“There is probably no other region in Indonesia where so many people emphasise the close relationship between local or ethnic identity and Christianity,” write Christiaan de Jonge, Arnold Parengkuan, and Karel Steenbrink. They subsequently state: “This was the result of drastic changes in social, economic, and religious life during the period of the first inland missionary activities by the German NZG workers, J. G. Schwarz and J. F. Riedel.”1 While their conclusion is within the perimeter, this chapter shows that there is more to this relationship than just the NZG mission work. This chapter delineates the chronology of Minahasa’s encounter with Christianity in the context of colonialism and in the emergence of a new independent nation-state, Indonesia. We begin by following the time of enmity in the archipelago to the time of religious tolerance in Minahasa.
5.1. The Period of the Spanish and Portuguese (1568-1666)
In April of 1511, the Portuguese led by Afonso de Albuquerque invaded Malacca in Southeast Asia. About six months later, he dispatched an expedition to explore the Moluccas, the source of spices traded in Malacca.2 Only a decade later (1521), King Manuel of Portugal sent an expedition to build a fortress in the Moluccas.3 They were welcomed in Ternate, and this became the center for Portugal’s economic and political activities, as well as a Catholic mission post, despite the fact that its king and many of its inhabitants had embraced Islam.4
Francis Xavier arrived in the Moluccas in 1546 and worked for about one year and a half.5 Some have suggested that Xavier preached at Kema, a port village on the northeastern coast of Minahasa, as well as at Manado. However, A. J. Van Aernsbergen points out that these references are more likely an attribution to his legendary pioneering mission effort, which was carried on by his successors.6
In 1552, Fr. Juan de Beira wrote from Halmahera in the Moluccas: “We received relentlessly envoys: they want to embrace the faith of Christ…There are those who inhabited a remote region, divided into four kingdoms that speak the same language: good climate, fertile soil, not Muslims.”7 Aernsbergen suggests that the “four kingdoms” might have been the four “stammen” (tribes) of Minahasa.8 The region was considered part of the kingdom of Manado, although as Ds. Montanus wrote in 1674, the kings of Manado never had any hold of the people in the interior.9
In 1563, Sultan Hairun engineered a plan to attack North Sulawesi. The plot came to the attention of the Society of Jesus in Ternate, and the Portuguese sailed to Manado.10 On board with the Portuguese fleet was Fr. Diego de Megalhaes, who then baptized the king of Manado together with 1500 of his people.11 On this expedition de Megalhaes went on to Bolaang, ruled by the son of the king of Manado, where he was welcomed, but he hastily sailed to Toli-toli. From there he sailed back through Kaidipan, where he baptized 2000 adults, and stayed awhile in Manado to give instruction to the new converts.12
In 1568, Fr. Pero Mascarenhas also visited Manado, along with Siau and the surrounding islands, Kaidipan and Bolaang-Mongondow. Thousands asked for baptism, but he only accepted a few head villages, focusing more on religious instruction for those who had been baptized earlier. He promised to send another worker that would be able to stay and give instruction to the people.13 According to Molsbergen, mentioned in Fr. Mascarenhas' letter written on March 1569 in Ternate, the “Minahassa-bewoners” (Minahasan people) asked for the missionaries to come.14 This attempt could have been an effort to maintain independence from Ternate.15 Supit, on the other hand, writes that when Fr. Megalhaes was in Manado, people from “southern Minahasa” came asking to be baptized, but this was not granted.16 He does not speak about Fr. Mascarenhas’ visitation. He suggests that this movement on the part of Malesung to ask for baptism was propelled by the Spaniards’ cruelty in the interior.17 In contrast to the Tasikela (designation for the Spaniards), the Portuguese were perceived as well-disposed in their interaction with the natives; hence the highlanders, especially in this case from the south, sought to be Christians through Portuguese missionaries, which would mean also becoming friends with Portugal.
