of kin relation as I already de- the nurturing activity. Mak Guni is the best ex- scribed previously brings us to other hints about ample for this argument. Her participation in my how people perceive kin relations. Although it is grandmother’s family to take care of my mother considered important for people to know lineage has consequences of her incorporation to my connection, people’s willingness to help their grandmother’s family and the production of her kindred, that is manifested through their action personhood. For my mother, due to Mak Guni’s to participate in reciprocal activity in order to participation in the nurturing activity, she is also maintain such relation, is somehow emphasized her mother. As Mak Guni has taken care of her more than the fact of having shared the same when she was a child, my mother also does her blood or not. In this case, practice is the key ele- best to pay back those kindnesses by taking care ment for the kinship ties that have consequences Mak Guni’s daughters and treating them like her or feedback to knowledge formation about it. As own sisters. When my grandmother died, Mak I already showed, active engagement in kindred Guni was the one who took the role as a mother. events, continuous participation in gift exchange Mak Guni’s family is my mother’s ‘mainstay’ and involvement in the nurturing activity have especially to take care of my brother and me fundamental consequences not only for kinship when she has to work. As I always remember, ties but also personhood. In my neighborhood, I spent almost all my childhood in Mak Guni’s people who have willingness to help relatives and house and often, Kakak Miah, one of Mak Guni’s always try their best to take part in every impor- daughters, came to my house every morning to tant family event are considered as having certain take care of my brother and me. My mother paid attitude called merluin sodara, or translated in her monthly for her services of taking care of my English as ‘in need of relative’. Through concrete brother and me, so it’s partly true that it seems action in the reciprocal activity, simultaneously that Kakak Miah has a ‘professional relation’ people carry the value of merluin sodara with with my mother as ‘baby sitter’. But in reality I them, which becomes part of their personhood. have to say that it’s hard to see it completely that This value of personhood, however, becomes an way. Moreover, her participation in nurturing important element that imbues the continuous activity in my family was also motivated by the reciprocal activity that has consequences in the continuation of moral debts that ties us together production of kinship ties. as ‘family’. Even though my mother gave her In this regard, Mak Guni and her family, in my money (say, every month), it is hard to see that mother’s eyes are the kind of persons who have payment as a wage because it was also part such merluin sodara value in their personality of the exchange that had a consequence to the and therefore have incorporated my mothers and production of kin relation. Without being paid, her entire family into hers. This bond, however,

78 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 is only possible if each person participating in hoods in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. In this reciprocal activity shows his or her personality of case, I agree with Retsikas (2007) who states merluin sodara through his or her action towards that, like personhood, “Places are shifting and the other persons. Therefore, merluin sodara is changing, always becoming through people’s an important value regarding the production of engagements—material as well as discursive— personhood imbued in social relations. It is also in, through, and with them.” Moreover, through because merluin sodara in another sense means that process of experiencing or acting out of maintaining or to creating sodara or relative. place by participating in different social events About the importance of this value, Rumenah, the articulation of identities that associated with my grandmother from my father’s side once told place follows. About the relation between person me that: and place, Retsikas argues that:

With your siblings and your relatives, you have For once, place is semantically and practically as- always help each other. You should always show sociated with the persons who occupy it, its very your willingness to help them on any occasion. With materiality, historicity, and familiarity are to be that attitude, you show that you need your relatives refracted in the properties of social relations of (merluin sodara) and therefore they will do the same. which these same persons are composed. In this If not your relatives, with whom you want to live? sense, the durability of stable forms of personhood is predicated on spatial stasis; transformation is Regarding the fact that currently people often brought to life by the changing contours of people’s life situation when in spatial flux (2007:972). move from one place to another and often live far from their relatives’ neighborhood, the question Hence, consequently, place is an emerging is: how does this reality affect such exchange property of social relation; an inherent ingredient practices? To what extent does physical proximity of their modalities of actualization. contribute to the dynamic of kin (social) ties? In Furthermore, based on my own experience the next part, I will try to elaborate both of these living in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, related questions. to the experience of moving place, people associ- ate their identities with this spatial multiplicity. Moving places, dynamic social relation and Sahlins (2011:6) argues that “identity itself is a multiple place attachment selective determination of certain (culturally) Due to the urban transformation of the land- relevant resemblance among the many possible scape of rent dwelling in kampung neighborhood, one.” In this regards, by moving from one place the natives in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina often to another, people acquire and activate/articulate have to move from their former house to a new different identities through social participation living place. Moving from one place to another within different places which also compose after renting or even selling their previous house them. In other words, every piece of place in is common for kampung residents in Kampung kampung neighborhood is dense with memory Bojong Pondokcina. This practice, however, of social participation that defines oneself as a contributes to the dynamic process of their so- person. For me, every place in Kampung Bojong cial ties in every place they live due to different Pondokcina owes its character to the experi- social participation in each place. Thus, every ence and it affords to me when I spent my time place is dense with memory of different social there—to the sights, sounds and indeed smells interactions with different categories of people that constitute its specific ambience and also such as neighbors and relatives. By moving define who I am. And these, in turn, depend on from one neighborhood to another, I argue that the kind of activities in which I engage. From this the feeling of kampung as a ‘home’ is resulted point following de Certau’s ideas, I argue that it is from multiple experiences of participation in from this relational context of engagement with different social events within different neighbor- the world, in the practices of dwelling that each

