ABSTRACT
A couple of years ago, Siberut Island began to feature on the tourists' maps of West Sumatra. Although it is well known for its endemic wildlife, it is in particular the indigenous population that is the focal point of tourist attraction. The island is a place, according to the brochure, where ‘stone age culture still survives’ and if you are lucky, you can ‘witness colourful magicians performing their curing ceremonies’. This appeal has come a long way since the forceful attack on the traditional religion that took place twenty years ago. ‘Medicine men’ (kerei) were forced to hand in all their religious paraphernalia, and drums as well as skulls of animals kept for ritual reasons were publicly destroyed. The kerei also had to sign a letter in which they promised that they would refrain from any activity related to their traditional religion. This attested to the contemporary policy of the Indonesian government to eradicate once and for all the traditional beliefs of the ‘isolated, primitive tribes’ (suku terasing) of Indonesia that were considered not to belong to ‘religion’ (agama) anyway.
