Chinese now no. 3 language in Canada

China's People's Daily recently reported that Chinese is now the no. 3 language in Canada:

In Canada if you don't speak English or French it is most likely that you speak Chinese. This is indicated by the latest census conducted by the Canadian government. According to the statistics Chinese has become a No. 3 language used in Canada and the number of people who speak Chinese keeps on increasing.

According to Nouvelles d'Europe from 1996 to 2001, the population whose mother tongue is Chinese grew 18 percent and reached 870,000 - about 2.9 percent out of 31.4 million of the population in Canada, a rise 0.3 percent over the original Chinese proportion of 2.6 percent. Most of the Chinese-speaking population live in BC and Ontario, Vancouver and Toronto being the two most populous cities.

Is this really news to anyone? I wonder what the no. 3 language in Japan is: Chinese or Korean?

Former Haitian President Aristide's New Hosts

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Bangui grants Aristide asylum 'on humanitarian grounds'

BANGUI, 2 March (IRIN) - The Central African Republic (CAR) has granted former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide asylum at the request of Gabonese President Omar Bongo and for humanitarian reasons, a government minister said on Monday.

"When a man in need knocks at your door, you do not consider his colour, his race or his rank, you welcome him and offer him the little you have," Parfait Mbay, Communications Minister, said in a statement read on state-owned Radio Centrafrique.

He added, "At the request of his counterpart and dean of central African heads of state Gabonese President Omar Bongo, the president of the republic [Francois Bozize] accepted to receive the former president of the first black republic in the world, Jean Bertrand Aristide."

By receiving Aristide, the CAR had confirmed its reputation as a land of asylum for people in difficulties, Mbay said.

Mbay, four other ministers and the CAR army chief of staff, Gen Antoine Gambi, received Aristide when he arrived on Monday at the Bangui-Mpoko Airport.

Mbay said that Bozize had consulted Vice-President Abel Goumba, Prime Minister Celestin Gaombalet and the chairman of the National Transitional Council, the country's law advisory body, Nicolas Tiangaye, before allowing Aristide into the country.

"It is with sincere gratitude that we address the Central African Republic's authorities for receiving us this morning," the radio quoted Aristide as saying on his arrival in the capital, Bangui.

Referring to and paraphrasing Toussaint Louverture, the historical Haitian hero who was tortured and killed by French colonisers 200 years ago, Aristide said: "Today, in the shadow of Toussaint Louverture I declare: by overthrowing me, they have cut down the tree of peace but this tree will grow up again because its roots are Louverturian."

The CAR government's decision to welcome Aristide is perceived as an attempt to draw the attention of the international community to its own situation. The country is currently in a transitional period since the 15 March 2003 coup that brought Bozize to power. Since then, the authorities have been seeking international recognition. Now, with Aristide in exile in Bangui, the task may likely be easier.

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: Irin@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.irinnews.org. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004

Melanesian Brotherhood wins Human Rights Awards

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada reports the winner of the 4th Pacific Human Rights Awards.

FEB. 27, 2004 - The Melanesian Brotherhood -- the largest religious community in the Anglican Communion -- was awarded the first prize in the regional category of the 4th Pacific Human Rights Awards, for its active role in peacemaking and reconciliation during the 1999 and 2000 ethnic conflict in the Solomon Islands....

The ethnic conflict was between some of the indigenous people of the main island of Guadalcanal and settlers on Guadalcanal from the large neighbouring island of Malaita. The fighting broke out after about 20,000 Malaitans were driven out of Guadalcanal back to Malaita, resulting in the armed conflict between Isatabu (Guadalcanal) Freedom Movement (IFM) and the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF).

Last August, six brothers were killed by one of the rebel groups after going to the west coast of the island of Guadalcanal to retrieve the body of another member of the order who had also been killed.

That is the bravery and sacrifice that won the Brotherhood the human rights award, which was presented to them by the Prime Minister of Fiji, Laisenia Qarase. In 2001 the brothers were also awarded the Solomon Islands Medal for the same role.

Despite peace, the problems in the Solomon Islands still continue, and the Brotherhood still plays an important role in maintaining peace.

New Guinea Religion and Morality: John Barker Replies to Jared Diamond

John Barker replies to Jared Diamond in The New York Review of Books: LEARNING FROM NEW GUINEA.

In a lively review of David Sloan Wilson's Darwin's Cathedral [NYR, November 7, 2002], Jared Diamond writes: "It will surprise most Jews, Christians, and Muslims to learn that this link between religion and morality is entirely absent in the New Guinean societies of which I have experience." I don't think they will be nearly as surprised by this assertion as people familiar with New Guinea societies and religions.... Traditional religious beliefs and practices varied immensely throughout New Guinea, but nowhere was morality divorced from religion. Instead, the spiritual and the moral were deeply conjoined--even in the case of warfare, I might add--as has been documented in hundreds of articles and books.

Morobe Field Diary, August 1976: A Month of Fridays the 13th

Yesterday, Friday the 13th, was no worse than the rest of the days of August, which is month of 31 Fridays the 13th by reckoning of the people along this coast. Em taim nogut: planti sik i kamap, solwara i sulukim nambis, pik i kaikai man, pis i siutim man, bikpela ren i kam wasim bris, kano i go lus, kainkain samting nogut ['It's a bad time: many illnesses arise, the sea erodes the beach, a pig bites a man, a fish stings a man, a big rain washes out a bridge, a canoe drifts loose, every kind of bad thing']. And it's all true. A fever is going around and has found me among its many victims. It really laid me low and I still haven't fully recovered. I would advise anyone else doing fieldwork along the coast south of Lae to spend August in Lae or Ukarumpa or something. The SILers working on Kaiwa told me in July they planned to stay in Ukarumpa until September to avoid these hazards.

Morobe Field Diary, August 1976: Traders, Workers, and Dogs

Last nite the [M.V.] Suena Dubu, a ship belonging to the people around Morobe Patrol Post down the coast a ways, came in and offered goods for sale, a floating store. Seems a German business advisor had his girlfriend (who spoke little English) come to visit and conceived of this business venture as an excuse for getting her (& him) around to see the real New Guinea. I bought tobacco & crackers [ship biscuits] which I was running short of and exchanged a few words with the German man, in about half Tok Pisin, half Tok Inglis, and generally milled around with the other villagers when the two & a few of their (PNGean) crew came ashore to buy a few things. That nite I put on Bach's Brandenburg Concertos 4, 5, & 6 and let it drift out over the water for them but I'm not sure it was loud enough. They slept aboard the boat, did some business in the morning and chugged out a few hours ago.