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 79 place draws its unique significance. In my case, of my identities as ‘mixed people’ is a result of the significance of place is created through my this kind of moving places practice within Kam- participation in religious activities within differ- pung Bojong Pondokcina neighborhood where ent religious affiliations and also interaction with each place has its own characteristic. different kindred groups. I will start from a brief description of my Matrilocal moment: Nurture as collective task family background. My relatives and neighbors Gang Pancoran is the first neighborhood in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina often define me where my family built our own house in a piece as orang campuran or ‘mixed people’; not in a of land that was inherited from my mother’s sense of ethnic group but related to the religious parents. Our house located only one blocks affiliations of my parents. My father comes from away from my grandparent’s and my uncle’s (my a salariat middle class family who are members of mother’s brother) house. Before my parents built 3 an Islamic organization called Muhammadiyah our first house in Gang Pancoran, they lived in and my mother comes from an artisan family who my grandparent’s house until my mother gave associate themselves as traditionalist Muslim of birth of her first son in 1986, me. Although every Nahdathul Ulama. Both of them are the natives new couple in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina can of Kampung Bojong Pondokcina and hence are choose where they want to live after married, of- orang Betawi or ‘Betawi people’ in the sense ten people choose to live in the female’s kindred of ethnic group. The difference that I can see group’s neighborhood or under the same roof from both those kindred groups is their attitude with the female’s family before they are able to towards tradition due to their different religious live on their own. This of course depends on the affiliations. For my father, also for most of his financial capacity of each person. But despite kindred group members who are members of financial constraints of newly married couples Muhammadiyah, tradition such as selametan haul to live in their own places, living in the female’s or commemoration ritual of death are considered family house after marriage enables the process as bid’ah or ‘heresy’ therefore it is forbidden for of knowledge transmission from the female’s par- them to hold such activity. On the other side, my ents to their newly married daughter. This is be- mother’s kindred group who mostly traditional- cause the newly married daughter normally still ist Muslims still stick to the tradition and do not needs her mother to learn about how to become a perceive it as heresy. ‘good’ housewife and later become a mother. The Since my mother’s and my father’s marriage moment after the newly married daughter gives in 1985, both of them have been living in my her first birth, the mother usually will take care mother’s kindred group’s area (matrilocal) in of her daughter who is in recovering period and Gang Pancoran. In 2000, after renting our house also teach her how to take care of her first baby. in Gang Pancoran, my family moved to my fa- As people usually say, it’s better to learn in your ther’s kindred group’s area (patrilocal) in Gang own house with your own mother rather than in Alfurqon. After my parents divorced in the early a new place with a new person. This is partly of 2011, my mother and all her sons (including the reason why most of newly married couples me) and daughter moved to new place in Gang preferably choose matrilocality than partilocality, Jambu which is not part of both kindred group’s especially when financial condition still prevents areas (neolocal) (see figure 14). The multiplicity them to live on their own.

3 Muhammadiyah is an Islamic organization in Indonesia. The Another advantage of living in the female’s organization was founded in 1912 by Ahmad Dahlan in the city of kindred group, since the women usually also Yogyakarta as a reformist socio-religious movement, advocating ijtihad—individual interpretation of Qur’an and sunnah, as opposed work, their parents often help to take care the to taqlid—the acceptance of the traditional interpretation propounded by the religious leader or ulama (see FUAD (2002) and http://www. baby while they have to work. In many cases, muhammadiyah.or.id).

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Figure 14: Sketch of moving place of my family nurturing children often becomes a collective of substantiation of ‘kinship relation’ that was work involving parents, grandparents, younger created through her participation in my family’s siblings of the parents, and other relatives and nurturing activity. The same explanation applies kindred both from the husband’s and the wife’s. to my mother’s uncle, Baba Us, who was one of In my case specifically, my mother told me that imams in the oldest mosque in Kampung Bojong every time she had to work, it was her mother, her Pondokcina who also became my Quran teacher ‘pseudo-mother’ Mak Guni with her daughter and when I lived in Gang Pancoran; my participa- sometimes my father’s younger sister who helped tion in his religious teaching in certain ways is a her to take care of me when I was a baby. As I manifestation of kinship relation. grew older, my parents moved to a new house that My father, who has affiliation to Muham- they built not far from my grandparent’s house. madiyah organization which has a different point Gang Pancoran is a place where I spent most of of view on religious doctrine from most of my my childhood until my early adolescent period. mother’s kindred group like Kak Mamah and Like other children in the neighborhood, everyday also Baba Us, somehow has a pretension to give in the afternoon we learned how to read Quran religious education in his way. The fact that I with teachers available in the neighborhood. participated in religious teaching in my mother’s One of Mak Guni’s daughters, Kak Mamah, is kindred group who were nahdiyin people or tra- one of the Quran teachers in Gang Pancoran at ditionalist Muslims was unavoidable since we that time. In a certain way, my participation in lived in ‘their neighborhood’. Hence, there was Kak Mamah’s Quran learning that took place in no option for my father but to let me go social- her house is part of the manifestation of ‘kinship izing with them by participating in their religious ties’ produced through long-standing process of teaching. In this regard, banning me to participate exchange between my mother and Mak Guni. in such activity just because of the difference in Because Mak Guni’s family has been trusted to ideological and religious orientation only would take care my mother’s children, learning how jeopardize the kinship ties that had been cre- to read Quran from Mak Guni’s daughter who ated through long-standing exchange practices. in this case was like my own sister was kind In such situation, as Beatty argues, related to

