Ako Sarka’s channel has a modest number of subscribers — around 56,000 — by YouTube’s standards. But that could largely be because it’s in Bahasa Indonesia, with no subtitles in other languages. This is a pity because his channel records everyday life in a community that has thrived by relying on traditional ways and shunning much of modern life — including the use of gadgets like the smartphone the 24-year-old uses to film his short videos.
Ako Sarka is part of the Kanekes or Baduy indigenous tribe in Lebak regency in Indonesia’s Banten province. A Sundanese ethnic subgroup, the Baduy are famous for keeping to their old ways even as the world changes around them. Their belief system is called Sunda Wiwitan, which has no holy scriptures and instead relies on the concept of pikukuh karuhun to enforce its value system and teachings. In a 2020 study, Indonesian scholars explain pikukuh karuhun as an ancestral mandate passed down through generations and which includes values, norms, laws, and traditions implemented in the form of prohibitions.
The children of the Kanekes, or the Baduy tribe, grow up without access to modern conveniences and formal schooling. The tribe believes this would instill a healthy respect for tradition and the environment in the youth. (Photo by David Andreas)
“The holy books of Baduy indigenous peoples are the universe,” the scholars also say. “Therefore, their mandate is to preserve and sustain its equilibrium. Thus, any attempt to destroy the environment is similar to damaging their own beliefs.”
The Baduy thus live off the earth and reject inorganic materials. Modern technology is taboo to the Baduy; they do not use modern implements and appliances, as well as electricity. They either grow or make what they need. There is no real schooling for the Baduy, too, but those who want to have a formal education are free to leave the community.
The Baduy are estimated to number around 12,000 to 13,000. They are divided into three communities, with the primary ones being the Baduy Luar (Outer Baduy) and the Baduy Dalam (Inner Baduy). The Baduy occupy some 5,101 hectares, but they have a right to take care of only around 2,570 hectares. The rest of the area is considered a protected forest according to Lebak Regency Regional Regulation No. 32/2001.
Ako Sarka belongs to the Baduy Luar, which acts as a buffer to the more isolated Baduy Dalam. The Baduy Luar deal more often with the outside world and as such get more exposed to modern conveniences. If Ako Sarka had been from Baduy Dalam, there would be little chance of him picking up a cell phone at all, let alone becoming a YouTuber. Yet even today, he knows that he would have to stop using his phone altogether should the elders tell him to do so.
Phones for good purposes
As it is, Baduy Luar leader Jaro Saija cannot hide his anxiety as he acknowledges that some of the younger Baduy Luar now use smartphones. Modern life contaminates the ways of Baduy Luar youth, he says.
Jaro Saija has a crucial role in the entire Baduy community. While the Baduy Dalam leader is above him in the community hierarchy, Jaro Saija is the bridge between Outer and Inner Baduy with the local government agencies, such as the Lebak regency government or the Lebak police district.
According to Jaro Saija, it is against the rules for any Baduy Luar to possess any modern communication tool and appliance, such as a television set. Nevertheless, he says, cell phones started appearing among the Baduy Luar in 2008. He says that smartphones can be misused and bring negative impacts to the community, such as triggering people to commit theft or sexual harassment. Jaro Saija says that he is afraid that such modern gadgets could pollute the Baduy people’s minds. “I don’t want my people to have dirty minds and hearts,” he says.
Jaro Saija, the leader of the community to which Ako Sarka belongs, says they conduct house raids and confiscate smartphones. However, any visitor who seeks an audience with Jaro Saija will soon discover his little secret. (Photo by David Andreas)
Yet, says Jaro Saija, he can tolerate a Baduy having a smartphone so long as it is used for a “good and positive purpose.”
Ako Sarka says that is exactly what he is doing with his smartphone. The young father of a four-year-old girl explains that after he bought the phone in 2018, he stumbled on YouTube and decided to put up his own channel to introduce Baduy culture to the public, as well as to encourage city folk to take up even just some of the Baduy’s environment-friendly practices.
Ako Sarka also says that he is trying to show through his channel how the Baduy Luar are adapting to modern life while keeping true to the Baduy set of rules and traditions. He himself endures walking to and from the nearest bus terminal just so he can charge his phone.
