Tara Bandu 

Desde Timor-Leste nia deklarasaun independénsia, iha nasaun tomak, lisan no lei tradisionál sira kona-ba rekursu naturál sira komesa buras fila fali. Komunidade sira goza tebes sira-nia liberdade foun atu pratika fali kostume tradisionál sira ne’ebé ukun-na’in Indonézia sira la enkoraja durante dékada rua ho balun. Maski durante okupasaun Indonéziu prátika sira hanesan tara bandu la ilegál, konsekuénsia hala’o atividade boboot iha komunidade laran ho partisipasaun ema barak sériu tebes, nune’e ema ladún barani atu halibur malu hodi halo serimónia sira. Maibé iha periodu independénsia, tara bandu no pratika kulturál sira seluk komesa mosu fali iha fatin barak iha rai tomak. Ema balu relata katak komunidade nia interesse atu pratika fali tara bandu ne’e hanesan rezultadu husi nesesidade atu rezolve problema esplorasaun rekursu naturál hamutuk ho prosesu harii fila fali uma sira depois de violénsia ne’ebé akontese iha tinan 1999. Situasaun ekonómiku ne’ebé la di’ak no númeru kazu na’ok produtu sira husi to’os, karau, bibi no rekursu naturál husi ai-laran mós kontribui ba tara bandu sai relevante no importante fila fali. Kazu disputa sosiál no violénsia iha komunidade iha periodu pos-konflitu no ema sira nia hakarak atu harii dame iha sira-nia moris loroloron mak fatór importante seluk. Em jerál governu apoia tebes komunidade sira nia esforsu hodi ativa fila-fali tara bandu no, ho apoiu husi autoridade lokál servisu floresta nian, organizasaun sosiedade sivíl no indivíduu balu ho edukasaun nivel aas, komunidade balu komesa atu halo dokumentasaun kona-ba sira-nia pratika tara bandu nian ho forma akordu no dokumentu formál sira. 

Iha tinan 2002, Lauhata sai suku dahuluk iha Timor-Leste tomak atu hala’o serimónia tara bandu ida. Avaliasaun ne’ebé halo hafoin tinan lima hatudu hatudu katak suku sira seluk besik Lauhata mós komesa atu adota pratika sira-ne’e iha tinan tuirmai. Fatór importante iha kazu ne’e nia susesu mak Haburas nia kontribuisaun rekursu finanseiru ba hala’o serimónia nomós suporte tempu naruk ne’ebé sira fó ba prosesu halo planu ba hadi’ak vida-moris komunidade nian (livelihood) hodi reforsa bandu sira inklui fó apoiu ba badain sira ne’ebé prodús meza-kadeira au hanesan insentivu atu proteje ai-laran nia produtu sira. Komunidade Lauhata simu ho di’ak tebes aspetu protesaun ambiente iha prosesu tara bandu ho rezultadu pozitivu tebes: ai sira komesa buras fali iha foho oan sira ne’ebé uluk ema hamoos no sunu hodi halo to’os no hili ai ba te'in. Tuir lider lokál sira no fonte sira seluk, desde implementasaun programa tara bandu, númeru kazu violénsia doméstika, na’ok no disputa kona-ba rai menus. Lauhata lokaliza iha sub-distritu Bazartete no iha sub-distritu ne’e tomak komunidade sira komesa pratika tara bandu ho rezultadu ema hotu-hotu respeita bandu sira tuir baliza suku sira nian. 
______________
Across the nation there has been, since independence, a resurgence of traditional laws and customs relating to resource use. People are reveling in their freedom to re-instigate many practices which were repressed during two and a half decades of violent Indonesian rule. While practices such as tara bandu were not technically banned during the Indonesian occupation, they were effectively suppressed due to the consequences, potentially fatal, of congregating in large numbers to conduct unauthorized ceremonies. Since independence, however, tara bandu and other such practices have reappeared in many communities across the country. In some cases it has been reported that local community interest in the resurgence of tara bandu has stemmed from the need to address problems relating to resource exploitation and housing reconstruction in the wake of the 1999 violence (Meitzner Yoder 2007b) or more recently as a result of a depressed post-independence economic environment which has led to increased stealing of crops, livestock and forest products. An increase in social unrest or ‘post conflict’ community violence and a desire for peace-making is another reason why some communities are returning to this practice. The government is generally supportive of this renewed community interest and with the assistance of district forestry departments, civil society organizations and individuals from the Timorese educated classes, some communities have even begun to document their tara bandu practices in the form of written documents and agreements. 

