Wamena, 2/3 (Jubi) – The idea of the Customary Institution (LMA) to combine Honai, the traditional house of Wamena with Julang Ngapak, the Sundanese traditional house, has been criticized as an attempt to dilute the culture of the Papuan indigenous people.
A member of MRP’s Women Working Group, Nehemi Yebikon said in Wamena (02/3) that every tribe in the world has their own culture for generations, so that it should be maintained without mixing it with other cultures.
She further said Papua has its cultural characteristics which are rich, unique and diverse and the idea to combine the Papuan culture with the Sundanese culture would hurt the Papua indigenous people.
“It was difficult to integrate different cultures. Moreover the Sundanese culture has no relations at all with that of Papuan,” said Yebikon.
She added that to make such a proposal, the LMA should have the MRP’s recommendation as a Papuan cultural institution.
She said she suspected the LMA had ulterior motives in making the proposal, but did not elaborate.
Earlier, on 27 February, LMA Papua facilitated Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil to visit Wamena in order to build a Honai that would be integrated with the tradional Sundanese architecture of Julang Ngapak. Chairman of LMA Papua, Lenis Kogoya responded the willingness of the mayor with saying he’s ready to prepare a location for the new integrated Traditional House. (Jubi/Roni Hisage/rom)
