West of the island of Timor lies the Rote islands,which archipelago consists of the main island of Rote,the island of Ndao and several other;unhabited;islands.
Once this archipelago had 19 principalities,so it was once the most densily with principalities populated area of Indonesia.
It has a surface of ca. 1214 km2 with now ca. 120.000 people.Apart from the many Rote people living on Timor and elsehwere in the province of NTT and more further.
The principalities differed in size,amount of people and years of existence.
But one principality came back in the history of this archipelago as an ambtious area:the nusak,or principality of Termanu.
Several times it's rulers tried to unite the raja rule of the whole archipelago of Rote Ndao under it's rule,but always in vain.The last time it was really tried was during the rule of the 16th raja: Manek Mauk Amalo(1820-1827).Because of acting with to much passion he was deposed and exiled from the island.After a raja from a side-line and several short rules,they found it better to call back the strong,but before aggressive ex-raja,who now had become a Christian and used his name,which he already had before as a crownprince:Daniel Johannes Mauk Amalo
He had done good service in between for Holland in a battle with another ambitious raja:the manek of the quite good populated principality of Dengka.
So from 1840 he was again the manek of Termanu.But he maybe had changed his old religion,but his ruling ambitions still wandered in his mind and now with more idealism he tried to make one kingdom of the Rote islands:a normal process we can see all over the world.
But the way he tried to reach it was not liked by the then paramount power in the area:Holland.
They disapproved his brutal way of acting and other matters.So in februari 1843 he was again deposed and exiled.This time to Ambon and later with his oldest son to Surabaya.
His clan was removed from Rote,because then being to influential stil.
For some time the rule was returned to the previous side/line of the dynasty,but in 1860 returning to the Amalo branch and that remained so mostly until the present time( as son of the brother of Ex-manek Mauk Amalo became the new manek in 1859).
From ca. 1910 espacially Holland tried to unite a lot of little principalities on Rote and elsewhere in Indonesia to have a more beter coördination and overview over each area.On Rote the 19 different dynasties now became sub-district rulers under a paramount ruler.
The Amalo dynasty then still for all kind of reasons was seen as a dynasty,who could deliver a good candidate for the paramount rule:Crownprince Jacob Amalo in the last part of the unification already.
But most of the other 18 dynasties were much against a paramount rule of the before seen as the Napoleon dynasty of Rote.Already for long the characteristics of this dynasty had changed, but stll the old fears were there,not in the least by the 3 dynasties,who had seperated themselves from Termanu in ca. 1772.
For some reasons even Prince Jacob Amalo never became a manek of Termanu.His youngest brother Ernst Johannis Jeremias Michiel Amalo became in 1947 finally the manek of Termanu,from 1914-1946 Termanu was ruled by his uncle and 2 of his cousins(sons of that uncle).
The facts,that Prince Ernst Amalo became manek was in fact the following of an old rule,to let the raja as much as possible be succeeded by his youngest son(so that the rule would be stable,because a young raja would enable a long rule,a vast succesion of rajas would produce an unstable atmosphere).
From 1912 the rajas of Termanu also were the districtchiefs of Lomakoli and in 1918 that district was enlarged to a bigger district called Rote Talada.
From before 1928 Holland then first asked a prince of the manek dynasty of OEpao to be the government raja of the Rote islands.This trully Christian protestant priest was known as a peacemaker above to serve him as a raja.
So then they found a colonial official,who was member of the vice-raja clan of the oldest principality on Rote:Joël Simon Kedoh from Landu.
It was the good,that he married the sister of the later Manek Ernst Amalo,because then he would be better accepted and respected by the rajas.
Manek Ernst Amalo ruled in fact only really in Termanu until 1963,because,although Rote was a bit decentralised later,after ca. 1930,at the end there were sill some districts.
Manek Ernst Amalo was such a districtruler from 1963-1966;represented locally in Termanu by his sub-raja,or fettor called Franz Biredoko.
In 1966,the time,when more and more the raja governments on these islands ceased to exist sem-offically and officially,he choose to make a carrier in the regional politics.
He was succeeded until 1970 by the son of his brother Migel/Michiel:Manek John Amalo(already deceased before 2000).
