In the interior of the Banten forest, there are indigenous people who still adhere to the customs passed down by their ancestors. The indigenous people are the Baduy Tribe. Baduy inhabit an area above the mountains which is administratively located in Lebak Regency, Banten Province. Geographically, Banten is very close to Jakarta which is a metropolitan city as well as the national capital. In the midst of modernization which is very difficult to resist, the Baduy have been able to adapt to change while maintaining the original traditions that have been believed and applied for generations. The Baduy tribe is known for its many stiff or customary prohibitions that guide the Baduy community in their activities. The cultural values of the Baduy tribe are very concerned about the relationship between humans and the preservation of nature. Some things that are rejected by the Baduy community are education, infrastructure development, and the use of chemicals that damage the environment.

 

The traditional way of life by isolating oneself inland is an effective way to avoid the spread of the virus. When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred which exposed the entire world's population to exposure, Baduy became one of the areas where not a single person was found to be infected with COVID-19. When the world is busy implementing social distancing, long before the pandemic the Baduy tribe had lived an isolated life from outside life. When the number of cases increased and stricter policies were implemented by the government, the Baduy tribe closed their villages to visitors who came for tours. This method is considered effective in reducing the spread of the virus. In addition, the Baduy people have responded to the pandemic by increasing their health ammunition by drinking herbal concoctions and traditional rituals carried out by the Baduy people as a way to repel reinforcements from this deadly virus.

 

Baduy Community Social Life

The journey to Baduy from Jakarta can be reached by using transportation. However, after being at the entrance to Baduy, visitors are required to walk. Access to Baduy can be reached through three points, the Ciboleger, Cijahe, and Binong entrances. If visitors want to enjoy the atmosphere of the Outer Baduy village, Ciboleger is the recommended entrance. The interesting sight that we encounter around the Ciboleger terminal is the Baduy people who wear all black and white clothes with headbands and bare feet. If you want to visit the Baduy, especially the Inner Baduy, you must first obtain permission from the local community.

 

Tracing the history of the Baduy, as noted by Hakiki (2015), there are at least 3 (three) versions of the history of the Baduy tribe. The first version states that the early history of the existence of the Baduy people came from the Kingdom of Pajajaran as stated in the first note in 1822 regarding the Baduy tribe written by a botanist named CL Blumen. The second version, different from the first opinion above, emerged from Van Tricht who was a doctor who had conducted research on the Baduy in 1928. According to him, the Baduy community did not originate from the remnants of the Pajajaran kingdom who fled, but were natives from the area. which has a strong resistance to external influences. The third version, from the discovery of inscriptions, travel notes of Portuguese and Chinese sailors, as well as folklore about the Tatar Sunda, the existence of the Baduy people themselves is associated with the existence of the Sunda Kingdom which before its collapse in the 16th century was centered in Pakuan Pajajaran (around Bogor now). The many differences regarding the origins of the Baduy occur because most indigenous peoples in Indonesia adhere to an oral tradition so that everything is communicated only through word of mouth, not written culture. Therefore, it is very difficult to find traces of the existence of one of the tribes and the legacies contained in it because the story is lost because it is only known by the ancients.

 

Administratively, Baduy is located in Kanekes Village, Leuwidamar District, Lebak Regency. Baduy is located in the west of Java Island, around the Kendeng Mountains (Senoaji, 2010). The division of the spatial system is divided into three parts, namely, Inner Baduy (tangtu), Outer Baduy (panamping), and Outside Baduy (shallow). Overall the Baduy consists of 67 villages, of which 64 villages are Outer Baduy, while 3 other villages are Inner Baduy. Baduy Dalam, which consists of 3 villages, has a division of different roles. Kampung Cibeo plays a role in policy affairs with a total of 78 heads of families (KK). Kampung Cikartawarna acts as an advisor with a total of 43 families and lastly Kampung Cikeusik which plays a role in religious affairs with a total of 137 families. In the customary structure, Baduy is led by a tribal chief called puun. The head of the village is called jaro. Puun has a very large role as a decision maker. While the religion adopted is Sundanese Wiwitan.

 

The difference between the Outer Baduy and Inner Baduy lies in the leniency in the application of customary rules. Broadly speaking, both the Outer and Inner Baduy still adhere to traditional values, but the Outer Baduy are more open to modernization, while the Inner Baduy are still very strict in upholding their original traditions. The similarity is that the Baduy people in both do not accept changes in infrastructure, reject education and the use of chemicals in everyday life. Another difference is that the Outer Baduy accept the use of transportation to mobilize from one place to another. Related to the use of technology, namely the use cellphone (HP), the Outer Baduy do this openly and tend to wear casual clothes freely. In this case, for the Inner Baduy people who do not comply with strict customary rules, they will be expelled and move to the Outer Baduy.