He says that he learned to shoot and edit by watching YouTube tutorials. So far he has uploaded 66 videos, most of which show him, his 19-year-old wife Ayu, and their little girl Karnila accomplishing at least one of their everyday chores or participating in harvests. The channel has clocked nearly six million views in total — and still counting. Of the videos, which average some 11 minutes each, the most popular is one showing Baduy women, including Ayu, pounding and winnowing rice.
The increasingly tech-savvy Ako Sarka also has an online business where he sells souvenirs that his family and neighbors make.
“We sell Baduy’s products on e-commerce platforms Tokopedia, Shopee, and also social media, mainly Instagram,” he says. According to Ako Sarka, he saw his online-selling profits increase 100 percent during the pandemic.
His YouTube channel is earning him some money as well. His first pay-off was US$150 in May 2020. Today the channel could have already yielded him more than US$2,000.
The inner world
Many of Ako Sarka’s videos show not just his family but the Baduy Luar community itself, with its orderly and clean alleys and modest, one-story bamboo houses. But Baduy Dalam is off-limits, even if it now allows tourists to visit and stay overnight, just like Baduy Luar.
Baduy Dalam does not allow photography or filming, says its leader Ayah Nadi, 47. “We totally refuse modern life tools, none of us own a cell phone,” he adds. Tourists who stay overnight cannot bring in soaps and shampoos either as they have “chemicals that can pollute our river,” he says. The Baduy Dalam themselves use plants and plant extracts for bathing and washing clothes.
Both Baduy Dalam and Luar rely on farming for their livelihood. Among their products are rice, durian, stinky bean, and aromatic ginger. There are chickens in Baduy farms, but no cows, goats, or buffalo, although the people do eat the meat of these animals. According to Ayah Nadi, “those animals could ruin the environment by eating some plants.” They could also damage neighbors’ plants and create conflict, he says.
“Our main task is to protect and preserve Mother Nature, which has nurtured us for a long time,” says Ayah Nadi. The Baduy believe that if they fail that task, calamities like floods or landslides could befall their villages.
Unlike the Baduy Luar who wear black and blue batik, the Baduy Dalam wear white, signifying purity of heart and mind. They are prohibited from wearing sandals or shoes, Ayah Nadi says. Neither are they allowed to ride any vehicle. “I walked for two days from my village to Jakarta for trading purposes,” he says. The distance from the capital city Jakarta to the nearest bus station to the Baduy community is around 120 kilometers; it takes four hours by car.
Still, it isn’t easy keeping the outside world entirely at bay, especially when those just next door are opening up to it.
Detention for smartphone owners
Jaro Saija says that in an effort to preserve the community’s traditions and values, Baduy Luar and Dalam conduct joint smartphone raids three times a year. The leaders knock on the doors of residents to check whether those inside have smartphones, and anyone caught with one is placed under detention.
“Actually, the jail is here, at my house,” Jaro Saija says. The detainee serves as a social worker for 40 days, under the Baduy Luar chief’s watch. Should the same person violate the same rule again, Jaro Saija says, his or her belongings would be cursed. The owner will be hit by calamity if he or she insists on using the cursed devices, he says.
A screenshot of a YouTube video by Ako Sarko, with his wife Ayu and their daughter Karnila, showing a typical day in the life of the Kanekes. Videos like this have generated a growing interest in the simple life of the tribe.
It’s not clear how Ako Sarka has eluded the raids, but he says that he tries not to upset his fellow Baduy with his activities. He also admits being uncomfortable after noticing that views shoot up whenever a video features his wife. And while he says that he has enjoyed many benefits from his smartphone, he stresses that he is not interested in most of modern life.
Baduy Luar leader Jaro Saija says that Ako Sarka is actually violating the rules. But he says that so long as Ako Sarka’s activities are for the greater good, he is willing to put up with them.
Just as the interview with Jaro Saija is winding up, the tinkling sound of a polyphonic ringtone interrupts the last bits of conversation. Smiling, the Baduy Luar leader digs into his pocket for his phone. He says, “It is for a good purpose.” ●
Leo Galuh is a Bandung-based journalist for an analytical news service provider. He is a former reporter of tvOne (Indonesian television news channel) and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). His work can also be seen in The Business Times Singapore, HalalTrip, Oasis KrAsia, and The News Lens International.