The line between me and everyone else in the village expands to include me in the presence of outsiders.

This morning there was a demonstration (one sign) by the fishermen in the village demanding 20 toea/lb for their fish (a 100% raise over the present 10t/lb). They enjoyed themselves.

After most of the week hibernating working on my dictionary, I was getting sore sitting down so much and quite irritated at being interrupted. Part of the irritation was from the fact that I had nothing to share with people verbally. But by Thursday I had pretty much caught up and had about had it so when a younger guy was getting people to beat sago I volunteered. It was the tree of the kolapa (young, i.e., unmarried, man) and mostly it was kolapas who did the work though three ewekapas (young women) helped with the carrying of the pulp to the washers. I raised my blisters again just when my last crop was peeling off and managed to break all but one so my hands are usable if a bit sore today.

Today I accompanied the kaunsil's family to the garden (the second time I've been there). It was just what I needed to stretch my legs, change my scenery and snatch some real peace & quiet. We walked all the way up and over the top of the ridge which I estimate to be about 200 meters above sea level and follows a slope of about 50-60 degrees. The kaunsil is cutting a new canoe just over the top of the ridge. Getting it down to the water is going to be real fun. Getting ourselves down in the rain today was treacherous enough.

I finished Hyman's phonology text except for the chapter on generative formalisms. I'm well pleased to have brot it with me. But I got hungry for fiction so I dug out an abridged Don Quixote (432 pp.) and have been enjoying it immensely.

The kaunsil's prize hunting dog that is well behaved and can shake hands (having been raised by a European) as well as leap over wild pigs contracted mange that threatened to destroy his beautiful yellowish-brown coat. I went to town and got some medicine but no one has gotten around to putting it on and the hair continues to drop off, scabs rise and even the hair remaining has lost its luster. And sympathy has begun to turn to disgust--so strange are human emotions. Saving a dog's skins is just not high on the list of priorities, most of which are subsistence level--repairing the old canoes that were on the verge of falling to pieces, finishing the veranda on my house, cutting the new canoe, gathering food from the garden and preparing it.

Several people have mentioned I'm getting fat! It shouldn't be surprising but for my usual inability to do so. It does seem like I've put on a pound or two. I bet if I shaved people would think I was emaciated.

Major Security Concerns in Indonesia

USINDO Open Forum
Major Security Concerns in Indonesia
Sidney Jones - Indonesia Project Director, International Crisis Group - Jakarta
February 23, 2004
Washington, DC

Director of the International Crisis Group's office in Jakarta, Sidney Jones, spoke to an overflow crowd about three major security problems Indonesia faces: Papua, Aceh and terrorism conducted by Jemaah Islamiah. She believes the most virulent form of JI terrorism may be brought under control in the short and medium term, but predicts long term lower intensity terrorism. She is not sanguine that violence in Papua and Aceh will diminish any time soon.

Papua: Sidney Jones noted that central government plans to divide West Papua into three provinces, which had caused such a furor, had now been modified to divide the province in half. The present situation calls for a province of West Irian and a province comprised of all the rest of the area, while plans for a central province have been frozen. But there remains no less outrage among Papuans most of whom -- although not all -- are concerned that the division undermines promised autonomy.

There is an additional problem on the horizon: the division of the provinces into multiple sub-districts divided along ethnic lines. Each would be headed by a tribal leader, each of whom would fill the local governing bodies with unqualified loyalists. Poor governance is liable to result and as Indonesia moves towards elections, competition among districts and ethnic groups over resources will increase. There will not necessarily be destabilization, but the TNI [Indonesian Military] will be sure to exploit divisions and conflicts in order to strengthen its own control.

Another source of concern in Papua is the explosion of HIV/AIDS. Five to ten percent are now infected and the situation is being exacerbated by substantial movement among the population.

Finally there are the problems posed by the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, or OPM) with members ranging across Papua and rebels supporting them from across the border. The prospect for increased tensions in Papua is increasing.

Aceh: Martial law continues with no resumption of negotiations that might end it in sight. Nor are there any incentives for Jakarta politicians to move toward negotiations while elections are underway.

The TNI is succeeding in sharply limiting access to the province by human rights and other humanitarian workers; only a few ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] members and none of their international employees have been allowed entry. The limited access together with blanket control over the media, means too little is known about what is actually going on and it has become impossible to make accurate assessments. That said, military operations appear to have become even more aggressive as raider battalions have been added to the mix and planned reductions among existing troops have yet to take place. Casualties would seem to be increasing.

In some areas such as the cities, where more is known, the TNI is getting better marks for handling security, but there is no evidence of that in areas where aggressive action is underway. The elite Police Mobile Brigade or Brimob's reputation remains as bad as ever. Nor is there an exit strategy, although there has been some talk of a downgrading of the situation to a civil emergency. This option holds little promise either, however, since the provincial government which would take charge is immensely corrupt and inefficient.

Hostage negotiations have been underway for some time, with the GAM [Gerakan Aceh Merdeka = Free Aceh Movement] holding some 40 hostages. When one being held (Ersa Siregar, a senior reporter for RCTI [Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia]) was killed by the TNI, there was outrage among Indonesians generally that might have led to a change of approach by the central government. However, the GAM's demands were studded with unacceptable conditions, the public turned against the GAM, and there are no prospects for release.

Nor are the TNI and the government making distinctions between GAM members and sympathizers, trials are unfair, no legal counsel is being allowed. The Acehnese negotiators arrested on their way to the Tokyo negotiations last year have been unfairly convicted of terrorism.

On top of it all, it seems the TNI is committing the same military mistakes and excesses made in the past, and it is no accident this is occurring as elections approach. Replacement troops are less well trained and equipped. GAM forces are bad also, but the TNI is worse.

Special autonomy legislation is dead as long as the TNI remains in control. No transition plan is in the works. It would seem in sum that neither the GAM nor the government have any interest in negotiating a solution, at least for now.

Jemaah Islamiah: Sidney Jones discerns separate levels of activity at work.

