Lontara and Makasar scripts

Origin
The Lontara and Makasar scripts are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India. The name lontara derives from the Malay word for the palmyra palm, lontar, the leaves of which are the traditional material for manuscripts in India, South East Asia and Indonesia.

Notable features
Type of writing system: syllabic alphabet/alphasyllabary
Direction of writing: left to right in horizontal lines
In common with other Brahmi-derived syllabic alphabets, each consonant has an inherent vowel [a], other vowels are indicated by adding diacritics above or below a consonant.
Used to write:
Bugis or Buginese, Makasar and Mandar, Austronesian languages spoken on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Both scripts were once used to write laws, treaties, maps, etc in Bugis, but are now only used for marriage ceremonies. The Makasar script is still widely used to write Makasar, although the Latin alphabet is officially favoured.

Lontara consonants


Makasar consonants


Vowel diacritics


Sample text in the Lontara script

Makassarese Language

Makassar (sometimes spelled Makasar or Macassar) is both a language and a writing system used by the ethnic Makassar in South Sulawesi island (Celebes) in Indonesia.

The Makassar language is a member of the Austronesian language family, and closely related to Buginese in the group South Sulawesi languages.

Although Makassarese is now often written with the Roman alphabet, it is still widely written in its own distinctive script, also called Lontara, which once was used also to write important documents in Bugis and Mandar, two related language from Sulawesi.

The Makassar symbols are written using mostly straight oblique lines and dots. In spite of its quite distinctive appearance, it is derived from the ancient Brahmi scripts of India. Like other descendants of that script, each consonant has an inherent vowel “a”, which is not marked. Other vowels can be indicated by adding one of five diacritics above, below, or on either side of each consonant.

Some common words/phrases in the Makassar language using the Roman alphabet are as follows (’ = glottal stop):

balla’ = house;
bulu = hair/fur;
bambang = hot/warm;
cipuru’ = hungry;
doe’ = money;
iyo = yes;
jappa-jappa = to go for a walk;
lompo = big/large;
sallo = long;
tabe’ = excuse me;
tena = no;
karaeng = king;
apa kareba? = how are you?;
lakeko mae? = where are you going?;
battu kemae ko? = where have you been?
ballang = get tanned
botto’ = smelly
rantasa’ = disgusting
sallo = slowly
battala = fatty
billa = far away
gele-gele = tickle
kong kong = dog
jarang = horse
bembe’ = goat

Bugis of Indonesia

Who are the Bugis?

The Bugis (sometimes called the Ugi) live in the province of South Sulawesi. The Bugis region is called Tellumponcoe, and it consists of the regencies of Bone, Wajo, and Soppeng. There are also Bugis people settled throughout the regencies of Luwu, Sidenneng, Polmas, Pinrang, Pare-pare, Barru, Pangkajene, Maros, Bulukumba, and Sinjai. The Bugis are a dynamic and highly mobile people, considered by many to be the dominant people group in South Sulawesi. Many Bugis have left their home area to seek success and wealth. In particular, they have migrated to Sumbawa, Jawa, Papua, and even Malaysia. Their Ugi language is divided into several dialects, namely Luwu, Wajo, Bira Selayar, Palaka, Sindenneng and Sawito.


What are their lives like?

Most Bugis people make their living by hunting, fishing, farming, raising livestock or making handicrafts. Typically, the Bugis who live in the mountain ranges gain their livelihood by working the soil, while those living in the coastal areas generally work as fishermen. The Bugis traditional dress is called Wajo Ponco, which is believed to have originated from Melayu (Malay) dress. Currently, the dress is only used for traditional ceremonies and dances. The Bugis believe very strongly that certain days are good days, with good fortune for events and activities held on the first Wednesday and last Thursday of each month. Conversely, they consider Saturday to be a bad day, with misfortune more likely to happen on this day. In Bugis tradition there are different levels of social status that are based upon one's ancestors. These different levels include descendants of a king, descendants of nobles (La Patau), descendants of district administrators (Aru Lili) and descendants of various kinds of slaves. Two of the most important cultural values for the Bugis people are called siri (personal honor) and siri-pesse (communal honor). A Bugis person must defend, maintain, and build one's own siri. The effort to obtain and maintain siri varies according to the context. For instance, in an economic context, siri means working hard and being faithful. In a personal context, if one's siri is offended serious forms of revenge will be considered. Islam reinforced the traditional Bugis concept of siri in such a way that today the typical Bugis person sees siri as the key to his or her self-identity as a Bugis Muslim. The Bugis line of descent is bilateral (traced through both parents). After marriage the newlyweds may choose to live near either the husband's or wife's family, although initially, they live at least briefly near the wife's family.


