Modern Christianity came to the Indonesian archipelago together with Western traders in the 16th century. The first baptism was in 1534 in Tobelo, Halmahera, by a Roman Catholic priest. The famous Asian Apostle, Francis Xavier, along with other Jesuit and Franciscan priests, baptized many native people in Eastern Indonesia in the short Roman Catholic period. In the early 17th century, trade and political power was taken over by the Dutch East Indies Company, and, following the Western Reformation adagium of cuius regio eius religio, most of the Roman Catholic congregations were forced to become Calvinist Protestants. But under the Dutch in general, there was no serious Christian mission until the 19th century when mission boards in the Netherlands and Germany sent missionaries to works among “infidels” in Indonesia. The Dutch colonial power protected her own political and economical interests by applying restrictions to the missions. There were to be no missions among the Muslims, and therefore, most of the regions, such as Java and Bali, were closed.
Only remote regions of tribal people with their respective tribal religions were allowed to be Christianized. But the power of the Gospel found its own way into the different parts of Java and to the Balinese. The main mission fields were among the Bataks and Nias people in North Sumatra, the Dayaks in Kalimantan, and among the people in the Eastern Indonesia islands.
The Torajan is one of the four major ethnic groups of South Sulawesi. The three others, Bugineese, Makassareese, and Mandareese, were converted to Islam in the 16th century. There were some attempts to introduce the Christian Gospel to South Sulawesi during the Roman Catholic era in the 16th century, but these failed due to political, religious and cultural factors. The Torajan lived in the highland and for a long time were closed off from surrounding regions. There were some campaigns from the Islamic kingdoms to conquer and Islamize the Torajan but none succeeded.
On the contrary, threats from their neighbors united the different autonomous regions as one people in one integrated region, called “a land of full moon and circled sun”. There is an
oft-repeated story of Torajan leaders with “one vision and one commitment” who lead their people to resist the invasion of huge Bone Kingdom warriors in the 18th century. Eventually a traditional peace ritual between the Torajan and its Buginese neighboring powers was performed and sealed by a religiously sanctioned oath.
From their Buginese neighbors the Torajan learned and developed dice gambling and cock-fighting. Islam was received among a minority of Torajan on the eastern border close to the Luwu Kingdom, mainly through marriages and kinships. The Torajan were exposed to modern history in the 19th century due to its famous Arabica coffee and its slave trade. The internal intrigues and rivalries among neighboring kingdoms brought the intervention of the Dutch colonial “pacification” troops in the first decade of the last century, followed by the Christian missions.
Like some other remote regions in Indonesia, the Torajan underwent revolutionary change in the early decades of 20th century. Christian faith was introduced in 1908 through primary schools, and some years later, the Association of Dutch Reformed Mission (GZB) began a more systematic mission in the Torajan and Luwu regions. It was really hard work due to the Torajan’s strong traditional culture its religious attachment. In the end, the Christian mission failed to subdue Torajan tradition.
The most important aspects of the Torajan culture are its clan house kinships and its rites for the dead (funeral feast or burial ceremony). By the time of occupation by Japanese navy troops in 1942 less than thirty percent of the population had been baptized. In 1947 the Christian congregations was organized under the synod of the Torajan church. Roman Catholic and other denominations were also accepted but only by a small number of Torajan.
The hardship under the Japan occupation was subsequently followed in turn by NICA (Netherland-Indies Civil Administration) efforts to crush the Indonesian independence movement and resistance from the revolutionary youths, and then by the persecution of Christians by Islamic guerrillas in the 1950s.
The Torajan managed to resist the guerrillas, but the Christians in the Luwu regions, such as in Rongkong and Seko suffered very much. Villages were burned, and people were forced to convert to Islam. Many people were killed, and others fled to neighboring regions. There are no Christian congregations in the Rongkong region now because the refugees refused to go back. In contrast, Christians of the Seko regions fought back to free their homeland in the 1960s and brought back their people.
Read related posts about Toraja:
The Torajan is one of the four major ethnic groups of South Sulawesi. The three others, Bugineese, Makassareese, and Mandareese, were converted to Islam in the 16th century. There were some attempts to introduce the Christian Gospel to South Sulawesi during the Roman Catholic era in the 16th century, but these failed due to political, religious and cultural factors. The Torajan lived in the highland and for a long time were closed off from surrounding regions. There were some campaigns from the Islamic kingdoms to conquer and Islamize the Torajan but none succeeded.
On the contrary, threats from their neighbors united the different autonomous regions as one people in one integrated region, called “a land of full moon and circled sun”. There is an
oft-repeated story of Torajan leaders with “one vision and one commitment” who lead their people to resist the invasion of huge Bone Kingdom warriors in the 18th century. Eventually a traditional peace ritual between the Torajan and its Buginese neighboring powers was performed and sealed by a religiously sanctioned oath.
From their Buginese neighbors the Torajan learned and developed dice gambling and cock-fighting. Islam was received among a minority of Torajan on the eastern border close to the Luwu Kingdom, mainly through marriages and kinships. The Torajan were exposed to modern history in the 19th century due to its famous Arabica coffee and its slave trade. The internal intrigues and rivalries among neighboring kingdoms brought the intervention of the Dutch colonial “pacification” troops in the first decade of the last century, followed by the Christian missions.
Like some other remote regions in Indonesia, the Torajan underwent revolutionary change in the early decades of 20th century. Christian faith was introduced in 1908 through primary schools, and some years later, the Association of Dutch Reformed Mission (GZB) began a more systematic mission in the Torajan and Luwu regions. It was really hard work due to the Torajan’s strong traditional culture its religious attachment. In the end, the Christian mission failed to subdue Torajan tradition.
The most important aspects of the Torajan culture are its clan house kinships and its rites for the dead (funeral feast or burial ceremony). By the time of occupation by Japanese navy troops in 1942 less than thirty percent of the population had been baptized. In 1947 the Christian congregations was organized under the synod of the Torajan church. Roman Catholic and other denominations were also accepted but only by a small number of Torajan.
The hardship under the Japan occupation was subsequently followed in turn by NICA (Netherland-Indies Civil Administration) efforts to crush the Indonesian independence movement and resistance from the revolutionary youths, and then by the persecution of Christians by Islamic guerrillas in the 1950s.
The Torajan managed to resist the guerrillas, but the Christians in the Luwu regions, such as in Rongkong and Seko suffered very much. Villages were burned, and people were forced to convert to Islam. Many people were killed, and others fled to neighboring regions. There are no Christian congregations in the Rongkong region now because the refugees refused to go back. In contrast, Christians of the Seko regions fought back to free their homeland in the 1960s and brought back their people.
Read related posts about Toraja:
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