Demography Muna: the island, the people

1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3 Fauna on Muna are limited in variety compared with mainland Sulawesi. The only endemic bigger mammals are one monkey species macaca, deer and wild swine. Especially the latter occur in large numbers, causing much damage to crops. Horses and buffaloes were probably introduced from elsewhere. The animals unique to Sulawesi anoa and babi rusa do not live on Muna. The cuscus is the only marsupial. Snakes are common, but rarely poisonous. A rare freshwater snake was discovered not long ago near Raha Iskander 1979. Crocodiles are now rare on Muna. Birds are found in large numbers and in many varieties: herons, storks, hawks, several dove species, cockatoos and parakeets. The Buton Strait between Muna and Buton is full of fish and provides good fishing water for the coastal population.

1.1.3. Demography

The two islands Muna and Buton constitute two kabupatens regencies, but confusingly the boundary between these two runs across the two islands such that the southern one-third of Muna belongs to kabupaten Buton, while the northern half of Buton belongs to kabupaten Muna see Map 2. Until 1987 kabupaten Muna consisted of seven kecamatans sub-regencies of which five are located on Muna: Katobu, Kabawo, Lawa, Tongkuno and Tikep = Tiworo Kepulauan. The other two, Wakorumba and Kulisusu, are found on northern Buton. In 1987 several of these kecamatans were split up; the total number is now twelve. The total population of kabupaten Muna was 191,366 by the end of 1985. In order to obtain the total number of speakers of the language, several factors have to be taken into account: - The population of kecamatan Kulisusu 22,668 does not speak Muna, but a Bungku dialect. - Raha, the capital of kabupaten Muna, has a number of ethnic minorities such as Bugis, Bajau also in other coastal areas of Muna, Chinese and civil servants from all over Indonesia. Altogether these probably do not number more than 5,000. - The kecamatans Gu and Mawasangka in southern Muna part of kabupaten Buton are part of the Muna-speaking area. Their population is 28,944 Gu and 23,749 Mawasangka. - Several villages on Buton for instance in kecamatan Batauga are Muna- speaking; these people probably do not exceed 10,000. A rough estimate for the total population that speaks Muna is therefore 225,000 people. Houses were formerly scattered among swiddens, with the exception of one large walled settlement, Kota Muna, the political and cultural centre of Muna, which was abandoned in the nineteenth century after an internal power struggle. Since the Dutch started colonizing Muna early in this century, people were forced to build roads and live in villages along these roads. The centre of population has for a long time been in Tongkuno, the district of Kota Muna, in the dry and hilly eastern part of the island. The west and the north were sparsely populated, probably because in these low-lying lands people were much more susceptible to malaria than in the dry and higher east. It is striking that this island population has never been a seafaring nation and has generally avoided living along the coast. The socio-political situation in the past probably accounts for this. Pirates were very common in this part of the archipelago up to the nineteenth century and Muna people were often taken away as slaves to such places as Makassar. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the words for sea and afraid are homophonous in Muna 4 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE tehi. An exception must be made for the village of Loghia, located on the east coast and for centuries Munas most important window on the outer world. During this century there have been major changes in the settlement patterns. Firstly, the choice of Raha as the capital of the local colonial government has caused the population centre to shift from Tongkuno to Katobu. Raha is now a small provincial town with a population of approximately 16,000. Secondly, in the 1960s several villages from the driest areas in Tongkuno were transferred to the northeast, where living conditions are more favourable. As a result Tongkuno is now the least populated area on the island.

1.1.4. Housing and economy