First there are the Bali and Marriott bombing faction of JI which was led by Hambali. Hambali and this group looked to Al Qaeda and in fact to a degree divided JI against itself as some followed the Al Qaeda crusade against the west and others stuck to JI's original guiding purpose: creation of an Islamic state in Indonesia. As the result of good police work, only about eight or ten of the leaders of this first group remain at large; there is a good chance they will be caught; and the immediate threat of another Bali type attack against western targets should recede.

The second group is comprised of the non-bombing majority of JI, with goals similar to Darul Islam and its long term plan to create an Islamic state. But the apparent major split in JI may not in fact exist and this wider group appears to have become a home for Hambali types. Members of this group are being sent to Mindanao for weapons and explosives training and some may again resort to major violence.

Darul Islam members comprise a third group and it is itself sending people to Mindanao for training. This group has its own organization and capabilities. Jones thought it fascinating that those who commit violence are recruiters for the next group and there is a linear connection between events in 1983, 1989 and events today. She believes that even if there is a split among top leaders members at lower levels retain a lot in common.

Finally the major risk today comes from locally organized groups who are carrying out local bomb attacks. The bombings in south Sulawesi are attributed to such a group.

Questions and Answers:

The United States failure to date to provide direct access to Hambali or his taped interviews has become a big issue among Indonesians who conclude that the United States sees cooperation as a one way street.

JI members are recruited from certain mosques and are winnowed down to a select few through a rigorous process. They come originally from a small number of schools and colleges. Those selected come from conservative, modernist backgrounds - not just anybody is chosen and in fact there are no known NU members. It would be difficult to stem the flow from within Muhammadiyah since the leadership is conflicted due to internal rivalries. There is no correlation with socio-economic backgrounds.

No one in JI is working for a caliphate - only for an Indonesian Islamic state. Members see JI as a religious organization. Since they do not support democracy they do not work through existing political parties.

The Bali and Marriott bombing investigations have largely dispelled the conspiracy theories that contended the west was responsible. Still batting down conspiracy theory is a constant necessity.

Given the irreconcilable differences in Aceh, Jones sees no solution until Hassan diTiro is dead and GAM's ground commanders gain greater say. Now GAM is not interested. The government needs to consider establishment of local parties. Not much pressure to cease as in the case of Vietnam can be expected.

via the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai‘i

"Crucifixation" in the Philippines

Dean Bocobo of Philippine Commentary has a different take from most Anglosphere bloggers on Mel Gibson's "crucifixation" movie.

The shedding of real blood by real people is a real part of our celebration of Christianity and its seminal event in the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That event, we don't only voyeuristically make the subject of gory movies, public prayers and pious displays, but some Filipinos exhibitionistically crucify themselves in a literal imitation of Christ on Good Friday. Others participate in organized self-flagellations that occur all over the Philippines during Holy Week.

via Belmont Club, who adds his own unique take.

There are three points to be made in this respect. The first is that most American and European Christians will find the Filipino Lenten practices about as incomprehensible as non-Christians may find the cinematic rendition of Jesus' sufferings. The second is that the Filipino penitents are entirely sincere in their devotion. The inability of Westerners to understand this Filipino tradition in no way reduces its value to the people of that Archipelago. The third is that anti-Semitism is wholly unknown, indeed, incomprehensible to Filipinos for the simple reason that they have never encountered Jews in any quantity. The average Filipino has never nor will probably ever meet a Jew. Anyone who takes the trouble to view a Filipino Lenten commemoration will see Romans depicted as the villains and the Jews -- in one glorious lump including "the Apostles, Mama Mary and the other Mary the Magdalene, Pilate, Caiphas, Barabas (he was loudly cheered), Judas, and of course Jesus Christ himself" -- played by the townspeople themselves.

Most Christians now live in Asia, Africa and Latin America. They far outnumber the dwindling congregations of Western Europe. The vast majority of Third World Christians know nothing about the historical conceptions of anti-Semitism -- the Ghetto, the Pogrom, the Holocaust. To a very large extent, the debate over the anti-Semitic content, or lack thereof, in The Passion of the Christ is not between modern day Christians and Jews, but across a fault line in Western and Middle Eastern history.

Sandline Wrap-up in Papua New Guinea

The Head Heeb does a wrap-up on the Sandline scandal in Papua New Guinea.

The last echoes of the Sandline crisis were heard today in a Papua New Guinea courtroom with the acquittal of Jerry Singirok on charges of sedition....

The government may also have thought it was time to bring the matter to a close; despite having almost seven years to prepare their case, they only presented one witness.

Ads Aimed at Foreigners in Japan, 1915

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SOURCE: The Christian Movement in the Japanese Empire, including Korea and Formosa, a Year Book for 1915 (Conference of Federated Missions, Japan, 1915), end pages

J. Curnow was replaced by the Inter-Mission mail-order service in Japan during the 1950s and 1960s. In the diplomatic world, Peter Justesen plays a similar role today.

Evangelistic Work among Koreans Abroad, 1915

Korean Work in Tokyo and Honolulu - There are at present more than 500 Korean students studying in Tokyo. They are largely picked men whose influence will be disproportionately great when they return to their native homes. The Korean Young Men's Christian Association has since September 7th, 1907, been working directly, and in co-operation with the Chinese and Japanese Young Men's Christian Associations to bring these students to a vital faith in Jesus Christ. Besides the voluntary help given by the students themselves, three Korean Secretaries give their entire time to supervising this work....

Dr. Sigman Rhee [sic, emphasis added], the first Korean student secretary, has this year organized a Korean Young Men's Christian Association in Honolulu, and Mr. Choi Sang Ho, one of the secretaries of the work in Tokyo, has been sent there to aid in the completion of the organization.

SOURCE: "Korea, Part IV, Chapter II: Young Men's Christian Association," by Frank M. Brockman, in The Christian Movement in the Japanese Empire, including Korea and Formosa, a Year Book for 1915 (Conference of Federated Missions, Japan, 1915), pp. 438.

Location - Yong Jung is a station of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. It is not in Korea, but across the border in the heart of the country known to the Koreans as North Kando, to the Japanese as Kanto[u] [Kwangtung, as in Kwangtung Army], and to the Chinese as Chientao [Jiandao]. The Japanese name for Yong Jung is Ryosai, and the Chinese Lung Chingtsun, or Lutaokou.

