Zakheus Pakage and His Communities. Indigenous Religious Discourse, Socio-political Resistance, and Ethnohistory of the Me of Irian Jaya

320 Pages·1995·9.965 MB·English

by  Benny Giay

ZAKHEUS PAKAGE AND HIS COMMUNITIES
Department of Cultural Anthropology/Sociology of Development
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
The main motive of the cover was put at our disposal by Reimar Schefold.
It is &]amik, a wooden fetish with a monkey's head from Siberut, Indonesia.
VU University Press is an imprint of:
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De Boelelaan 1105
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tel. [phone]
fax [phone]
Cover design: Andrea Scharroo
Layout: Sjoukje Rienks, Amsterdam
Editor: Tim Matthews, Amsterdam
isbn 90-5383-397-8
nugi 653
® Benny Giay, Oegstgeest, 1995
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
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VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT
Zakheus Pakage and His Communities
Indigenous Religious Discourse, Socio-political
Resistance, and Ethnohistory of the Me of Irian Jaya
ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan
de Vrije Universiteit te Amsterdam,
op gezag van de rector magnificus
prof.dr E. Boeker,
m het openbaar te verdedigen
ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie
van de faculteit der sociaal-culturele wetenschappen
op dinsdag 13 juni 1995 te 15.45 uur
in het hoofdgebouw van de universiteit,
De Boelelaan 1105
door
BENNY GlAY
geboren te Onaago (Irian Jaya)
Promotor : prof.dr P. Kloos
Copromotor: prof.dr J.W. Schoorl
Referent : dr A. Ploeg
Table of contents
Foreword xi
Glossary xvii
CHAPTER 1
Introduction 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 The subject of this study 2
1.2.1 Zakheus and his communities 2
1.2.2 God, salvation, the Bible, Jesus Christ, and eschatology 3
1.2.3 The issue of the Me's pre-contact religious beliefs 4
1.2.4 The importance of the study 5
1.3 The problem and the method 8
1.3.1 Recent approaches to the study religion 8
1.3.2 Cultural approach 9
1.3.3 Socio-political approach 10
1.3.4 Local history and mdigenous religious discourse 10
1.4 Research viewpoints and problems 11
1.4.1 Research viewpoints 11
1.4.2 Source of information and the problems in the collection of data 13
1.4.3 Problems of data collection 13
1.5 Composition of the study 15
CHAPTER 2
Ethnographic notes 17
2.1 Origins 17
2.2 Technology 18
2.3 The economy 19
2.4 The leadership 21
V
CHAPTER 3
The encounter with ogai (1935-1950):
socio-cultural change and conflicts 25
3.1 The history of contact 25
3.1.1 Initial contact 25
3.1.2 Missionary activity 27
3.1.2.1 Missionary work before World War Two 27
3.1.2.2 The Me and the Japanese 28
3.1.2.3 Missionary activities after World War Two (1946-1950) 29
3.2 Socio-cultural and economie change 31
3.2.1 Socio-political change: the work of the local evangelists and
police 31
3.2.1.1 The local evangelists 31
3.2.1.2 The local police: the preachers of Pax Neerlandica 35
3.2.2 Contact and economie change 38
3.2.2.1 The devaluation of cowrie shell 38
3.2.2.2 The socio-economic impact of the local revolts and the
Japanese invasion 40
3.3 Contact and politico-religious conflicts 42
3.3.1 The religious conflicts 43
3.3.1.1 Theological assumptions of the missionaries and the church 43
3.3.1.2 Political conflicts 47
3.4 Conclusion 51
CHAPTER 4
Zakheus and his communities: historical perspective 53
4.1 Introduction 53
4.2 Zakheus' family background 54
4.3 Zakheus in the world of the ogai 56
4.3.1 Zakheus' journey into the world of the ogai
(May 1943-July 1944) 56
4.3.2 Zakheus' education: Zakheus in Sydney, Merauke and Makassar
(1944-1950) 59
4.4 Zakheus in the Wissel Lakes region 61
4.4.1 Zakheus' early missionary work and the removal of the mission
territorial barriers (August-December 1950) 61
4.4.2 Zakheus' missionary trip to the country of the Moni tribe
(September-October 1950) 64
4.4.3 Zakheus' settlement in Tigi and the people's politico-religious
agenda 65
VI
4.5 Zakheus, the opposition and the birth of his communities
in 1951 67
4.5.1 The early opposition of Zakheus and his programmes 68
4.5.2 The birth of Zakheus' communities in the midst of opposition 69
4.5.3 Further opposition from the ogai following the birth of
Zakheus' communities 71
4.5.4 Jordan Pakage's activity and the opposition toward Zakheus 72
4.5.5 Weakebo and his opposition to Zakheus 74
4.5.5.1 Weakebo and the ogai 74
4.5.5.2 Weakebo's opposition: some possible explanations 78
4.5.6 Zakheus' programs after the birth of his communities 80
4.6 Zakheus in 1952: conflict and illness 81
4.6.1 Zakheus' conflict with the ogai 81
4.6.1.1 Reverend Paksoal 82
4.6.1.2 Reverend Thomas Adi 83
4.6.2 Zakheus' mental illness 84
4.6.3 Mickelson and other missionaries' views regarding Zakheus'
illness 88
