Lombok is fastly becoming one of the popular places of Indonesia. The half a milion people which visit Lombok every year is only a very small amount compared with Bali, byt their number will certainly increase, since hotels have been built over the recent years. All good places along the beach, even those which can only be reached by jeep, are already bought by contractors from Jakarta.
Comparisons with the neighboring Bali are remarkable, the island is only a little smaller, and the population is only a little smaller. There are about 100,000 Balinese in West-Lombok, descendants from the intruders in the 17th century. They maintain a network of temples and have the same rituals and ceremonies as the Balinese on the other island. Besides this minority the two cultures on the island are very different. The local population of Lombok, the Sasak, are muslem; their art and religious lives are very different from those of their hinduist neighbors.
The name 'Lombok' could have been derived from that of a hot red chillipepper, but this is probably a folk entymology. The Sasak name their island Bumi Gora, 'the dry agricultural soil', or Selaparang, to an old principalty in East-Lombok.
With it's shape, Lombok looks a little bit like a lumbung, a traditional rice shed, and measures about 80 km from north to south, and seventy km from west to east. A big peninsula in the southwest stretches to the west, in the southeast is another, smaller, peninsula.
Off the coast are groups of small islands, which are names 'Gili', the Sasak word of island. Some of them are inhabited by fishermen and some cattle, the most known - Gili Air, Gili Meni and Gili Trawangan, off the northwestern coast - are home to masses young, mainly European tourists, especially in the months July, August and September.

Gunung Rinjani

The landscape of Lombok is dominated by Gunung Rinjani, the second highest vulkano of Indonesia, after the Puncak Jayakusuma on Papua. The Rinjanu, 3726 meters high, towers above a group of mountains which overrules the northern part of the island. Most rain which falls on these mountains, flows to the south and irrigates a big and wealthy agricultural area. Elsewhere the island is more infertile and crops only grow in the wet season, the northwest monsoon from October through March.

Image  Southern beach

The mountains along the southern coast, with an average height of 500 meters, don't form a water separation. They run down steeply to the sea and surround bays and sandy creeks. Outside the harbours of Lembar, in the curve of the southwestern peninsula, and Labuhan Lombok, in the northeast, the southern coast is the only place with decent bays.

Early History of Lombok

There is little known about life on Lombok in the prehistory. As well as most other languages that are spoken in the archipelago, the Sasak-language belongs to the Austronesian language-family. The Austronesians, which originated from mainland Asia, started to move toward the Philipines, Indonesia and the islands in the Pacific around 5,000 BC.
A cronicle from the 14th century from the big East-Jawanese principalty Majapahit names Lombok as a part of it. The only copy of the cronicle, the Negarakertagama, was found in the village Pagutan, just outside Mataram at the end of the 19th century. In that time there were a lot of local rulers, which each ruled over an area the size of several villages. Every once in a while one of them, which often called themselves raja, succeeded to get control over a larger area, but it never took a long time before it fell apart once again.
Islam was introduced from Jawa in the first part of the 16th century by Sunan Giri or Pangeran Sangopati or by both. Pangeran Sangopari was known as Pedanda Bau Rau on Bali, and as Tuan Haji Semeru on Sumbawa. These first muslems preached a syncretic version of islam, coloerd by local ancesteral believes and hinduism. Early messages tell us that the mosque which can still be een in Bayan, is the oldest an most important of Lombok.
In the 17th century the island came under cultural and religious influence of Sulawesi. The islamic principalty Makasar (nowadays Ujung Pandang), connected with the nearby Bima on Sumbawa, has some political influence over eastern Lombok.

