Seas rose, islands appeared, cultures evolved
When an author sets to write ‘the history of the world’s
biggest, most important archipelago … from its birth following the last ice age
to today’ readers wonder about this ambition grand.
What’s it to be – a set of encyclopedias in academic
jargon? Or quirky gleanings that lure,
but whose superficiality frustrates?
Empire of the Winds is option three, ‘deep history’.
This means linking multiple disciplines, like anthropology, linguistics, archaeology
and others to assemble the story of human evolution.
Clues might include ceramics recovered from an old wreck,
language patterns, and similar cultural practices in widely distant locations
suggesting some shared ancestry or migrations.
Author Philip Bowring calls his area Nusantaria, a slight
expansion of an ancient term for the mysterious collection of islands and
islets, atolls, reefs and peninsulas, bays and cays which have bubbled up
across the Equator. Nusa comes from Sanskrit and means ‘island’.
He steers his ideal through the waters of Indonesia,
Malaysia and the Philippines; sailing closer to scholarly papers than magazine
features. His book is a drop anchor
where shelter offers to check the references, rather than a go-to-whoa adventure
story.
This is a substantial work drawn from limited
resources. Few books have survived and
decoding weathered inscriptions is a tricky task. Nusantaria is not Europe with
its great libraries and well-preserved writings.
The difficulties in getting to the truth are shown in this
story about the Singasari monarch Kertanegara, whose name is well known in East
Java. He died in 1292.
Writes Bowring: ‘He was said by one later chronicle to have
engaged in alcohol fuelled tantric sexual practices which led to his downfall.
But another chronicle described him as an ascetic, erecting a statue of himself
as a meditating Buddha.’
Educated as an historian at Cambridge University, Hong-Kong
based Bowring, 76, is a journalist who has been working Asia for 46 years – and
as a yachtsman sailing some of its seas.
So he knows a few facts – and some fictions uncovered by his intensive
research.
Academics have long puzzled about the fall of the Majapahit
Kingdom, roughly 1300 to 1500; at its height it controlled much of Southeast
Asia through maritime trade, military action and statecraft, apparently giving
the citizens a good life in a land of abundance.
Bowring discards the volcanic explosion theory for the
fall. He blames feuding families and
Islam pushing down from the north-coast cities where it had been brought ashore
by traders.
Trowulan, on the 320-kilometer long Brantas River, the East
Java center of the Kingdom, was destroyed in 1478 during a war with Muslim
Demak. The survivors moved east, which
is why Bali is now largely Hindu.
So much has happened since – the rise and fall of a European
colonial power, the Japanese invasion, the birth of the Republic and now
democracy. Yet what Bowring calls
‘Majapahit glory’ is still part of Javanese culture. The national motto, Bhinneka
Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity), is not from a holy book, but a
Majapahit-era poem.
He adds: ‘The memory (and myth) of Majapahit and its empire
in Nusantaria remains at the heart of modern Indonesia’s sense of identity,
generally overriding Muslim identity and an historical basis for a state
created in its present geographical form by the Dutch.’
That won’t sit easily with the fundamentalists who think
their faith is unadulterated. But as
anyone lucky enough to have witnessed Javanese village ceremonies, where modern
practices and curious rituals seem to synthesize, will know Bowring is right.
To modern travelers the idea of an island life sounds
romantic and exotic, though less so since last year’s devastating
tsunamis. The archipelago was created
as the oceans rose between 20,000 and 7,000 years ago, drowning fertile
low-lying land, now under 40 meters of saline seas.
The rising waters separated people who over time developed
their own cultures and languages, enriching the nation. Before that the more adventurous would have
walked between what are now islands, or paddled craft across narrow
straits. Curiously the squid-shaped
Sulawesi always seems to have been apart.
Some survivors turned from farming to fishing; others learned
how to clear, cultivate and irrigate hillsides, which the Javanese do so
well.
Nationalists love to pinch legends of real or imagined
heroes and elevate them to models which they think modern people should
emulate. The Chinese have long promoted
the expeditions of Zheng He (1371 – 1433) but Bowring says many ‘facts’ are
not.
The admiral is supposed to have commanded a fleet of massive
ships, each measuring 137 by 57 meters, which he used on vast journeys
demonstrating Chinese might, navigation skills and technology. The parallel today is its Belt and Road
infrastructure program.
Bowring rubbishes this story because a wooden ship with even
half the fabled dimensions would not have survived open-sea storms.
Before He, and at the end of the 13th century, a
Chinese fleet did land on the north coast of East Java and troops headed
inland. The soldiers were asked to help sort out a few squabbles but were
outsmarted by the Javanese and forced to flee.
In the confusion some were left behind; the most adaptable
integrated and so started the multi-ethnic society we have in parts of the
Republic.
Empire of the Winds reads well but it’s more
reference book rather than ripping yarn, even though the tales are rich enough
to challenge Kipling. Religions, cultures, cities rise and perish. Bowring lists 38 states which no longer
exist. How did they die? There’s a mine of stories here.
The author’s journalism used in his past career as an editor
and commentator could have been better employed. The book includes maps and plates needed to understand the text,
which brings us up to date with today’s politics.
‘Geography is
destiny,’ concludes Bowring. ‘The tide has turned, and modern Nusantarians are
beginning to sense their own common identity.’
The do-nothing ASEAN grouping of ten disparate nations
undermines his optimism. Individual countries are trying to cope with China;
they need the money and trade but don’t want to become client states. If there is a ‘common identity’ it’s
Sinophobia.
China was the challenge centuries ago to Nusantaria. It
remains so today.
Empire of the Winds, by Philip Bowring
IB Tauris, London, 2018 317 pages
(First published in The Jakarta Post, 25 February 2019)
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