Wilayah Adat Roby Digan Mo Lang

The customary territory of the Sawe Tribe is located in the Unurum Guay District of Jayapura Regency. The Indigenous People of the Sawe Tribe consist of the Digan, Jasa, Tekbo, and Bunggu clans. The history of the origins of the Indigenous People of the Sawe Tribe tells that there was the first human of the Sasbe Tribe who guided the Digan clan from the Jaram Village to Mount Augghum Sawe Ebwan. Mount Aungghum Sawe Ebwan is one of the mountains located within the customary territory of Roby Digan Mo Lang and serves as the boundary between the Digan and Bunggu clans. Mount Aungghum Sawe Ebwan became the first place where the Digan clan developed. The ownership signs of the Digan clan in this area are indicated by the signs of the landscape and the types of animals that are believed by the Digan clan from stories and sacred customary values, including water in the ironwood port. This water is believed to have the ability to keep people young.

Initially, there were many Digan clans inhabiting the area of Mount Aungghum Sawe Ebwan. One time, a natural disaster occurred that caused the Digan clan to spread widely across several plains of the Sawe Tribe and surrounding tribes such as the Tarfia area and its surroundings. One of the ancestors of the Digan clan who survived in the area that is now the Digan customary territory is the ancestor of Roby Digan and was the oldest ancestor at that time. The place where this oldest ancestor of the Digan clan resided is called Mount Bwenerem.

Mount Bwenerem is the first dwelling place of the Digan clan. The oldest ancestor of the Digan clan divided his territory among his siblings of the same clan and several other clans besides the Digan clan. Other clans include the Jasa clan, the Tekbo clan, and Bunggu. Mount Bwenerem became the place where the Digan clan and the three other clans performed customary burial rituals before the bodies of the deceased among these clans were laid to rest in the small river around Mount Bwenerem. The ancestors of the Digan clan did not allow other clans living around the outskirts of Mount Bwenerem to ascend or enter that sacred area. This sacred place is called Aukgol.

The first clan brought to the Digan customary territory was the Jasa clan. At that time, a pig owned by the Jasa clan entered the sago hamlet of the ancestor of the Digan clan and damaged the processed sago from the two wives of the ancestor of the Digan clan. One time, the ancestor of the Digan clan hunted and shot the pig and then chased the pig belonging to the ancestor of the Jasa clan to the Telaga Teun area, precisely in the Old Village of Bulungge. The Old Village of Bulungge is the first dwelling place of the ancestor of the Jasa clan. The pig was killed and cooked for a communal meal. However, there was a peculiarity that the wife of the ancestor of Jasa turned out not to be a human figure, but a tree that in Sawe language is called “buru-buru.” The ancestor of the Digan clan invited the ancestor of the Jasa clan to Mount Bwenerem and provided his young wife to be married by the ancestor of the Jasa clan. Then he taught everything about living together with humans and gave part of the territory of the ancestor of the Digan clan to be made into a garden and to start a life. The logo or symbol of that sacred place is in the form of pig tusks and is still kept to this day.

The place given by the Digan clan is called the Old Village of Abdure. The boundary of the Jasa clan is adjacent to Tekbo. The Tekbo clan is the second clan invited to live in the Digan customary territory. The Tekbo clan itself is part of the Sasbe Tribe. The meeting between the Digan and Tekbo clans took place at Mount Guerak (which is included in the customary territory of the Digan clan). After this meeting, the Tekbo clan was given boundaries for food gathering and large forests. The name Tekbo comes from the term Tesbo which means a wooden stake that is burned. The old village where the Tekbo and Bunggu clans reside is the Yumule and Abdure Villages. The logo or symbol of that sacred place is in the form of pig tusks and is still kept to this day.

As time went on, a war over the border territory arose between the Sawe Tribe and the Trawasimaringgi Tribe. This tribal war resulted in the death of the wife of one of the Tekbo clan members who was part of the Sawe Tribe. The Sawe Tribe itself consists of the Tekbo, Digan, and other clans. At that time, the Bunggu clans from outside the Sawe Tribe were invited to participate in the tribal war; if the ancestor of the Bunggu clan succeeded in killing the commander of the Trawasimaringgi Tribe, then the Sawe Tribe would be rewarded. The Bunggu clan is still integrated into the Sawe Tribe as a reward for successfully killing the commander of the Trawasimaringgi Tribe, known as “Senwal.” Meanwhile, the territory currently owned by the Bunggu clan is the territory given by the Tekbo clan.

The Indigenous People of the Sawe Tribe have protected and sacred forest management areas passed down through generations. Some of these forest areas include:

1. Eikzal, a natural (primary) forest owned based on clan.
2. Nga, a single or communal ownership forest managed and utilized by the community.
3. Bwenerem, an area that is sacred and has mystical values and customary prohibitions.

In addition to forests, the Indigenous People of the Sawe Tribe have several divisions of management space related to natural resources, namely: land, sago villages, rivers, and gardens.

The initiative of the Indigenous People of the Sawe Tribe to protect the Customary Territory of Roby Digan Mo Lang demonstrates their important role in maintaining the sustainability of natural resources and improving community welfare. Forests, Land, Sago Villages, Rivers, Gardens, form a unity of the Customary Territory of Roby Digan Mo Lang that is considered important by the community as it supports life and livelihoods, thus the utilization and management carried out by the Indigenous People of the Sawe Tribe pays great attention to aspects of preservation and sustainability. The Customary Territory of Roby Digan Mo Lang is inseparable from the biodiversity of flora and fauna. In addition, the Customary Territory of Roby Digan Mo Lang has ecotourism potential that can be developed as a Bird of Paradise (Bird Watching) tourist attraction.

The Indigenous People of the Sawe Tribe (Roby Digan Mo Lang) do not yet have specific regulations governing the recognition and protection of the Sawe Indigenous People as Indigenous Law Communities or specific regulations regarding the areas that are managed/protected. However, the Sawe Tribe has legal foundations related to the recognition and protection of indigenous law communities through Jayapura Regency Regulation Number 8 of 2018 and Papua Provincial Regulation No. 5 of 2022.