Before ruthless European colonization, before the “founding” by western traders, before passports and slaves, Southeast Asia was a single entity, inhabited by diverse communities that traveled freely into one another’s lands. And the occasional willful, infighting kings and revengeful warriors that were legendary and became colourful, popular tales.
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With such conversation in mind, this picture came about. Imagine, some time in those ancient days, a Bugis and a Bawean sitting side by side, speaking in a familiar respective, colourful language, wearing distinctive threads that define one another and extending the Silatur-rahim within the Nusantara.
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That’s Sarafian, who is proudly wearing the traditional court attire of the Bugis people. He mentioned that the Bugis sarong is identified by a distinctive gold thread weaving. His keris is tucked at the waist. The Bawean (the land) is identified by a distinctive deer only found on the island. The Bugis were known to be boat builders and ruthless sea warriors who used to rule much of the south china seas. The Bawean, who used to leave the island with women while the men folks travelled the seas to find rezki for their respective families (thus, “The Isle of Women”), were rumoured to harbour special skills of the fourth dimension. Interesting tales indeed 🤠.
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These days, the descendants of the Bawean and Bugis in Singapore hang out at heartland kopitiams for teh tarek and chatted about being warriors during national service. Oh, the Indians and Chinese buddies will chip in to share shenanigans while donning the camouflaged greens too. 🤪
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(Pic @hidayah_amin) #reeljuice #filmmaker #filmmaking #storyteller #storytelling #bawean #boyan #phebien #bugis #sulawesi #culture #heritage #malaysia #singapore #indonesia #southeastasia #asia #nusantara #nusantarakita #sgmemory
▫️
With such conversation in mind, this picture came about. Imagine, some time in those ancient days, a Bugis and a Bawean sitting side by side, speaking in a familiar respective, colourful language, wearing distinctive threads that define one another and extending the Silatur-rahim within the Nusantara.
▫️
That’s Sarafian, who is proudly wearing the traditional court attire of the Bugis people. He mentioned that the Bugis sarong is identified by a distinctive gold thread weaving. His keris is tucked at the waist. The Bawean (the land) is identified by a distinctive deer only found on the island. The Bugis were known to be boat builders and ruthless sea warriors who used to rule much of the south china seas. The Bawean, who used to leave the island with women while the men folks travelled the seas to find rezki for their respective families (thus, “The Isle of Women”), were rumoured to harbour special skills of the fourth dimension. Interesting tales indeed 🤠.
▫️
These days, the descendants of the Bawean and Bugis in Singapore hang out at heartland kopitiams for teh tarek and chatted about being warriors during national service. Oh, the Indians and Chinese buddies will chip in to share shenanigans while donning the camouflaged greens too. 🤪
▫️
(Pic @hidayah_amin) #reeljuice #filmmaker #filmmaking #storyteller #storytelling #bawean #boyan #phebien #bugis #sulawesi #culture #heritage #malaysia #singapore #indonesia #southeastasia #asia #nusantara #nusantarakita #sgmemory
