Introduction

Having wrapped up our 2017–2018 fieldwork in the Moluccas, we landed in Jakarta only to receive a short message from someone we did not know. In the message, the person asked, “Why are you researching Loloda? There is nothing in Loloda. You probably want to work on other regions. Loloda is long gone.” The text message made us rethink the position of Loloda, a region in the west coast of Halmahera Island, North Maluku, in society today (Andaya, 1993). Loloda used to be one of the oldest kingdoms in the area during colonial times. Such a message contrasted with the enthusiasm of the people of Loloda that we witnessed during the field research, particularly after the appointment of Suaib bin Syamsudin Syah as kolano (king) of Loloda in 2016. Belittling Loloda is a postcolonial legacy in the local politics of the region today.

Therefore, if the history of the region begins with colonial records, then the figure of Sikuru, one of the most renowned heroes of Loloda, is not an essential part of the colonial history in North Maluku. From a colonial perspective, Sikuru is no more than a character of folklore. This is particularly evident in how colonial archives mention the name of Sikuru. Naidah, a local historian who was assigned by van der Crab to write the stories around Ternate, only fleetingly mentions Sikuru without further explanation (van der Crab, 1878). This is in contrast with the local perspective: for the locals, the heroic figure of Sikuru cannot be separated from the Kingdom of Loloda and from the Loloda people’s struggle against the colonial power.

During the 2014 Jailolo Bay Festival, the government ordered every district to create art exhibitions that represent the uniqueness of their respective districts. In this occasion, a middle school teacher from Loloda came up with an unexpected idea: a Loloda war dance with the figure of Sikuru as its main protagonist. Despite such a boldly creative move, the exhibition did not garner much attention from the national media. Nonetheless, there is no question that the Sikuru exhibition represents the historical and cultural consciousness of the contemporary Loloda society that still has the capability to preserve their collective “memory” about their ancestors. Meanwhile, the colonial historical legacy in Ternate has almost no record of Sikuru, and if there is, the portrayal is of him being a mere bandit.

Not long after the Sultan of Ternate passed away in 2015, just one year after the Jailolo festival, there arose an emerging movement among the people of Loloda. The movement consciously and systematically resurrected the figure of Sikuru that had long been buried underneath the memory of local history. Thereafter, the position of the Sultan of Loloda, which had been vacant since 1909 (Rahman, 2018), was filled up and ushered a fresh start for the people of Loloda for rearticulating the remnants of the past glories of Moloku Kie Romtoha (The five Mountain Kingdoms of the Moluccas).

This chapter discusses the figure of Sikuru from a historical perspective by reconstructing his presence. The reconstruction itself is based on a number of data gathered from primary and secondary sources, along with their relation to Loloda society’s new consciousness and surrounding contemporary political contexts. We believe that the figure of Sikuru—which originally appeared in collective memory and constituted a mythical sense of the local people’s oral tradition—was transformed into a part of “the history” after his story was recorded by a local Ternate writer (Naidah), with such portrayal being continued by contemporary local writers. It is important to note that the Dutch official documents at the time never mentioned the name Sikuru, but merely described events pertaining to the figure.

To support our claim, we perused texts of Sikuru as written by Naidah (1878), relevant texts found in Dutch colonial newspapers (1909–1910), memories of appointments of officials (1909), and colonial reports (1909). In addition to the use of written records, we also built our arguments based on oral narratives that we gathered during the fieldwork (2017).

Literary works relating to Sikuru are scarce. The few works we refer to were written by a few authors, namely Naidah in van der Crab (1878), Mustafa Mansur (2007, 2013), Mapanawang (2012), Rahman (2015, 2016a, 2016b, 2017, 2018). Naidah mentioned that in the nineteenth century, a boat merchant named “Sikuru” was often used by the Sultan of Ternate for the kingdom’s military interests (Naidah, 1878). Being the first to mention Sikuru, Naidah’s work can be found in the translated writing of van der Crab about the historical context of Ternate. Hundreds of years after van der Crab, a local author named Mustafa Mansur (who claims to have a bloodline of the King of Loloda), in his master’s thesis in Universitas Khairun Ternate (2007), more explicitly revealed the figure of Sikuru based on his examination of numerous secondary sources and existing oral tradition. Five years later, Mapanawang (2012) wrote a popular book, titled Loloda as the First Moluccan Kingdom, which was a book that utilizes and restates a lot of Mustafa Mansur’s narratives (2007). Despite their significance, these writings have never discussed the issues pertaining to the rearticulation of Sikuru and how it impacts local history.