What do they believe?

The Bugis people are famous for their fervent adherence to Sunni Islam. However, many of them are still bound to their traditional system of animistic beliefs (panngaderreng). In part due to its religious values, traditional culture has a significant impact on the Bugis.


What are their needs?

At present, the Bugis need financial investment and modernization in public shipping and the fishing industry, because there is large potential in these sectors. Also, South Sulawesi's potential in the mining and industrial sectors is still largely untapped, due to a lack of expertise and investment.


Courtesy from: http://www.joshuaproject.net

The Bugis of Malaysia

Who are the Bugis?
The Bugis people are acclaimed sea traders and legendary warriors from Indonesia. They first came to Malaysia in the 16th century and settled in various parts of Malaysia in the states of Johor, Selangor, and Pulau Pinang. Francis Light once called them "the best merchants" among the eastern islands. By the 1700s, they dominated Selangor's politics and economy and eventually established the Sultanate of Selangor; the current Sultan traces his roots back to the Bugis Empire. The 18th century has been called, the "Age of the Bugis." There are several Bugis communities scattered along Sabah's southeast coast.

What are their lives like?
The Bugis people are cultured and well-mannered, but acknowledged also as aggressive warriors. In the past, Malay princes hired them as mercenaries due to their renowned war dances and chants. In Johor today, many Bugis are landlords of large coconut and coffee plantations, while some are smallholders and fishermen. Bugis people are also known to be excellent craftsmen, for example, building houses without using nails. Their architectural influence is evident in some of today's Malay houses.

Being proud of their self-image, many Bugis people are active in reviving their culture, language, and heritage, though many younger Bugis cannot speak the language anymore due to assimilation into the Malay community through intermarriage. However, some customs remain highly esteemed; for example, those who serve should not turn their backs to those who eat, and no one should leave the dining area until the entire meal is finished.

In marriages, courtship begins through subtle overtures by the potential groom's family. To woo her, they will send her family a tepak sirih (a gift box with food or betel nut) as a sign of interest. Eating this food means acceptance; otherwise, they need more time to consider. Once the match is agreed upon, the girl will live in the loft area of her house to preserve her chastity until the wedding day. The groom is blindfolded on the eve of the wedding and must find his bride among the women in the room. After the ceremony, he grabs her and brings her into the bridal chamber. This signifies the warrior instinct of the Bugis. This practice is still carried out today, especially among traditional families.

What do they believe?
The Bugis were among the early converts to Buddhism, but later converted to Islam in the early 1600s. Superstition is strong in daily life: there are many do's and don'ts associated with pregnancy, childbirth, eating, fishing, planting, and opening windows. For instance, the whole skeleton of the fish must be removed and thrown away before they can eat the other side of it. Not to do so brings bad luck. When dressing, buttons are fastened beginning at the bottom, but unfastened from the top to the bottom, signifying a proper ordering of events. Windows are likewise opened with the bottom latches undone first while praying to drive away evil and bad luck.

What are their needs?
The Bugis have a rich cultural heritage in the region that is under pressure to conform to the majority Malay culture. Pray for doors of opportunity to bless the Bugis people by helping them preserve their unique culture designed by their Creator.