This station was opened in July 1913, for the purpose of getting in touch with, and carrying on work among the large numbers of Koreans who have of late years moved into Manchuria. Many of them are Christians, who have been connected with the Church in the thirteen provinces of Korea.

The territory connected with this station is all north of the Tuman River, which throughout its course is a boundery [sic] between China and Korea. It extends north from this river about 250 miles, and from east to west about 130 miles. It is bounded on the east and north-east by Russia. In this territory there are about 200,000 or 250,000 Koreans, and about an equal number of Chinese. There about eighty groups of Christians connected with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission, besides quite a number of Churches connected with the Church of Christ in Korea. In 1912, before the station was opened, twenty-eight Presbyterian groups were reported.

Organization of Work - Among the women there are three missionary societies which direct the work in certain Churches, and contribute the support of two Bible women who carry the Gospel to non-Christian villages.

The men have an evangelistic society covering the whole field. This society raises money for the support of a native pastor and an evangelist, the latter of whom is working among Churches and non-Christians in an eastern district near the Russian border. In addition to these, another evangelist is supported by contributions from the Bible women, colporteurs of the Bible Society, and other workers in the field.

SOURCE: "Korea, Part V, Chapter III: North Kando, Canadian Presbyterian Mission," by W. R. Foote, in The Christian Movement in the Japanese Empire, including Korea and Formosa, a Year Book for 1915 (Conference of Federated Missions, Japan, 1915), pp. 444-445.

Anniversary of "Bravo" H-Bomb Test on Bikini

March 1st is also the 50th anniversary of the H-bomb "Bravo blast" on Bikini in the Marshall Islands, where the U.S. conducted 67 nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958. The Bravo test was a horrendous mistake.

By missing an important fusion reaction, the Los Alamos scientists had grossly underestimated the size of the explosion. They thought it would yield the equivalent of 5 million tons of TNT, but, in fact, 'Bravo' yielded 15 megatons -- making it more than a thousand times bigger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Bikini and Rongelap (100 miles to its east) are still uninhabitable.

Photographs from the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea

To commemorate the 85th anniversary of Korea's March First Independence Movement in 1919, the Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) has published two articles on photographic archives from the colonial period.

The Japanese Colonial Period Through Photographs I
The Japanese Colonial Period Through Photographs II

A tip of the moja to The Marmot

UPDATE: The Korea blogs Budaechigae and KamelianXRays both offer retrospectives on the events of 1 March 1919. And the Marmot notes that South Korean President Noh took the opportunity to do a little extemporaneous bashing of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi--to the consternation of the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

Japan and the War, 1915

Japan and the War - From the time Japan entered the World-war last summer, down to to-day, she appears to have acted scrupulously and considerately in all her dealings with friend and foe alike.

Sympathy with Germany - The true attitude of Japan to the war has been little known and perhaps less understood, and we must wait for the close of the war before all that can be said to her credit shall be made public. There were many considerations which would naturally have strongly influenced Japan to maintain either a neutral position in the war, or to become an ally of Germany. Japan's large trade with Germany, the fact that many of her doctors and other professional men have been educated in Germany and hence are strongly German in their sympathies, and the very important fact that Japan's military organization is copied after Germany and many of the military leaders have been trained in Germany--all combined to produce a very strong sympathy with that nation.

Japan's Share in War - It was no easy task which Count Okuma faced in leading the nation unitedly to support its ally, England, and to engage early in the attack upon Kiaochau and the successful conquest of that port. It is not difficult to imagine how different would have been the condition of the great port cities of the Far East, Hongkong, Shanghai, Tientsin, and others, had Japan pursued a different policy and failed to render useless for German military purposes the port of Kiaochau, with its splendid base for the German navy. Her effective patrol of the Pacific guaranteed safety and security to ports and shipping of all nations, which the British navy was entirely unable to provide. The career of the Emden furnishes a suggestion of what might have occurred very generally throughout the Eastern waters, had Japan been less efficient in protecting the world's shipping.

Kiaochou and Belgium - Her treatment of Kiaochou stands out in strong contrast with Germany's treatment of Belgium, and her treatment of the German prisoners interned in Japan is greatly to her credit, when we bear in mind the indignities reported as borne by Japanese at the same time in Germany, and its natural effect upon the public mind.

Troops to Europe - The Government did not approve of the project favoured in some parts of Europe, and desired by some in Japan, of sending troops to the European war. It was ready however and willing to send Red Cross nurses and to give such other practical assistance as it could.

Support of Russia - Perhaps in no way could Japan have offered a more practical support to her ally, or have given stronger evidence of her actual sympathy, than in her voluntary assurance to her recent enemy, Russia, that she was free to withdraw all her troops from Eastern Siberia, if needed for the war, without any fear of advantage being taken of it by Japan.

Japan in South Seas - The energy which Japan showed in wresting from the Germans their Island possessions in the South Pacific is further evidence of the valuable support which she is giving to her allies. Japan well knows that in doing all this she is making of Germany an implacable enemy, and is sacrificing a relationship of great possibility, both commercially and politically.

Had the designs of Japan upon China been as selfish and inconsiderate as many are inclined to suppose, it is difficult to understand why she did not, at the outset of the war, throw her lot with Germany, whose chances of success, at least at that time, gave promise of being far greater than they appeared later on, and whose support would have been most valuable if Japan had designs regarding Chinese territory and wished to appropriate a part of that country to herself.

Relations with America - As a result of the restless activity of Jingoists on both sides of the Pacific, it is not too much to say that at times during the past year conditions have been exceedingly sensitive and gave rise to no little anxiety as to what might follow. The attitude of the two governments toward each other has at no time been such as to occasion deep concern, but the continuous and unabating sensational reports and cablegrams which have been sent back and forth have occasioned much unrest, and there has been at times fear what thoughtless persons might be led to do under the circumstances. One must carefully consider what might follow if some reckless and hotheaded youth should lead in an assault upon the American Embassy in Tokyo, plunging his country into serious international difficulties....

Relations with China - The developments of the past year have revealed an attitude of China towards Japan, and of Japan towards China, which is the ground of great discussion and difference of opinion. It is plain to see that there is apparently a fear of Japan on the part of China, and a misunderstanding of Japan on the part of foreigners dwelling in China, which must cause Japan in any case great uneasiness.