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 81 different ideological and religious orientations, Patrilocal moment: Production of attachment children do not automatically share the cultural through social participation identity of their parents. Neither do they confront In 2000, many of my neighbors and relatives ideological and religious differences as a problem left Gang Pancoran neighborhood including my in the way that their parents do (2002:474). This grandfather and my uncle from my mother’s side. is because, in the process of socialization, espe- Most of them sold their lands and houses, and the cially when nurturing activity itself is perceived neighborhood changed drastically and became as collective task, children are open to various more crowded with commercial places such as ideological and religious orientations beyond restaurants, workshops and used car showrooms. what their parents have. My family’s first house in Gang Pancoran located Nevertheless, when it comes to the choice on the street side and therefore was very strategic of my first formal education, my father was the if used as commercial place. When my family one who made a decision and he decided to send lived there, my parent had used it several times to me to a Muhammadiyah’s elementary school open small businesses such as grocery store and rather than public elementary school like most food stalls, although due to limited capital it had of my neighbors in Gang Pancoran. The reason never gone well. When my mother had four chil- behind this decision was because he wanted me dren, the financial condition was getting tighter to have descent religious education and for him and to solve this problem my parents rented out Muhammadiyah’s elementary school was the our house to other parties. At first, it was only most suitable for this purpose. The school loca- one-third of our house that was used for rent but tion which was just next to his parent’s house in gradually the whole house was used for rental Gang Alfurqon also made up his consideration. purpose. The money we got from renting out our In addition to my formal education, my father first house in Gang Pancoran was used to build registered me to ‘Taman Pendidikan Alquran’ a new one in a piece of land that located in my or ‘Quran education centre’ that was also part of father’s kindred group’s neighborhood. Unlike Muhammadiyah’s educational facilities. Unlike in my previous neighborhood in Gang Pancoran what I experienced in Kak Mamah’s or Baba Us’ where kinship relation was manifested through Quran teaching, this Quran education center has collective nurturing activity, my interaction a more modern method of teaching and of course with my father’s kindred group was structured different perspectives or interpretations regarding through participation in organizational activities religious doctrines. After going to school every of Muhammadiyah’s organization. morning, I have to attend this Quran learning Muhammadiyah in Kampung Bojong Pondok- at Quran education center in the afternoon. cina is a sub-branch office4 and Gang Alfurqon Furthermore, as I entered my early adolescent is the center for its organizational activity. period, my father encouraged me to participate Historically, the presence of Muhammadiyah in Muhammadiyah’s organization activities such organization in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina as weekly Quran reciting meeting, martial art and started from a small religious recitation group also involve in a committee for annual religious or pengajian, conducted by Haji Usman in 1970s. celebrations. In such situation, my social inter- Haji Usman who was a resident of neighboring action with mother’s kindred group gradually village called Kukusan started to hold pengajian thinned out as my participation in my father’s with two families in Kampung Bojong Pondok- kindred group became more intense. After my

family moved from Gang Pancoran to my fa- 4 Structurally, Muhammadiyah’s organization consists of pengurus ther’s kindred group’s neighborhood in 2000, my pusat (national office), pengurus wilayah (provincial office), pengurus daerah (district offices on the kabupaten level, or daerah), pengurus relation with my father’s kindred group became cabang (branch office on the kecamatan level, or cabang), and pengurus ranting (sub-branch office on the desa or kelurahan level, or ranting) even closer. (Faud 2002:140).

82 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 cina , which were the families of H. Alias Miung Muhammadiyah to which my father affiliated but who was the grandfather of my father and of H. also because the mosque itself was an ancestral Yahya Nuih. Formerly, the pengajian itself was heritage for our family. “It is our responsibility held from house to house and as the members as the descendants of H. Alias Miung to continue gradually increased a formal organization was his struggle by actively participating on what he formed. As a socio-religious movement, Muham- already left for us,” said my grandmother once madiyah promotes self-reliance and grassroots to me. In this way, my membership as a cadre of participation as the foundation of its main strat- Muhammadiyah in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina egy to empower and strengthen ummah or civil is something inherent in my identity as part of my society by promoting education (Fuad, 2002:139). father’s kindred group, and by living in the neigh- In order to realize this organization’s vision and borhood there was more demands to articulate strategy, the members of Haji Usman’s penga- that identity through my concrete participation. jian started to collect fund to build mosque and My first participation in Muhammadiyah’s or- school. It began in 1987, when H. Alias Miung ganization was on weekly Quran reciting meeting and his son, H. Abas Hasan, donated their land as with Pemuda Muhammadiyah (Muhammadiyah waqf5 to Muhammadiyah’s organization. In 1,698 Young Men Movement)—an autonomous orga- m² plot of land6, the members and supporters of nization under Muhammadiyah as an umbrella Muhammadiyah in Kampung Bojong Pondok- body. This meeting was held every Friday night cina worked collectively to build a school and and the place rotated from one member’s house a mosque. After the mosque was built in Gang to another. However, the activities in such weekly Alfurqon, it became the center of organizational meetings were not only Quran reciting but also activities. arisan or rotating credit. In every meeting, each It can be seen that Muhammadiyah is not member who participates has to give an amount merely an organization that reflects its ideological of money that has been agreed on through con- vision and motivate people’s participation to such sensus to the treasurer. Normally in most arisans, movement. At the same time it is also structured people write the name of every member on a by kinship relation among its members. The piece of paper and put it in a glass. After that, members or supporters of Muhammadiyah’s or- the treasurers will pick up the papers randomly ganization in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina are to choose a person who will receive the rotation mainly the descendants of H. Alias Miung and credit. However, such mechanism was rejected H. Yahya Nuih which are my father’s kindred by the members of Quran reciting group because group. In this way, participation in organizational its similarity to gambling which according to activities is also a manifestation of kindred group Islamic law is haram or strictly forbidden. As membership. Every Friday, I met all the members the alternative, a person who will receive the of my father’s kindred group in the mosque in rotation credit is decided through a consensus Gang Alfurqon for Friday prayers. When I lived by all members who are present at the meeting in Gang Pancoran, even though we had another or by request, and the person who receives the mosque in our neighborhood which was closer credit will be the host for the next meeting. It is to our house, my father consistently insisted that through this activity that solidarity and sense of we had to go to Alfurqon’s mosque for Friday belonging among members are expressed and cre- prayers. The reason behind this preference is not ated. In this regard, the weekly meetings became only that Alfurqon’s mosque was associated with important occasions for information exchange

