Marsiadapari – Traditional Culture Bataknese Indonesia.

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Indonesia Culture

Indonesia is a country archipelago has 17000 islands, the country is inhabited by about 250 million of the population. This amount makes Indonesia is currently the fourth largest population in the world. Different from countries such as India, China or the United States that has a population tend to be homogeneous and the same culture. Indonesia consists of diverse ethnic and cultural.

Indonesia is known as the state of the society compound that consists of various tribes, their customs, religions and different beliefs. Every island in Indonesia consists of two different types of ethnicity such as ethnic aceh, batak, javanese, malays, minang, m adurese, ethnic papuans, bugis etc. The diversity of this then creates a tradition that is closely in various aspects of everyday life. One of them is the tradition of gotong royong.

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Gotong Royong (Mutual Help)

Gotong Royong can be defined as “Mutual Help” that is the form of working groups of the community to achieve positive results without thinking about and prioritizing profits for one individual or group, but also for the happiness together. This culture has the value of good morals in the life of the community. Almost every ethnic in Indonesia, has istiliah about gotong royong like in ethnic batak, we are acquainted with the term “Marsiadapari”.

I have a practice of life, and see examples of how marsiadapari takes place in the batak community. Marsiadapari is a system in cooperation conducted several people simultaneously and take turns so that work can be done if done together. At first, Marsiadapari is a term things about the activities of helping each other when entering the harvest season. Every citizen of the village will help each other to do the harvest in the fields alternately. But, I see the application of advanced about Marsiadapari that change the life of one village.

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Aek Matio Jae (Mutual Help)

In 2012, I go to work in the NGO engaged in the conservation saving forests and the environment. At that time, we do counseling in Aek Matio Jae Village, a small village directly adjacent to the Batang Toru Forest, the largest Tropical Forest in North Sumatra.

Aek Matio Jae Village is one of the remote villages in Indonesia. Because, the remoteness of the village, when that electricity is not there in the village and the villagers is still very underdeveloped. All people in this village when it begged to be able to get electricity.

One of my colleagues, is a graduate of the techniques proposed to create a generator micro hydro electricity by utilizing the flow of the rushing current of the river. After the check, the funds for the construction of the village is only enough to buy materials such as cement, stone, pipe, and turbine. For manpower we don't have the funds anymore to give wages.

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Marisadapari

Appear this crazy idea that when it makes me very impressed and amazed, that the whole of society in Villade Aek Matio Jae will do “Marsidapari” to make a micro hydro power plant such. The concept is in one week, each day from Monday to Thursday of the community will work together to create a dam for power generation. Friday they will go to take care of the garden. Saturday they sell their crops in the market, and day of the week for worship and rest.

Each of the villagers work together to build the power plant. There is no difference of gender and age, they help each other for the sake of one goal so the village has electricity generation for a better life. We can see from the photo above, how the spirit of the community at that time.

Finally, after doing “Marsiadapari” for 1 month, construction of the power plant, micro hydro is successful. All vilaggers can enjoy the power by utilizing the flow of the river of the nature and the forest, meaning that the village community has been self-sufficient electricity. The Grand opening of micro hydro electricity power station was lively, and was also attended by some important people such as donors NGO from Jakarta, and local government officials.

Micro hydro electricity power station in the Village Aek Matio Jae become a new direction to maintain the condition of the forest. The forests that remain sustainable to make the river still flowing and can be a source of electricity in the community of the village. Indonesia's forest also plays an important role in maintaining the stability of the climate of the world. Forests also play a role in providing oxygen and a source of water for human survival in the face of the earth. Water not only be the most basic needs of humans but also the secondary needs such as electrical energy, as we did it.

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