Ambon People Culture

Ambon is on of the islands which is now a province of Indonesia called "The Province of Maluku". The main island of Maluku are Buru, Ambelau, Boano, Ambon, Saparua, Seram, Gorong group, Watubela group, Banda group, Kai group, Aru group, Tanimbar group, Babar group and other small group of islands spreaded on the ocean between Sulawesi and West Papua.

 Maluku is the province having the biggest number of islands which area is the sea as the biggest percentage. In this writing the current province of North Maluku can not be separated such as Halmahera, Ternate and Tidore islands. Historically Ternate and Tidore were once had important role in the history of Maluku archipelago.

The location of each island or each group of islands is far and the means of transportation among islands is limited within a long period. This situation has caused much of the island were in isolated status until just recent years when motorized boat reaches the islands. The population of Maluku is a typical beach settlers living as fishermen, and small number as farmers. 

Census in 1971 recorded the number of population was 1.088.945. In this very short account not all islands of Maluku will be presented, as in detail the difference are great, while in general the island of Ambon as one of the most developed area. Maluku can represent the diversity of the region.

Traditional villages on the island of Ambon was built along main road closed each other, or in a group of houses separated by land. This small group of houses is called "Soa". The original houses of Ambon, the same as Nias, Mentawai, Bugis, Torajan, and other ethnic groupsof Indonesia, is built on high wooden poles. 

Many soa which are located close each others from a village called "Aman". A complex of aman called "Desa" which is also called "Negari" headed by a "raja". The center of the negari will be seen with the existence of meeting hall, house of raja, church, mosque, house of the clergy, shops and various stalls.

The people of Ambon most of them are traditional an very simple farmer, reminds use about the Nias, Mentawai and Dayak. They clear and burn forest plant the crops' seeds only using wooden stick. The main subsistence of Ambonese, as well as other people of Maluku is Sago the inner content of a palm tree, the same as the people in West Papua. Although rice is now cooked but not totally change the sago.

 The traditional process of making sago is exactly the same as simple way on northern shore of West Papua. Other crops they grow in small scale are rice, coffee, potato, tobacco, banana, mango, durian and cloves. Cloves, Ambon has been known by European as the source of spice.

The cultivation of spice is not complicated, just planted on a cleared land around heavy plantations.

Hunting wild animal such as pigs, deer and casuary birds using traditional trap which will hang the animal when the trap is stepped.

Kinship system of the Ambonese is based on minimum leanage called mata-rumah, where a group of relatives of patrilineal relation. This unit is called fam. Bigger unit of fam is famili. Fam give the traditional rules on marriage, and use of land among patrilineal relation, while famili also has the same function.

 The Ambonese introduces 3 ways of marriage, fled, a couple left their house, so the family of youth and girl will lost and realized that their son or daughter has left from house to marry. For the couple this way is preferable to avoid procedures, but is not convenient for girl's family. When a couple left their house for marriage, the youth family that will actively tracing and discussing with relatives, the parents of girls and other families to solve and completing the process. 

A youth when he plans to marry by taking the girl away, usually has been known by girl's family. The youth with the help of his friends or his relative will take the girl in her room and bring all her clothing away. An envelope with letter will be put on the bed of the girl. After the girl is taken away she will be under protection of youth family. In this case a girl is lost or taken by a youth for marriage, and left marriage gift on her bed, it means girl's parents do not know who is the youth. 

Second way is normal marriage request which will be organized by youth parent, the same as other ethnics of Indonesia with big marriage gift, why this system is not preferable, especially for poorer people. Beside marriage gift which is to much, also the feast makes the family over burden, Third tradition is a marriage, that the youth move from his family to the girl's family. This is caused by inability to give marriage gift, or the youth family do not approve the girl due to different social status.

Polygamy is allowed among moslem, but forbidden in Christian society. Although among Ambonese Moslem polygamy is allowed but not practiced like in Java and Lombok. Social organization in Ambonese society, as mentioned above consist of the head of "Soa", and many soas become a "Negari" headed by a "Raja". The position of raja is based on geneology, although tradition rules to appoint based on election. 

Other traditional positions are 'tuan tanah" an official expert in land and it's people, Kapitan is a war expert, Kewang is a forest watcher, Marinyo is news pronouncer. All above traditional officers as a body of traditional government is called "Sanitri". The actual daily administration of the villages is actually done by the head of soa both traditional affairs and the government of Indonesia. The striking social character of people in Maluku is the big number of social organization or association.

The existence of Patasiwa and Patalima for the people is very important. Pata means part, undoubtedly a word of Sanskrit "patha" in English "part"and "siwa" means nine, lima means five. So in short there are an organization of "9 parts" and "5 part". The organization of Patalima is belong to the people living around Mala river and Teluk Putih on Seram island. This organization is divided into 2 groups, the patasiwa hitam and the patasiwa putih. No one of the people can explain the origin or concept of this organization anymore. 

See from the history where Ambon or Maluku was under the influence of Ternate and Tidore kingdoms for years since 1500s, it was assumed that this division was to give a mark to each of above kingdom colony. That is patasiwa hitam must give her skin certain tato, so this assumption bring to a conclusion that the tradition of patasiwa and patalima was originated from Ternate or Tidore. In the past it was said that patasiwa hitam who give the face tatuage, was member of secret organization who often beheaded their enemy.

Other organization are girl's association or Jajaro and youth organization or Ngungare. When a girl married outside her soa the Ngurare can block her way out if the white cloth gift is not yet delivered to the parent of the girl. While on west Seram there is more freedom to a girl to host guests, picnic, and wear beautiful dressing during ritual of the tradition.