Distrust of Japan - It is difficult to understand why China should prefer to have her territory under German influence rather than under Japanese influence, but so it would seem. Why Englishmen in China should distrust a country which has already done them such good service, as Japan has done to the foreigners in China since the war began, it is hard to explain; but if the foreign press is to be believed, and if reports which come to Japan are to be given any credit, there is certainly at present a most antagonistic feeling toward Japan on the part of very many.

SOURCE: "General Survey," by John Lincoln Dearing, in The Christian Movement in the Japanese Empire, including Korea and Formosa, a Year Book for 1915 (Conference of Federated Missions, Japan, 1915), pp. 7-11.

Morobe Field Diary, August 1976: Back in the Village

I couldn't get much done yesterday because of the steady flow of lousy informants to my 'office'. But I was given plenty of betel nut and chewed till my teeth are sore. And in the evening I did a good bit of talking in Binga Numbami that goes to show that 'dry spells' are often nothing but assimilation and absorption periods. I was feeling particularly dry after my weekend in Lae (actually midweek).

The Sande today started out with Yabem liturgy, including two German > Yabem hymns; Tok Pisin scripture and sermon; followed by a translation in Binga N. spoken mostly facing the women. The men were scattered all about in a widely strewn circle, the women bunched all up next to and under a house. Gilami, the speaker, feels the message is important enough to be translated on most occasions and he is a good talker though a little inclined to righteousness (ah, a kindred soul).

Morobe Field Diary, July 1976: A Grueling Boat Trip

Travelling aboard the [M.V.] Sago is always an adventure. The last trip back from Lae on July 28 took me 24 hours almost. After 3 trips down to check on the ship I found it was to leave the next morning. So in order to not be left behind as I was before I put some cargo aboard and got up at six (without an alarm) the morning of departure to insure they wouldn't get impatient & take off. J. was prevailed upon to drive me down by 7 am. I got there and rain was falling steadily and no one was about. I waded out to where the Sago was tied up and found the Captain just getting up. Orait, by 9:30 I had decided to eat breakfast at a small haus kaikai ['house eat' = 'restaurant']. When I came back we were ready to go.

The boat put in at Buansing and we passed its neighboring enemy Laukanu (Bazela). The Sago had just been chartered to carry a Kaiwa corpse back to his village Buansing and we had to send talk to the village. Buansing is Yuwala-(Kaiwa-)speaking and its neighbor Bazela (Laukanu) is Kela-speaking. The kiap (local gov't official) insists upon a single kaunsil [village head] for both villages and since Bazela is more prominent & the Kelas' claim to the area is officially recognized over that of the Kaiwas' [who used to live inland, but most likely moved there from the coast much earlier], the former get the kaunsil. Bazela also has tin roofs while Buansing has none. I think a lumber company operates nearby and employs people from both villages so both have some board houses. I believe those were the two villages embroiled in a big fracas a while back, brought on by a combination of simmering animosities and alcohol.

As we pulled out of Buansing bay we could see a storm brewing out in the (Huon) Gulf. We were halfway out when the engine sputtered & died--out of gas. The fuel line has been leaking buckets or they forgot to fill up in town; I'm not sure which. It took a while to bandage the fuel line and refill. By the time we got underway again the rain & wind was upon us. We should have put in at Buansing until it passed but instead had a real rodeo ride till we reached the lee of Lababia Island off the next (Kela) village [Salus] down the coast, the one from which the original Kela apparently spread in both directions [up and down the coast].

Since I had a poncho and the 'cabin' was crowded I sat up on deck with my back to the wind which was coming from slitely off the port bow. Another guy was sitting next to me and in spite of my poncho I wasn't much drier than he was. I held on for dear life until my hands were aching. Since the wind & waves were coming from the sea and we were running parallel to the coast we got broadsided or nearly so a number of times and lost several pieces of cargo overboard. The little Sago rolled, pitched & yawed to beat all. I was just as happy not to be trapped inside in case it capsized.

When we finally made it to the island we didn't have a boat to go ashore in so we untied the liferaft and several people finally put together a bamboo raft after failing to find a canoe on the [uninhabited] island. Those few that made the slow trip to shore 2 at a time played Swiss Family Robinson while the rest of us stayed aboard debating whether to put in for the nite and risk the boat drifting onto the coral that was all about or to head out and risk another squall. We must have stayed about from dusk to midnite, no one aboard having room to sleep except some of the kids.

Finally we left and went to Kuwi and put off the parish pastor & his family. He had sat on top of the liferaft clutching his kid, a nearly useless umbrella and the raft all during the squall, shivering all the while.

We got back to Siboma a few hours before dawn. The Paiawa passengers were delivered to Paiawa that morning.

After 500 Years: Muslim-Christian Fratricide in Central Maluku

Two earlier posts about Muslim-Christian violence in Maluku, Indonesia, have summarized a three-year retrospective on 1999-2001 by reporters for the Jakarta Post and a ten-year retrospective based on my own travels in the area in 1991. This final post in a three-part series summarizes a 500-year retrospective by Dieter Bartels in an online draft of an article, "Your God Is No Longer Mine: Moslem-Christian Fratricide in the Central Moluccas (Indonesia) After a Half-Millennium of Tolerant Co-Existence and Ethnic Unity" (2000).

In the shadow of the recent carnage of the East Timor independence struggle and the equally vicious ongoing battle for Aceh, other parts of Indonesia are torn apart by pernicious strife and the huge and populous island nation is threatened with disintegration. One of the crisis hearths is the eastern island group of Maluku where there is an ongoing internecine struggle between Moslems and Christians. Some of the most heated clashes have been occurring between Ambonese Moslems and Protestant Christians in the Central Moluccas. Beginning on January 19, 1999 Moslems and Christians, seemingly without warning [but arising from a criminal incident perpetrated by outsiders], started to attack one another, burning down each others houses and killing one another in both the provincial capital of Kota Ambon (Ambon City) and villages on the islands of Ambon, Haruku, Saparua, Buru, and Seram. Similar incidents occurred also in the Northern and Southern parts of Maluku involving not only Protestants but also Roman-Catholics. Thus far, the seemingly senseless confrontation, which became known as kerusuhan (unrest), left thousands of people dead and precipitated the devastation of property worth millions of dollars, wiping out much of the economic progress made in the province since Indonesian independence.

It's worth pointing out that January 1999 is when former President Suharto's embattled successor, B. J. Habibie, agreed to an East Timorese referendum on whether to accept wide-ranging autonomy within Indonesia or to go for independence. The vote, in August 1999, was overwhelmingly (nearly 4:1) in favor of independence.