Also on the Rote islands the government and society had reorientated themselves on the values of the traditional local social systems from ca. 2000,as elsewhere in Indonesia,to be stimulated and enabled by the national deenrtaliaton laws of 1999 and by oher central regulated matters .
Many good values in it were rediscovered.Total harmonious society was hoped for.
On 14-10-2007 the oldest son of the last regarded real elected manek of Termanu;Manek Ernst Amalo(Manek John Amalo was more see as a temporary replacement of him,because his uncle was still alive(and died only in 1984))Prince Soleman Jermias Miquel Amalo was installed as the dynastychief of Temanu and his brother Joel J.M. Amalo as the crownprince.In 2004 the dynastychief was already regarded semi-officially as dynastychief,but his bad health already gave the idea better later to make is brother Prince Joël the new manek.
In 2007 they stil wanted to give the oldest son of the last real manek the honour to function officially as dynastychief,but in 2011 he would make place for his brother Prince Joël Amalo.
So on 15-10-2011 after more than 60 years again a new chosen manek was installed by the council of 16(the present coördinator was the former first mayor of Kupang city,Prince Messakh Amalo.)
In fact the total installation days;before,during and after the actual installation;was open for many people,the actual installation day for everybody,but in fact they had kept it a more innerdynastic affair.
So the other 18 dynasties of Rote Ndao were attending on a representative basis by Manek Reverend Soleman Zacharias of Loleh,the local government by Vice-Governor Drs. Esthon Foenay of the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur and by Camat(sub-districtchief) Drs. Jhon Nite of Rote Tengah(Middle- Rote) with their delegations.
The provincial royalty was represented by Raja/Usif Leopold Isu Nisnoni of Kupang(his mother was the sister of Manek Ernst Amalo),Usif Drs. Theodorus Taolin of Insana/Timor(his sister is married with the first mayor of Kupang city;Prince Messakh Amalo,being the son of a former regent- raja of Termanu),Raja Michael Bria;vice-liurai of Malakka/Belu/Timor and Liurai Joseph Seran of Waiwiku/Belu/Timor.
Manek Joël Jermias Miquel Amalo is for long known as a member of the local parliament of the district of Kupang,of which until not so long ago Rote Ndao was a part.
The Rote people are known for being quite sobre in their ceremonies,so after some welcome and other dances for the high guests and the to be installed raja,there was only a relative simple ceremony,wich made him the new manek of Termanu.The list of the rajas was mentioned.Termanu was before ruled by 34 rajas,of which a few were temporary rajas, and only a some from outside the dynasty.The first raja was Ma Bulan and before him the ruling clan know 15 more names of ancestors,who not lived on Rote.
Also the glory of the dynasty was mentioned and the history of the nusak,or principality mentioned as well.
Then the statedagger,or keris,belonging to each of the to be installed maneks of Termanu,then was handed over to him and also a nice decorated box in which was laid the Bible on which the dynasty had promessed since 1827 to found their rule upon.The before very ambitious last Napoleon of Rote Ndao,Mau Amalo(deposed for the first time in 1827) was the last non-Christian manek of Termanu.
After the blessing by the protestant priest and praying to the Almighty he was the new manek of Termanu.Of course also he weared the special local woven traditional clothes as well the ti ilanga;a hat special from Rote, made by natural material and inspirated by the 16th century Portugese hats,which were on Rote Ndao before the Dutch people.From a hat,you can see from which area the owner is and what is his function in society.(The Ti langa is als a symbol of the Rote Ndao islands and also used a bit as a symbol in the local province of NTT).
Also this installation also can be seen as the first real open installation of a manek,or dynastychief of a nusak ,or area of Rote Ndao in the so-called modern time.Before also in Thie,Loleh,Baa,Landu and some others areas a new manek,or dynastychief was installed,but only in more innerdynastic ceremonies..
May the example of Termanu to preserve the good things in the traditional social system(also a holy advise by the Almighty)be followed by the other dynasties of Rote Ndao islands,before known not also as the most densily by principalities populated area,but also as the area,where the rajas ceased as the last one's in Indonesia to rule as a raja or by rajas in fact.
