Ma'ya people

Last updated
Ma'ya
Total population
12,000 (2010)
Regions with significant populations
Indonesia (Raja Ampat Islands)
Languages
Ma'ya, Papuan Malay, and Indonesian
Religion
Islam, [1] Christianity, and folk religion
Related ethnic groups
Biak  • Moi  • Gebe

The Ma'ya people is an ethnic group that is the indigenous people of New Guinea. They generally inhabit the Raja Ampat Islands which are administratively divided into Raja Ampat Regency and Sorong Regency in the province of Southwest Papua, Indonesia. [2] The Ma'ya people has 3 subgroups on Waigeo Island, the Kawe people (Selpele and Salyo, West Waigeo), the Wauyai people (South Waigeo), and the Laganyan people (Yefnu and Lopintol). [3]

Contents

History

The Ma'ya people groups on the islands of Waigeo, Salawati, and Misool share the same legend that they originated from Kabui Bay to the north of Waigeo Island. [2] The legend tells about 7 eggs, 4 hatched into kings who ruled the Raja Ampat Islands, the fifth egg becomes a girl, the sixth egg becomes petrified, and the seventh egg becomes a ghost. [4] The stone from the sixth egg is sacred in a sacred place in Wawage River ('king's river'), South Waigeo. [3]

The Ma'ya people in local culture are known for their mythology about four kings (kalana fat in Ma'ya or raja ampat in Malay) who became the ancestors of today's Ma'ya people. [5] Historically, the 'four kingdoms' were Waigeo, Salawati, Misool, and Sailolof or Waigama. Waigama is not considered as one of the 'four kingdoms' by the Ma'ya people, while Sailolof is not considered as one of the 'four kingdoms' by the Tidore Sultanate. [6]

Religion

Today most Ma'ya people are either Muslim or Christian, with little influence from folk religion. [7] Islam first arrived in the Raja Ampat Islands, the homeland of the Ma'ya people, in the 15th century due to political and economic contacts with the Bacan Sultanate. [1] During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Maluku-based Sultanate of Tidore had close economic and political ties with the islands, especially with Gurabesi. [1] During this period, Islam became established, and the local Ma'ya chiefs began to embrace Islam, making the Ma'ya practically one of the earliest Islamized Papuan peoples. [8]

Subgroups

As a large ethnic group in Raja Ampat, the Ma'ya people are divided into several subgroups, including: [9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wanggai, Toni V. M. (2008). Rekonstruksi Sejarah Umat Islam di Tanan Papua [Reconstruction of the History of lslam in Papua] (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  2. 1 2 Remijsen 2002, p. 164.
  3. 1 2 Mansoben 1995, p. 238.
  4. ↑ Remijsen 2002, p. 165.
  5. ↑ Gaffney, Dylan; Tanudirjo, Daud; Arnold, Laura; Gaman, Wolter; Russell, Tristan; Djami, Erlin; Macap, Abdul (2024-05-23). "Five Centuries of Settlement Dynamics and Mobility in the Northern Raja Ampat Islands of West Papua". The Journal of Pacific History. 59 (4): 427–467. doi: 10.1080/00223344.2024.2328015 . ISSN   0022-3344.
  6. ↑ Mansoben 1995, p. 232–246.
  7. ↑ Usmany, Desy P. (2012). Tradisi Upacara Perkawinan Suku Maya di Kampung Araway Distrik Tiplol-Mayalibit (in Indonesian). Jayapura: Balai Pelestarian Nilai Budaya Provinsi Papua. ISBN   978-602-98929-8-7.
  8. ↑ Slama, Martin (2015). "Papua as an Islamic Frontier: Preaching in 'the Jungle' and the Multiplicity of Spatio-Temporal Hierarchisations", From 'Stone-Age' to 'Real-Time': Exploring Papuan Temporalities, Mobilities and Religiosities, ANU Press, pp. 243–270, ISBN   978-1-925022-43-8.
  9. ↑ "Mitologi Raja Ampat" [Raja Ampat Mythology]. www.rajaampatnirwana.com (in Indonesian). Raja Ampat Nirwana. Retrieved 6 January 2026.

Works cited


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