maritime expert, anthropologist, linguist and Malayologist Horst Liebner sharing his deep knowledge and love for the amazing cultures, language and history of Sulawesi, in which he immersed himself for so many years.
What led you to Indonesia and Sulawesi?
Most of what I do has to do with the sea and the people living outside. I was raised in western Germany, far enough from the ocean. My grandfather lived in a town north German port and wanted me to become a doctor of the ship so I can see the world, particularly the South Seas. I decided to study the Indonesian language and culture and social anthropology. When I learned that there were people build wooden ships in South Sulawesi, I applied for a scholarship in 1987, which concluded in the construction of a traditional boat; he masts Phinisi , not motorized, and sailed around Sulawesi for a year. I got my MA for it in 1993.
next I applied for a research grant to look into what could be called mental concepts behind the traditions of Sulawesi boat building and navigation. To achieve the many islands that research, I used a small boat, a sea outrigger boat called sandeq . I then sailed it for a few thousand miles up and down South Sulawesi, the study of navigation, stories and traditional indigenous manuscripts on the history of the local sea gypsies; Sama people. I decided to leave Germany for good, and became a researcher in an organization associated with the University of Makassar, teaching and research.
When the government decided to launch a Ministry of Maritime Affairs, I am committed providing expertise on what people call traditional fishermen, sailors, shipwrights and ships. In 2004, I was invited to visit the wreck of Cirebon, a Malaysian merchant ship that sank around 970 with a huge cargo of Chinese ceramics on board.
In 2009, I had enough of the treasure hunt. A professor at the University of Leeds offered to prepare the Cirebon find for a PhD, and that's what I did. So I built a house in Sulawesi.
Tell me about the history of the region and its maritime culture.
South Sulawesi is a rather late player in the maritime scene of the archipelago. We first hear of Sulawesi sailors and merchants in the Portuguese records from the early 16 e century and in the local historiography. He started with the Portuguese conquest of Malacca in 1511 and ended with the Dutch conquest of the great city that has grown to mid-17 e century. Makassan and Bugis Malay traders and their associates were the last to resist the Dutch attempts to monopolize trade in cloves and nutmeg - and with the fall of Makassar many of them fled in the archipelago, and even in South Asia, where they slowly rebuilt their business networks. By 18 e and 19 e century, it is mainly the descendants of these immigrants - whether Mandar, Makassar Bugis or land - which became known collectively as "marine Bugis'.
commercial vessels sailing or fishing is largely the work of wong cilik , the famous "little people" of Indonesia. Our neighbors are all Makassarese, not Bugis. It was one of the first surprises when researching the maritime heritage of Sulawesi in the late 1980s when I went to collect words ship's rigging related and such, I was given Makassarese words, a language Bugis French is Italian.
Then there are the famous manufacturers of Tana Beru boats and Ara, where most of the so-called Phinisi chartered ships are built - and they speak Konjo, a language related to Makassar, as sailors Bira, who man those tourist ships. Another city famous for its sailors is Pallengu in Jeneponto. And the bravest of all the Sulawesi sea are probably the Mandar people who live in the northwest part of the peninsula.
Another common misunderstanding surrounding the all-famous schooners Phinisi. 'Phinisi' actually represented the platform schooner with two masts seven to eight sails on them. Phinisi the rig itself is a rather late development. Despite early reports of English and Dutch captains back in the early 19 e century, the famous Ara shipwrights in claim Sulawesi, they built the first Phinisi only in 1906.
Today, there is no real Phinisi left sailing in Indonesia. All wooden cargo ships now completely rely on their engines, and have at best only a short left mast. Even the last true bluewater sailing ships used extensively in Sulawesi, artisanal fishing outrigger sandeq now are mostly replaced by motorboats.
What is the Sandeq Racing Forum and what inspired its formation?
When the sandeq I had built for my research on Sulawesi Marine was launched, we sat looking at her beautiful lines, and I asked the guy what we should do with it. They replied, "A race, by Makassar" - and so in 1995 the first Sandeq Race was born The race has become a real marathon race, running on more than 300 nautical miles along the south of Sulawesi. advertised as "the longest, hardest, fastest sailing race for traditional fishermen."
at the time, in 1995, there was still a lot of great sea sandeq around, and all boats following the race were true fishing vessels, only modified for the race by a larger mast and boom more. in 2000, the first racing boat built for this purpose has shown, and by 2003 none of the participants still used sandeq for fishing - they had all powerboats participation in the race had become a proud moment for sandeq owners and their villages, and kept alive sandeq He even started.. development: the race sandeq quickly changed from pretty solid sea of workboats for true racing machines which, under favorable conditions, can go up to 25-30 knots, faster than the patrol boats of the navy used to accompany the fleet. The activities of the race in 2014 prompted the government of Indonesia to declare sandeq a national heritage, the second maritime after Phinisi.
'Save the Sea, to save the nation "is a slogan of yours. When did we lose our connection to the great waters?
It highlights the importance of the sea for an archipelagic country, which only in recent years has become a government program. Until the Industrial Revolution in the West, maritime technology was one of the greatest engineering achievements of man, sparking innovations such as efficient use of naval artillery that allowed Western powers to conquer half the world.
Sailors and Indonesia carpenters have faced the same problems and have managed to build leviathans of ships and their navigation over large areas of the ocean at a time when European expedition was still clinging to coast. Separate technical traditions, they have developed thousands of years are the foundation for the "traditional" of today's shipbuilding.
Do you believe that we can become a culture more respectful and stimulating?
There is this idealist misunderstanding that only our modern civilization endangers our natural environment. The ancients were perhaps worse: hunters and gatherers 10,000 years managed to exterminate various species of animals in the areas they settled, and throughout history most agricultural societies eventually had problems ecological caused by water resources deforestation and overuse. But with so many more people and these advances in technology, our impact on nature has become a problem. increasing education creates more awareness of our environmental impact, and more people are developing technologies that reduce our impact.
Thank you, Horst.
To get in touch, email khmail@indosat.net.id