Mentawai Fast Ferry Schedule 2021

MON
06.00 WIB
Padang – tuapejat

15.00 WIB
TUAPEJAT – PADANG

TUE
07.00 WIB
PADANG – SIKALABUAN

14.30 WIB
siberut – PADANG

WED
07.00 WIB
PADANG – TUAPEJAT

15.00
TUAPEJAT – PADANG

THU
07.00 WIB
PADANG – Siberut

14.30 WIB
SIKABALUAN – PADANG

FRI
07.00 WIB
PADANG – SIKAKAP
13.00 WIB
SIKAKAP – PADANG

07.00 WIB
Padang – tuapejat
14.00 WIB
Tuapejat – padang

SAT
07.00 WIB
PADANG – SIKABALUAN

14.30 WIB
SIBERUT- PADANG

SUN
07.00 WIB
PADANG – SIOBAN

15.00 WIB
TUAPEJAT – PADANG

About Mentawai

Mentawai is an archipelago which is found off the west coast of Sumatra (Indonesia) which consists of about 70 islands and islands. The four main islands are North and South Pagai, Sipora, and Siberut; with Siberut – covering 4,480 square kilometers and with a population of approximately 29,918 [1] [1] (Regional Autonomy Website. c.2000.); of which 90% are indigenous from Mentawai origin, the other 10% are considered to be Minangkabau, Javanese, and Batak (Bastide, 2008) – being four of the largest.

History of Mentawai

The ancestors of the indigenous Mentawai people are believed to have first migrated to the region somewhere between 2000 – 500 BC (Reeves, 2000), while the first colonizers are stated, in early documentation by John Crisp who landed on the islands in 1792, to have arrived. in the mid-1700s on the voyage of the British who made a failed attempt and to establish a pepper farming settlement on an island south of South Pagai (Crisp, 1799). For many years before this trade existed between indigenous peoples and mainland Chinese and Malay Sumatran (Francis, 1839).

Having established their presence 40 years earlier, while signing control of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, the Dutch returned in 1864 to claim the Mentawai islands under East Indies sovereignty (Mess, 1870); position maintained until the Second World War. During this period the relationship between the Dutch and the natives was reported to be a satisfactory one, as documented through accounts of talks with Mentawai elders who labeled this time as “good old days” in which they “received a fair price in trade and were free to practice their style. their cultural life, Arat Sabulungan ”[2] [2] Arat Sabulungan is a cultural existence where indigenous Mentawai people live together by a belief system that pays homage to the spirits of their ancestors, the sky, land, sea, rivers, and everything else. inside it. Led by a shaman (Kerei or Sikerei), ritual ceremonies are quite common. (Bakker, 1999).

As well as a military campaign to enforce the eradication of tribal wars – change should be welcomed by Islanders – records show that the Dutch did not seek to interfere with the daily life of the Mentawai people. Journals written during this time address the indigenous ‘flower-decorated’ period and time spent on the “island of happiness” (Maass, 1902) on the “island of happiness” (Karny, 1925).

In 1901, August Lett, the first missionary to the Mentawai, arrived on the south coast of North Pagai – establishing a view that was contrary to that of the Dutch and other early 20th century tourists. Lett, and the missionaries who were subsequently sent to the islands, rejected and looked down upon by the indigenous peoples for their superstitious beliefs, rituals, and cultural behavior; described people as “lazy, backward and ignorant” and as having “the suffering of the poor caught in the terror of crime” (Hammons, 2010). In 1915, after several difficulties – including the death of August Lett (Persoon, 1987) – the missionaries had obtained their first converts, extended their efforts to Sipora and Siberut and, by 1932, had gone on to set up a mission station at Maeleppet (Siberut), (Sihombing , 1979).

Of the many changes experienced by the people of Siberut during this period and the following decades – especially the formation of a coercive colony at Muara Siberut and the arrival and rule of violence by Japanese authorities during the Second World War period – the most significant, in terms of assimilation of the Mentawai people, arrived in 1950 (after the declaration of Indonesian Independence in 1945) when Mentawai became part of the Indonesian state (Bakker, 1999).

In early 1954, under Indonesia’s goals of national unity and cultural adaptation, the National Government began introducing civilization programs designed to “integrate ethnic groups into the social and cultural mainstream of the country” (Persoon 2004). This, for the original Mentawaians, means eradicating the practice of Arat Sabulungan; forced surrender, arson and destruction of property used to facilitate cultural or ritual behavior; and those Sikerei (dukun) disrobe, beaten, and forced to become forced laborers and in prison.

Based on Pancasila [3] [3] First articulated on June 1, 1945, Soekarno argued that the future Indonesian state should be based on Pancasila: Indonesian nationalism; internationalism, or humanism; approval, or democracy; social welfare; and the One Godhead. In the constitution of the Republic of Indonesia promulgated in 1945, Pancasila has been listed in a slightly different order and in different words: Almighty Godhead, just and civilized humanity, Indonesian unity, democracy under the wise guidance of representative consultation, and social justice for all Indonesian people. (Britannica, viewed 2012), the five principles of Indonesian state philosophy formulated by the nationalist leader Sukarno Indonesia, the Indonesian government has also begun to implement their new national religious policy; issued a decree stating that all Indonesian people must belong to one of the five recognized religions [4] [4] Based on Indonesia’s ‘Godhead’ idea, there are officially only five recognized religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, and Buddha (Tropenbos International 2004: Position of Indigenous Peoples in Tropical Forest Management). . Which, for the Mentawai Islands, resulted in an immediate influx of missionaries and increased violence and pressure on people to adopt change. [5] [5] In the end many chose Christianity, because of the flexible views on pork ownership and consumption that played an integral role in Mentawai history and culture.

At the heart of the program’s implementation strategy is the development of a series of resettlement (PKMT [6] [6] an acronym for ‘Development of isolated community welfare’: development and welfare of isolated communities) villages (1971); village (1971); where houses are built according to a uniform design in an area zoned beside the main river / beach and people are forced to leave their Uma [7] [7] The Uma is a central hub for cultural ceremonies, rituals, and storage of all sacred items; it is a type of ‘long house’ built to house an entire clan (eight or more nuclear families) at one time, which is indispensable at ceremonies. ‘Uma’ is also a term used when referring to an entire group. and ancestral land to move.

After a period of five years these settlements were removed from project status and in the left hand of civil servants and local government officials to maintain progress and control. This is also the time when logging companies began to appear throughout the Mentawai Islands.

In the late 1980s, after logging had destroyed the forests of Sipora, North and South Pagai, and – before being challenged by choice of international organizations [8] [8] In 1980, WWF (the world wildlife fund) published a report entitled ‘Saving Siberut ‘which, together with support from other organizations – notably UNESCO and Survival International – and other additional international interests, helped persuade the Indonesian government to cancel logging concessions and declare Siberut’s forests a biosphere reserve. – also in the process of achieving the same in Siberut, Government pressure on resettlement has relaxed somewhat (mainly because the tourism flows of indigenous peoples are attractive). With this, people in Mentawai find that they are once again free to practice their indigenous cultural activities – in areas far from the villages.

However, starting from coercion, and to date, the number of indigenous people who are still actively practicing the cultural habits, rituals and ceremonies of Arat Sabulungan is limited with a very small population of indigenous groups, mainly located around Sarereiket and Sakuddei areas in the south of Siberut Island .