The conflict can be divided into two rather distinct phases: Phase I began in January of 1999 and closed at the end of April 2000. This phase was characterized by mutual attacks of native Christians and Moslems using largely primitive home-made weapons and bombs (rakitan). Generally, there was an equilibrium of strength. Phase II, having began in May 2000, is characterized by the massive arrival of non-Ambonese, mostly Javanese, Moslem vigilante group, called Laskar Jihad ("Holy War Forces"). They brought with them sophisticated modern weaponry and allied themselves with the Moslem personnel of the military which constitutes about eighty percent of the troops. These developments totally destroyed the previous balance, tipping the scale in favor of the Moslems.

From the very beginning, provocateurs, often said to be associated with the old Suharto regime, have been blamed for the unrest. The Army also has been accused playing a key role in triggering and fomenting the fratricidal violence in order to destabilize the Indonesian state as a means of restoring its political might and economic interests. Among the accusers is the Moluccan sociologist Tamrin Amrin Tomagola who believes that continuous riots will not only upgrade once again the status of the military, and tighten its territorial grip, but also derange President Abdurrahman Wahid and the National Commission on Human Rights which has implicated five generals, including former military chief and ex-cabinet minister, Wiranto, in the post-ballot atrocities in East Timor. Tomagola goes on to state that violence in Moslem areas triggers solidarity among Moslems and heightens their negative feelings toward the President and the commission (Jakarta Post 02/04/2000). Calls in January 2000 for a Jihad (Holy War) against Moluccan Christians at mass demonstrations in Jakarta and attacks of Moslem youths on Christian churches in Lombok seem to strengthen Tomagola's arguments. The use of automatic weapons in the January 23, 2000 attack by Moslem villagers on their Christian neighbors in the villages of Haruku-Sameth on the island of Haruku further points to military involvement.

Bartels then outlines some of the key factors that led up to the recent violence.

• The influx of Moslems from outside the area, especially Bugis and Makasar migrants from Sulawesi into Ambon City, and Javanese settlers ('transmigrasi') into rural areas. Initial Christian attacks were against these outsiders, not fellow Moslem Ambonese.


• The failed model of religious tolerance. "As recently as November 1998, during Moslem-Christian clashes in Jakarta, then President B. J. Habibie had singled out the Moluccas as the model of religious tolerance." Moluccan exiles in the Netherlands and elsewhere "asked what happened to the traditional Moslem-Christian brotherhood and its safeguards like pela, the traditional inter-village alliance system."


• Creeping religious polarization. "Actually, the only thing that should be surprising about these clashes is their vehemence and unbridled violence." Some of this was visible even during the 1970s.


• The legacy of different colonizers. "The successive colonizers, Portuguese, Dutch, and Japanese, all tried to manipulate Moslems and Christians, as did the latest, and current, rulers of the Moluccas, the Javanese." However, "throughout most of colonial history, it seems that, at least at the village level, Moslem and Christians have coexisted in a climate where cooperation seems to have been more common than polarity and discord. Under duress, they have frequently closed ranks and as far back as the Portuguese period and in the early Dutch era, Moslem and newly converted Christian villages allied themselves against the foreign intruders who tried to force a spice monopoly onto them. Again, during the so-called Pattimura uprising in 1817, both religious groups were united in a last, failing effort to rid themselves of the Dutch yoke."


• Christian rise to superiority in late colonial period. The Dutch favored "Christian Moluccans as soldiers and administrators, allowing them a certain amount of western schooling denied to the Moslems.... In some cases, Christian villagers had Moslem children live with them in order to give them access to schools denied to Moslem commoners by the Dutch while raising them according to Moslem customs."


• Moslem ascendency during Japanese occupation. "During the Japanese occupation, the Christians suddenly saw the roles reversed as the Japanese seemingly favored the Moslem population. Christians accused the Moslems of collaboration."


• The proclamation of an independent Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS) after Indonesia declared independence after WWII. "During the ensuing struggle with the Indonesian armed forces, Christian guerrilla forces attacked some Moslem villages which were suspected of being Indonesia sympathizers. There were also instances in which Christian soldiers prevented such attacks when their home village had an alliance with the Moslem village in question."


• The breakdown of the pela alliance system. This is elaborated further below.

Some of these inter-village alliances have their origins in the distant past, long before Europeans invaded the Spice Islands in search of cloves and nutmeg. It probably started as an alliance system in the context of head-hunting, but during the Portugese and Dutch conquests in the 16th and 17th centuries, the system was utilized to resist the foreign intruders, and to help each other in times of need. As a matter of fact, quite a few of the still existing pela pacts were founded during that period, often binding Moslem and (recently converted) Christian villages together. Many new pela arose during the last desperate struggle against Dutch colonialism, the Pattimura war at the beginning of the 19th century. After this struggle was lost and the region experienced an economic depression, pela was utilized as an instrument gaining access to foodstuffs when many poor villages of Ambon-Lease established ties with the sago-rich villages of West-Seram. In the first three decades of Indonesian rule, pela was still in full bloom, mainly as a vehicle of Moluccan identity in the pan-Indonesian state and also to further village development without governmental aid....

Most alliances are between Christian villages but a considerable number are between Christian and Moslem villages, thus spanning religious boundaries. Purely Moslem pela do not exist. In contrast to Christians who use adat [local custom] rather than their common religion to establish formal ties between villages, Moslems consider themselves all part of the Islamic community (ummat) and thus find no need to further strengthen the ties among one another. However, there are a few pela, all based on genealogical ties, involving several Christian and Moslem villages and in this case the participating Moslem villages also consider each other as pela partners....

The system as described above worked still very well in the Central Moluccas from the end of World War II until about the 1980s. Attempts of the Indonesian government of political centralization and cultural uniformity since Independence led to a general fear of loss of a distinct Ambonese ethnic identity. Both Moslems and Christians had also become quite conscious about the threat that the ongoing religious polarization posed for Moslem-Christian unity. While urban politicians were fighting for the spoils offered by the new system, people at the grassroots level reacted to the twin threat of loss of identity and social disunity through placing a renewed emphasis on pela, whose dense web spanning across the islands and religious boundaries was traditionally the major force of integration. The earlier listed economic incentives, based on reciprocal mutual aid, further helped to cement the interfaith relationship.