D.P. Tick gMK
I. Festivana
Once this archipelago had 19 principalities,so it was once the most densily with principalities populated area of Indonesia.
It has a surface of ca. 1214 km2 with now ca. 120.000 people.Apart from the many Rote people living on Timor and elsehwere in the province of NTT and more further.
The principalities differed in size,amount of people and years of existence.
But one principality came back in the history of this archipelago as an ambtious area:the nusak,or principality of Termanu.
Several times it's rulers tried to unite the raja rule of the whole archipelago of Rote Ndao under it's rule,but always in vain.The last time it was really tried was during the rule of the 16th raja: Manek Mauk Amalo(1820-1827).Because of acting with to much passion he was deposed and exiled from the island.After a raja from a side-line and several short rules,they found it better to call back the strong,but before aggressive ex-raja,who now had become a Christian and used his name,which he already had before as a crownprince:Daniel Johannes Mauk Amalo
He had done good service in between for Holland in a battle with another ambitious raja:the manek of the quite good populated principality of Dengka.
So from 1840 he was again the manek of Termanu.But he maybe had changed his old religion,but his ruling ambitions still wandered in his mind and now with more idealism he tried to make one kingdom of the Rote islands:a normal process we can see all over the world.
But the way he tried to reach it was not liked by the then paramount power in the area:Holland.
They disapproved his brutal way of acting and other matters.So in februari 1843 he was again deposed and exiled.This time to Ambon and later with his oldest son to Surabaya.
His clan was removed from Rote,because then being to influential stil.
For some time the rule was returned to the previous side/line of the dynasty,but in 1860 returning to the Amalo branch and that remained so mostly until the present time( as son of the brother of Ex-manek Mauk Amalo became the new manek in 1859).
From ca. 1910 espacially Holland tried to unite a lot of little principalities on Rote and elsewhere in Indonesia to have a more beter coördination and overview over each area.On Rote the 19 different dynasties now became sub-district rulers under a paramount ruler.
The Amalo dynasty then still for all kind of reasons was seen as a dynasty,who could deliver a good candidate for the paramount rule:Crownprince Jacob Amalo in the last part of the unification already.
But most of the other 18 dynasties were much against a paramount rule of the before seen as the Napoleon dynasty of Rote.Already for long the characteristics of this dynasty had changed, but stll the old fears were there,not in the least by the 3 dynasties,who had seperated themselves from Termanu in ca. 1772.
For some reasons even Prince Jacob Amalo never became a manek of Termanu.His youngest brother Ernst Johannis Jeremias Michiel Amalo became in 1947 finally the manek of Termanu,from 1914-1946 Termanu was ruled by his uncle and 2 of his cousins(sons of that uncle).
The facts,that Prince Ernst Amalo became manek was in fact the following of an old rule,to let the raja as much as possible be succeeded by his youngest son(so that the rule would be stable,because a young raja would enable a long rule,a vast succesion of rajas would produce an unstable atmosphere).
From 1912 the rajas of Termanu also were the districtchiefs of Lomakoli and in 1918 that district was enlarged to a bigger district called Rote Talada.
From before 1928 Holland then first asked a prince of the manek dynasty of OEpao to be the government raja of the Rote islands.This trully Christian protestant priest was known as a peacemaker above to serve him as a raja.
So then they found a colonial official,who was member of the vice-raja clan of the oldest principality on Rote:Joël Simon Kedoh from Landu.
It was the good,that he married the sister of the later Manek Ernst Amalo,because then he would be better accepted and respected by the rajas.
Manek Ernst Amalo ruled in fact only really in Termanu until 1963,because,although Rote was a bit decentralised later,after ca. 1930,at the end there were sill some districts.
Manek Ernst Amalo was such a districtruler from 1963-1966;represented locally in Termanu by his sub-raja,or fettor called Franz Biredoko.
In 1966,the time,when more and more the raja governments on these islands ceased to exist sem-offically and officially,he choose to make a carrier in the regional politics.
He was succeeded until 1970 by the son of his brother Migel/Michiel:Manek John Amalo(already deceased before 2000).