5 A waqf is, under the context of sadaqah, an inalienable religious among the members. If one member of the group endowment in Islamic law, typically donating a building or plot of land or his family was sick or had unfortunate situ- or even cash for Muslim religious or charitable purpose. ation, the other people would easily know from 6 H. Alias Miung donated 788 m² and H. Abas Hasan donated 910 m² for school and mosque. this information exchange in a weekly meeting

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Figure 15: Al-Kohinoor, Muhammadiyah’s mosque in Gang Alfurqon

Figure 16: Muhammadiyah’s elementary school in Gang Alfirqon

and then came to visit to express their solidarity. their neighborhood. One of senior members of From generation to generation, the youth’s pengajian pemuda, Nur, told me that these days Quran reciting group or pengajian pemuda in the youth of the neighborhood spend their time Gang Alfurqon has up and down experience in mostly on the street, internet cafes, or shopping terms of the number of people who participate in malls rather than participate in the neighbor- the activity. Compared to the adult’s pengajian hood’s activities. Hence, gradually, the numbers group both for male (pengajian bapak-bapak) of youth who participate in pengajian pemuda and female (pengajian ibu-ibu) in the neighbor- drop drastically and then the activity has to be hood, pengajian pemuda has more fluctuated merged to pengajian bapak-bapak. participation of its members. As youth entering Although youth participation in religious a new phase of life such as transition from school activity groups in the neighborhood diminishes, period to work and marriage, their participation it does not mean that the youth are completely in such neighborhood activities diminish. Usually alienated from the neighborhood. Pengajian is not after one of them gets married and have to move the only neighborhood activities that bond them to a new neighborhood, it will be more difficult together and make them attached to the neighbor- for them to attend the pengajian regularly. In hood. Like in other neighborhoods in Kampung addition, urban consumerism lifestyle often has Bojong Pondokcina, the youth in Gang Alfurqon more attraction for the youth than pengajian in participate in football by taking advantage of the

84 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 vacant spaces in the neighborhood. Since the va- munity through their collective activities. On cant spaces in the neighborhood mostly has been such occasions, the mosque becomes the central built and transformed into houses or commercial place for the residents’ communal activity. Ev- buildings, they now normally play futsal or “hall ery night, after performing shalat tarawih, the football” in rental places available in the neigh- youths and adult residents gather in the mosque borhood. In Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, the to chat while some of them continue with their youth created several football clubs representing individual prayers or Quran reciting. When most each neighborhood and on certain occasion (like of the adult residents go home at midnight, the on Independence Day celebration) they organize youth continue to chat, smoke, play chess or regular sport activities such as intra-kampung carom games (karambol), generally all night football competition. Within such occasions, long, and are sometimes served with drinks and people articulate their neighborhood identity and snacks provided by residents. On the weekend, at the same time create sense of belonging to the usually there are more people who participate in neighborhood they live in through their participa- this nocturnal activity during Ramadhan. tion. Another sport activity that also incorporate The point of staying at the mosque at night is the youth in Gang Alfurqon into the neighbor- to prepare the announcement of sahur time for hood is martial art. The youth in Gang Alfurqon the residents and to wake them up to prepare the participate in a martial art school called Tapak meals. Starting from 02.00 o’clock, the youth Suci which is also an autonomous organization shout “sahur!” and chant shalawat or other reli- under Muhammadiyah as an umbrella body. Ev- gious chants and songs using the mosque’s micro- ery Sunday morning they practice martial art in phone to wake up the residents. Every morning, the elementary school or mosque’s yard and also during Ramadhan, the neighborhood is always participate in several martial art competitions filled with this kind of sounds from mosque on the city and province level. Both sport activi- and mushalah, creating a unique soundscape ties are supported by the senior advisors in the of Ramadhan in the kampung neighborhood. neighborhood since these activities are regarded Generally, the residents support this activity as positive occasions for the youth to participate although some of them criticize the youth who actively in the neighborhood’s social life. do inappropriate activities in the mosque such as Another example of the incorporation of playing chess and carom games instead of pray- kampung youth into the neighborhood communal ing or reciting Quran. When the fasting period life is their role during fasting period—annual is almost over, the youth and adult residents get Islamic ritual in every Ramadhan month accord- busy collecting zakat or alms and then distribute ing to Islamic lunar calendar. During this period, it to the poor in the neighborhood. In the night the youth in Gang Alfurqon are expected to take before Lebaran, they also work together to clean part in ‘Ramadhan ritual committee’ where they a vacant space in the neighborhood to be used participate in several activities such as organizing as a place for Eid mass prayer in the morning. communal iftar or buka puasa or evening meal In that night, they move some equipment from in the mosque, collecting alms in the mosque the mosque to the vacant space such as carpets, during shalat tarawih or evening mass prayers, podium, microphones, sound system and others taking part as master of ceremony (MC) in shalat to make it a proper place for Eid mass prayers. It tarawih, announcing sahur or pre-dawn meal is by participating in these activities that people time, taking part in zakat or alms committee for express and at the same time also maintain their lebaran, and preparing work for Eid mass prayer membership of neighborhood community even before the Lebaran day. In this regard, fasting though they are no longer residents in the neigh- period is a peak moment where people enforce borhood. and express their sense of neighborhood com-

