Wertuar;one of the 8 principalities of Papua island

Raja Musa Heremba and Ratu Wa Taribu Heremba Penunuh in the airplane in
november 2009,while going to the palace of the Indonesian president.

Indonesia has ca. 300 recognized dynasties,who ruled before over independent monarchies.These were ranging from empires,sultanates to big and small principalities. Nowadays these dynasties still fullfill it's role as cultural and historical identity points for the local populations at least.
The island of Papua also had principalities:8. Before the coast of Papua is an archipelago with 4 other principalities (west of it) and to the north is the little former principality of the Mapia islands. One of the Papua island principalities is the principality of Wetuar;lying west of the city of Kokas;one of the 3 main cities in the Onin-peninsula area, where all the 8 Papua principalities are lying.These areas are ruled by dynasties originating in the area, of mixed local/outside origin,or originally coming from the Moluccans.
The present dynasty of Wertuar is the Heremba clan and the present raja is Raja Musa Heremba, being the 10th ruler of the area. This clan delivered always the rulers of the area,but not always the raja. Before it was a sort of vasal-area of nearby principality of Rumbati;the former major power in the area. Between 1850 and 1870 it was neccesarily to install a seperate raja for the Wertuar area,so Raja Semempes was installed, who already was a coordinating man a bit there.He was the first and last raja of the old time,although his son Waraburi also is recognized as a sort of ruler of Wertuar,but probably without raja-title. Another source give different/additional info about former rajas of Wertuar. The Heremba clan was then already the Raja Muda clan (vice-raja) of Wertuar.They need to have a seperate raja of Wertuar came back strongly after a while. A certain Raja Muda Lakatey Heremba was installed as raja muda in 1886 and was found a good ruler enough to install him 20-11-1911as the first raja of Wertuar of his dynasty;but nominally still under the rule of the principality of Rumbati. It became total independent in the beginning of the 1920-ies,when the then raja also toook the raja-title. The strong ruler Raja Lakatey Heremba died in 1913 and was succeeded by his son Raja Paris Heremba. Also known as a dedicated ruler for his principality.
The main remaining area of the former principality of Wertuar is not so big, but all the Papua island principalities also have a commercial influence area, which before also more or less belonged to their existence. Raja Paris Heremba abdicated because of old age in 1952 and was succeeded by the last ruling raja of Wertuar:his son Raja Nazar Heremba. This raja ruled over an area consisted of 8 villages.
Nowadays these 8 are grouped into 5 official villages. The dynasty originally comes from the Baham area;the border area between the Onin peninsula and the rest of the island of Papua.They can consider Kramongga village as their residence village. Raja Nazar Heremba became after Papua was attached to Indonesian in the beginning 1960-ies an official in the local government. His father had witnessed the transitional period of Papua, because died in 1961. In his time Raja Nazar Heremba was known as the most educated raja of the area and known also for his very big dedication to bring development to his people. Still he is loved very much in the memory of the people of Wertuar.He died in 1988 and before his burial his son Raja Musa Heremba was chosen and installed as the 10th ruler of Wertuar 15-4-1988. That was done;even in the so-called modern time, by the traditional chiefs according to traditional rules. Later he also had to be recognized by the local government. Like his forefathers;Raja Musa Heremba is known for his caring for his people. He is now a high official at the department of transport of the district government of Fak Fak. From his marriage with Ratu Wa Taribu Heremba Penunuh he has 7 children, of which the oldest son;Raja Muda Abdul Mutalib Heremba;already was passed away before 2009. The succession in Wertuar doesn't go automatically from father to oldest son. The in 1955 born Raja Musa Heremba had an older brother called Raja Muda Umar Heremba, who died when he was 7 and some other brothers, but one way, or another the traditional chiefs and the important members of the dynasty choose for him as 10th ruler of Wertuar. The present crownprince of Wertuar is like him also not the oldest son:Raja Muda Umar Rifai Heremba is now 23 years. Wertuar is lying near the very important harbour of Kokas and in the Dutch time also had their as a a raja their main residence to be close to Dutch government;so lived in the same city as the raja of Sekar. Sometimes the rajas of this area were called the business rajas and they still have these talents until now. The existence of Wertuar as a seperate principality was not always undisputed,because in the past the rajas of Sekar tried to convince Holland to let Wertuar be considered as a part of Sekar.These requests were never rewarded. Now all is harmony here between the 2 dynasties,who are also through marriage related to each other. Nowadays also the raja dynasty of Wertuar is recognized by the other dynasties of Indonesia as a by history founded ruling family;being nowadays a focuspoint for local history and culture. The knowledge and feeling for these matters are nowadays still very much alive and the members of the local dynasties here also have an important place as members elected in the local government. This article could be made after several interviews with Ratu Muda Arwan Heremba S.IP. (the sister of Raja Musa Heremba), Raja Muda Umar Rifai Heremba (the crownprince of Wertuar)and Raja Muda Satria Paris Heremba (the nephew of Raja Musa Heremba). Of course we are extremely gratefull for all their friendly and valuable help during the interviews.