Sikuru is rearticulated in the moment when the hegemony of Ternate weakened, particularly after Sultan Mudaffar Sjah passed away on February 20, 2015. Loloda has wider territory, more diverse culture, and more promising natural resources compared to Ternate and Tidore. However, in a modern Indonesia, the roles and positions of Loloda people do not gain as much attention and concern as those of the people of the surrounding islands. The recent death of the Ternate Sultan provided the people of Loloda an opportunity to assert or articulate its history, including that of Sikuru.

Prompted by the situation, numerous political interests that had been triggered in the past by the creation of North Maluku Province (which had been planned since 1999) reemerged. The new province of North Maluku not only provided a pathway for interests emanating from Jakarta but also created a space for local political contestation that made use of various discourses, including “new ethnocentrism.” From what we observed in 2017, Loloda was invaded not only by local and national, but also global, interests, represented by mining and fishing companies whose licenses were issued out of political decisions that did not take the voice of the Loloda people into account.

Along with the emergence of overlapping interests, there have been attempts to remember Sikuru’s presence in contemporary Loloda society, especially when sociopolitical contexts of North and West Halmahera are taken into account. Recent studies (Rahman, 2015, 2018) found that much additional evidence provided by primary and secondary sources from the colonial period are worthy of consideration when excavating information about Sikuru’s historical presence. Not only that, but our ethnographic approach has also led to a finding in which the presence of Sikuru has been recorded in Loloda society’s collective memory.

Before focusing on Sikuru, we observed that Sartono Kartodirdjo’s study on resistance movements by Javanese farmers at the end of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been a model in Indonesian historiography, especially writings that discuss social history (Kartodirdjo, 1984). Before it was published in 1974 in the form of a book, the study was a development of his doctoral research in the University of Amsterdam in 1966. In the work, Sartono wrote about the rebellion of Ciomas farmers in Banten in 1888, using several approaches from social sciences, particularly those of sociology, which was at the time a relatively new cornerstone in history writing. Sartono has contributed to Indonesian historiography particularly with regard to linking farmers’ protest movements with Ratu Adil, nativism, revivalism, and millenarianism, a movement marked by member farmers’ belief that their leader was capable of bringing justice into the land (Kartodirdjo, 1978).

As colonialism significantly altered traditional social order in Javanese rural communities, the farmers’ resistance aimed to restore the social order into its “pure” condition. Other patterns found in the movements were accompanied by a desire to “resurrect” the old social order. In general, the dawning twentieth century was perceived as a millennium that brought forth hope for a prosperous life free from colonial exploitation.

Some farmers’ resistance in Java included movements led by Bapak Kaiyah in Tangerang (1922), Entong Gendut in Cililitan (1916), and Gedangan in Surabaya (1916). Bapak Kaiyah was a shadow puppeteer who frequently conveyed messages of resistance against colonialism through his shows. However, these movements in general were weak and could have been easily eradicated by the colonial authorities (Poesponegoro & Notosusanto, 2010, pp. 286–305).

With a focus on a different setting outside Java in a region dominated by islands, the study on Sikuru’s resistance has the potential to be developed in a similar direction to Sartono’s research. A folk song tells of how Sikuru came from the direction of the sea. After enduring oppression, Sikuru became a leader of a protest movement among dammara plantation workers in North Halmahera who fought against the fixed colonial order. The movement was quickly and easily disbanded, and Sikuru was exiled to another region.

