Oleh Petrus Pieter WAIKABUBAK, PK -- Wakil Bupati  Sumba Barat (Sumbar),  dr.Kornelius Kodi Mete, mengundurkan diri dari jabatannya  untuk memusatkan perhatian  mencalonkan diri sebagai kandidat bupati di  Sumba Barat Daya (SBD). Gong pilkada  di Kabupaten Sumba Barat Daya  telah ditabuh 12 Me 2008 lalu.  Surat permohonan ...

WAIKABUBAK, PK--Dinas Perhubungan, Informasi dan   Komunikasi Kabupaten Sumba Barat menyosialisasikan tarif baru angkutan kota (angkota) di Waikabubak. Sosialisasi itu dilakukan secara langsung dan alat peraga berupa pengumuman di tempat strategis seperti terminal, pasar serta pada kendaraan masing-masing. Kepala Dinas Perhubungan,Informasi dan Komunikasi Sumba Barat, Drs.Alex Bora Kahowi, saat ditemui di Waikabubak, pekan lalu, mengatakan, langkah itu dilakukan agar masyarakat Kota Wikabubak sadar membayar tarif jasa angkota sesuai ketentuan sehingga tidak muncul keluhan sopir dan pengusaha angkota. Alex menjelaskan, sebelumnya pihaknya telah mengadakan pertemuan dengan para pengusaha angkota dan sopir membicarakan kenaikan tarif yang dinilai terlalu kecil oleh pengusaha dan sopir, yakni Rp 2.500,00/penumpang dari sebelumnya Rp 1.400,00/penumpang.

Orang Sumba masa kini tidak berbeda jauh dengan orang Sumba dimasa lalu. Mereka mampu melestarikan bahasa dan budayanya walaupun tak henti-hentinya diduduki dan dikuasai oleh pulau-pulau lain. Ada tiga bahasa yang dipergunakan di pulau Sumba, dua bahasa di Sumba Barat dan satu bahasa di Sumba Timur. Kedua bahasa di bagian barat terbagi lagi atas delapan dialek. Orang Sumba mudah untuk dikenal dari cara berpakaiannya. Kaum pria mengenakan kain tenun ikat “Hinggi” dililitkan kepinggang dengan ikat pinggang dan parang yang ditancapkan kedalam kain tenun dan ikat pinggang. Mereka juga memakai ikat kepala yang dibuat dari tenun ikat. Kain ikat ditenun menggunakan motif binatang dan manusia. Di Sumba Timur, umumnya tenun ikat berwarna dasar hitam dengan motif berwarna dan di Sumba Barat dengan warna dasar biru. Kaum wanita juga mengenakan kain tenun ikat namun jenis dan bentuknya berbeda yang berupa sarung. Salah satu ciri orang Sumba adalah keahlian mereka yang luar biasa dalam hal menunggang kuda. Anak-anak sudah mulai belajar menunggang kuda sejak masih kecil. Ketika beranjak dewasa, mereka menunjukkan keahlian ini lewat keikutsertaanya dalam tradisi perang berkuda “Pasola”.

    Desa Weepangali merupakan daerah terpadat di kecamatan Loura,Waikabubak,Sumba Barat. Masyarakatnya hidup dari hasil pertanian yang tidak produktif. Umumnya warga desa Weepangali bermata pencaharian sebagai petani subsisten. Sehingga, hasil pekerjaan bertan inya tidak mampu mencukupi ...

To enter a traditional Sumba house, one must first be accepted as member of the house through betel-nut ceremony. Staying inside the house for about two weeks enable one to observe the daily life of Sumbanese.

Nihiwatu Resort, a small and exclusive hideaway on the eastern island of Sumba (400 kms east of Bali) is one of the most extraordinary resorts in an archipelago of the extraordinary. The fishing, surfing and diving are sensational and ...

John Borthwick ventures to the Indonesian island of Sumba in search of the perfect wave Sumba makes Bali seem like Manhattan. This high, undulating island of 11,150sqkm is home to about 500,000 people who, despite their veneer of missionary Christianity, remain animists and ancestor worshippers. Roughly halfway between Bali and Timor, the island is, according to Australian anthropologist Lawrence Blair, "a time capsule of our earliest beginnings". Within minutes of leaving the airport at Tambolaka in western Sumba, I notice men sporting ikat turbans and parang swords cantering along the road on tough little horses. These ponies and their equally sturdy riders are the stars in Sumba's celebrated ritual, the Pasola, battles on horseback that take place each February and March. In this dangerous war game, hundreds of horsemen thunder across a large field flinging wooden spears at each other. The national government still allows the jousts to take place but these days insists that the spears at least be blunt. Officials realise they have no chance of banning the tournament as Pasola is far more than a display of machismo and horsemanship. It is integral to the island's animist Marapu belief system. Despite the blunted spears, serious injuries are common and there are even occasional deaths. Rather than regretting these, the Sumbanese believe that blood spilled on the earth during Pasola will ensure a fruitful harvest and their survival.