D.P. Tick gRMK
I. Festivana

Sambaliung get's a new sultan after 49 years

On the 19th of october 2009 Datu Fachruddin;the oldest surviving son of Sultan Mohammad Aminuddin of Sambaliung in East-Kalimantan;was installed as new sultan here.
The 66 year old sultan is one of the 17 children of the last ruling sultan of Sambaliung in the Berau district, who ruled as regent, sultan and later as areachief (of total Berau) from 1902 until his death in 1960.
The 4th son of the late sultan was for a long time the main representative of the dynasty.
Already 6 of his brothers and 9 of his sisters have died.
The last years he was quite busy with a project to make a forefather of him;called Raja Alam;a new National Hero of Indonesia.
This former ruler of Sambaliung between 1830-1834 and founder of a seperate Sambaliung,away from the Berau sultanate, was blamed to find no reason whatsoever to cooperate with Holland on any field and also working together with pirates, who made the area unsafe for international sea transport.
The new sultan is known as a friendly and humble person,who has time for everybody.
He didn't want to rush his installation as a new sultan,although it was clear for years, that he was the best candidate.
Now his patience is rewarded.
He is now, besides the sultan of Kutai Kartanegara;the 2nd sultan, who is installed.
He has taken however not yet the title of sultan, but pemangku adat(chief of the tradition).
Such royals with a similar title are also to be found in some other areas of East-Kalimantan like the nearby Gunung Tabur (the other area in Berau), Bulungan and the a bit more far lying Pasir, but these dignataries are not installed in such an official and elaborate way.
In Banjarmasin we only have a prince, which is chief of the dynastic organisation.

We all hope of course,that also this new king will be a source of identity for the local people.That this installation will really crrate a new feeling of compeleteness for everybody there.

May God blesses him.

D.P. Tick gRMK
I. Festivana

Indepence fighter symbol of Indonesian national territorial integrity

The statue that is now placed on the northern most island of Miangas is a signal to everybody in the world, that for stability in the world it would be good to recognize the settled boundaries.
Raja Bataha Santiago was a raja of Manganitu of the island of Sangir (north of Menado). He ruled from ca. 1666 until he was executed as an old man in 1675.
At that time there was a struggle going on between the Roman Catholic kingdom of Spain and the Protestant state of Holland in the archipelago.
Holland was then consolidating his position in this area, which was officially a vasal-area of the sultanate of Ternate.
Raja Bataha Santiago still kept on making rebellious atmosphere in the area to help Spain tp come back in the area. One time it was found enough and the sultan of Ternate then went to Sangir island to stop the unpeacefull atmosphere, imprisonned the raja and let him execute then.
300 years later the Indonesian government decided to proclaim Raja Bataha Santiago then as a national hero.
After his death Managnitu was decided into 2 parts for a while.
The island of Miangas was never a part of Manganitu principality,but was known as a semi-independent area before and also part of the principality of Kendahe-Tahuna (proba- bly only before of Kendahe) in the Nanusa-area.From 1912 it became part of the new principality of the Talaud-islands.
Spain;as colonial power in the Philippines;claimed the island and later that claim was inherited by it's succesor in the area the USA.
But the international law powers decided always in favour of Holland very easily.