Ideologically, Sikuru’s position as a marine captain (kapita laut) can be interpreted as a “King of the Sea” who wished to liberate his region from the Dutch colonial regime. A.B. Lapian (2009), writing in a broader context, made a comprehensive study on the dynamics of the power struggle for control over the seas in his work Orang Laut, Bajak Laut, Raja Laut: Kawasan Laut Sulawesi Abad XIX (People, Pirates, and King of the Sea: A Study on Celebes Seas in the Nineteenth Century). This study on Sikuru complements existing discussions on sea-based movements of resistance.

Sikuru as a Rebel

History serves as a crucial factor, of course, in determining the future not only of the individual and the community, but also of the nation. The past never truly separates from the present, because, among others, history supports, motivates, and inspires people in their future lives. Instead of belonging to a single person, the past belongs to the community’s collective memory. However, most people want to leave a traumatic story behind while preserving a glorious event (Le Goff, 1992). One of the community’s common memories is the story of the great man or the hero (Hook, 1955). This trend applies to the Loloda people, who, through their oral tradition, transmitted the story of a great figure through the generations. The story of Sikuru, the navy commander who fought to the death against the Dutch colonial government, still lingers and is being passed down by people living in Loloda today.

As one of the oldest empires in the Maluku Islands, Loloda once covered almost the entire islands of Halmahera and Morotai. However, Loloda was never recognized as part of the “Moloku Kie Raha” kingdom alliance, which was established in the thirteenth century and comprised of Ternate, Tidore, Bacan, and Jailolo. Initiated by the seventh King of Ternate, Sida Arif Malamo (1322–1332), even though in Loloda’s narratives, they belong to the constellation of “the five mountain kingdoms of Molucca,” Moloku Kie Romtoha.

The Loloda kingdom was centered on the western coast of Halmahera Sea, Soasio, near the three main villages of Laba, Bakun, and Kedi (Interview, M. W Hamad, 07/01/2016). The three villages strongly connect to Loloda history because they determined the kingdom’s future sovereignty after the 1908–1909 period. As a consequence of the foreign invasion, the Loloda kingdom suffered forced labor and an unjust tax scheme (belasting) that were imposed by the Dutch colonial government and its counterpart, the Ternate kingdom (National Archives of Indonesia, 1980). In reaction, locals, mainly villagers of Laba and Bakun, opposed these policies and joined the uprising led by the Loloda Navy Commander Sikuru. This act, according to the Loloda people, was a response to Dutch repression.

The story of Sikuru was first recorded by two local Loloda writers, Mustafa Mansur and Arend L. Mapanawang, the latter being an internist who took his medical magister degree in Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. For his book, Mapanawang conducted interviews on Sikuru with locals in Loloda. Mapanawang, who originated from Asimiro village, is an expert on Loloda history and culture. Although he does not bear a direct genealogical relation to Loloda kings, Mapanawang is a registered member of an indigenous council in Tobelo, the former region of Loloda Kingdom in North Halmahera. Due to failure in a local election, Mapanawang was motivated to write the story of Loloda. On the other hand, Mansur, who now lectures in the History Department of Unkhair Ternate University, is a direct descendant of the last Loloda king, which allowed him to also serve as the secretary (tilu lamo) of the Loloda Kingdom Indigenous Council. Originating from the kingdom’s capital city of Soasio, South Loloda, Mansur grew up amid the royal family. These two writers served as this research’s primary sources, and they reveal details on the role of Sikuru in Loloda’s history during the twentieth century.

This research also obtained some information about the tale of Sikuru of Laba village by interviewing Sulaiman or Jan (date/month/year). However, the story of Sikuru has actually been passed down orally over generations. Jan (65), a fisherman and the captain of his traditional boat (semang-semang), shared a long story about Sikuru. Apart from him, we also interviewed other informants, including Muhammad Jae bin Syamsuddin and Jonas Toseho (January 2–8, 2016). Majority of our informants, living in Soasio, Laba, and Bakun, were civil servants, clerics, youth leaders, and indigenous groups.

Our visit to Loloda was part of an effort to clarify claims or facts found in several books on the Loloda people’s oral tradition.

