It was a Thursday evening when we got our first real taste of Bengkulu. As we set out down the dimly lit street, I couldn’t help but reflect on our trip so far.
We had spent most of the week trying not to crash the mayor’s car. We were his honored guests, after all. I’m not sure of the details that resulted in our VIP treatment, but it might be because visitors are uncommon in Bengkulu, and a research team complete with a foreigner is extremely rare.
Bengkulu, Indonesia’s charm comes not from its remoteness, but, rather from its sense of being forgotten, despite its rich history. During the colonial era, Bengkulu was the lone British stronghold on Sumatra that was eventually traded to the Dutch for Singapore. During their short time in Bengkulu, the British studied the plant and animal life in the region which resulted in the discovery of the largest flower in the world: the Rafflesia. The Dutch exiled Indonesia’s founding father, Sukarno, in an attempt to stop the revolutionary thoughts he was inciting on the island of Java. He met his second wife in Bengkulu, and the two-gate airport on the outskirts of the city bears her name: Fatmawati. Two main forces drive the economy: fishing along the coast and coffee harvesting in the hills surrounding the city. I immediately feel in love with Bengkulu’s sleepy nature—the hot, hazy afternoons passing seemingly in slow motion.
Our research team had traveled to Bengkulu to observe a ritual known as Tabot. Tabot is a 10-day ritual celebrated in remembrance of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad who was brutally murdered on the fields of Karbala, Iraq, which was the catalyst that created the divide between Sunni and Shi'a Islam. Our primary interest in Tabot stemmed from the fact that it was being celebrated in a majority Sunni country. In recent years, Indonesia has grown increasingly hostile towards the pockets of Shi'a communities, which are technically banned from existing but are present within the country. What made it even more interesting was that Bengkulu is the only area in Indonesia to celebrate the festival in the way it does and to the extent that it does.
Up until that night, the celebrations had been surprisingly secular. Many people only associated the ritual with the night market that accompanies its 10-day observance and took part in the rituals for fun, not for religious reasons. The majority of Bengkulu’s residents do not know the meaning behind the symbols used in the ritual, and many think that the ritual is just a part of Bengkulu’s traditional culture. However, in the eyes of the small, secret community of Shi'a Muslims that live in Bengkulu, none of this is even remotely true. According to them, Shi'a Islam and Tabot entered Bengkulu centuries ago through an imam from Iraq, who is reportedly buried in the oldest cemetery in Bengkulu. For Bengkulu’s Shi'a community, the rituals and its observance are extremely important, and unsurprisingly, they play a large role in the planning and implementation of the annual festivities.
On this particular night, the ritual involved a parade through the streets, complete with bonfires and large drums accompanied by singing and dancing. We guessed that this was to symbolize Imam Hussain’s long march to battle. Roughly 20 minutes into the ritual, it began raining—not a small drizzle, but a full-on Indonesian downpour. Most of those parading were, like us, unprepared and drenched to the bone after a minute of rain. However, the mood was not dampened by the weather. If anything, the celebration increased. Everyone seemed to have completely let go, and so did I. I danced, laughed, and even got to play the drum!
Although we have not yet reached any conclusions from our research, I think the most important thing I experienced is the diversity of culture and religious experience in Indonesia. Studies of Indonesia tend to be Java-centric and do not focus on the “outer islands,” even though there are 6,000 other inhabited islands and roughly 300 ethnic groups living in them. In accordance with Indonesia’s motto of “Unity in Diversity,” I want to dedicate more time to learning about these islands and their cultures.
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