DP Tick gRMK
I. Festivana

Royal symbol of Indonesia still going strong

On the 26th of october 2009 His Royal Highness Sultan H. Aji Salehoeddin II of Kutai (officially plus Kartanegara Ing Martadipura) celebrated his 85th birthday as well as the 10th year of the installation of the sultan. That was done in the new palace;finished in 2002;and attended by many high government officials and other respected guests. In the special meetingplace of the palace for the guests;the pendoppo;the guests were entertained by special selected royal dances and delicious royal food. All is special about this sultan and his area. Although the total area of Kutai is now divided into several districts (kabupatens), the people of Kutai area still keep contact with it's dynasty. Kutai Kartanegara is also called the Brunei of Indonesia:because of it's oilwealth it is the richest area of Indonesia. Also some people calls it the Japan of Indonesia:Kutai is the oldest royal area of Indonesia;like Japan, which also has a very, very old still existing dynasty. Kutai was founded as a kingdom in ca. 400 of the Christian era. It is also the first dynasty, which is the Indonesian government allowed in the modern time to have it's dynastychief to be installed (and even coronated) as a king. That happened it 1999. Sultan H. Aji Salehoeddin II is a king, which is known for his true role as a father of his area. He is known for bringing back all difficult issues of live back to the erall needed basic. So his influence as the moral consiousnes of Kutai is still very big because of that for instance. His warm character for everybody;which his crownprince for sure has inherited;doesn't prevent, that his people have a very high respect for him and more like to see him as their king,than as their father. Although the sultan is now already 85 years,he is still amazingly vital for his age. In an interview I had with him, he told me, that he for all his life took very good care of what he eat, he has every day enough exercize, do not bring stress to life, never forget to uphold the contact with the Almighty God and never being in hatefull contacts with anybody. Sultana Aji Ratu Aida Amidjoyo is maybe of the same opinion as the sultan,because she also shows a very big energetic life despite her age;also always spreading an affectional mood to everybody. The day of celebration in the palace was opened,when a granddaughter of the sultan showe a very special royal dance for the audience. That the royal couple of Kutai may continue for long being the father and mother of their area and also the symbol of the royal revival in Indonesia. May God blesses them all.

D.P. Tick gRMK
I. Festivana

Sultan of Bacan (N-Moluccan) Died on Monday 21 September 2009

Ternate (AFP) - Thousands of Ternate, North Maluku (Maluku Utara) welcomed the corpse of Sultan of Bacan Gahral Adyan Shah at Babullah Airport, Tuesday, which was brought from Jakarta using charter aircraft.

Sultan Bacan died at his home in the area of Pondok Indah Jakarta on Monday evening due to illness suffered kidney failure last few years. He died at the age of 66 years.

From Sultan Babullah Airport, the corpse of former Regent of the North Maluku (Maluku Utara) while still in the area of Maluku province) was taken to Kedaton Sultanate of Ternate.

Sultan Bacan still a close relative of Shah Sultan Ternate Mudaffar Syah. Sultan's body was taken to the next Bacan Labuha, South Halmahera District (Halmahera Selatan) using a motor boat.

Some officials in Maluku Utara, like Governor of Maluku Utara Thaib Armaiyn , Lieutenant Governor of Maluku Utara Gani Kasuba, regent / mayor as Maluku Utara, parliament leaders and traditional leaders in the area looking corpse drive in Sultan of Bacan to the port Bastiong of Ternate.

Sultan Bacan left a wife and two children. One son works at one foreign bank and to this day he has not arrived in Ternate.

One community leader in Maluku Utara also Vice Chairman of Legislative of Maluku Utara Mr. Syaiful Ruray said has lost one of his best characters.

He added that the deceased had been a boon to many areas Maluku Utara both in terms of governance and the social field.

Sultan Bacan was one of the pioneering expansion into the province of North Maluku in 1999 ago. He was also instrumental in fighting many division two districts in Malut into nine districts.