Forced Labor and Tax Policy

After the Dutch managed to control some empires in the Maluku Islands, local leaders were forced to comply with colonial laws, including two types of forced labor, Hereendienst and Gemeentedienst, on October 22, 1894, and effective from March 24, 1896 (Amal, 2007, p. 378). Laborers under the Hereendienst were not paid while being forced to work on public construction supervised by the colonial government’s local administration. The Hereendienst system forced locals to work 32 days a year, 12 hours a day, but with working hours as covering the time the laborers took walking from their homes to the work fields. Apart from not being paid, workers received neither meals nor transportation costs from the colonial government. Slightly different from the Hereendienst, laborers under the Gemeentedienst worked 30 days a year (Amal, 2007, pp. 379–380). Their tasks were mostly to build infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and religious halls for villagers. Although the Dutch government had allocated a budget to fund several projects in colony states, the colonial government violated that commitment by imposing forced labor systems on locals in most regions, including the Maluku Islands (Amal, 2007, pp. 378–379). Because of forced labor regulations, locals in the Maluku Islands were exploited for years and, as a result, the colonized people, including the Loloda folks, lived in poor and despicable conditions for so long (Kolonial Verslaag van Oost Indie, 1909, p. 77). According to colonial government records, the forced labor imposed on the Loloda people involved building roads and bridges in the capital city of Soasio.

Dutch-UZV Mission

Amid their forced labor, the Loloda people were also obliged to convert to Christianity by the Utrechtsche Zending Vereniging (UZV), a missionary group established in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1865. The group’s initial aim was to baptize people on Papua Island. However, before achieving their objective, a high-ranking official of Ternate and van Baarda, a member of the UZV visiting Loloda in 1899, was reportedly disappointed because the pastor Dores Nuha had succumbed to an infidel’s life. He drank alcohol instead of completing his task of baptizing the Loloda people. After an investigation, Baarda fired Nuha, and the missionary group later burned down locals’ “pagan” statues.

Although the missionary group had great power within the colony, Baarda was still concerned over the power of the Loloda king. Wanting to curb the Loloda king’s power, Baarda reported the king to the Dutch’s Ternate regent. In response, the colonial government assigned a controlling assistant to Loloda (Magany in Mapanawang, 2012, p. 70). This led to the tighter supervision of the colonial government over the kingdom and the king, mainly concerning his role in obstructing missionary work in the region.

According to the Kolonial Verslag Nederland Oost Indie (1909, p. 77), when Loloda Navy Commander Sikuru of Laba led an uprising on February 14, 1909, the controlling assistant, along with two colonial policemen posted in Loloda, was later found dead. Based on an official note, the three were murdered by a group of Laba villagers because of the colonial government’s forced labor law imposed on the Loloda people.

Political Conflict of the King’s Family

Sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, prior to the Sikuru-led uprising, the death of King Sunia led to a political conflict among the princes (kaicil) of the Jou elite on the issue of ascendancy to the kingdom’s throne. King Sunia’s sons, Prince Arafane, Prince Syamsuddin, and Prince Nasu, fought against Prince Kayoa, the first son of the Army Commander (Kapita Lao) Dumba, who was the king’s brother (Sjah et al., 2005, p. 26). To seize power, some princes sought support from the Dutch colonial government and its counterpart, the Ternate kingdom. Following political negotiation, the Ternate and Dutch leaders recognized Prince Syamsuddin as the new king of Loloda. Meanwhile, Prince Arafane was assigned as Loloda’s Kapita Lao, and his brother Prince Nasu was appointed Junior Army Commander. No position was granted to Prince (Jongofa) Kayoa.

Following that decision, Kayoa then opposed King Syamsuddin, alleging his lack of leadership on the colonial government’s tax law (belasting), claiming that Syamsuddin allowed the Dutch to intervene in the kingdom’s authority by letting the colonial government, along with its Ternate counterpart, to collect taxes from the Loloda people.