Other organization in Ambon is called pela, which members are between soas or villages. This pela can be divided into pela keras, pela minum darah, and pela tempat makan sirih. Pela keras involves the co-operation in urgent need such reciprocal assistance in hard work, war and others. It is forbidden to marry between member of pela keras. 

While pela minum darah is almost the same organization with oath of mixing their drop of blood from their finger then the drink together. Pela makan sirih was formed to get reciprocal assistance in constructing Church, Mosque, and School. The formation of pela was believed as a result of the continues pressures from kingdoms of Tidore, Ternate, Dutch, and Portugais. Other organization is muhabet, an organization to organize all the need of death ceremony.

The ethnic conflict involved the archipelago in the year of 2000 until 2005 has totallychanged the vision of both Moslem and Christian of the island.

On Office Fire Prevention Strategies

Learn the location of fireescape routes and how to activate the fire alarm. Participate in practice firedrills on a regular basis. Become familiar with stairway exits - elevators maynot function during a fire, or may expose passengers to heat, gas and smoke.

Through a program of scheduled inspections, unsafe conditions can be recognizedand corrected before they lead to serious injuries. Take a few moments each dayto walk through your work area. Look for items previously pointed out, such asobjects protruding into walkways, file cabinets that are weighted toward thetop or frayed electrical cords. Advise personnel in the area of the hazards andset about correcting them.

• Heat-producing equipment - copiers, work processors, coffee makers and hotplates - are often overlooked as a potential fire hazard. Keep them away fromanything that might burn.

•  Electrical appliances can be fire hazards. Be sure to turn off allappliances at the end of the day. Use only grounded appliances plugged intogrounded outlets (three prong plug).

•  If electrical equipment malfunctions or gives off a strange odor, disconnectit and call the appropriate maintenance personnel. Promptly disconnect andreplace cracked, frayed, or broken electrical cords.

• Keep extension cords clear of doorways and other areas where they can bestepped on or chafed and never plug one extension cord into another.

• Do not allow combustible material (boxes, paper, etc.) to build up ininappropriate storage locations (near sources of ignition).

Emergency Preparedness
One result of the recent trend toward open officeenvironments is that smoke from office fires is not contained or isolated aseffectively as in less open designs. Open office designs allows smoke to spreadquickly and the incorporation of many synthetic and other combustible materialin office fixtures (such as furniture, rugs, drapes, plastic wastebaskets, andvinyl covered walls) often makes 'smoky' fires. In addition to being smoky,many synthetic materials can emit toxic materials during a fire.

For example, cyanide can be emitted from urethane which is commonly used inupholstery stuffing. Most burning materials can emit carbon monoxide.Inhalation of these toxic materials can severely hamper an office worker'schances of getting out of a fire in time. This makes it imperative for officeworkers to recognize the signal to evacuate their work area and know how toexit in an expedient manner.

The local emergency action plan will address potential emergencies that can beexpected in your work area. For emergency evacuation, the use of floor plans orworkplace maps that clearly show the emergency escape routes and safe or refugeareas should be included in the plan.

All employees must understand what actions theyare to take in the work area and assemble in a safe zone. All new employeesshould discuss how they should respond to emergencies with their supervisorsshortly after starting work and whenever their responsibilities under the planchange.

This orientation should include:

Identifyingthe individuals responsible for various aspects of the plan (chain of command)so that in an emergency confusion will be minimized and employees will have nodoubt about who has authority for making decisions.

Identifyingthe method of communication that will be used to alert employees that anevacuation or some other action is required as well as how employees can reportemergencies (such as manual pull stations, public address systems, ortelephones).

Identifyingthe evacuation routes from the building and locations where employees willgather

General guidancefor fires and related emergencies includes:

If you discover a fire or see/smell smoke,immediately follow these procedures:

Notifythe local Fire Department

NotifyCDC Physical Security or Building Security Force

Activatethe building alarm (fire pull station). If not available or operational,verbally notify people in the building.

Isolatethe area by closing windows and doors and evacuate the building, if you can doso safely.

Shut downequipment in the immediate area, if possible.

Ifpossible and if you have received appropriate training, use a portable fireextinguisher to:

assist oneself to evacuate;
assist another to evacuate; and
control a small fire.

Do notcollect personal or official items; leave the area of the fire immediately andwalk, do not run to the exit and designated gathering area.

Youshould provide the fire/police teams with the details of the problem upon theirarrival. Special hazard information you might know is essential for the safetyof the emergency responders. You should not re-enter the building untildirected to do so. Follow any special procedures established for your unit.

If thefire alarms are ringing in your building, you must evacuate the building andstay out until notified to return. Move to your designated meeting location orupwind from the building staying clear of streets, driveways, sidewalks, andother access ways to the building. If you are a supervisor, try to account foryour employees, keep them together and report any missing persons to theemergency personnel at the scene.

If anindividual is overexposed to smoke or chemical vapors, remove the person to anuncontaminated area and treat for shock. Do not enter the area if you suspectthat a life threatening condition still exists (such as heavy smoke or toxicgases). If CPR certified, follow standard CPR protocols. Get medical attentionpromptly.

If youror another person's clothing catches fire, extinguish the burning clothing byusing the drop-and-roll technique, wrap victim in a fire blanket or dousevictim with cold water (use an emergency shower if it is immediatelyavailable). Carefully remove contaminated clothing; however, avoid furtherdamage to the burned area. Cover injured person to prevent shock. Get medicalattention promptly.