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 85 Neolocal moment: The act of familiarization One informal community that my mother par- and (re)activation kinship relation ticipated in was tabungan lebaran or saving for In the early 2011, after my parents divorced, Lebaran. In such saving system, everybody who my mother and all her children moved to a new participates gives an amount of money on daily living place in Gang Jambu—the most crowded basis to the saving organizer. Every afternoon, neighborhood in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina. the organizer rounds the neighborhood to collect Here, the neighborhood is dominated by migrants the money from the members. The amount of who already live in the neighborhood for a long money they give varied from thousand rupiah time. The distance from my former house to the to five thousand rupiah depending on their fi- new one is only proximately 300 meter and actu- nancial condition. The members can withdraw ally the neighborhood is not completely new for their savings in Lebaran day with five percent us because before the divorce the house has been interest. Within this saving system, withdraw- formerly used by my parents to run a laundry ing the money before Lebaran day is also pos- business. Nevertheless, we were still considered sible but the interest would be ten percent. My as newcomer residents in this neighborhood since mother also participated in daily interaction with before we moved to this neighborhood people the neighbors in our new neighborhood. Almost only recognized my mother as land owner and every afternoon, a group of women gathered in a not yet part of community. When we moved to vacant space next to our house to chat and gossip Gang Jambu, we were not only transforming the in which my mother occasionally joined them or laundry place into our house but also incorpo- asked them to come to our house and then served rating our surrounding as part of our home. It them with drinks and snacks. Similar with the is because dwelling, according to Lang (1985), neighborhood activity in Gang Alfurqon, the inherently has transformative and incorporative residents in Gang Jambu are also incorporated aspects where through the act of familiarization to several religious activities such as pengajian people absorb the unknown reality and convert or Quran reciting group, sports and also leisure it into familiar world. activities. The youth in Gang Jambu forms a Formally, as a new resident we have to register football club and occasionally organize bus trip ourselves to the RT leader in the neighborhood for neighborhood leisure activity. The youth in in order to be formally accepted as resident. Yet, Gang Jambu neighborhood even organize special being active in the neighborhood and other pub- activities to enhance the community’s sense of lic affairs is the most fundamental thing to this belonging by celebrating certain national day acceptance. It is because the community plays a such as Kartini day when children in the neigh- key role in providing financial and material as- borhood participate in Indonesian traditional sistance to residents. Everyday needs are often costume contest. met by neighbors, such as the loan of equipment Along with my mother’s effort to incorporate or food, or credit given at the local store, or labor our family into our new neighborhood and at the assistance at ceremonies or life crises. The main same time also transform a livable living place, source of saving and loans for kampung people my kinship relation with my mother’s kindred are informal community institution, notably ari- group was (re)activated through more intense san and simpan pinjam. They are termed here as interaction and exchange of support as well as ‘informal’ because they are not registered by the material assistance. When we still lived in our government and are not subject to government former house in Gang Alfurqon, our interaction controls. In Gang Jambu, such informal com- with my father’s kindred group was more intense munity institution is run by a group of woman due to our participation in the neighborhood ac- within the RT neighborhood. tivities and was also supported by spatial proxim- ity. After we moved to a new place, my mother

86 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 had more space and time to participate in a public his car to take my younger brother to the doctor affair. It is also because in our former house in to be circumcised and donated his fruit harvest Gang Alfurqon my mother was busy managing from his garden for the celebration. During the her food stall business so she had limited time celebration, in my mother’s word, her family to do other things including to participate in her members ‘never put themselves as a guest who kindred group’s activities on daily basis. In this come, sit, and leave’ but took part in the prepara- regard, with the plenty of spare time that she had, tion for the celebration like helping my mother she filled her daily routine with social interac- preparing the food and other stuff. When I got tions and created her own universe of kin. If in married, her family involved almost in every our former neighborhood my mother only par- part of the ceremonies from the engagement ticipated in Muhammadiyah’s group for Quran (lamaran), my wedding day, and ngunduh mantu reciting or pengajian, in our new neighborhood or the celebration of welcoming daughter-in-law my mother could choose any form of pengajian to my mother’s house. In this way, the value of she wanted, not to mention participate in tradi- merluin sodara is attached to their personhood tional rituals such as selametan or commemo- through their acts of giving support and material ration ritual of the death held by her kindred assistance to my mother, and also their participa- group. As I already mentioned in the previous tion in our family events. section, in my father’s point of view, celebrating As their help to my mother has left a moral or participating in selametan and any traditional debt, it creates a certain bond of solidarity that rituals are regarded as bid’ah or heresy. In such means more than just being relative in a general context, after my mother moved to a new place, sense, but indeed incorporation to a sibling group. there was no more ideological barrier that limits Not only participating on daily basis of exchange, our interaction with her kindred group. Moreover, my mother also involved in an arisan group of my mother’s participation with her kindred group Baba Us’s family to reinforce the solidarity. In was driven by the practice of merluin sodara that addition, my mother also registered my younger structur or determine to which group she would brother to participate in pengajian held by Cang be incorporated. Munir—one of Baba Us’s sons in order to in- During the life crisis experienced by my corporate her son to her family. In this regard, I mother after the divorce, her relatives from Baba argue that kinship solidarity is therefore not con- Us’s family always came to visit to express their strained by rigid consanguineal connection but support and lend their hand to help our family. event-dependent and resulted through dynamic Not only involved in the exchange of support on social practices and participations. daily basis, both parties always tried their best to participate in several life-cycle related cer- Reconstitution of social relation and transmis- emonies. Within the relatives’ cooperation that sion of berkah is structured by the value of merluin sodara, the In the afternoon, the rhythm of the day chang- essence is not because they ought to participate es in my kampung neighborhood. Children play at or take part in every family event but because vacant space; people come home from work, and they need to. For example, the children of Baba groups of woman and man gather almost in every Us— through their acts—showed to us their corner of alleyways. On these occasions, people willingness to be part of us by participating in discuss matters which are immediate interests our family events such as the celebration of my to them, such as the current prices of sembako7, younger brother’s circumcision or sunatan and my marriage’s ceremonies and celebration. In 7 Sembako is abbreviation of Sembilan Bahan Pokok or nine com- my younger brother’s sunatan, Cang Ubay—one modities of basic needs which have strategic function for human being. They are rice, corn, soybean, meat (beef, chicken), milk, cooking oil, of Baba Us’s sons, without being asked, lent us wheat, sugar and iodine salt.