Arrival of the Balinese

During the pre-islamic time, the Balinese principalty Klungklung (in Southeastern Bali) has a big influence on Lombok. Though it were the Balinese from Karangasem (in Northeastern Bali) which formed the first external power which - not long after the introduction of islam - occupied western Lombok.
The conquerrors were supported by Banjar Getas, patih (Prime Minister) of the Sasak-principalty Pejanggiq, which wanted vengeance after the king of the area had sent him abroad to tempt his wife, as is told. After the Balinese victory Banjar Getas was awarded with area and wealth. Later the Balinese turned against his heir and son, which was beaten in the first Praya War.
The east of Lombok was protected from attacts from the west by a dense forest, which existed until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1678 the Balinese succeeded to get through the wilderness. With the help of several unsatisfied Sasak-aristocrats they destroyed the royal court of Selaparang. It would take another 150 years before the Balinese had something to say in East-Lombok as well. They introduced the technique of wet-rice agriculture, but that was about all cultural influence they had on the Sasak, which maintained their islamic religion.
Between 1775 and 1838 the Balinese argued among themselves, which caused the Sasak-aristocrats to regain a certain independence in the eastern part of the island again. In 1838 the Balinese of Mataram fought and won fromn the nearby Cakranegara, which killed suicide all together, named puputan.

Image  Kangkung

The Balinese from Mataram gained power in eastern Lombok, and made an end to the independence of the Sasakadel and the villages in the east. The farmers of Eastern Lombok became slaves. Used to their old autonomy they revolted in 1855, 1871 and 1891, which caused them to be killed by the Balinese, supported by the Sasak in the western part of the island.
The Balinese raja of Lombok became very rich because he demanded soil-tax and he ruled the trade. Between 1850 and 1890 the cities of Mataram and Cakra got big royal palaces, public fountains and mainstreets with lighting. Old reports tell us that the raja os Lombok was the most wealthy local ruler of the Indonesian archipelago. This, together withe information about tin deposits (which prooved false later) was enough to draw the attention of the Dutch.

Dutch on Lombok

The Dutch, which were trading with the area since the 17th century, had signed a treaty with the Balinese in which they declared they wouldn't occupy Lombok. They did do it anyway in 1894, they said there was a Sasak revolt.
The Dutch army was defeated though it was equipped with modern European weapons. More than ahundred Dutch soldiers were hilled, among them the lower commander Van Hamm. The Dutch could not stand any loss and returned with reinforcements.
Mataram was burned down to the ground. After that the Dutch went towards the last Balinese stronghold, Cakranegara. The crownprince, Anak Agung Ketut, was killed and the old raja was banned to Batabia. But the Balinese were no easy targets and many rather died in puputan than to subject to the Dutch. Hundreds of Dutch were killed as well. The survivors were rewarded gratefully when they looted the treasury of the raja. This room which measured three times five meters was covered with a layer of 60 cm golden coins. A smaller room was filled with more golden coins, gemstones and several ornaments which were very unreplacable.
The Sasak, which had asked for Dutch intervention, remarked that they were ruled by their new masters, and that they were much more rude than the Balinese. The taxes were higher and the male population was forced to construct roads. The Dutch rule meaned unknown economical exploitation of most of the farmers. Many were forced away from their soils and were forced to beg to survive.
The Dutch also ruled indirectly over Lombok, through Balinese and Sasak-aristocrats, which had to give the biggest part of their income to the colonial power. Nevertheless they succeeded in gathering a huge diversity of posessions.
Due to forced labour the Dutch built a series of nine dams, which helped increasing rice production dramatically. De population however, grew that fast that the daily rice consumption descended: from 400 grams in 1900 to 300 grams in 1940. The Balinese rajas demanded 50 per cent of the harvest as a tax, towards 1940, the Dutch demanded 80 per cent, and this was just one of many taxes. During the Japanese occupation the population even got worse, when the Sasak were confronted with starvation and terror.
After the declaration of independence by the Indonesians in 1945, Lombok was a part of the Dutch controlled state of East Indonesia. In 1949, after the Dutch had lost sovereignty, Lombok became a part of the Lesser Sunda Islands Provincve. In 1951, the province Nusa Tenggara Barat was created, with as capital Mataram. Nowadays Lombok is devided into three kabupaten: West, Central and East, with the capitals Mataram, Praya and Selong.