In 2002 Lauhata was one of the first sucos in Timor Leste to carry out a post independence tara bandu ceremony and the evaluation five years later found that neighbouring sucos had also adopted the practice in subsequent years. A critical factor in the success of this case was that while the Haburas organization had contributed some of the financial resources necessary for the conduct of the ceremony, they had also invested long term in the process of local livelihood planning which would complement the prohibitions, including support for local bamboo furniture making businesses as an incentive toward sustainable forest protection. The Lauhata community embraced the environmental aspects of the tara bandu resulting in significant regrowth in the village foothills once denuded by burning and clearing for fields and firewood. According to local village leaders and other respondents domestic violence, stealing and land disputes have also decreased since the implementation of the tara bandu. In the Bazartete subdistrict, of which the suco of Lauhata is a part, there has been a sub-district wide resurgence of the tara bandu process and this has aided intercommunity adherence to prohibitions along village boundaries. 
____________

Prátika bandu atividade no hahalok balu liuhusi rituál mak bolu “tara bandu” iha lian Tetun. Lian hotu-hotu iha ninian liafuan rasik (Makassae: “lubu Badu” / Waima’a: “luhbu badu.”) Maski dala barak Tara Bandu ne’e ema konsidera hanesan maneira atu regula no limita to'os-na’in sira-nia kolleita ka esplorasaun rekursu naturál sira, bele mós ita interpreta luan liután hanesan regula relasaun entre ema no ambiente iha komunidade sira. Iha inísiu sékulu 20, autoridade koloniál portugés sira aproveita konseitu “tara bandu” ne’e hodi proteje ai-laran sira no iha dékada hirak tuirmai estadu mós adopta no suporta “ideolojia rai-na’in” (indíjenu) ne’e. Iha era pós-independénsia ne’e tara bandu kontinua simu apoiu no atensaun husi komunidade, estadu no organizasaaun naun-governmentál sira hanesan prátika tradisionál no indíjenu kona-ba protesaun ambiente no jestaun sustentável ba rekursu naturál sira.
_____________________

Locally enacted customary practices of ritualised prohibitions, glossed as tara bandu in the national language of Tetum, are known differently in each local language. In Makasae the term is lubu badu[i] and similarly in Waima'a as luhbu badu (literally 'the prohibition pole'). While the practice is often referred to as 'seasonal or periodic resource harvesting restrictions', it can also be more broadly interpreted as a practice which regulates a range of place-based social and environmental relationships. Elevated as a tool for forest protection by the Portuguese at the turn of the twentieth century, over several decades the practice of tara bandu became the favoured 'indigenist ideology' supported by the state (McWilliam et al 2014). This officially favoured status afforded to it as an indigenous 'environmental protection practice' has to some extent been reinvigorated in the independence era. Alongside a significant amount of community and non-governmental organization level embrace of the process (McWilliam et al 2014), tara bandu has developed a profile as a 'traditional' mechanism which is garnering significant attention and traction in the development of formal resource management laws, many of which are been drafted by 'expert' foreign advisors. In 2013 the Secretariat of State of the Environment was also supporting such rituals through small allocations of funding and in some cases the attendance of senior government members. Tara bandu it seems is increasingly valued by the state as a local mechanism 'to conserve and promote the environment and the preservation and sustainable use of natural resources'. 

What is understood today as the bandu process is usually conducted at the sub-village or village level at locally specified intervals (ranging from months to years). While the ceremony is announced and co-ordinated by the local political leader (usually the village head), the law making power emanates from the ancestral and ritual power of the sacred house or houses of one or more of the area's autochthonous or origin groups (in this case connected to a spring). Ceremonies are public events which announce the pre-agreed suite of prohibitions to the community and others present to witness the ceremony from outside. In the period preceding the event, outside guests will be formally invited and these may include political and ritual leaders from neighboring communities, members of the clergy, government, police and civil society. The ceremony itself will be a multi-day event involving much preparation for the law making practices, specifically ritual speech, celebratory ritual dancing, drumming and singing, betel nut exchange, animal sacrifice (which animals and how many depend on the traditions and capacity of the village and the subject of the bandu itself), divinatory techniques including an augury based on these animal's internal organs and communal feasting. Prior to the feasting, the relevant ritual elders must also come together to share in the consumption of specially prepared foods, which are also symbolically shared with the relevant ancestral spirits of the 'houses', lands and waters. In most areas, following the ceremony large ritual 'mother' posts and smaller 'child' posts will be placed around the locale and hung (tara) with relevant symbols (usually skulls of the sacrificed animals, forest foliage and crop items) of the prohibitions (bandu) now in place. 


[i] Also known as lubu etena (see da Costa et al 2006: 94).