history
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade
and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies
Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous
area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult
and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the
Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the
south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The
Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the
1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed
Church began missionary work aided
by the Dutch colonial government. In
addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed
local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana
Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had
claimed the area. In 1946, the
Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of
Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition
among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their
profitable slave trade had angered
them. Some Torajans were forcibly
relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily
controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites.
Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few
Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the
population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the
Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought
to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form
a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965
(following Indonesian
independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as
the Darul Islam separatist
movement fought for an Islamic state in
Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to
massive conversions to Christianity.
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however,
did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree
required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially
recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk)
was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the
law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be
accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was
legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
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