Indonesia–Madagascar relations

Indonesian–Malagasy relations
Map indicating locations of Indonesia and Madagascar

Indonesia
Madagascar

Indonesia–Madagascar relations spans for over a millennium, since the ancestors of the people of Madagascar sailed across the Indian Ocean from the Nusantara Archipelago back in 8th or 9th century AD.[1] Indonesia has an embassy in Antananarivo, while Madagascar does not have an accreditation to Indonesia. It was announced in December 2017 that Madagascar would be opening an embassy in Jakarta in 2018, however, the embassy was never opened.[2]

Both countries share the same ethnolinguistic link, in which both national languages and ethnic groups are part of the Austronesian language family and Austronesian peoples, respectively.

History

The historical links between the Nusantara Archipelago and Madagascar took place during the Srivijaya era. It is suggested that the empire contributes to the population of Madagascar 6,600 kilometres (4,100 mi) to the south-west.[1] Austronesian peoples' migration to Madagascar is estimated to have happened around 830 AD. According to an extensive new mitochondrial DNA study, native Malagasy people today can likely trace their genetic heritage back to 30 different mothers from Indonesia.[3] Malagasy contains loan words from Sanskrit, all with local linguistic modifications via Javanese or Malay, hint that Madagascar may have been colonized by settlers from the Srivijaya empire.[4] At that time the Srivijayan maritime empire was expanding their maritime trade network.[5]

The trace of linguistic links is evidence in similar words shared between Malagasy language and Indonesian. Some similar words such as hand: ˈtananə (Malagasy), tangan (Malay); skin:ˈhoditra (Malagasy), kulit (Malay); white: ˈfotsy (Malagasy), putih (Malay); island: nosy (Malagasy), nusa (Javanese).

The Malagasy people have genetic links to various Maritime Southeast Asian ethnic groups, particularly from southern Borneo.[6] Parts of the Malagasy language are sourced from the Ma'anyan language with loan words from Sanskrit, with all the local linguistic modifications via Javanese or Malay language.[7] As the Ma'anyan and Dayak people are not a sailor and were dry-rice cultivators while some Malagasy are wet rice farmers, it is likely that they are carried by the Javanese and Malay people in their trading fleets, as labor or slaves.[8]: 114–115 

Javanese trading and slaving activities in Africa caused a strong influence on boat-building on Madagascar and the East African coast. This is indicated by the existence of outriggers and oculi (eye ornament) on African boats.[9]: 253–288 [10]: 94  The Malagasy title "andriana" probably originated from the ancient Java-Indonesian nobility title Rahadyan (Ra-hady-an), "hady" meaning "Lord" or "Master."[11]

A Portuguese account described how the Javanese people communicated with Madagascar in 1645:[12][13]: 311 [14]: 57 [15]: 51 

The Javanese are all men very experienced in the art of navigation, to the point that they claim to be the most ancient of all, although many others give this honor to the Chinese, and affirm that this art was handed on from them to the Javanese. But it is certain that they formerly navigated to the Cape of Good Hope and were in communication with the east coast of the island of São Lourenço (San Laurenzo — Madagascar), where there are many brown and Javanese-like natives who say they are descended from them. — Diogo do Couto, Decada Quarta da Asia

Diplomatic relations were officially established in the 1960s. However, it was not until 2009 that Indonesia opened their embassy in Antananarivo, while the Madagascar embassy in Tokyo is also accredited to Indonesia.[16]

In 2003, a Borobudur ship expedition visited Madagascar, sailed from Indonesia on its way to Accra, Ghana (see Samudra Raksa). The ship was reconstructed from Borobudur panel, and the reenactment voyage demonstrated ancient trading links between Indonesia and Africa (in particular East Africa and Madagascar). The treacherous Cinnamon shipping route took vessels from Indonesian waters across the Indian Ocean past the Seychelles, Madagascar, and South Africa to Ghana. It is also to demonstrate of how ancient Indonesians sailors and settlers reached Madagascar.

High level visit

In November 2008, Madagascar President Marc Ravalomanana visited Indonesia and met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. This is his second visit to Indonesia, previously in 2005 Ravalomanana visited Indonesia during Asian-African Conference anniversary in Bandung.[16]

Notes

  1. ^ a b "History of Madagascar". Lonely Planet.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  2. ^ Madagascar to open embassy in Indonesia
  3. ^ "Madagascar Founded By Women". Discovery.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-22. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  4. ^ Murray P. Cox; Michael G. Nelson; Meryanne K. Tumonggor; François-X. Ricaut; Herawati Sudoyo (March 21, 2012). "A small cohort of Island Southeast Asian women founded Madagascar". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 279 (1739): 2761–2768. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0012. PMC 3367776. PMID 22438500.
  5. ^ "Wanita Indonesia Nenek Moyang Penduduk Madagaskar". Yahoo News Indonesia. 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  6. ^ Kusuma, Pradiptajati; Brucato, Nicolas; Cox, Murray P.; Pierron, Denis; Razafindrazaka, Harilanto; Adelaar, Alexander; Sudoyo, Herawati; Letellier, Thierry; Ricaut, François-Xavier (2016-05-18). "Contrasting Linguistic and Genetic Origins of the Asian Source Populations of Malagasy". Scientific Reports. 6 (1). doi:10.1038/srep26066. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 4870696.
  7. ^ Murray P. Cox; Michael G. Nelson; Meryanne K. Tumonggor; François-X. Ricaut; Herawati Sudoyo (2012). "A small cohort of Island Southeast Asian women founded Madagascar". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 279 (1739): 2761–8. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0012. PMC 3367776. PMID 22438500.
  8. ^ Kumar, Ann (2012). 'Dominion Over Palm and Pine: Early Indonesia’s Maritime Reach', in Geoff Wade (ed.), Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian Past (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), 101–122.
  9. ^ Hornell, James (1946). Water Transport: Origins & Early Evolution. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. OCLC 250356881.
  10. ^ Dick-Read, Robert (2005). The Phantom Voyagers: Evidence of Indonesian Settlement in Africa in Ancient Times. Thurlton.
  11. ^ Adelaar, K.A. (2006). The Indonesian migrations to Madagascar: Making sense of the multidisciplinary evidence (PDF). in Adelaar, Austronesian diaspora and the ethnogenesis of people in Indonesian Archipelago, LIPI PRESS. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-22. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  12. ^ Couto, Diogo do (1645). Da Ásia: Década Quarta. Lisbon: Regia Officina Typografica, 1778-1788. Reprint, Lisbon, 1974. Década IV, part iii, p. 169.
  13. ^ Hornell, James (December 1934). "Indonesian Influence on East African Culture". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 64: 305–332. doi:10.2307/2843812. JSTOR 2843812.
  14. ^ Reid, Anthony (2000). Charting the Shape of Early Modern Southeast Asia. Silkworm Books. ISBN 9747551063.
  15. ^ Manguin, Pierre-Yves (2016). "Austronesian Shipping in the Indian Ocean: From Outrigger Boats to Trading Ships". In Campbell, Gwyn (ed.). Early Exchange between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 51–76. ISBN 9783319338224.
  16. ^ a b AA Ariwibowo (November 5, 200). "Indonesia-Madagaskar Tingkatkan Hubungan Diplomatik". Antara News. Retrieved May 7, 2014.