Report describes hereditary bondage on Indonesia's Sumba island

On Indonesia's island of Sumba, people are still born into a hereditary status of bondage even though slavery has been illegal in the country for more than 160 years.

The practice survives in Sumba's caste system, particularly in the east of the island, about two hours from Bali's tourist beaches. People known as ata work without pay for noble families, can be passed on through marriage, and are sometimes beaten or raped by their masters, according to accounts in the report.

In the village of Tenggedu, Kanisius Kanyali Hambarita, an ata, lives with his master, Umbu Ana Rara. Umbu Ana said he treats Kanisius like family. He allows him to earn some money as a motorcycle taxi driver and to grow food on a small plot of land. Kanisius said he did not object to his status and described it as an inherited tradition.

Other ata described harsher experiences. A man in his 40s from the nearby village of Napu said he was beaten from childhood if he did not work enough and was forced to work in fields, feed pigs and cook for his master after school. He said he did not want his children to go through the same experience.

Sumba has about 685,000 people, and the report says eight in 10 are Christian. The older marapu belief system, which blends animism and ancestor worship, remains deeply rooted. Rights activist Martha Hebi said the system divides society into three groups: nobles, called maramba; ordinary people, called kabihu; and slaves or servants, called ata. Marapu priest Umbu Remi Deta said the religion is central to the social hierarchy and that legend says nobles acquired ata when they arrived in Sumba.

The island is about 2,000 kilometres east of Jakarta. Its isolation has helped preserve older social structures. Indonesia's 1945 constitution bans slavery, but the report says some traditional customs are tolerated. A social worker who asked not to be named estimated that there are about 1,700 ata in East Sumba, which has a population of 350,000. Other estimates put the number at several thousand.

Historian Bondan Kanumoyoso of the University of Indonesia said forced labour exists elsewhere in Indonesia, including temporary debt bondage among the Dayak indigenous community in Kalimantan. But he said the Sumba system is distinct because it is passed from generation to generation, with masters and ata often living under the same roof in similar conditions.

Several people described sexual violence as part of the system. Pastor Marlin Lomi, head of the Protestant synod of East Sumba, said masters can use female servants and that this is treated as normal. One maramba, speaking anonymously, said he would beat a woman's husband if a female slave refused him. Andy Yentriyani, a former head of Indonesia's National Commission on Violence Against Women, said the system treats girls as belonging to their masters. Hebi said violence often goes unpunished because victims are afraid to testify.

An 18-year-old ata said she had been raped since she was 13 by her master and his son. She reported them to police in Waingapu, the capital of East Sumba, in 2024 after having a child. Dian Sasmita of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission said two years later the investigation had still not been completed and urged the authorities to clarify such cases. The young woman now lives under protection in her village.

Pastor Marlin said the Protestant synod helps in cases of violence against women and children if victims speak out. But former East Sumba district head Gidion Mbilijora, who said he owns two ata himself, said the caste system is deeply rooted and that changing the mindset of nobles would take a long time.

The report described a noble's funeral near the district capital attended by about 4,000 guests, including ata, and marked by the ritual sacrifice of two horses as part of marapu rites. It said that until the early 1990s police monitored such funerals because of concerns about human sacrifices, according to American anthropologist Janet Hoskins. In the past, marapu ritual required a slave to be buried with his master.

Rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged Jakarta to enforce the constitutional ban on slavery and anti-discrimination conventions it has signed. Amnesty Indonesia's Haeril Halim said the government knows about the situation in Sumba but has not taken steps to eliminate slavery. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Indonesia said the country should declare all ata free from their maramba masters.

Indonesia's human rights minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said the constitution bans slavery but that Indonesia is highly plural and social development differs among ethnic groups. He said the government does not want to impose sudden change and believes education will change the situation.

Some nobles described efforts to improve the lives of ata while stopping short of freeing them. Norlina Rambu Jola Kalunga, a noblewoman who inherited five ata when she married into a royal family, said she wants emancipation but cannot free her own ata because that would go against custom. She said her grandfather freed all his ata when he led the Protestant community in neighbouring Central Sumba.

Another noblewoman, Tamu Rambu Margaretha, known as Mama Margaretha, has advocated emancipation and sent her ata to school with her children. Her son Umbu Remi runs a gallery where 20 local women, including several ata, sell handmade ikat textiles to tourists. Mama Margaretha said she would not oppose her ata leaving, but the report says none have the means to do so.

The man from Napu said he now lives with his family outside his old master's household and has sent two of his four children to university with government grants and money from livestock. But the land where he grows food still belongs to his master, and he said he and his family go when called. He said he still dreams that his children will be free.