Meanwhile, information from the Sultanate Bacan Bacan mentioned that the Sultan will be buried in the courtyard of Sultan Bacan on Tuesday night after the first interred in the Sultanate Kedaton Bacan. (*)

COPYRIGHT © 2009 ANTARA

Content of Articles are copy from http://antaranews.com
Translated to English by I. Festivana & Donald P. Tick gRMK
Picture of Sultan is from our own collection (http://kerajaan-indonesia.blogspot.com/2008/10/sultan-h-gahral-adian-syah-of-bacan.html)

Sultan's dynasty of Bulungan publishes book

Since the local autonomy laws of 1999 more qand more dynasties are writing their own history to preserve the local history also as a part of the total Indonesia history in this hugue country.

So in 2006 the Sultan's dynasty of Bulungan in N.E.-Kalimantan let publish a little book of 80 pages about the history of this kingdom. It is called "Sekilas sejarah Kesultanan Bulungan dari masa ke masa and written by H. Syed Ali Amin Bilfaqih, S.Ip;a local politician, who is intermarried in the sultan's dynasty (married with the daughter of the last officiqal crownprince from government kingdom time) and also descendant of an Arab man from Hadramaut/S.-Yemen,who brought islam to Bulungan ca. 260 years ago.

The book give a basic insight in to the history of the sultanate of Bulungan and also shows a bit of the importance of preserving that history and local culture(including the royal culture);f.i. via their own Bulungan semi-royal festival called Birau-festival (mostly in october-bi-annual?).

It contains some historical black and white pictures and some nice colour pictures,which show in its's function, this historybook is quite unique and we hope, that later a more large and richly illustrated book will be issued. The writer is one of the main representatives of the royal family of Bulungan.

This royal family;before quite rich;is known for their very dedicated way of preserving all kind a local culture and history;some deeds for which they need to be given compliments.

Since ca. 20 years the dynastymembers and their network try to find all over the world sources and old pictures, which give a showing of all the aspects of Bulungan live.

The book is published by publication company (penerbit) CV.Eka Jaya

Jl. Kh. Agussalim RT.6 No. 10 in Tarakan.(0062-5515526370/www.kaltara.com ).

D.P. Tick gRMK

I. Festivana

Loloda - the 5th principality of the North-Moluccans

Normally we speak of 4 kingdoms in the North-Moluccans :Ternate, Tidore, Bacan and Jailolo.
But there is a 5th principality, about which not very much people know about. It is the on the west-part of the island of Halmahera lying principality of Loloda.
About this there are several legends:the first raja descended from a sultan of Bacan, founded by a Prince/descendant of a sultan of Ternate, etc.
Western historains say, that in the very old time,when the principalities in the N-Moluccans were founded, there were more little stateletts. Besides the 4 later sultanates, not one of them survived, only Loloda did.
Before it must have been a quite powerfull principality, but later lost power to Jailolo, who then became the 1st ruler of the N-Moluccans.
But up until the Dutch time the rajas of Loloda were recognized as semi-independent rajas under Ternate. It is not known,when exactly they came under the rule of Ternate.
In 1908 the Dutch East-Indish Government found it better to more centralize the rule here, so Raja Syamsuddin (died 1915) then lost his semi-independent position and became just a districtchief with he title Sengaji. Also you can call them later Jogugu's.
The last ruling member of the dynasty was Jongofa, or Jogugu Haji Djami Bin Syamsuddin; 2nd son of the last raja, who had from 1945 a bit a restored position as local ruler. He stayed on as traditional leader of his people until his death in 1977. Nothing special was than done in the dynasty, until the time,that the dynasties in Indonesia were allowed to retake their cultural place in the society.
In 1999 his son Jogugu Bayan Bin Syamsuddin was installed. He died in 2004.
He was succeeded by the in 1959 born son Jogugu Kaicil Lutfi Muhammad Syamsuddin, who was officially installed as monarch of Loloda in the palace of the sultan of Ternate 30-8-2009.
The present jogugu of Loloda is a specialist on agriculture in the local government.
The dynasty maintains a very interesting website at "Loloda Kerajaan Facebook". Click on the name Loloda Kerajaan there and then on notes, or pictures, video, etc. and you will see many interesting information.

Finally the world can be witness,that the rajadynasty of Loloda can take his place in the world of traditional ruling families again.
Also the sultan of Ternate is a help to restore old traditional institutes, so that the local people have a good focuspoint for their own cultural identity.

D.P. Tick gRMK
I. Festivana