• Elevation of global religion (agama) above tradition (adat). Increasing Christianization and Islamization after independence.


• Indonesization of Ambonese social system: Replacement of traditional village leadership. Globalization in a manner that benefitted the urban (often outsider) elite. Large-scale relocation of (Moslem) 'transmigrasi' from Java. Overpopulation, land scarcity, feuding and fission. Urbanization, with outsiders dominating commerce.

Bartels tries to find some hope for the future in his final section.

Mending the Torn Fabric

Once the fighting stops, Moslem and Christians will indeed have to come together and redefine their relationship and strive for a new intra-ethnic symbiosis in a contemporary context. First and foremost, the intertwined problems of overpopulation, land shortages, and immigration have to be solved. As a next step, it seems likely that the Ambonese in the Central Moluccas will have to do what the Ambonese exiles in the Netherlands have been doing ever since they arrived in the Netherlands in 1951, namely engage in a continuous process of reinventing adat to reflect contemporary socio-political reality. Pela on the village level can still have its uses in restoring overall harmony. Before visiting the Central Moluccas in June and July 2000, I was very pessimistic about the survival of interreligious pela. Most people who don't have pela with a Moslem village believe that these pela are forever destroyed. However, people who do have such pacts are not as ready to pronounce their alliances dead. This was certainly the case in Haria. Villagers from Samasuru (Seram) who have pela with Islamic Iha on Saparua do not dare stay there overnight as they did before when visiting Saparua but it seems they do it more out of consideration for Christian villages adjacent to Iha but are still in communication with Iha. They had given Iha land in the 1960s which was laid to waste during the unrest by outsiders. Iha insisted that Samasuru was innocent and that their alliance is still intact. The heavy attacks and counterattacks between Moslems and Christians in North Saparua occurring between September 22 and 24 were apparently instigated by the Laskar Jihad. As a result, many villagers from Iha fled to some of nearby Christian villages, seemingly to trying themselves to escape the Laskar Jihad. Their peaceful reception in these villages is perhaps one of the indicators that not all bridges have been burned.

The following story also shows some hope, though it may not immediately apparent: After the total destruction of Christian Kariuw on Haruku in the early phase of the conflict by neighboring Moslem villages of Pelauw and Ori, their Moslem pela partner Hualoi (Seram) sent a delegation with food to the village of another partner in the same alliance, Aboru (Haruku), where many Kariuwans had found refuge. The wounds were still too fresh and the food was rejected. Hope also can be found in the example of Wayame, a non-traditional, mixed Moslem-Christian settlement across the bay opposite Ambon City, which thus far which had been untouched by the conflict until late November 2000. Even then, it was not an internal conflict but an attack from the outside by Laskar Jihad forces. However, attempts by surrounding Moslem villages to officially declare Waai, a Christian village destroyed in July 2000, as a Moslem village and the intention to rebuild the mosque at exactly the same spot where it supposedly stood in 1670 when Waai was still Islamic, will inflame passions again. The suggestion was made by the chief commander (panglima) of the Laskar Jihad, Ja'far Umar Thalib, and thus it is quite likely that this declaration was made under duress....

Perhaps, and rather ironically, the simultaneous suffering of the Ambonese Moslem community under the reign of terror of the Laskar Jihad and certain army factions, may soften the existing bitterness and hatred between the two indigenous groups and facilitate ethnic reconciliation.

The NGO Catch 22

The November 2003 issue of The Journal of Asian Studies (vol. 62, no. 4) contains an interesting review by Salim Rashid of the book, Civil Society by Design: Donors, NGOs, and the Intermestic Development Circle in Bangladesh, by Kendall W. Stiles (Praeger, 2002).

This book is based on fieldwork done in Bangladesh between 1998 and 1999 on the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the process of economic development. In polite, academic language, it mounts a substantial critique of the hope that NGOs will be the vanguard of change in the near future. The hopes for the NGOs were based on the thought that these organizations would bypass the moribund and corrupt state institutions and infuse fresh vigor into the development process. Such change has not come about, nor is it likely to. The negative themes also come out clearly in an article published almost simultaneously in World Development (30[5][2002]:835-46).

Kendall W. Stiles coins the word "intermestic" to describe the new incestuous relationship that develops between domestic and international organizations. The requirements imposed upon NGOs to maintain this relationship serve in the end to stifle effective action. Critics from the Left believe that such organizations can only effect cosmetic change in an exploitative system and hence serve only to dissipate radical energies in wasteful directions; those from the Right applaud volunteerism and benevolence, but they want all recipients to become self-sufficient rapidly. Well, if the NGOs really do espouse radicalism, neither the Government nor the foreign donors will tolerate them for very long; on the other hand, if the NGO projects really were sustainable--a cute euphemism for "financially viable"--then the market system should suffice to do the job.

These are systemic problems.

No kidding. One of the central questions facing the international community in this era of rapidly multiplying failed states is whether national sovereignty is (a) an inalienable right, (b) a revocable privilege, or (c) an impediment to economic growth. The EU seems to favor (c), but only for states that have already passed the entrance examinations. The IMF seems to favor (b), but only for states that have some chance of passing their remedial classes and rejoining the mainstream. The only thing that everyone appears to agree on is that national sovereignty conveniently trumps every other consideration when failed states are beyond hope, especially if they were once colonies, because the psychic pain of being colonized is worse than the physical pain of bleeding to death or starving to death. In such cases, the NGOs are little more than international hospice workers.

If only failed states could outsource their governments, as some wag in a comment thread on the libertarian blog Samizdata once suggested.

Morobe Field Diary, July 1976: Village Party

Last Friday, Daniel/Sigo paddled in at dusk, beached his canoe and calmly lifted a 6 ft, 50 lb or so sailfish out of the hull. He caught it on a handline and he said it jumped and jumped and pulled the canoe a ways before giving out. It filled the whole front end of the hull. The whole village came down to admire; they cut it up after dark on the bed of the canoe by lamplite; and I had a piece the next morning for breakfast. It was a catch any Kona Coast cabin cruiser fisherman would be proud of. Makes me think Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea was a bit overdramatized.

