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TERNATE 169
THE TERNATESE LANGUAGE
V
Abolition of a Few Pagan Practices
In the year A.H. 39 1261, the year Ba, on the seventeenth night of the month of
Sawal, on a Sunday, the Sultan ordered that all the notables and bobatos of Soahsio,
Sangaji, Heku, and Cim be summoned, and also the Lebe-Kali, the imams and khatibis,
with the princes and nobles and the three ngofangares.
At nine o’clock all were assembled at the big gate, and when the word came that
they had been summoned, they entered the palace and sat down in the inner gallery
according to custom.
The Sultan addressed them in this manner:
“I, the Sultan, have summoned you people, notables and bobatos, Kali, imams,
khatibis, princes, nobles, and ngofangares, here today to effect a few arrangements for the
country. The customs and attitudes adopted during the times of our fathers and
forefathers, notables, and heads of kampongs, continue to exist unchanged. Also, from the
time of the founding of the village of Foramadiahi until the founding of the village of
Malayu it has been customary for each to be given a place according to his profession and
that the customs be maintained in these ranks. A few of these rules are forbidden by the
law, and have not been laid down in the Koran. Therefore, I ask you, notables, and
headmen, whether it is better to keep on following the customs or to see what things are
forbidden and then abolish them?”
The Jogugu Major-Prang Gamsungi and the Hukum of Soahsio and the Hukum of
Sangaji, the Captain-Prang, [p. 243] and the bobatos of Soahsio, Sangaji, Heku, and Cim
said: “Of whatever nature the considerations of Your Highness may be, we will honor them
and follow them, and if it is permitted we will abolish the customs and ceremonies which
are forbidden by the law.”
When the Sultan asked for the opinion of the Lebe, the Kali of Bangsa, Ilham, and
the imams and khatibis, they answered: “The customs and ceremonies which are forbidden
by the law date from the times of ignorance and they have not been laid down in the Book
of God. If they remain in force, it is the same as the worship of idols, which is a great sin.”
When the notables and bobatos were asked for their opinion, they answered even
more strongly that they held the same views.
And the Jogugu Major-Prang and the aforementioned notables and bobatos all
answered: “We request Your Highness to abolish all the customs and ceremonies forbidden
by the law, and we rejoice and are very happy that it has come to this, for it is easy and
39 [p. 242, n. 1] I have left the in the text untranslated; they are the first and last letters of
the well-known .
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