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 87 local gossip, and also disseminate invitations of are often associated with pre-Islamic Javanese selametan held by resident in the neighborhood. tradition and belief (see Beatty, 1996). Hence, for Selametan, or elsewhere in Java also known as certain people, for example my father’s kindred kendhuren, is a ceremony conducted by one groups which are reformist Muslim, such rituals household or family to celebrate or commemorate are bid’ah or heresy. For others, despite its origi- important occasion in an individual or family nality, the selametan or tahlilan and haul is a good life cycle (see Newberry, 2007; Guinnes, 2009). tradition to reinforce social ties and solidarity Anthropologists who observe neighborhood among family, relatives, and neighbors while at communities in Java often highlight the impor- the same time praising God in order to upgrade tance of this ritual for the community’s sense one’s spiritual quality. A Ami, one of Baba Us’s of belonging and also in maintaining harmony grandsons and also an ustadz in Kampung Bo- in the neighborhood. Geertz (1973) for example jong Pondokcina, told me that such commemora- stresses the importance of the selametan as a tion ritual is an innovation that do not jeopardize means of reinforcing social ties and perpetuat- the essence of Islam because through this activity ing through ritual the social values significant people strengthen their sense of belonging as one to the group. Peacock (1968), on the other hand, ummah. Despite different opinions and interpre- suggests that the selametan is the critical rite of tations regarding the selametan, the structure of community incorporation, sanctifying social har- feeling that is kampung neighborhood, above mony and mutual dependence among neighbors. and beyond its organizational outlines, lives and Retsikas (2007) through his ethnographic case in is given flesh in these neighborhood communal Probolinggo, East Java, stresses the importance activities (Newberry, 2007). of the commemoration of the death or in his word My observation on the selametan ritual was ‘the brotherhood of death’ where on such occa- done in 2011 when the family of Baba Us held sion people in the neighborhood are integrated not the whole series of tahlilan from the third day only as one community but also incorporated in after his death to the hundredth day or haul to sibling relations. Overall, ‘ritual actions’ in any complete it. Usually, the participants in this ritual kinds or forms, ‘is the mechanism of reconstitu- consist of family members, relatives, immediate tion of social relation’ (Traube, 1986:66). neighbors and also groups of pengajian in the In Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, selametan neighborhood. For family members, relatives is usually held on the third day after someone’s and neighbors, the invitations are basically dis- death or selametan tiga harian, seventh or selam- seminated from mouth to mouth or announced etan tujuh harian, fortieth or selametan empat through the local mosque. Since the neighbors puluh harian, and hundredth day after the death usually also participate in pengajian group, the or selametan seratus harian. In kampung neigh- invitations for the ritual are also announced in the borhood these series of commemoration rituals meeting. The ritual starts in the evening after the are also often called as tahlilan since tahlil and evening prayers but family and relatives usually dzikir8 or reciting the name of God is the principal already come earlier to help with the preparation. part of the ritual. The final ritual that completes To hold selametan, a house is divided into two, the rite is held on the hundredth evening after i.e. the front (main front room, terrace, and front the death9 and in Kampung Bojong Pondokcina yard) as a place to perform the ritual and the people often call it haul. These series of ritual back (kitchen and back yard) where the family prepare the food to be distributed to the guests.