Nonetheless, only two years after Fr. Mascarenhas’ visitation in Manado, Sultan Hairun was murdered in the Portuguese fort in Ternate (1570), triggering the 36 year war led by Baabullah, the successor of the Sultan. Portuguese power in the Moluccas wilted at a fast pace so much so that in 1575 they had to evacuate from their fort in Ternate.18 During this period, mission work in North Sulawesi suffered tremendously, more still after Baabullah conquered the kingdom of Manado in 1580.19 This same year, Portugal came under the Spanish crown.20
The Spaniards maintained their presence in North Sulawesi and even intensified it following the establishment of a fort in Cebu, the Philippines (1565), and Manila’s capture (1571).21 Going after the rice in this area to support their interests in the Philippines and the Moluccas, the Spaniards ventured into the interior, spreading calamity among the people. Taulu provides some accounts of how the Spanish soldiers treated the Minahasans. They imposed rice taxation, harassed the women, and killed the elderly. Those who stood against their tyranny were killed. A head of the walak (ukung wangko') by name Mononimbar in Tondano, one who refused to obey the taxation and banned religious activities by the Spanish in his region, was treacherously killed by Don Pedro Alkasas, a fetor (Spanish official) in Manado.22
Subsequent to the unification of the two Iberian kingdoms, Spain took measures to help Portugal against Ternate. In 1606 their reinforcements eventually arrived in the Moluccas to fight Ternate, which had itself allied with a newcomer in Nusantara: the V. O. C. The fortune was still with Spain. Ternate was defeated, and its sultan was exiled to Manila, the Philippines. Spain then established alliances with different kingdoms in North Sulawesi who were fighting against Ternate, including the kingdom of Manado, whose king requested missionaries to come in 1617.23 In response, Lucas de Vergara Gaviria, Governor of Ternate, sent Fr. Joannes Baptista Scialamonte and Cosmas Pinto to Manado. Both were received with great joy by the king and his people.24 They baptized the king and, with his help, erected a church with a consistory (house for the priests). They also established the first Christian school in the northern peninsula; there also a Spanish fort was built.25
Fr. Scialamonte reported that the earlier work of Fr. Mascarenhas had survived in Manado,26 and that there were also native inhabitants living outside of it “with whom our work, with God’s help, will be prosperous, because the tribe is so numerous and spread over different villages, while the majority lived at the shore of a lake.”27 In his travels to this area, which appears to be Tondano, Fr. Scialamonte was welcomed with a celebration, a big cross was erected at one village and the inhabitants of another village requested the same and openly promised to become Christians.28 This all soon turned into wishful thinking, however, as Pinto became very ill and had to be transported back to Ternate. Fr. Scialamonte followed suit and died soon after.
Aernsbergen points out that during this time, Manado received special attention from the Catholic Church. As he writes, when sickness or death took away the missionaries, they were soon replaced by others.29 In 1620, Fr. A. Simi (or Simus) came to Manado with a number of Minahasans who had received religious education at a seminary in Ternate.30 A year before, Fr. Blas Palomino and Fr. Diego de Rojas, both from the Franciscan order, arrived in this area.31 Fr. Palomino made an effort to reach farther into the interior. Accompanied by Wongkar, chief of Kali, and several Spanish soldiers, he went to Kakaskasen, Tomohon, Sarongsong, Tombariri, Tondano, and Kema.32 However, he was not well received in the region. Even in Tondano, where according to Fr. Scialamonte, people had initially expressed their intention to become Christians. In his report, dated June 8, 1619, where he tended to disparage the Minahasans, Fr. Palomino suggested that the best way to “christianize” the people was to subdue and govern them under the law and government.33 His conquistador mentality perhaps was a hindrance for him. In his conversation with the leaders in Tondano, he was told that in case the Tondano were willing to be Christian, the priests should not interfere or ban the rituals and responsibilities according to their ethnic religion. This same concern was expressed in Kali.34 To this he responds that he will not force anybody to become Christian or interfere with them; those who by their own accord were willing to become Christians, must be taught first about Christianity and then be baptized.35 According to Fr. Petrus, who gave the account of Fr. Palomino's martyrdom, in 1622, on the way to Ternate from Makassar, the ship Fr. Palomino boarded was carried away, due to heavy winds, to an island. Fr. Petrus identified the island as Manado (Tua). At a visitation with a number of people at the beach, reportedly from villages 14 miles away from Manado (Wenang), Fr.. Palomino was murdered.36 Meanwhile, in 1624, Fr. de Rojas died and was buried with “great veneration at the city square.”37
