WorldViews. The World in Textbooks

1. Interethnic integration

The Indonesian archipelago has many tribes which originally came from one place and one descent, namely the Indo-Chinese from the region of South Yunan. In the long term, life became more difficult in their place of origin, they needed a solution for problems that were often caused by nature. Often the rivers flowed over and wild animals harmed their life. To defeat the wild animals they built houses on stilts, these houses were occupied by several families so their strength was high. But in defeating the flooding they always experienced setbacks. The growing number of inhabitants and the danger of flooding forced them to move. They moved by crossing the sea and arrived in Indonesia. Their arrival or movement did not occur at once, but gradually and in groups so that it took a lot of time. Because this group did not arrive together, the areas where they settled were also not the same. Some went to Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands and so on. Their living places were separated by the wide sea and dense forests so that their relation was cut as well. These people who came to Indonesia were regarded then as the ancestors of the Indonesians. Following, they

[p. 197]

mixed with the old inhabitants of Indonesia, until we can hardly differentiate between the original inhabitants of Indonesia and the ones who came. With this situation of separation like the ocean, distinctions occurred between our people. Thus, every island has its own style and produced peoples who had different customs and local languages. Through these differences the urgent need for integration occurred to form a unity as a way of preventing the fragmentation between the same people.