The following categorisation of incorporated immigrant groups provides an understanding of the rights of newcomers to cultivate the land on the basis of various traditional contracts. The newcomers are incorporated into or installed inside a local group.
One category of newcomers are ‘war migrants’ (’ata tama dia, kono ondo). An example are the people of lower Worowatu (Worowatu Wena), who are descendants of people from Ndai (’Ata Ndai) who had left Ndai after being invaded and defeated by the people of Noli. The refugees were protected by the people of Worowatu and made members of the community through a contract, which states that they are ‘free to chop with axe and cutlass in clearing the land’ (topo todo dé’e, taka todo nga). From the beginning, however, there was a condition stipulating that ‘the daughters you bear will be our son’s wives’ (’ana ta miu dhadhi, tau fai ’ana kami). Thus the migrant group has been a wife-giving group for the indigenous people of Worowatu, although their social rank is still differentiated from that of other wife-givers to the village. Their contribution to ritual ceremonies is not a ‘main contribution’ (pebhu tindu) but an ‘additional contribution to make up any shortfall’ (tutu mbotu penu mbora). [22]
A second incorporated group in Worowatu are the so-called ‘supportive neighbours’ (’ata ta ndi’i ’ipi mera kemo). [23] This group includes the descendants of ’Embu Tai from the nua of Witu. According to oral history, ’Embu Tai came to settle in ’Udu Sambi Rupu, on Worowatu territory, without asking permission. He then committed a crime by stealing a goat from the Lord of the Land. ’Embu Waja ’Ake wanted to chase him away but ’Embu Tai promised to be a loyal supporter. In the oral history of Worowatu, the subsequent sharing of land with Tai’s descendants has created a ritual confederacy, which implies mutual assistance in working the land, in the installation of cultural monuments and in enacting ritual performances. The newcomers have to ask for the presence of the Lord of the Land at their own major rituals, and are obliged to contribute tutu mbotu penu mbora to Worowatu rituals.
A third group is that of the ‘invited warriors’ (’ata kéu mére kambe déwa). Belonging to this group are descendants of a number of Muslim pioneers: Nggawa Ende in Ma’undai, and Susu ’Ele Terpase in Ma’unori. [24] Nggawa Ende (from Ende) was invited by ’Embu Siga and ’Embu Sena from Worowatu to join in a tribal war between Daki Tonggo and Jawa Medi. He and his descendants in return received a gift of some land in Ma’undai.
The incorporation of Nggawa Ende, the Hadramis and other migrant groups seems to be similar to the process of ‘naturalisation’ in modern nations in some ways. It involves an individual or a group giving their voluntary allegiance to a certain local group on the basis of a contract, which specifies the ‘primary goods’ (Rawls 1971) associated with citizenship. In the Keo context, the outsiders are incorporated and seen as an inner group because of their ancestral service as participators and helpers (to’o jogho mbana daka) in a war.
Such traditional contracts have been challenged by recent social changes in the region. Economic competition has forced the Hadramis to find other locations which are more promising for their businesses. At the same time, population growth has led to land scarcity in Ma’unori, and has caused the indigenous people to reclaim their clan land. These changes have resulted in a conflict over house sites (da’e sa’o) between the Hadramis and the descendants of ’Embu Mite Pale in Ma’unori.
The structure of precedence concerning traditional leaders and various categories of indigenous and newcomer groups in tana Keo is depicted below in Figure 2.
The relationships between local and newcomer groups is not predetermined but is always the outcome of a specific history. Newcomers can gain rights similar to those of earlier settlers, as the following case study will illustrate.
On October 11, 1997, I had an opportunity to speak with Al-Hadat from a Hadramis family in Ma’unori. I was accompanied by Ignas Isa and Severinus Rangga. We discussed various topics including social, religious and cultural problems. The main topic of our discussion was Sayyid Habib Idrus Al-Hadat, who was a pioneer and leader of Islam in Ma’unori. We also discussed why the Hadramis family occupies a piece of land in Ma’unori as their house site.
An oral history shared by various local leaders, including Ignas Isa, states that the occupation of the land by the Hadramis family was based on the involvement of ’Embu Susu Ele Terpase from Ende in a tribal war between the Noli and Ndai tribes. In that war, the exact date of which is not known, the Noli tribe, assisted by Susu Ele Terpase, succeeded in destroying the Ndai tribe by using the fire-gun known asMeriam Se Ndai, brought by Susu Ele Terpase. As a reward for his contribution, he was given a piece of land in Ma’unori for his family to settle on (tau koe nua kadi ’oda). That land later passed to his daughter, No’o Lalo, whose daughter, ’Ine ’Ipa Ende, married Habib Idrus Al-Hadat, whose father, Habib Umar Al-Hadat, was a Hadramis from a city called Terim. [25] Habib Idrus landed and settled in Ma’unori in 1914 and built the mosque Bait al-Rahman there (see Figure 3). Until now, the imam and khatib in the mosque are mostly from Habib Idrus’s family.
The most interesting point that came up in my discussion with Al-Hadat in July 1997 was the historical process of their incorporation into a large house (sa’o mere) in the village of Nuamuri, and how this incorporation agreement was cancelled after a house site dispute. According to adat law, the family members and the descendants of Susu Ele Terpase, by consanguinal and affinal derivations, are eligible to inherit that piece of land. Hadramis are commonly seen as outsiders who have been made insiders (see also Fox 1995).
The Hadramis are regarded as members of the ‘large house’ of ’Embu Mite Pale in Nuamuri. Their membership in this ritual house was as a reward for Susu Ele’s war service (to’o jogho mbana daka), which is described in ritual language as ‘a gift which is never taken back’ (ti’i mona wiki pati mona dai). It is obligatory for the Hadramis family to provide ritual contributions known in ritual language as ‘additional contributions’ (tutu mbotu penu mbora) or ‘green beans and resin torches’ (mbue kaju api ida) to the ‘house’ of Mite Pale. In return, Hadramis are no longer regarded as foreigners or migrants, but as people who own the right to cultivate and to settle on clan land in Ma’unori.