The Revolt

In his protest against the tax law, Prince Kayoa provoked locals to impeach King Syamsuddin. This action was later supported by some insurgents, who infiltrated the palace and murdered the Dutch tax collector. Led by the Loloda Navy Commander Sikuru of Laba village, the insurgent group, comprised of Bagina and Tasa of Bakun soa (village), also fatally attacked three colonial officials and two policemen in front of King Syamsuddin and Queen (Jou Ma-Boki) Joboki Habiba at the palace. However, the colonial government launched a counterattack and squashed the insurgent group. After the revolt, the Dutch placed the king and his family into lifetime exile from Loloda. Following the queen’s death in 1912, the king passed away in 1915. The colonial government then took over the Loloda throne and degraded its status to a district chaired by a sangaji (KV, 1909, p. 77; Interview Mustafa, Ternate, 15/02/2015).

The Loloda people memorialized the story of Sikuru and his revolt in local poetry as told below:

Kapal dai Lalaweri, Sordano Walanda Na Kapal; Isa yo parang Laba; ma sarsan o uci; ma komdan o ginado; Hongi ma kapita nage; ma kapita, Kapita Sikuru; masongo-songo Bagina; Madiki-diki Kayoa; Mamegi una Tasa; Suba Jou Kolano Malamo-lamo; Au le.

Trans:

The ship of the Dutch was sailing. Along with our brothers, the people of Laba, we went into the war. When the sergeants were in (combat) positions, the chief called, “Who is the army commander?” We answered, “Our Captain Sikuru, along with his aide Bagina, and Kayoa as the mastermind. And Tasa as navigator. All hail the noble King. Kill (the enemy).” (Mansur, Interview, 15/02/2015)

According to the locals, Sikuru had been opposing the kingdom since 1908 and followed the people’s uprising in early 1909. During the 1909–1915 period, Loloda lost its privilege of autonomy and was transformed into a district due to colonial intervention and political conflict among elites.

Dutch newspaper, Nieuwe Amsterdamsche Courant, Algemeen Handelsblad, (March 13, March 15, 1909), published the story of Loloda’s failed coup. The uprising had cost the lives of three Dutch nationals, a tax collector and two policemen, and another eight were badly injured. About 30 armed personnel later departed from Ternate to Loloda to halt the revolt under Lieutenant Meihuizen’s leadership, as reported in the newspapers:

De resident van Ternate seinde den 9en Februari via Gorontalo: vier dezer bericht van posthouder Djilolo: Politie-adsistent Loloda 2 dezer in huiz Radja te Soa Sioe door bende Alfoeren kampong Laba overvallen en met twee politieopassers vermoord; militaire patroille, 30 man, onder Luitenant Meihuizen van Ternate gezonden, over viel nacht 5 op 6 dezer versterkte kampong Laba; kwaadwilligen vluchtten met achterlating van twee dooden, een geweer en veel blanke wapens; onzerzijds geen gewonden.

Trans:

The Ternate regent announced in Gorontalo on February 9th, and the controller in Jailolo has submitted four reports to the authority that two policemen were killed at the Loloda palace in Soasio by the Alifuru insurgent group from Laba village. [Hence,] to halt the attack, about 30 military soldiers, led by Lieutenant Meihuizen departed from Ternate to take over the Laba village for five to six nights. After killing two people, the perpetrators escaped, carrying many guns and other weapons. However, on our [colonial] side, nobody was injured. (See Nieuwe Amsterdamsche Qourant, Algemeen Handelsblad, March 15, 1909, p. 13)

Kolonial Verslag van Nederlandsch (Oost) Indie 1909 also reported the failed coup.

Lolode werden in Februari 1909, zonder bekende aanleiding, de ten laste van de lanschapskas in dienst genomen assistent an twee gewapende politiedienaren door de bevolking van Laba vermoord. Nadat de kampong door an militair detachement uit Ternate bezet was, waarbij op eenig verset werd gestuit, dat den aanvallers op 3 dooden en 8 gewonden te staan kwam, verbeterde de toestand spoedig. De gevluchte bevolking keerde terug en werkte, onder leiding van de nieuwent assistent, aan wegen en bruggen. Een onderzoek bracht aan het licht dat de radja, de djogoegoe en de kapitein laoet van Loloda de hand in het gebeurde de moeten hebben gehad. Zij werden ontslagen en met de hofdschuldigen aan den moord naar Ternate gezonden.

