History of Lombok

 

Lombok Island is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands or Nusa Tenggara which is separated by the Lombok Strait from Bali Island in the west and the Alas Strait from Sumbawa Island in the east which is part of the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province. The province of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) includes 2 major islands, namely Lombok and Sumbawa, Lombok Island itself consists of 1 Municipality, namely Mataram, which is also the capital of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province and 4 districts, namely West Lombok, Central Lombok, East Lombok and North Lombok. Geographically, Lombok Island is located at the coordinate point 8.565'S 116.351'E with an area of ​​4,514.11 km2 where the Lombok Strait is a boundary marker for Asian flora and fauna. Starting from the island of Lombok to the east, the flora and fauna show more similarities to the flora and fauna found in Australia than in Asia. In the 19th century a scientist who came from England Alfred Russel Wallace was the figure who first stated this so that to pay homage to him this boundary was called the Wallace Line. The island's topography is dominated by a volcano, namely Mount Rinjani, which reaches 3,726m above sea level, making it the third highest in Indonesia. In 1997 based on the Minister of Forestry Decree No. 280 / Kpts-VI / 1997 the Mount Rinjani area is designated as a National Park with a definitive area of ​​41.330h with the aim of ensuring this area remains sustainable. Based on the 2014 population census, Lombok Island has a total population of 3,311,044 where 85% of the island's population is Sasak and the rest are Balinese, Samawa, Mbojo, Javanese, Bugis, Arabic and Chinese. Besides Language Indonesian as the national language, the inhabitants of Lombok Island, especially the Sasak tribe, use the Sasak language as the main language in their daily conversation. Apart from the Sasak language as the language of everyday conversation, Balinese is also often used as an everyday language, especially in the City of Mataram, West and North Lombok because in this area there are quite a lot of Balinese tribal villages. In script, the Sasak language is very similar to Java and Bali, both using the Ha Na Ca Ra Ka script system. But in pronunciation, the Sasak language is closer to Balinese. According to the ethnologist who collects all languages ​​in the world, the Sasak language belongs to the Austronesian Malayu-Polynesian family, a mixture of Sundanese-Sulawesi and Balinese-Sasak. If you look closely, the Sasak language that developed in Lombok is very diverse, both in dialect and vocabulary. This is very unique and can show a lot of influence in its development. In general, the Sasak language can be classified into: Kuto-Kute (North Lombok), Ngeto-Ngete (Southeast Lombok), Meno-Mene (Central Lombok), Ngeno-Ngene (Central Lombok), and Mriak-Mriku (South Lombok) . The majority of the population of Lombok Island, especially the Sasak tribe, are Muslim, the second largest religion practiced on this island is Hinduism, which is embraced by residents of Balinese descent and the rest are Christians, Buddhists and Konghuchu. In North Lombok Regency, especially in the Bayan area, especially among those who are elderly, you can still find the followers of the Wetu Telu Islamic sect (time three) which is a syncretic belief system resulting from the acculturation of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, animism, dynamism and anthropomorphism. . The belief system of syncritism is also reflected in several lontar manuscripts that have been found in Lombok, many of which are manuscripts lontar, whose contents begin with the pronunciation "Bismillah" but the continuation of the contents are Hindu and Buddhist teachings. The main cause of the emergence of Wetu Telu Islam was the unfinished process of Islamization carried out by the propagators of Islam at that time.