Art and Culture of the Sasak

The Sasak-art never has been so popular as the art of their Balinese neighbors. There is some high-grade traditional art - weaving, making baskets and pottery - but never something that even equals the quality of the Balinese. Recent efforts to modernize the art, meant to produce for the tourist industry, has failed as well.
Lombok was known for it's ikat, but the tourist doesn't want to pay that much for a fabric, so the handwork (spinning and painting) has been replaced by machines. A low-tech programme to sell local pottery, partially financed by the government of New Zealand, was successfull and raised some extra money for the three villages which participated. The makers of the pottery are seen as very good craftsmen. Besides pottery, baskets, made with ratten, banana-leaves and other fibres also belong to the best art.

Image  Traditional fight

The dances and ceremonies of the Sasak are also a little less imposant as the extented ceremonies of the hinduist Balinese. The most important rite of a Sasak-boy is his circumsision. During this ritual he is placed on a big wooden horse, and carried around. Islamic weddings, which often take place after the harvest because then there is enough of everything, are also a big ceremony. The time in which the crops are harvested varies. The rice is planted in October or November: the new 'short season rice' is finished three months later; the traditional longgrain rice takes five months.
Circumsisions are often carried out in the islamic month of Muhammads birthday. Ceremonies often take place with ritual fights, named peresehan or berempuk, in which the men are armed with ratten sticks and shield of buffalo skin. Blood flows often, and the ceremony is not for the weak people.
Peresehan-fights are also held in combination with national and local festivals, and sometimes as a part of an agraric ritual in which rain is asked. Sometimes a more friendly show is given for tourists; the men only attach eachothers shields.

Wetu Telu

Most inhabitants of Lombok are muslem. One small group, traditionalists all the way, maintains to old, pre-islamic habits. Their religion and culture is named Islam Wetu Telu, which means as much as 'three times islam'. What is exactly means is not sure. Welu Telu doesn't belong to the official religions of Indonesia, so there is no information about the number of supporters, which can be found in the northern part of the island. Official resources say there are only a few thousand supporterd.
More likely estimations say that there are about 5,000 people around Bayan, 6,000 in the subdistricts Tanjung and Gangga, 10,000 in the east and 7,000 in Central Lombok. However Wetu Telu is somewhat protected because of their partial acception of islam, more strict Sasak give some pressure to stop their traditions.

Overpopulation and Agriculture

A small part of the population profits from the growing tourism, which causes more work and increases the sale of art and other production. The big majority still practises agriculture for own use, and has to deal with water and soil shortages. However the government still aims at birth control, the population density is still extremely high. The number of people in comparison with agricultural soil is even higher on Lombok than on Bali. Transmigration programs (the inhabitants of Lombok were transferred to less populated areas of the archipelago) have somewhat eased the pressure, but the problems are far from solved.
When you talk about illiteracy and number of infant deaths, Lombok still has the highest rate of entire Indonesia. Many schoolkids are on islamic schools, where they are thought religion and Arabic, but they are hardly prepared for the demands of a growing economy.
The government has developed over the recent years. Vaccinations against hepatitis B even is accepted in the rural areas. In an effort do reduce the number of cholera-cases the quality of drinking water is improved. Malaria, which formed a big problem in the north, gets more attention as well. The number of clinics with nurses is growing as well.
The healthprograms are not directly visible to the visitors, other governmental programs are: the electrification of the rural areas, the construction of dams and especially the improved road system. Some roads are meant to bring tourists to their places quickly, others connect remote areas with main roads and markets.
The heart of Lombok, the triangle with it's base in the west and it's top near Pringgabaya in the east, originally is the rice shed of Lombok. The area regularly produces some extra rice. The area has lots of sawah's and looks like Jawa and Bali. Due to irrigation projects the number of hectares with sawahs is slowly increasing. New fast growing spiecies of rice with a high yield also help increasing production, but the local population favours the taste of the original one. On markets, the old spiecies is kind of expensive.
Due to education and encouragement of the government, most farmers use field-change cultures; they plant soy-beans after one or two rice yields. In the more dry areas, especially in the south of the fertile triangle, most fields are nowadays planted with high-yield tobacco, which is dried in local ovens and sold to a firm which exports to Jawa and foreign countries. Since a decade or so, tobacco is the second most important agricultural export product. The farmers also export areka-nuts, beans, cinnamon, coffee, onions and flowers which are used for medication; since a while also clove, pepper and vanilla.

