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Population figures It is important to pay some attention to the development of the population of Enggano, for drastic changes took place in the 1870s. The population figure dropped from 6.420 in 1866 to only 870 in 1884 [9] and after this dramatic decline the population decreased even further.[10] There has been much speculation about what happened on Enggano in the 1870s, and why the population never recovered to its previous level. It is clear from the reports of visiting civil colonial officers and medical doctors that diseases played a major role in the decimation of the Engganese population. Cholera, malaria, and venereal diseases have been mentioned. Whole villages were practically wiped out, local social networks completely fractured, and belief in the traditional religious and worldly value systems probably declined. Documentation is lacking, but remarks by several authors on dwindling population figures and high abortion rates, also suggest a gradual decline after the 1870s. The Dutch authorities tried to deal with the situation by sending medical doctors to the island, with the task of discovering what was really happening. Later, in the beginning of the twentieth-century the authorities also stimulated migration from Sumatra and Java to Enggano, a policy that was given a specific follow-up by the Indonesian authorities after Independence in 1945. In 1961 the Indonesian authorities decided that Enggano should become a rehabilitation centre for juvenile and young adult offenders from Java [11]. Within two years some 2600 of these forced labourers were transferred to Enggano. The indigenous population at this moment is estimated at only 400 people. These differences in numbers clearly show the enormous impact the arrival of these 2600 immigrants must have had on the local communities. Tensions between the Engganese and the newcomers were inevitable, although there were also some positive aspects. The young Javanese offenders cleared the bush in some places to construct wet rice fields. Nowadays the rice yield there is a welcome addition to the local diet, yet production is insufficient, and rice still is imported from Bengkulu. The most recent Indonesian statistics, available in the Kantor Statistik in Bengkulu, show that 1420 people were living on Enggano in 1989. The interesting thing is that only 35,85 per cent of the population said they belong to the suku Koomayk, a kinship group specially created to include the immigrants. The other 64,15 per cent claimed membership of one of the original Engganese suku. This would mean that the original population is again increasing in numbers, although many mixed marriages must have been responsible for this development. The most recent population figures, coming from the Puskesmas [12] on Enggano, mention a total population of 1635 in March 1994. | |