 

In addition to some of the things mentioned above. The similarities and differences in traditions between the Inner Baduy and the Outer Baduy are in the marriage system. The marriage system in the Baduy Dalam tribe still applies the matchmaking model. The average girl there is married in their teens. At the wedding ceremony, the couple will wear new clothes called "baju dumping" purchased from the Outer Baduy. For Baduy Dalam people, marriage is once for a lifetime. They know no divorce except death. What is interesting in Baduy customs is the prohibition of polygamy or polyandry (Maharani, 2009). Matchmaking is also done since the new child is born. The closeness between the Baduy people to one another has resulted in matchmaking being carried out between relatives because the Baduy people have never experienced additions from outside.

 

The teachings of Sunda Wiwitan are closely related to the norms of protecting and preserving nature. Actions practiced by the Baduy community namely first, the division of land into three parts, namely prohibited forest land, agricultural business land, and residential land. Second, meeting the necessities of life using materials that destroy nature in the form of materials for building houses, goods used for household needs, farming techniques and water use (Budiaman, et al., 2022). The Baduy people have simple life principles. Simplicity can be seen from the use of building materials for houses, living equipment and clothing. In building houses the Baduy people are prohibited from using materials that are processed from natural resources because they are considered natural resources that are difficult to renew. The clothes used are also made of cotton with black combined with white.

 

The management of natural resources in the Baduy region is regulated by local regulations. The Regent of Lebak gave customary rights to the Baduy people to manage their land. This is stated in Regional Regulation (Perda) Number 32 of 2001 concerning the protection of the customary rights of the Baduy people. The customary area of the Baduy people has an area of around 5,136.58 hectares with a population of 11,800 people. With the right to manage this land, the Baduy people have farming activities. The interesting thing about the division of roles in everyday life between men and women is that women have bigger tasks than men. The role of women in domestic matters, such as cooking, washing cutlery, and cleaning the house. Another role is that the obligation to farm is not only borne by men, but also women. Where farming is a matter of fulfilling economic needs which is usually the duty of men. The thing that is different is precisely in terms of the habit of mobilizing women outside the Baduy, which is something that is very rarely done. Women are not as free as men to travel like to Jakarta. It is very rare for Baduy women to go far. The farthest is only to Rangkasbitung which is the capital of Lebak Regency. Even though it is not unequivocal that men are more dominant than women, this pattern of habits shows a little that men have a greater opportunity to travel than women.

 

The activities of the Baduy people from Monday to Friday are mostly spent in homes close to the fields. This house is different from the houses of the Baduy people in the villages. Farming activities are carried out outside the village. The distance between the fields and the village which is far away makes the Baduy people build houses around their gardens. This house is called saung. Every Friday afternoon they return to the village because usually on weekends many visitors come to stay at residents' homes. The Baduy people never set rates for visitors who come. Usually the visitors come to bring food to be cooked together. Apart from farming, in daily life the men are given a ronda schedule to look after the village. The Baduy people's kitchen is inside the house and the building materials for the house are made of wood and bamboo so that if a fire occurs in one house it will quickly spread to other houses because the houses are very close together. This patrol was carried out to guard the village, because previously there had been a mass fire.

 

Adaptation to Social Change

The life of the Baduy people, even though they are in the interior of the forest, is not completely isolated and closes access to the outside world. The Baduy people have a lot of contact with outside communities to meet their daily needs. The interaction of the Baduy people with people outside the Baduy, for example, is in the case of sales of crops. Even though the barter system is still in effect, the main transactions still use the medium of exchange. In addition, workers from outside are also needed to harvest garden produce and build houses for the Baduy people. Many needs such as wood and staple food are supplied from outside. In the Baduy Dalam village there are even food stalls owned by residents outside the Baduy. This seller brought basket on foot and allowed to stay overnight and trade at the house of a Baduy Dalam resident.