Trans:

In February 1909, two armed policemen posted in Loloda were murdered by locals from Laba village. Following the attack, some military troops sent from Ternate took over the village. The revolt has cost the lives of three, and another eight were badly injured. [However,] the situation in Loloda is under control. Locals who fled have returned to finish constructing roads and bridges, under supervision of a new assistant. The initial investigation revealed that the king, the prince, and the Navy Commander were behind the attack. The king, along with his elites, as a result, were discharged from their positions, found guilty, and went into exile. (See: KV (Oost) Indie, 1909, p. 77)

These written sources detailed the Loloda people’s sudden uprising that caused three fatalities to the Dutch.

Meanwhile, as locals mentioned, the uprising actually started in 1908 (H.M. Jae bin Usman, Interview, Ternate, 04/01/2016) under the leadership of Navy Commander Sikuru, who also served as the kingdom’s war commander, along with his two aides, Bagina and Tasa (Sulaeman, Interview, Ternate, 03/01/2016). Contrary to other sources claiming that the coup was immediately halted, locals say that the colonial government was only actually able to quash the uprising on March 15, 1909, a year after it first began in Loloda. Locals believed that the Loloda kingdom lost power in 1908, following the belasting tax law imposed by the colonial government. The story of Sikuru and his revolt was later shared orally with future generations, as the story of “Kolano Madogaga” or “The Last King of Loloda.”

Following the failed rebellion led by Navy Commander Sikuru, King Syamsuddin was exiled to Ternate in 1909. During that time, Ternate was led by the 27th Sultanate Haji Muhammad Usman (1896–1929), under supervision of the 28th Dutch Regent, K.H.F. Roos (1903–1908) and the 29th Regent, E.J. Gerrits (1909–1912).

After the Revolt

Because of the uprising, the colonial government on June 28, 1909, renewed the forced labor Hereendienst and Gemeentedienst agreements, which had been signed back on October 22, 1894. The colonial authority, moreover, also imposed the tax law (belasting) on the Loloda people in 1903 (Amal, 2007, p. 381). The king and his loyal followers’ exile was the colonial government’s strategy to gain legitimacy with the Loloda people. To strengthen their power in Loloda, the Dutch further assigned a district chairman (sangaji) to oversee locals, while he maintained communication with his counterpart in Ternate. This measure, which adopted the legal-rational approach, also aligned with Ternate’s request to degrade all empires in the Halmahera region into districts (Leirissa, 1996). Following the measure, an election system for appointing new leaders also transformed Loloda from “hereditary ascribed” status to “assigned” status, as established by the colonial government and the Ternate kingdom.

Three years after the death of his wife Siti Habiba in 1912, King Syamsuddin passed away in Ternate, leaving hereditary power void in Loloda. During that year, the Dutch decided to integrate Loloda into the Ternate kingdom. As a result, the colonial government revoked the semi-independence once granted to Loloda, and the king was no longer the highest official serving in the region.

New Articulation

In 1999, Maluku became a province that administratively supervised the regencies of North Maluku, Central Halmahera, Ternate City, and Tidore City. The legal basis of this provincial division is Law No. 32/2001. At the time, Loloda District belonged to Maluku Province where Ambon is the province’s capital city. The administrative division that gave birth to Maluku Province was soon followed by the emergence of the new regency Central Halmahera and, subsequently, by other regencies, such as North Halmahera, West Halmahera, East Halmahera, South Halmahera, and the Islands of Sula, after the creation of Law No. 32/2004. In 2010, administrative dividing continued in North Halmahera, leading to the creation of Morotai Islands Regency. To this day, Loloda has not been listed as a region slated to be transformed into a regency under the province of North Maluku. In fact, while as the idea has not yet come into reality, the broad territory of Loloda has even been divided into two new different districts, namely North Loloda District under North Halmahera Regency (with Tobelo as the regency’s capital) and South Loloda in West Halmahera Regency (with Jailolo as the regency’s capital).