8 Dzikir involves the repetitive and rhythmical repetition of phrase ‘The back’ is usually occupied by family and containing the name of God in Islamic tradition. neighbors—usually women—who come earlier 9 In other parts of Java, the final ritual that completes the rite is also to help the family in the preparation for the ritu- continued until the thousandth day after the death (see Geertz, 1960; Koentjaraningrat, 1989, Retsikas, 2007) als. For selametan, the host must call upon other

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Figure 17: Women preparing food for selametan in the back part of the house. people outside the immediate family to help in flexible and relaxed ambiance where people are the preparation and they may be extended kin, free to dress and act without the same restraint as near neighbors, and most importantly, people they at the front. In the evening, after performing the have helped in the past. Both men and women evening prayers, the alleyways surrounding the work together in the preparation. While men clear house are already crowded with groups of men out the furniture in the main front room, arrange wearing koko10, sarung11 and peci or kopiah12 plastic mats and carpets, or install tent in the front (see figure 18) walking to the ritual place. In my yard; the women prepare the food for the guests observation, although women also participate in the back part of the house (see figure 17). in the ritual, male participants are dominant in The front and back division in selametan ritual the selametan ritual. During the ritual, men and seems associated with a structuralist reading of women sit in separate places, men at the front the house as split into a front, male, public space and women in the back. When men arrive at and a back, female, private space (Rasser, 1960; the selametan house, they politely take off their Keeler, 1983 in Newberry, 2007). But in my shoes and sit on the mats or carpets in the ter- observation, it also applies to spatial division race. While finding a place to sit, people bend for other categories such as family/relatives as their body low as they pass in front of the others organizer of the rituals in the back and the guests and then shake hands with people who sit in the or participants at the front. Thus within this surroundings. Furthermore, in my observation spatial scheme, while the guests come through during the selametan, there is not only male and the front door, the family or relatives (men and female separation but also social status difference women) usually come through the back door in the sitting arrangement. During the selametan, and then gather with the others to chat while the 10 Koko is a typical prayers ‘uniform’ of Indonesian Moslem. It is women prepare the food. It is through the back basically a simple long-sleeved shirt without collar. door of the house that offerings from relatives 11 Sarung is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist and usually worn by men to pray in the mosque or attending and neighbors to support the rituals flow in. religious meeting or pengajian.

Compare to the front, the back door has more 12 Peci or kopiah is a cap worn by man in formal situation such as wedding feast, funeral or religious festive occasions.

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Figure 18: Men performing tahlil in the front terrace

Figure 19: Religious speech delivered by local ustadz

people with higher statuses such as ulama and dead ancestor to whom the ritual is dedicated. ustadz (local Islamic scholar) as well as the host In the selametan commemorating Baba Us, Ami, family take seats in particular place with a carpet one of his grandsons and an ustadz in Kampung layering their sitting place while the rest sit on Bojong Pondokcina, took part in this opening plastic mats in the front yard of the house. When speech and then continued to lead the reciting of the place provided is already packed with the tahlil. During the tahlil, the ustadz recited certain neighbors and relatives, the host distribute books parts of the dzikir which is then repeated by all of tahlil that consist of particular dzikir and surat participants. On this occasion, everybody is lulled yaasin (chapter 37 of the Quran ) to be read in by the rhythmical repetition of tahlil and then the rituals. The ritual opens with a short speech continues by reciting surat yaasin. After surat delivered by ustadz who states the purpose of the yaasin recitation, the ritual continues with the meeting as well as announces the name of the hadroh group performance (see figure 20) that

90 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 once again brings all the participants into another the selametan move from the back to the terrace spiritual realm through their rhythmic drums and to listen to the speech delivered by the ustadz. In chants of shalawat nabi. Hereafter, the session his long speech, the ustadz gives at least two im- continues with a short speech from the host of portant points: 1) his testimony of the deceased’s selametan. On the occasion of Baba Us’s selam- life and how it could be an example to be fol- etan, Cang Kubin—the first son of Baba Us, gave lowed; and 2)the importance of celebrating haul a short speech to thank for the participation of as a manifestation of bakti or devotion to parents the neighbors and asked for forgiveness on behalf while at the same time disseminate berkah or of almarhum or the deceased and all his family. blessings to the neighborhood. After giving While Cang Kubin gave his short speech, drinks speech, the ustadz leads the closing prayer. As and snacks were distributed. In this moment, the the closing session, the ritual participants gather food offered by the neighbors for the host family for communal supper. In this selametan, the host of selametan was redistributed to the participants serves nasi kebuli13 for the participants. To per- of ritual. Along with the food and drinks, the host form the communal supper, the participants are also distributed small plastic bags to let the guests divided into groups consisting three persons and bring home as much as they want. each group eats the dish from the same plate. The The peak session of selametan ritual is the host also distributes wrapping papers to allow speech delivered by a local ustadz. While en- people to bring the dish and share it with their joying drinks and snacks, the ritual participants family at home. In kampung neighborhood, this pay attention to the speech. During this speech take-home meal from selametan ritual is called session, some of the women who participate in berkat which also means ‘blessing’.

Figure 20: The performance of the hadroh group

13 Nasi kebuli is an Indonesian style spicy steamed dish cooked in goat broth, milk and ghee, popular among the Arabian community in Indonesia and Betawi people.

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 91 The selametan as an event of community feed- In this regard, the ritual such as selametan not ing—although within an individual house—is only functions to reconstitute social relation of based on the incorporation of people related by neighbors and relatives but also symbolically to proximity and by kinship into a common place. perform kampung daily life which is filled with The ritual work of the selametan, then, transforms the practices of incorporation through distribu- community members into a common group tion and redistribution of mutual exchanges and through the act of commensality within a house supports. (Carsten, 1995 in Newberry 2007). As neighbors come to share food and prayers, they also come to share the same ancestors. Through this com- munity event, the kampung neighborhood is, thus, a house in its own terms, produced through a scheme of practices that reallocates and redis- tributes the two most essential elements in the production of siblingship, namely ancestors and food. In this regard, as argued by Retsikas (2007), ritual activity allows not only the articulation of place but also the production of personhood.