4.7 Zakheus from 1953 to 1958 91
4.7.1 The growing unrest in Wissel Lakes region 91
4.7.2 The Obano Uprising, and the Wege Bage in 1956-1957 92
4.7.3 The return of Zakheus to Wissel Lakes in 1957 and its impact 93
4.8 The rapid growth of Zakheus' communities (1959-1964),
the opposition of the ogai 96
4.8.1 Zakheus' communities in 1959-1960 96
4.8.2 Zakheus' communities in 1961-1964 100
4.8.3 The factors contributing to the growth of Zakheus'
communities during 1959-1964 102
4.9 Persistence of Zakheus' politic-religious ideas:
Wege communities in the Indonesian era (1963-1990) 104
4.9.1 The suppression of local political aspirations:
continuity and change of Wege Mana 105
4.9.2 Socio-economic condition: flood around lakes Paniai and Tigi
and Kamu Valley 108
4.9.2.1 Economie condition in the Paniai region since the 1960s 108
4.9.2.2 Annual floods in the Paniai region 109
4.9.2.3 Strange diseases 112
4.9.2.4 Conclusion 114
4.9.3 Persistence of Zakheus'communities and their views 115
4.9.3.1 Wege community in the Kamu Valley 115
4.9.3.2 Zakheus'community in Kiuto 119
4.10 Concluding remarks 130
vn
CHAPTER 5
Zakheus and his communities:
The birth of an indigenous religious discourse 133
5.1 Introduction 133
5.2 God: the Me's idea 135
5.2.1 The male creator deity 135
5.2.2 God as addressed in prayers 138
5.2.3 God of Wege Bage 139
5.2.3.1 God as giver of the touye mana—the religious rules 140
5.2.3.2 God and founder of Pakage clan 140
5.2.4 The female guardian deity 142
5.2.4.1 The female deity as deity of fertility 142
5.2.4.2 The female deity as guardian of the clan 143
5.2.4.3 The female deity as a cargo deity 145
5.2.4.4 Missionaries' goods and the female deity 146
5.2.5 God and religious objects 147
5.2.6 Conclusion: God of the Me people and the foreigners 150
5.3 The Me's perception of the Bible 152
5.3.1 Zakheus, indigenous Bible and the religious teachings 153
5.3.2 Zakheus and his other teachings 154
5.3.3 Zakheus prophetic teachings: verbal statements 156
5.3.4 Zakheus prophetic teachings: Zakheus actions 159
5.3.5 The teachings of other leaders: Wege community in Kamu 162
5.3.6 The teachings of other leaders: Wege community in Wakeidide 164
5.3.7 Conclusion 166
5.4 The Me people's view of salvation 169
5.4.1 Abundance of food 169
5.4.2 Healing and other extra-ordinary works 170
5.4.3 Reconciliation of the relationship between the human
community and the community of the spirit beings 172
5.4.4 Zakheus 'holy house' and the presence of the 'spirit of God' 173
5.4.5 Salvation and mege 176
5.4.6 Entering the Wege community: participation in salvation 177
5.4.7 Salvation here and now: Zakheus teachings on heil and the
end of the world 179
5.4.8 Salvation as deliverance from the bondage of evil spirit:
babeyai and ana ukai 183
5.4.9 Salvation, ecstatic experience and new language 186
5.4.10 Salvation as deliverance from sorcery and witchcraft 187
5.4.11 Salvation as restoration of a lost prosperous garden and the
kadaka nota—the sweet potato of life 189
5.4.11.1 The garden: the dwelling place of the creator deity 189
vin
5.4.11.2 The garden and the kadaka nota - sweet potato of life 192
5.4.12 Political freedom 195
5.4.12.1 Zakheus and his empire 195
5.4.12.2 The activities of two Wege communities and political
development since the 1960s 197
5.4.13 Conclusion 198
5.5 The Me idea of Jesus: Zakheus and Koyeidaba as messianic
figures 198
5.5.1 Koyeidaba as Jesus Christ 198
5.5.1.1 Koyeidaba myth 199
5.5.1.2 Koyeidaba and Jesus Christ: the Me perception 203
5.5.2 Zakheus as Jesus Christ 206
5.5.2.1 The emergence of Zakheus as messiah 206
5.5.2.2 Zakheus' activities before his death (1964-1970) 210
5.6 Local eschatology: the Me belief in an immediate
transformation of the world 216
5.6.1 The idea of radical change of the world 216
5.6.2 The events during the transition period before the complete
transformation of the world 221
5.6.2.1 Seven episodes of crises 221
5.6.2.2 The return of all people to their place of origin 222
5.6.2.3 The war against all people of the world 223
5.6.2.4 The world as a mega city 227
5.6.2.5 The gathering of all people in the Paniai region to await the
restoration of the new world 228
5.6.3 The church growth, political conflicts, natural disasters and
the imminent return of the Lord 230
5.6.3.1 The church growth in the Paniai region 231
5.6.3.2 Political conflict 232
5.6.3.3 The church growth and the natural disasters in the region 234
5.6.4 Reverend Hutchinson's gospel tract on the second coming of
the Lord and its impact 235
5.6.5 New Wege communities in the Tigi district 237
5.7 Conclusion 239
CHAPTER 6
Conclusion
Zakheus Pakage and his communities: indigenous religious discourse,
socio-political protest and ethnohistory 241
6.1 Zakheus' program as a new set of religious beliefs, collective
socio-political and ethno-historical aspirations 242
IX