The unstable political situation that led to the conquest of Manado by Makassar in 1634 must have brought Catholic mission to a halt.38 The mission work was restored in 1640 when Fr. Juan Yranzo, who reportedly was able to baptize 4000 people, settled in the interior (Tomohon).39 He was joined by Fr. Lorenzo Garralda, who continued the post at Kali, Tombulu.40 This growing mission work in the interior was abruptly interrupted after Spain appointed a king for Malesung. Ukung wangko' Lumi of Toumu'ung (today Tomohon) rejected this violation of the custom, who in turn was slapped by a Spanish soldier. Such humiliation was not accepted by his family, who then mobilized what Fr. Yranzo called “the three provinces” (Tombulu, Tondano, and Tonsea).41 In August 10, 1643, Malesung stood up against the Spaniards.42
The people also turned against the Catholic missionaries, accusing them of invoking the anger of opo'-opo' (ancestors) and bringing calamity among them. Fr. Lorenzo Garralda was said to have been wounded badly by a spear and was sacrificed in the ritual of rumaghes, in which those who participated ate a slice of his flesh.43 As the story goes, these people later became the first among their kindred to become followers of Christ. Fr. Juan Yranzo was taken into a hiding place for about eight months and cared for by native friends, until he left for Manila.44
In 1651, the Spaniards appeared again in Malesung. Knowing that the V. O. C. had gained a foothold in Ternate, Minahasa sent envoys to propose an alliance in 1654.45 It was a Dutch Governor in Ternate, Simon Cos, who eventually made the move and built a wood fortress at Manado called De Nederlandsche Vastigheid or The Netherlands Certainty (1657). Three years later, Spain left Malesung46 yet the Catholic mission continued with the arrival of Fr. Buenventura in Manado (1656) and Fr. Francisco Midas in Tondano (1666). Nonetheless, this latter year marked the building of the stone fort, the Amsterdam, as well as the banning of the Catholic mission in Minahasa.47
During the Malesung-Spain War, Taulu points out that Spain brought in mercenaries from the Philippines: the islands of Pampango, Luzon, etc.48 The victory of Malesung was also gained with the help of these mercenaries who eventually took the side of the people they perceived to be oppressed. Taulu adds that many of their descendants today live intermingled in Minahasa and become true Minahasans.49
<< Back to the Front Page
>> Go to the Next Page
------
1 “How Christianity Obtained A Central Position in Minahasa Culture and Society” in History of Christianity in Indonesia, ed. Jan S. Aritonang and Karel Steenbrink (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 419.
2 F. C. Danvers, The Portuguese in India: Being a History of the Rise and Decline of Their Eastern Empire Vol. I (A.D. 1481-1571) (London: W.H. Allen & Co, 1894), 234. Watuseke notes that three times the Portuguese sailed to the archipelago before they built a fortress in Ternate: 1511, 1512, and 1519 (Sejarah Minahasa, 17).
3 Danvers, The Portuguese in India, 350.
4 End, Ragi Carita, 52; Jan S. Aritonang provides an important background on the relationship between Islam and Christianity during this period, especially with regards to the series of wars during the Crusade Era that caused enmity towards Islam and confrontation towards Christianity. He also notes that “even though Indonesian Christians and Muslims did not participate [in those wars], the consequences, including the mentality, resulting from those wars were present in Indonesia, even to this time” (“Sejarah Perjumpaan Gereja dan Islam di Indonesia” in Agama dalam dialog: pencerahan, pendamaian, dan masa depan; punjung tulis 60 tahun Prof. Dr. Olaf Herbert Schumann [Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 1999], 180-182 [translation mine]).
5 This was a time marked by a wide acceptance of the Christian faith among the natives, whether royal or commoner, despite the unchristian practices of his own countrymen (End, Ragi Carita, 44).
6 A. J. Van Aernsbergen, ”Uit en Over the Minahasa: De Katolieke Kerk en Hare Missie in de Minahasa,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Vol 81, No 1 (1925):8-10, http://www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/btlv/article/view/7268/8035 (accessed September 11, 2012).
7 Epistolae Indicae, Leuven, 1556:173-174 as quoted in Aernsbergen, Uit en Over the Minahasa, 9-10 (translation mine).
8 Aernsbergen, Uit en Over the Minahasa, 8-10.
9 J. Montanus, 1674 as quoted by Supit, Minahasa, 70-71.
10 Today the island is called Manado Tua (Old Manado).
11 Adolf Heuken SJ, “Catholic Converts in the Moluccas, Minahasa, and Sangihe-Talaud, 1512-1680” in History of Christianity in Indonesia, 62; Watuseke, Sejarah Minahasa, 17; Supit, Minahasa, 78-80).
12 Fr. Megalhaes still visited Manado several times from Ternate (Heuken, “Catholic Converts in the Moluccas, Minahasa, and Sangihe-Talaud, 1512-1680” in History of Christianity in Indonesia, 62).
13 Heuken, “Catholic Converts in the Moluccas, Minahasa, and Sangihe-Talaud, 1512-1680” in History of Christianity in Indonesia, 62.
14 Molsbergen, Geschiedenis van de Minahassa tot 1829, 9-10.
14 Molsbergen, Geschiedenis van de Minahassa tot 1829, 9-10.
15 Aernsbergen, Uit en Over the Minahasa, 12-13; Donald F. Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe Book 2 (Chicago [u.a.]: The Univ. of Chicago Press, 1994), 619.
16 Supit, Minahasa, 81.
17 Supit, Minahasa, 80.
18 Heuken, “Catholic Converts in the Moluccas, Minahasa, and Sangihe-Talaud, 1512-1680” in History of Christianity in Indonesia, 30.
19 Watuseke, Sejarah Minahasa, 18.
20 Supit, Minahasa, 81.
21 Supit, Minahasa, 81; Taulu, Langkah Sedjarah Malesung-Minahasa, djilid II (Manado: Badan Budaja Jajasan Membangun, 1971), 11.