History and Lifestyle

History

The homeland of the Bugis is the area around Lake Tempe and Lake Sidenreng in the Walennae Depression in the southwest peninsula. It was here that the ancestors of the present-day Bugis settled, probably in the mid- to late second millennium BC. The area is rich in fish and wildlife and the annual fluctuation of Lake Tempe (a reservoir lake for the Bila and Walennae rivers) allows speculative planting of wet rice, while the hills can be farmed by swidden or shifting cultivation. The Bugis were organized into small chiefdoms, with economies based on a mixture of shifting cultivation, wet rice, gathering and hunting. Around AD 1200 the availability of prestigious imported goods including Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics and Gujerati print-block textiles, coupled with newly discovered sources of iron ore in Luwu stimulated an agrarian revolution which expanded from the great lakes region into the lowland plains to the east, south and west of the Walennae depression. This led over the next 400 years to the development of the major kingdoms of South Sulawesi, and the social transformation of chiefly societies into hierarchical proto-states.

Present Lifestyle

Most present-day Bugis now earn their living as rice farmers, traders or fishermen. Women help with the agricultural cycle and work in the homes. Some women still weave the silk sarongs worn on festive occasions by men and women.
Most Bugis live in stilted houses, sometimes three meters (9 feet) or more off the ground, with plank walls and floors. During growing seasons some family members may reside in little huts dispersed among the fields.
Many of the marriages are still arranged by parents and ideally take place between cousins. A newlywed couple often lives with the wife\’s family for the first few years of their marriage. Divorce is a fairly common occurrence, particularly when the married couple are still in their teens.
The Bugis\’ diet consists mainly of rice, maize, fish, chicken, vegetables, fruit and coffee. On festive occasions, goat is served as a special dish. Visual and performing arts, such as dance and recitations of epic poetry have largely been replaced by modern entertaiments such as karaoke.

Religion

The Bugis converted from indigenous animistic practices and beliefs to Islam in the early 1600s. A few west coast rulers converted to Christianity in the mid-sixteenth century but failure by the Portuguese at Malacca to provide priests meant that this did not last. By 1611, all the Makasar and Bugis kingdoms had converted to Islam, though pockets of animists (the Bugis To Lotang at Amparita and the Makasar Konja in Bulukumba persist to this day. Practices originating in the pre-Islamic period also survive, such as ancestor veneration and spirit possession. Though such practice are less inclined to be performed by the current generation as now most are educated in Islam.

The Bugis in the Malay Archipelago

The conclusion in 1669 of a protracted civil war led to a diaspora of Bugis and their entry into the politics of peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. Under the leadership of Daeng Parani, the descendants of two families settled on the Linggi and Selangor rivers and became the power behind the Johor throne, with the creation of the office of the Yang Dipertuan Muda (Yam Tuan Muda), or Bugis underking.[3]
Sea ExplorationRespected as traders and sailors, and feared occasionally as adventurers and pirates, the seafarers of southern Sulawesi looked outwards, seeking their fortunes throughout the Indonesian archipelago. While trade was the seafarers\’ main goal, the Makasar, Bajau, and Bugis often set up permanent settlements, either through conquest or diplomacy, and marrying into local societies. However, their reputation as seafarers dates to after 1670; most Bugis were, and are, rice farmers.

The Bugis in Northern Australia

Long before European colonialists extended their influence into these waters, the Makasar, the Bajau, and the Bugis built elegant, ocean-going schooners in which they plied the trade routes. Intrepid and doughty, they travelled as far east as the Aru Islands, off New Guinea, where they traded in the skins of birds of paradise and medicinal masoya bark, and to northern Australia, where they exchanged shells, birds\’-nests and mother-of-pearl for knives and salt with Aboriginal tribes. The products of the forest and sea that they brought back were avidly sought after in the markets and entrepots of Asia, where the Bugis bartered for opium, silk, cotton, firearms and gunpowder.
The Bugis sailors left their mark and culture on an area of the northern Australian coast which stretches over two thousand kilometers from the Kimberley to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Throughout these parts of northern Australia, there is much evidence of a significant Bugis presence. There are the remains of Bugis buildings on islands, Bugis words have become part of the Aboriginal languages and Bugis men and their craft feature in the indigenous art of the people of Arnhem Land.[citation needed] courtesy from Wikipedia