Some of the fish was saved for a wedding party the whole village waited for from Fri to Sun nite when the overdue [M.V.] Sago came back from town with 10-12 cases of beer. The party got started about midmorning Monday. I drank a beer or two with the crowd at my end of the village, mosied off with the kaunsil to the far end where one guy had a bar going selling gin at 20 toea a capful along with enough Coke to barely color it. He made his 6K [= Kina] overhead and 4K profit. I was treated to a double shot and quickly retreated to beer only (about 4).

Well on my way to oblivion and having turned my skin black (or so many people assured me), treated others to gin and cigarettes, and tried my best to refute notions of how civilized the drinking habits of whites were, I careened back to my own end of the village with the intention of napping a few hours of the afternoon in preparation for the evening session.

But upon my return I was offered a COLD beer (thanks to some of the boat's crew having snitched a bit of the block ice for keeping the fish catch fresh) and perhaps another. Some people got out handdrums and started a rather loose 'singsing' which I was urged to join and which, after some hesitation, I did join.

I must have performed about 1.5 hours, beating on the end of any empty plastic jug along with the other men and one or two females who danced on the periphery from time to time. The kaunsil's wife then called me for tea; her husband was already done for. I drank tea with biskits and went to my house, lay down without making the bed and was out for the rest of the evening, missing the nitetime guitar playing and dancing Western style and never really paying respects to the couple (a local woman and a Wain man--an area inland of Lae).

I awoke about the time everyone was going to sleep (probably about 2-3 am) and had a sleepless nite after taking two aspirins, two antacid tablets and making my bed. The next morning the whole village was pretty subdued and I sat at my desk the whole day finishing a paperback Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that had enthralled me for two days.

My mother sent pictures of the family which I showed around and cited kinship terms for. That is the magic trick for getting onto the mess of kinship terminology. Later in the evening I drew out the triangle and circle and line chart of all my relatives and now I feel I've pretty well got the meaning of each term down but finding out who's whose what is quite another matter, especially since the names of the in-laws are tabu. But I'm working on it.

Indications are that the Numbami used to be matrilineal but due to European influence (possibly local non-Austronesian influence as well) have begun to reckon by fathers rather than by mother's brothers. The kaunsil said the party was rubbish and that when we threw one there would be enough booze for the women to 'spark' as well.

Morobe Field Diary, July 1976: Village History

In the beginning the Numbami inhabited the 'inside' (leeward) of Awayagi Island (toward Morobe) and Ulingi Point (across the present cove from Awayagi toward Kuwi). All Sibomas will cite these as their asples ['seat-place' = homeland]. Whe they were living there is not clear. It is not within the living memory of any Siboma and preceded time of contact with records-keeping Europeans. I estimate 1850 or so.

At this time they were in the path of raiders from Morobe in the south and Lababia in the north. The Siboma court against Paiawa hinged on testimony from Morobe that Siboma were who they ran into when they came north. Paiawa at that time were 'man bilong bus' [inlanders] and did not live on the sea. Even now the [non-Austronesian] Paiawa are regarded as close relatives (thru intermarriage) but rather of the country-cousin variety. To the north the Kela were at Lababia though they apparently traded widely and that place was the site of a (yearly?) pig festival, called bada by Siboma & possibled related to their verb -bada 'to distibute', and called a sam by I don't know who [Jabêm-speakers]. Sam is what the yearly church meeting to be held in Kela this September is called.

To escape the raids the Numbami moved up in the hills above Karsimbo River and apparently were as mixed up with the Bapi people, all mountain people, as they are with the Paiawa now. Probably moreso; the 'two' groups were described as being really one by S., and the old kaunsil, who must have been born about the turn of the century or about a little before contact, says he is really a Bapi man. Since they had to have some time to get this mixed up with the Bapi (non-Austronesians like the Paiawa) they must have left Ulingi and Awayagi around 1850. When some Europeans came to this village, called Yawale, the Bapi refused to carry for them and apparently were massacred in retaliation. They fled farther up into the mountains (they now live on the Waria River) and the Sibomas came down to Karsimbo where they were living at the time the mission contacted them and (presumably) named their harbor Braunschweig Harbor. Karsimbo is a good defensible, deep-bayed place.

Apparently due to mission influence or maybe just the cessation of fighting they moved to their present location at the Sayama River (or creek really) in the shallow harbor situated between their old Ulingi Point and Awayagi Island. Apparently these old villages were abandoned so long ago that the old tall coconut trees have fallen down or broken. Now only young trees show where the old villages used to be. Karsimbo is still marked by tall old trees and still has a habitable shoreline whereas Ulingi (and probably Awayagi as well) have lost theirs.

The story with the Buso [up the coast toward Lae] and Kuwi (which also probly matches the court record) is apparently that at some time in the past a dysentery epidemic hit Lababia and everyone fled to their kinsmen all over the Huon Gulf (which may speak for how widely they traded since trade was mostly between kin). A Siboma man asked the Sibomas if he could settle some of his kinsmen at Kuwi (Ya to the Sibomas). Another group apparently established themselves at Buso (two coves up toward Lababia) independently at around that time. Well, later the Kela and allies--mainly, I take it, Kuwi, Buso and Lababia (all Kela wantoks [speakers of the same language])--planned a great raid on the Sibomas living at either Karsimbo or Yawale. They snuck up, surrounded the village during the nite and, at dawn, attacked the unprepared Numbami, reducing their number considerably. A while later the Siboma undertook a similar counterattack against Buso (or Kuwi?) and only desisted from slaughtering them all because they had a relative in the bunch. So, according to S., they killed one Buso for every Siboma dead in the darlier attack and called it even. Whether good sense or colonial rule put an end to that feud I don't know but it seems to have ended there.

The [Austronesian] Kaiwa were perhaps earlier pushed back by the Kelas and now considerable bitterness and fighting mars the relations between the two language groups. But S. thinks the Kaiwa, like the Paiawa, were earlier man bilong antap long bus ['people from up in the bush'] and that it was only with Kela evangelizing that they came to the coast.

A final point: the money paid by South Pac. Timber to the Sibomas was split 3 ways among the Paiawa, Bapi and Siboma--I think on a 3:3:4 (or 2:2:6?) basis.

P.S. No one knows how and why the name Siboma came to be applied to the Numbami.

SOURCES: Sawangga Aliau, kaunsil, and 'Abu Bamo' ['grandfather big'], former kaunsil, both of whom were involved in successful land claim court cases involving Siboma claims against Paiawa on the one hand and Kuwi (and Buso?) on the other.