22 H. M. Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol [Manado: Jajasan Membangun, 1966], 13-17).
23 Watuseke, Sejarah Minahasa, 19.
24 Based on a letter sent by Fr. Scialamonte to the Provincial (De Jaarbrief van Malabar ddo. December 1, 1619) as quoted in Aernsbergen, Uit en Over the Minahasa, 19-20).
25 At this time, the kingdom of Manado had moved its base from the Manado Island to the northern bay of North Sulawesi mainland, at the estuary of the Tondano River, known then as Monango Labo. This place acquired the group identification, Manado (probably from Maadon, see Supit, Minahasa, 70-77), which in turn made the Manado Island become Manado Tua (Old Manado).
26 In his letter Fr. Scialamonte wrote about two elderly people, one with Mascarenhas as his nick name, and the other who knew the Catechism. It made him aware that they had received baptism; this is in contrast to Heuken, who writes that “the Christians baptised by Fr. Magelhaes in the 1560s had...become pagan again or turned Muslim” (“Catholic Converts in the Moluccas, Minahasa, and Sangihe-Talaud, 1512-1680” in History of Christianity in Indonesia, 63).
27 Aernsbergen, Uit en Over the Minahasa, 19-20 (translation mine); Supit, Minahasa, 82-83.
28 Aernsbergen, Uit en Over the Minahasa, 19-20; Supit, Minahasa, 83; Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 7.
29 Aernsbergen, Uit en Over the Minahasa, 22-23.
30 Aernsbergen, Uit en Over the Minahasa, 23; Watuseke, Sejarah Minahasa, 19.
31 The Franciscans called the major city where the king of Manado resided as “Banta” (Félix de Huerta,Estado geográfico, topográfico, … [Binondo: Imprenta de M. Sanchez y Ca, 1865], 683); Kali (Cale) is a Tombulu village about 10 km from the shore of Manado.
32 The name of the places in Spanish record are Manados, Cale, Cascasen, Tomun, Saransong, Tombariri, Tandano, and Quemas (Huerta, Estado geográfico, topográfico… , 387); Wenas, Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Minahasa, 43.
33 Verslag rapport Fr. Blas Palomino, written in Manado, June 8, 1916 translated in Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 39-49.
34 Verslag rapport Fr. Blas Palomino, written in Manado, June 8, 1916 translated in Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 43-44, 48-49.
35 Verslag rapport Fr. Blas Palomino, written in Manado, June 8, 1916 translated in Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 39-49.
36 Fr. Palomino was planning to stay with them and find his way back to Manado (Report of Fr. Petrus of the Order of the Immaculate Conception, Hidup dan Mati Sjahidnya Abdi Tuhan yang Patut Dihargai: Pater Blas Palomino, O.F.M. Misionaris di Minahasa, written in Madrid July 2, 1627 translated in Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 50-53).
37 Huerta, Estado geográfico, topográfico…, 683.
38 Watuseke writes that Makassar took over Manado, Gorontalo, and Tomini (Sejarah Minahasa, 20).
39 Huerta, Estado geográfico, topográfico…, 683-684.
40 Wenas, Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Minahasa, 43.
41 Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 23.
42 Based on the report written by Fr. Juan Yranzo, as translated in Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 19; Supit, Minahasa, 86; Huerta gives the date of 1644 (Estado geográfico, topográfico…, 683-684).
43 Wenas, Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Minahasa, 45; Rumaghes is a posan in Minahasan ethnic religion that involves the giving of sacrifice such as food, drink, and betel nut (Ferry Koagow, “Poso dalam Kehidupan,” in Etnik Minahasa Dalam Akselerasi Perubahan, 333).
44 Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 24. During this time, Fr. Yranzo carved some images on the cliff where he was hiding concerning the war. The site is called today Watu Pinatik (Written Stone).
45 This was the second effort to propose an alliance with the Dutch. In 1644 Malesung also sent an envoy to the Dutch in Ternate (Watuseke, Sejarah Minahasa, 20-21); Taulu, Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 62-63.
46 Watuseke, Sejarah Minahasa, 21-22.
47 M. H. M. Muskens, Sejarah Gereja Katolik di Indonesia Jilid 1 (Jakarta: Penerangan Kantor Wali Gereja Indonesia, 1974), 295 as quoted in Wenas, Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Minahasa, 123; Along the same line, Heuken, “Catholic Converts in the Moluccas, Minahasa, and Sangihe-Talaud, 1512-1680” in History of Christianity in Indonesia, 62.
48Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 63.
49 Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 63-64.
49 Sebingkah Sedjarah Perang Minahasa-Spanyol, 63-64.
No comments:
Post a Comment