۞

Kampung neighborhood as a home for its residents is a structure of feeling that is cre- ated through countless exchanges of service and support with categories of people namely relatives and neighbors. Thus, people’s attach- ment to kampung neighborhood is produced as well as maintained through daily basis of mutual exchange and support. In my case, the produc- tion of place is a process mediated by practices related to social memory, kinship and ritual. As social relation such as kin and relatives—as I already showed—is not a stable entity, but rather always in flux depending on people’s concrete participations which are also structured by other determinant variables such as spatial proximity, religious affiliation and people’s life situation; kampung as a home appears as an aggregate of multiple experiences of social participation and the creation of social categories. This social par- ticipation is not only important to attach oneself to the neighborhood where they live and to be part of but also to incorporate their surround- ings to their familiar world which is mediated as well through the practice related to kinship.

92 ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA.No. 2 2015 Chapter IV: Reflection and conclusion borhood appears almost everywhere. This fast In human history, the emergence of socio- transformation has also been supported by the spatial entity called city has inevitably consisted arrival of transportation infrastructure that made of a long-standing battle between social classes Kota Depok more integrated into national and in Marxist sense. This class struggle becomes international capital, as well as other periphery “visible” or “readable” in its material and spatial cities. Thus, the area flourished with business form, the city. The city, as sociologist Stuart Hall investment, mostly in the property and service once wrote, is “the product—the material and sectors. The kampung residents, as in Kampung spatial expression—of their times” (2006:20). Bojong Pondokcina, do participate in this growth. The cities are always both socially, economically Those who have assets often have more bargain- and culturally constituted, and, at the same time, ing power to trade on within the strictly competi- configured in the imaginary through regimes tive new landscape. Those without assets have of representation. That cities are also spatially been forced to step aside, and then to move to constituted, and that disposition in and across other places. Hereafter, the landscape splits into space is both a fact of social organization (the two: the street side, commercial, individual and urban economy) and of a regime of representation anonymous area, and the off-street side kampung (architecture and planning), makes cities a criti- residences which are more likely to be filled with cal zone of mediation between these two aspects. a communal ambiance. Since the off-street side Using the notion of Hall (2006:23—24), the city is now also dense with other forms of residence, is a “machinery of representation” in the sense namely student dormitory houses, people in that it has a unique role in materializing social kampung’s residential areas were confronted with relationships in space. In the modern era (notably more individualistic urban lifestyles brought by under contemporary neoliberal regimes), the city urban middle class university students. emerges as material form of homogenized and Here, the dormitory houses often appear as hyper-rationalized space under the surveillance ‘mysterious elements’ that do not blend with the and control of the state, as well as of capitalism. kampung livelihood surroundings. Their pres- In this sense, spatial transformation of urban ence is often subjected to a negative and suspi- space has been taken to create zones appropriate cious point of view from kampung residents, who for modern capital, and this deference to capital regard it as a place laden with immoral activities is mirrored materially in urban planning and and hence often scrutinize this new variety of architecture. neighbors. As the number of fancy dormi- Kota Depok with its urban growth, although tory houses increases in almost every corner of not as massive as the capital Jakarta, reflects this Kampung Bojong Pondokcina, the preexisting transformation towards the modern capital zone. community’s control has gradually weakened. The presence of a state national university cam- From time to time, this mobile population in- pus in Kota Depok has brought this formerly quiet crease creates a landscape of anonymity within small town into what Somantri (2004) called kota kampung neighborhood. Some people often use baru, or new city. In just a few years, the physical an ‘idealized’ moral evaluation and compare appearance of this city has changed drastically. current situation with their imaginary of the past- The rice fields and orchards disappeared, and kampung, a harmonious place with communal- have been replaced by shopping malls and other ity as its way of life. From such a point of view, commercial buildings. The alleyways in the kam- urban transformation is regarded suspiciously, pung neighborhood have been narrowing since as something that would pollute such noble ideas this formerly vacant space has gradually been of community, especially for the kin groups of packed with houses, and the sprawling neigh- kampung neighborhood. Individualization of kin group residents due to commercialization of

ANTROPOLOGI INDONESIA No. 2 2015 93 place in their urbanized neighborhood appears to group, but on the contrary that they created the residents as a threat that will jeopardize kin their own universe of kin through the act of in- or otherwise familial relationships. This anxiety corporation and mutual exchange of assistance is expressed through what they call mati obor and support with others. The values of merluin or ‘the death of torch light’, which corresponds sodara, in this regard, plays important role in with what Zijderveld (1970) considers a modern such incorporation process. In such a situation, society where peoples’ coordination is crumbling kinship is not a stable entity, but rather a mode away. Since kin is the key element of people’s of relation that is heavily dependent on the con- coordination, or ‘torch light’, in the kampung crete participation of outsiders in order to gain neighborhood, loosing such relations with kin the values of merluin sodara, and to be incorpo- only will alienate them from the neighborhood. rated into kinship solidarity. Moreover, related This expression is not only associated to the to our discussion on place attachment, people in anxiety of kampung residents over their current kampung neighborhood create their living space situation in the neighborhood, but also marks by creating and incorporating themselves into the importance of kin and relatives in their lives kinship or relative solidarity. Hence, kampung, in the kampung neighborhood. In this regard, it in its materiality, is laden with qualities, wherein does not mean that people in Kampung Bojong its residents, through the act of incorporation, put Pondokcina only want to live in a neighborhood a light in their torch to illuminate their life in the in which the residents are members of their kin neighborhood.

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