 

The Baduy people apart from maintaining their ancestral traditions, interpret modernization as something that cannot be refused. Although they do not openly acknowledge technological advances, the Baduy Dalam youth do smartphones. This technological advancement is actually used by young Baduy people to promote tourism potential and products from the Baduy community through social media to the wider community. According to customary rules, of course this is prohibited, but this technological advancement can be used as an opportunity for the existence of the Baduy tribe to the outside world. With a note, the use of cellphones is carried out in the Outer Baduy because specifically in the Inner Baduy area, all people including visitors are prohibited from taking pictures and accessing smartphones. To charge electricity and access the internet network, the Baduy Dalam community needs to walk about 60 minutes to the nearest village outside Baduy. In addition to technology, the Baduy people can also read, although the ability of the local community is still very limited, especially in knowing the names of the days, dates and years of birth. They get this knowledge from outside visitors who teach voluntarily.

 

Acceptance of modern life can also be seen from the type of food consumed. Many Baduy people consume foods that contain preservatives. Traders in the Baduy Dalam village were seen selling food such as sardines, instant sausages, noodles and snacks which contains monosodium glutamate (MSG). The Baduy people recognize instant food from visitors who come for tours. Lack of education about the dangers of unhealthy food occurs because of a lack of access to information so that people do not know the dangers of consuming instant food too often. The community considers that the most important food needs are filling the stomach and do not pay attention to nutritional health and nutrition. Health-related education is important considering that many small children eat food carelessly and are worried that it will interfere with growth.

 

In the context of government administration, to access public services, the Baduy community is required to have an identity card (KTP). Believers are legally recognized by the state through the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, contained in Article 28E paragraph (2) and Article 29 paragraph (2). With the issuance of the Constitutional Court decision Number 97/PUU-XIV/2016 which grants all requests from applicants from adherents of belief regarding the inclusion of a column of beliefs in population documents, including KTP and Family Card (KK). Even though regulations have given the right to include adherents of beliefs, this policy has not been properly socialized to the regions in its implementation. The writing of followers of the Sunda Wiwitan belief has not been written on the KTP. The names of the written religions are random starting from Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, and Hinduism. This is a problem because the Baduy people feel that their ancestral religion is not recognized by the state. On the other hand, customary rules do not in principle allow ownership of a KTP. However, considering the need for administrative purposes, for example to access social assistance from the government, the Baduy people feel they need a KTP. The interesting thing about the distribution of social assistance in Baduy lies in the distribution. Where if only about 20 families receive social assistance, regardless of the amount, it will be divided equally for all residents of the village. This division is coordinated by the head of the RT who is appointed to communicate with the formal government.

 

As an indigenous people who have their own rules and structures, the relationship between the Baduy people and the formal government is very communicative. The Baduy people feel the need to synergize with the formal government to survive. the Baduy people also understand that apart from having rules in their area, there are also broader rules in their country. They are not an isolated, remote society, or a society isolated from developments in the outside world. The establishment of the Sultanate of Banten, which automatically included Kanekes in its territory, could not be separated from their awareness. As a sign of obedience/recognition to the authorities, the Kanekes people routinely carry out seba to the Sultanate of Banten (Isnendes, 2018). Seba is to submit a sign of respect and appreciation for the Baduy community asnu tapa in mandala' (who meditate in the holy land) to them 'nu tapa di nagara' (who meditate in the country).

 

The government's contribution to development in Baduy can be seen in Keboncau Village, Bojongmanik District, Lebak Regency. In this village there is an entrance to the Inner Baduy which is commonly called the Binong entrance. In Binong, a Baduy cultural shelter was built which was aided by funds Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) through Bank Mandiri. This good relationship will not only help the existence of the Baduy tribe but also make an economic contribution to society. The management of the Baduy cultural saung in Binong prioritizes community empowerment because it is managed by the Baduy people themselves. The Baduy people can sell handicrafts such as honey, woven cloth and accessories in shops scattered around the Saung. In addition, the existence of the Baduy cultural saung in Binong, which is administratively located outside the Baduy area, is a hope for the Baduy people because they are afraid of losing their land. Even though regulations at the local level have provided customary land rights, the lack of support from the regulations above for the legal recognition of indigenous peoples is still lacking.

 

Reference

Budiman, d. (2020). The Dilemma of the Transformation of Local Wisdom of the Baduy Indigenous People. Depok City: PT Rajagrafindo Persada.

Hakiki, KM (2015). Banten Baduy Islam: between Islam and Sundanese Wiwitan Islam. Reflection.

Isnendes, R. (2018, June). The Seba Baduy Ceremony: A Political Journey of the Sunda Wiwitan Indigenous People. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325707574

Maharani, SD (2009). Women in Local Wisdom of the Baduy Tribe. Philosophy Journal.

Senoaji, G. (2010). Baduy Community, Forest and Environment. Journal of Human and Environment, 113-123.