One of the last great bastions of tradition in increasingly modernized Indonesia, Sumba remains a wild and wonderful adventure. Tim Hannigan takes a detour far from the beaten track. Sumba eases up over the horizon an hour before sunset, long after the green hills of Flores have fallen away in the wake. Below deck the cargo of seasick pigs grunts unhappily. I lean against the rail of the ferry’s upper deck and watch the long, dark ridge of the island rising in the dusk. Sumba is an island apart. Riding south of the main chain of Nusa Tenggara, the string of small islands east of Bali, it stayed aloof from the rest of the archipelago for centuries. Hinduism, Islam and Christianity did not cross the Sumba Strait; Dutch colonialists arrived only in the early 20th century, and long after Independence Sumba kept the rest of the world at arm’s length. Today it remains one of Indonesia’s most intensely traditional islands.

Ten years ago, British traveller Richard Cain was in the island of Sumba in Indonesia. He thought he might have a look at the famous megaliths on the island. Here is his story: “........ what I didn’t know was that they are still making them. As it happened, I was in time for the laying of a new tomb and the accompanying funeral of one of the local chiefs." "I was fortunate enough to be invited to the funeral and to stay in a nearby village. When asking about the deceased, I was surprised to be told that I could see him the following day, the day before the funeral. After all, not many foreigners come by, and he would be very interested to meet me." "So I met the chief, who seemed to be in glowing health. He told me that he was having his funeral now, as it was a very expensive affair and why should he miss all the fun? He also couldn't trust his family to stump up the cash for it when he died. Apparently this is the custom for chiefs in these parts. We also talked about this and that, and he offered his condolences for my recent loss. When I showed my surprise, he told me that his people shared my grief at the loss of one of my royal family, namely Princess Diana. This was September 1997." "On the day of the funeral, I went to the chief's village. I saw a huge group of men pulling an enormous chunk of rock. It must have been 30 feet long and 15 feet wide and about 3 or 4 feet thick. Tree trunks were being used as rollers and they had been manhandling this slab, to be laid on the chief’s tomb, for many months as it had come from a quarry far away. Standing on top was a very fierce man, with a colourful sarong and bandana and an enormous machete in his belt. He was calling out time through a megaphone. There was also a sail on the slab to help them on their way. This was to be the final day of heaving, as they were to pull the slab the final few metres to its eventual resting place." "Every now and then from the village square came music from a small band. This was a signal to stop pulling and to meet another delegation from various local villages. They had come to pay their respects to the chief and to offer presents. These were mainly pigs and buffalos, which were led ahead of the delegation and then ritually slaughtered in the tiny square. There were also a few modern gifts, including a few cartons of cigarettes and bags of sugar."

Sumba Island, located in the southern part of EastNusa Tenggara, about 100 kilometers south of Flores Island, is 250 kilometers long with a total area of 10,845 square kilometers. It is formed from volcanic crust fragments and limestone. The geological formation of Sumba is different from other islands in Nusa Tenggara, which originally derived from volcanic rock. The dry season in Sumba occurs between May and November. The annual rainfall is estimated between 500 millimeters and 2,000 millimeters. Sumba has four types of forest (Banilodu and Saka, 1993). The deciduous forest is found along the rivers and lowland areas, while the semi-evergreen forests grow in the hilly areas, where the humidity is lower. The true evergreen forest is in area with higher humidity, about 700meters above sea level. Another type, the elfin forest, is found on Mount Wanggameti at 1,050 meters to 1200 meters above sea level. Now, only 11 percent of Sumba Island is covered with forest, mostly in the south. The forest is home to a great variety of fauna, much of which isendemic to Sumba.............

There was intense activity in the house of Hendrik Pali, 60, in Lambanapu, seven kilometers east of Waingapu, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), with large tents being put up in the front yard in July. While some people thought the father of six was getting ready for a party, Hendrik turned out to be preparing for a rare cultural event -- the making of a 50-meter-long piece of handwoven cloth for making garments called hinggi East Sumba Regent Umbu Mehang Kunda kicked off the event on Aug. 23. The same day also saw the start of a similar event in Paung subdistrict, Melo, which is 60 km south of Waingapu.The Lambanapu weavers are aiming to complete the length of cloth by the third week of December. ""This is a first for our community and it's a major event for East Sumba people and for the nation in general, which demands hard work and great responsibility,"" Hendrik said at his home.