The Alas

The Alas, also known as the Urang Alas or Kalak Alas, live in the Alas River Valley in the district of Southeast Aceh (Kabupaten Aceh Tenggara). They number approximately 70,000 and are descendants of immigrants from other parts of Sumatra, particularly the Batak region. This is supported not only by oral tradition, but also by linguistic data. Like the Gayo in pre-colonial times, they were subjects to the sultan of Aceh and had, by the seventeenth century, converted to Islam. In the capital, Kutacane, the commercial elite was comprised of Batak, Malays and Minangkabaus. In 1903, the Dutch conquered the area in a bloody campaign which claimed the lives of between one quarter and a third of the male population (Cf. Reid (1969, pp. 187-188).

Up until the middle of the twentieth century, the Alas lived in longhouses of varying size. In the village of Batu Mbulan, for example, it was reported, in the mid-nineteenth century, that twenty-four families lived in one single house, while other longhouses harboured far fewer people (Iwabuchi,1994, p. 88).Each patrilineal nuclear family had its own hearth. Such longhouses, however, are a thing of the past. Today, the Alas build smaller houses, often with corrugated sheet iron roofs, in which separate rooms provide a degree of intimacy. Until the birth of their first child, couples generally reside in the house of the husband’s father; after that, they build a separate house in the husband’s village. Oftentimes, though, these houses stand wall-to-wall next to each other and are internally connected by a door. Most of the homes studied by the Japanese anthropologist Akifumo Iwabuchi housed only two generations of at most twelve persons. Residence, however, is conceived of rather loosely and leaves ample room for personal preference and economic necessity. Adults may live temporarily on their rice fields, youths often sleep at the homes of their friends or girlfriends and older boys commonly spend the night in unused rice storehouses or in community halls.

Relations between the sexes are structured hierarchically and subject to the principle of male dominance. This hierarchy is not only manifest in the terms of address between married couples, but also in the fact that women must walk behind their husbands or brothers and in how men and boys enjoy a number of daily privileges such as eat first, while women and girls eat in the kitchen whatever the men have left. Formally, households are headed by the oldest male member, who is designated the kepale rumah tangge. For the most part, women are not visible in the public sphere and do not participate in rituals.

Gender-specific socialization begins at around the age of five, when boys begin to orient themselves towards their fathers or other male relatives, while girls begin to assist their mothers, older sisters and aunts with their daily tasks. At this age, the children are also circumcised, although female subincision receives far less ceremonial attention. Through marriage, individuals attain adult status and customarily at some point in time after the marriage, the father will perform a special ritual for his son that is known as the “separation from the parents”. The young man receives a number of useful objects, including a rice pot and a pan, which symbolize his independence. Iwabuchi describes the relationship between fathers and sons as potentially problematic, especially when men divorce their wives and the sons side with their mothers (Cf. Iwabuchi, 1994, p. 111).Relations between siblings are usually very close and highly emotive, but are also subject to the hierarchies dictated by seniority and gender.

The Alas trace descent along the male line, although, according to Iwabuchi, the rules of inheritance also give rights to female descendants, who are entitled to only half of that accorded to males, in line with the rules of inheritance a stipulated under Islamic law. Social organization is based on a patrilineal kinship system - the smallest unit of which is the patrilineal household. Several households comprise a lineage and several lineages a sub-clan. The distinction between sub-clan and lineage, however, is not always clear, and the local terminology indicates that it is not always possible to distinguish between the two. Depending on the dialect spoken in the area, both organizations may be called a belah and a urung. In other areas, however, only sub-clans are referred to by these terms, while the term for lineage is jabu. Lineage genealogy, according to the information collected by Iwabuchi, extends back between four and six generations. The members refer to themselves as sade asal (of the same origins), and male members of the same generation refer to themselves as senine jabu (lineage brothers), or as anak jabu (lineage children). When male and female members form close ties of friendship, these may find expression in lifelong relations of mutual support, which are called turang perasat - a classificatory term that refers to a closely linked brother or sister. Lineage members are integrated into a network of obligations that come to bear not only in ritual contexts or during key phases of life, but also in daily life. Formerly, lineages also constituted strong economic units. The most inclusive kinship category is the clan (merge). In 1988, Iwabuchi counted twenty-seven clans - each of which was known by its own name, could trace its origins back to a common ancestor, and was subject to certain dietary prohibitions. These origin myths mention a migration from central Sumatra, primarily from the Batak area, but also a migration from India. Because of their size, clans only serve as a vague point of reference in establishing the identity of clan members. The same holds true for sub-clans.

Kinship is the central framework that organizes community life, and members endeavour to strengthen their networks through strategic marriages or adoptions. Among the Alas, both children and adults may be adopted, with the adoption of adults serving as a mechanism by which to ritually integrate individuals into the group. Marriages are arranged according to the principles of prescriptive connubium, i.e. the idea that certain marriage alliances are preferred, while others are prohibited. Preferred is a man’s marriage to his cross-cousin, i.e. the mother’s brother’s daughter or the father’s sister’s daughter. The former alliance is called ngulihken taruk jambi (to return to the squash’s vine). The bond between in-laws (dekawe) is strengthened by the exchange of gifts upon marriage and subsequently reactivated and confirmed periodically by numerous ceremonial obligations. In this, the classificatory mother’s brother plays an important role, for it is he who has important ritual duties when it comes to circumcision, marriage and burial. Very poor families who find themselves unable to provide the required gifts for exchange and who are unable to pay an acceptable bride price, resort to an exchange of sisters, which means that a man gives his brother in-law his own sister in marriage. This type of marriage is called sambar gawang (food-box exchange) (Cf. Iwabuchi 1994, p. 217).  In this form of union the wife moves into her husband’s family’s house, which generally means that she must move to another village. In exceptional cases, residence may be uxorilcal, and the man moves in with his wife’s family. This happens when a family has no sons of their own and needs a man to help in the fields, or when the man cannot afford to pay the bride price. However, the cost of marriage has sunk drasti cally in the last one hundred years, which has resulted an increase in the divorce rate. Men take advantage of the relatively simple Islamic divorce procedure when their wives do not bear them any sons, when their children die or when they just get tired of them. Childlessness is also one of the reasons for the widespread practice of polygyny. However, beyond kinship, territorial ties also play an important role in daily life among the Alas, and the village (kute) is an important point of reference. The economy is based primarily on wet rice cultivation. Other important cash crops are coffee and candlenuts, while fruits and vegetables are grown primarily for individual consumption. Land is privately owned and is also leased. Until the mid twentieth century there was a surplus of arable land, and the Alas Valley was therefore a popular destination for migrants. Under the Dutch colonial administration there was an effort to attract settlers from the Batak region; later landless Gayo, Acehnese, Singkil, Malays and Javanese followed. Today, land is scarce. Rapid population growth and over-cultivation have caused a radical change in living conditions. Moreover, deforestation in the mountains has led to more frequent landslides, fishing using poison and dynamite has destroyed the river fauna, and the hunting of reptiles has led to a concomitant increase in the rodent population. Iwabuchi fears not only environmental (The focus of his criticism is the construction of a road through the Leuser National Park, which was financed by USAID) and economic deterioration, but also sees indigenous culture in peril as modernity encroaches on village life and as the Indonesian language and culture permeate local society (Cf. Iwabuchi,1994, p. 259).