Although the age of North Maluku at the time (1999–2019) was already 19 years, Loloda and its people have never really benefited from the province despite having become a new autonomous region. The Loloda people have thus been complaining to the Regent of North (and West Halmahera) about the lack of change for the better of the government behavior toward them. In fact, socially and economically, Loloda is even gradually being left out of opportunities and positive governmental actions compared to the surrounding regions. This is evident in the lack of development in the area, such as the absence of proper land and marine infrastructure to connect Loloda to the surrounding regions and islands.

Compared to other regions that have had the privilege of regional autonomy, the lack of development in Loloda is clear such that the people of Loloda consider themselves as being treated unfairly by the government of Indonesia and the local governments of North Maluku Province and North and West Halmahera. They feel that they are left abandoned in poverty and isolation while enduring discrimination in terms of development and socioeconomic welfare. Worse, Loloda’s abundant natural resources cannot be enjoyed by its own people, not even in the forms of infrastructure facilities. Moreover, their natural resources are exploited for the development agendas of the other North Maluku regions such as Tobelo, Galela, Jailolo, Sahu, and Morotai.

To this day, the road connecting North and South Loloda remains undeveloped. The same condition can be found in the infrastructure and suprastructure of the trans-Halmahera land transportation, which connects North and West Halmahera as well as villages in Loloda. In addition, long and short distance inter-island transportation operates under rather worrying conditions. The government has not developed proper facilities to sustain electricity (PLN, the state-owned electrical company), communication (TELKOM), or water system (PDAM, regional drinking water company). Despite having been independent from the Dutch colonizers for 74 years already, Indonesia has failed to share a fair proportion of its welfare with Loloda as a region under the wing of North Maluku Province.

According to the local history of North Maluku Province, Loloda was a kingdom with magnificent territory spread across the Northwest Halmahera coast, covering the areas which now belong to North and West Halmahera regencies. Although West Halmahera was administratively divided from North Halmahera in 2003, Loloda has remained a district, which is inferior to regencies.

Taking these factors into account, the fact that Loloda and its history remains hardly noticed when compared to other events in the national history of Indonesia is unsurprising. Both Ternate and the Dutch merely viewed Loloda as a small kingdom in the Moluccan spice islands without any significant sovereignty or power. However, Loloda had its own contribution to both Ternate’s authority and anti-colonial resistance. Without the contribution of Loloda after being assigned under its control, Ternate would not have the necessary human and natural resources to sustain its power and hegemony over Maluku. Furthermore, Loloda contributed to Sikuru’s rebellion that successfully weakened colonial power as it led to the death of van Rooij (an assistant of the Dutch’s administrative government in Ternate in the sectors of economy and tax) and his two military police guards.

Discriminatory treatment of Loloda persisted even until after the independence of Indonesia. Local, national, and foreign (Australian, American, Chinese, French, and Singaporean) liberal capitalists have exploited various resources of Loloda. Two of the most evident cases would be the exploitation of manganese mine in Doi Island from 1957 to 2011 and of the forests in almost all villages in Loloda from 1977 to 2012. The acquired resources and the subsequent profit are not being distributed to the people, but merely go to corporations, investors, and certain parties in the regency, provincial, and central governments.

The people of Loloda do not see a hopeful future in being a part of the North Maluku Province and Indonesia. Loloda has been suffering from lack of attention, discrimination, and unfair treatment, while other regions are being rapidly developed by the government. In short, Loloda has been and continues to be marginalized and largely ignored by the provincial government of North Maluku and the Central Government of Indonesia in Jakarta while being exploited for its natural resources.