Also on the Rote islands the government and society had reorientated themselves on the values of the traditional local social systems from ca. 2000,as elsewhere in Indonesia,to be stimulated and enabled by the national deenrtaliaton laws of 1999 and by oher central regulated matters .
Many good values in it were rediscovered.Total harmonious society was hoped for.
On 14-10-2007 the oldest son of the last regarded real elected manek of Termanu;Manek Ernst Amalo(Manek John Amalo was more see as a temporary replacement of him,because his uncle was still alive(and died only in 1984))Prince Soleman Jermias Miquel Amalo was installed as the dynastychief of Temanu and his brother Joel J.M. Amalo as the crownprince.In 2004 the dynastychief was already regarded semi-officially as dynastychief,but his bad health already gave the idea better later to make is brother Prince Joël the new manek.
In 2007 they stil wanted to give the oldest son of the last real manek the honour to function officially as dynastychief,but in 2011 he would make place for his brother Prince Joël Amalo.
So on 15-10-2011 after more than 60 years again a new chosen manek was installed by the council of 16(the present coördinator was the former first mayor of Kupang city,Prince Messakh Amalo.)
In fact the total installation days;before,during and after the actual installation;was open for many people,the actual installation day for everybody,but in fact they had kept it a more innerdynastic affair.
So the other 18 dynasties of Rote Ndao were attending on a representative basis by Manek Reverend Soleman Zacharias of Loleh,the local government by Vice-Governor Drs. Esthon Foenay of the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur and by Camat(sub-districtchief) Drs. Jhon Nite of Rote Tengah(Middle- Rote) with their delegations.
The provincial royalty was represented by Raja/Usif Leopold Isu Nisnoni of Kupang(his mother was the sister of Manek Ernst Amalo),Usif Drs. Theodorus Taolin of Insana/Timor(his sister is married with the first mayor of Kupang city;Prince Messakh Amalo,being the son of a former regent- raja of Termanu),Raja Michael Bria;vice-liurai of Malakka/Belu/Timor and Liurai Joseph Seran of Waiwiku/Belu/Timor.
Manek Joël Jermias Miquel Amalo is for long known as a member of the local parliament of the district of Kupang,of which until not so long ago Rote Ndao was a part.
The Rote people are known for being quite sobre in their ceremonies,so after some welcome and other dances for the high guests and the to be installed raja,there was only a relative simple ceremony,wich made him the new manek of Termanu.The list of the rajas was mentioned.Termanu was before ruled by 34 rajas,of which a few were temporary rajas, and only a some from outside the dynasty.The first raja was Ma Bulan and before him the ruling clan know 15 more names of ancestors,who not lived on Rote.
Also the glory of the dynasty was mentioned and the history of the nusak,or principality mentioned as well.
Then the statedagger,or keris,belonging to each of the to be installed maneks of Termanu,then was handed over to him and also a nice decorated box in which was laid the Bible on which the dynasty had promessed since 1827 to found their rule upon.The before very ambitious last Napoleon of Rote Ndao,Mau Amalo(deposed for the first time in 1827) was the last non-Christian manek of Termanu.
After the blessing by the protestant priest and praying to the Almighty he was the new manek of Termanu.Of course also he weared the special local woven traditional clothes as well the ti ilanga;a hat special from Rote, made by natural material and inspirated by the 16th century Portugese hats,which were on Rote Ndao before the Dutch people.From a hat,you can see from which area the owner is and what is his function in society.(The Ti langa is als a symbol of the Rote Ndao islands and also used a bit as a symbol in the local province of NTT).
Also this installation also can be seen as the first real open installation of a manek,or dynastychief of a nusak ,or area of Rote Ndao in the so-called modern time.Before also in Thie,Loleh,Baa,Landu and some others areas a new manek,or dynastychief was installed,but only in more innerdynastic ceremonies..
May the example of Termanu to preserve the good things in the traditional social system(also a holy advise by the Almighty)be followed by the other dynasties of Rote Ndao islands,before known not also as the most densily by principalities populated area,but also as the area,where the rajas ceased as the last one's in Indonesia to rule as a raja or by rajas in fact.
D.P. Tick gMK
I. Festivana
