Since 1997 the Hadramis family in Ma’unori has been accused by a group in the large house (sa’o mére) of Mite Pale of violating the common philosophy of land motherhood by ‘certifying’ their land claim through the government land registration office. This led to a serious conflict with Gabriel Wundu, an ’Embu Mite Pale descendant. The conflict reached its peak when the government authorities in the subdistrict of Ma’uponggo became involved. The story runs as follows:

After the death of Habib Idrus and his oldest son, Taha Idrus in the 1970s, the Hadramis family left their inherited house site and rented a new house about 20 metres in front of their old house site. The only Hadramis family living in Ma’unori nowadays is Ipa To, one of Habib Idrus’s daughters who married Al-Hadat from Waingapu. Other sons and daughters of Habib Idrus live in Surabaya, Ende and Bajawa. Because the house site had been deserted for 20 years, Gabriel Wundu started to build a permanent house on it in 1996, with the involvement of local people and several adat leaders. On January 17, 1997, when one-quarter of the construction was completed, Alwi Jafar Al-Hadat brought the case to the Government at the subdistrict level of Ma’uponggo on behalf of the Hadramis family, reporting that Gabriel Wundu had built a house on their house site, which had been certificated and registered in the National Land Office (Badan Pertanahan Nasional) with a serial number AG 731606 24. 09. 06. 11. 1. 00007, dated March 26, 1997. As proof of their claim, the Hadramis family attached a copy of the land certificate with the witness signatures of the village leader (kepala desa), Mbae Nuamuri, and landowners including Gabriel Wundu himself. Eventually an agreement was reached in the subdistrict office (kecamatan) of Ma’uponggo that Gabriel would hand back the land to the Hadramis because the land was ‘a gift which is never taken back’ (ti’i mona wiki pati mona dai). However, as recompense for the construction that had already taken place, the Hadramis family was ready to pay 3,000,000 rupiah. Both parties agreed formally to resolve the conflict in front of a special assembly of traditional leaders from Mbae Nuamuri, which is known in ritual language as ‘the head waits for the Endenese, the tail waits for the Javanese or the outsiders’ (’udu kére Ende, ’éko napa Jawa). The police from the subdistrict resort of Ma’uponggo, based on this agreement, went to stop Gabriel Wundu continuing his construction. However, Gabriel stirred up trouble again by questioning the validity of the certificate, saying that even though his signature was apparently on it, he had never signed any document for certification of that piece of land. The conflict resumed and was brought to the court in Ma’uponggo, where both parties were urged to find a peaceful and amicable solution (secara kekeluargaan dan damai) under the auspices of the local leaders and legal traditions (hukum adat). After they came back from Ma’uponggo, neither party put the agreement to put the problem before the adat assembly into practice. Gabriel Wundu spread the news that he had been pushed to accept such an option to solve the conflict by the subdistrict government and the Hadramis family. Gabriel Wundu and his family then took the case to court at the district level in Bajawa.

Before the juridical court hearing in Bajawa took place, I visited the District Head, Dr. John Samping Aoh, and discussed the case with him. In our conversation, two important issues were raised in relation to the conflict over the housesite (da’e sa’o): first, the act of certifying the clan land by the Hadramis family in Ma’unori and, second, the usefulness of traditional principles such as ti’i mona wiki pati mona dai (‘a gift that is never taken back’). However, when I revisited the field site in Ma’unori in July 1999 and spent time with Gabriel and his sons, they showed me a bundle of documents in relation to the house site dispute written by both parties for the court in Bajawa. Both parties supplied the court with information on the basis in adat law of their respective claims to possession of the land. The parties created conflicting versions of their ancestral history and of the events that brought the great cannon (named Meriam Se Ndai) into the large house (sa’o mere) of ’Embu Mite Pale. ’Embu Mite Pale’s descendants (including Gabriel Wundu) contested the claim that a traditional installation had taken place, and explained the presence of the cannon in their house as a reward given by Susu Ele Terpase for the participation of the grandfathers of Mite Pale and Dhae Pale (’Embu Jona and Ndoa) in a tribal war in Ende. Apart from the cannon, Susu Ele also gave a piece of land of about four and a half hectares, known as Tanah Sabadeo Tana Kéo, near Ndao, in the town of Ende. According to this party’s version, the occupation of the disputed house site by the Hadramis family started with No’o Lalo (Susu Ele Terpase’s daughter) and her daughter, Ine Ipa Ende, in the 1920s, after getting permission from ’Embu Isak Ado, Mite Pale’s son. Then, Habib Idrus married Ine Ipa Ende and settled there too. Later in 1938, Habib Idrus brought his second wife, Ine Ipa Pulo, from Pulau Ende to Ma’unori.

The Hadramis have their own version of their settlement on the disputed house site, as stated earlier. They claim that the house site was a reward for Susu Ele Terpase for his participation in the tribal war between Noli and Ndai. The land was then inherited by No’o Lalo and her daughter, Ine Ipa Ende, and her husband, Habib Idrus, then by Thaha Idrus and his family until they recently obtained the certification.

From my observation, the adat assembly had not been sufficiently consulted in this dispute. The court in Bajawa, which might have been able to mediate between the two parties, did not listen to the testimony of the traditional leaders of Mbae Nuamuri (’udu kére Ende, ’éko napa Jawa). The Hadramis had violated the philosophy that ‘no one owns clan land’ by obtaining government certification. In daily practice, such a principle is applied strictly to the clan lands that are cultivated as the source of people’s livelihood. For clan lands categorised as house sites and settlements (da’e sa’o and nua ’oda), such a certification is necessary due to the requirements of national civil laws and regulations. Anyone who wants a permit to construct a permanent construction (Surat Ijin Mendirikan Bangunan) must first provide a land certificate. However, the certification by the Hadramis had not been carried out with the permission of the adat assembly.

In a conversation with Gabriel Wundu during my return to the field on July 29, 1999, he explained that the Hadramis (c.q. Al-Hadat) had violated the traditional contract between ’Embu Mite Pale and ’Embu No’o Lalo, Susu Ele Terpase’s daughter. He claimed that the legal status of the disputed house site was captured by the following traditional saying:

In Gabriel Wundu’s view, this Hadramis family had overacted in their words and behaviour by certifying the house site and claiming that it was their personal inheritance from their grandmother, No’o Lalo, which had been owned for 100 years and passed on for generations before it was certified on March 26, 1997.

In dealing with this issue, the District Head, Ngadha, seemed to adopt a different view from the court. In a personal conversation with me, he explained that the Indonesian national civil law still recognises the values of adat law. In his opinion, the agreement that was contracted by the ancestors was characterised by the principle of ti’i mona wiki pati mona dai and such traditional principles are a valuable inheritance to be passed down to the next generation. A one-sided negation of the agreement and its principles is really a violation of the adat law, and therefore should be solved by the local adat assembly. That is why the District Head thought the ideal solution for the conflict between the Hadramis family in Ma’unori and ’Embu Mite Pale’s people in Nuamuri would be to return the case to the adat assembly of the village of Nuamuri.

On April 28, 1999 the court made a temporary decision that the Hadramis’ claim to the land was dismissed (niet onvankelijk verklaard). Gabriel Wundu interpreted the decision as a victory. The Hadramis, however, saw hope therein for a further case if they could provide new evidence. In the meantime, the Hadramis family decided to leave Ma’unori and move to Ende. This move amounted to a cancellation of the longstanding adat contract of their incorporation as newcomer settlers, and resulted in this Muslim Arab family having to abandon their ancestral tomb located in the backyard of the Bait al-Rahmat Mosque in Ma’unori, which is another matter for concern.