Export and Tourism

Measured to yield, good pumice is the main export product of the island. Since 1985 the demand for pumic from Hong Kong raised, because they used it to make stone-washed jeans with it, but also cosmetics several other products.
Lombok has several pearlfarms, organised in cooperation with Japanese. They discovered how to grow pearls inside oysters; the concept is kept secret. The yearly yield from the pearls is several milion dollars.
A new crop is seaweed, which is made into carragene and agar-agar. Carragene makes food and cosmetics more soft, agar-agar is used in cosmetics as well, but also in food and many other products. Branches of the seaweed eucheuma are put in the seabed, or in a floating frame in the calm offshore waters just off the beach.
Most fishermen of Lombok supply to the local market, but the harvest of schrimp-farms are exported, and the breedings of the bandan-fish is catched to be put in sawahs on Jawa. Dried tripang (seacucumber), collected from reefs, are exported to Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Agriculture and fishery are important to the local economy; tourism is even more important, if possible. For 1991, about 100,000 were expected, before that, agriculture boomed. The sale of products, for local sale as well as export to Bali, is also on the increase.
Until now the beaches of Senggigi is built full with big hotels, but Kuta is also developping rapidly. Several locations along the southern coast, which are now hard to reach, offer nice nature and white sand beaches; these paradises are already bought by contractors from Jakarta, which have big plans with it, or just sell the area when the prices are higher. To fill the expected hotelrooms, the government has planned an airport near Praya.
The strong increase of land sale has brought wealth to locals. Many sold their soil to pay for the expensife holiday to Mecca. Many return as a respected, but broke hajji, poor because they have told their area.

Travelling in Lombok

Most foreign visitors will end up in Senggigi along the western coast, or on one of the three 'Gili's', just a little to the north. The tourists have also discovered the beaches around Kuta. Less popular are the southern slopes of Gunung Rinjani.
Travel agencies and free-lancers in Senggigi organise daytrips which show the 'real' Lombok to the tourists. Often you will see some Balinese temples, the weavers in the village Sukarara, the potteries in Penujak, the traditional village on the beach of Kuta and Sade with the bay near Tanjung Aan. However this is enough for the visitor which has problems to get off the beach, Lombok has much more to offer. To see the rest of the island, you will need some initiative.
The roads of Lombok, most of them have been paved over the last decade of the 20th century, are improved rapidly. The best road, which is wide and smooth, connects the seaport of Lembar with the city area near Mataram, and then runs to the ferry port Labuhan Lombok.
A road of similar quality connects the capital of Central-Lombok, Praya, with the east-west main riad. Selong, capital of East-Lombok, is also connected with a main road through a good road, which continues to the fisherme village Labuhan Haji along the eastern coast, from where pilgrims leave for Mecca.
Cidomo form the main traffic problems. These carts which are pulled by horses often slow down cars and bemo. The poor horses always seem to survive the dangerously driving cars. In the ten days that the writer was on Lombok, he only saw one dead horse, which was just hit by a truck. A good cidomo-horse costs about US$250; most transporters hire a horse and card from the owner.
The name cidomo originated from the first two characters from three different words:cikar which means cart in Sasak, dokar which is the more common Indonesian word for horse cart, and mobil which is the Indonesian of car.
The paved secundary roads are not wide and are usually full with holed, but on many locations the roads are improved, and the roads also get some drainage from two small canals along the road. These roads are for slow traffic. People are often victim of loud yelling kids 'Turis! Turis!'. These unwanted attention is the price you have to pay for travelling areas outside the tourist places.
Almost everywhere you can rent transport, most of the time small buses for four or six people and English speaking guide. They can reach most places on Lombok, but some areas from the rough southern coast, where you can find the best nature, you will need an experienced driver and jeep (locally called hardtop) or Kijang (Toyota van/jeep) which is in good condition.