It is unsurprising to see that the Loloda people are in search of their own historical and cultural identity. In particular, there is a rising historical awareness among their youth. They are trying to understand their history as one of the biggest Maluku kingdoms in the past, which now has become forgotten as the people are marginalized in terms of regional development and autonomy. Alongside Loloda’s search for historical identity have been attempts at re-presenting Captain Sikuru as a hero of Loloda. His heroic action in defending Loloda and its people from Dutch colonialism is once again remembered, with Sikuru being transformed into a source of inspiration for the young people in their mission to develop Loloda and introduce the region to the outer world using their own efforts without considering whether other North Maluku regions support or oppose them.

Resurrecting the historical discourses about Sikuru as a part of Loloda and North Maluku’s history is certainly not without controversies. Certain groups of people raise their objections as they are unsure about the existence of Sikuru himself. Some are even doubtful about Loloda’s significance in the history of North Maluku. Despite this, the revitalization of the figure Sikuru brings potential advantages to the Loloda people, who have long waited for a hero of their own. For them, Sikuru is also an inspiration that motivates them to persist in the contemporary political struggle of voicing out their concerns as descendant people of a former kingdom long marginalized in North Maluku’s local historiography. They hope that the revitalized historical representation of Sikuru can be recognized as a part of Indonesia’s national anti-colonial resistance in North Maluku, for Sikuru to serve as a symbol that should be acknowledged by the regional government of North Maluku Province.

From an academic point of view, local historians and cultural activists in North Maluku do not consider the rebirth of Sikuru as problematic. In fact, they believe that the narrative will enrich Loloda’s local history, although there are multiple subjective understandings related to the history of Sikuru, particularly from the people of Moloku Kie Raha (Ternate, Tidore, Bacan, and Jailolo). On the other hand, there are certain parties who feel threatened by the reactualization of Sikuru as a local hero of Loloda. Customary leaders and people in the Kingdom of Ternate (Kesultanan Ternate) cannot accept the integration of Loloda’s historical accounts and Sikuru into North Maluku’s local historiography, considering that such narratives will challenge Ternate’s dominant hegemony in Moluku Kie Raha as well as the sources of North Maluku’s history as commonly understood by young people of Ternate. If the history of Sikuru is revealed, the established order of Ternate’s domination as the leader of Moloku Kie Raha without Loloda in old North Maluku historiography will certainly fade away.

Conclusion

The chapter has shown the way Loloda people struggled against the Dutch, an abusive colonizing power that, first, enforced forced labor and taxation and, second, moved to eradicate the local religion by promoting conversion to Christianity. However, their struggle was complicated by internal conflicts and the collaboration of neighboring Ternate Kingdom with the Dutch colonizers as the elites and the descendants of Loloda king fought each other to claim the throne. After Navy Commander Sikuru and his men failed in the revolt, the kingdom lost its recognition as an empire in the Maluku Islands. The Dutch colonial government, supported by its counterpart in the Ternate kingdom, revoked the king’s privilege (kolano), downgrading his position to a district chairman (sangaji). However, Loloda was not actually the only empire that lost its privilege, because when Indonesia declared its independence in 1945, hundreds of kingdoms across the country also eventually lost sovereignty over their people. As a united republic, Indonesia has governed the distribution of power in accordance with the new state laws.

Despite changes that occurred in Loloda, the collective memory, traditional values, and history among the Loloda people still remain strong. The uprising led by Sikuru from Laba still exists as one of the most important historical events ever to occur in Loloda. The Loloda people have embraced their past and view it as a spirited inspiration for their future. The Loloda people, however, are now facing an entirely different challenge because the current Indonesian government, in accordance with the law, now recognizes indigenous groups as functioning only within cultural activities and not in the political realm.

It is important to note, however, that the reemergence of Sikuru as a historical figure occurred during a critical moment of the weakening power of Ternate. The government policy for the administrative proliferation and division of districts, regencies, and provinces (pemekaran) also played a part in this process. The situation opens the opportunity for the local people to establish the Kolano Loloda Institute, which works to reawaken local collective memories. This suggests that customary institutions can serve as alternative mediator to negotiate with formal institutions in the empowerment of local communities.