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PASOMPE' UGI' : BUGIS MIGRANTS AND WANDERERS
by Jacqueline LINETON
The Bugis of South Sulawesi have long been renowned â notorious even â for the adventurous and roving spirit which, from the late seventeenth century, carried them to all corners of the Malay world and beyond as traders and as conquerors of numerous petty states. This expansion of trade and political influence was accompanied by a process which was less spectacular but of no less significance : the emigration of large numbers of Bugis, and some Makassarese, to all parts of the Indonesian archipelago and to the Malay peninsula. As a result of this outflow of population from South Sulawesi, sizeable Bugis colonies were â by the beginning of this century â established in eastern Kalimantan (Borneo) , near Samarinda and Pasir ; in southwestern Borneo, in the Pontianak region ; in the Malay Peninsula, particularly in southwestern Johor ; and in many other islands of the East Indies. During the twentieth century, particularly in the 1950's and early 1960's, Bugis settlements also sprong up in the coastal areas of Java and Sumatra.
In this article, the history of Bugis emigration â its motivating forces, direction of movement and nature of settlement at various periods â will be briefly outlined. The social background to Bugis migration and the processes involved will then be illustrated through a detailed analysis of one stream in the broad and branching flow of population from South Sulawesi â the emigration of considerable numbers of people from the Wajo' daerah of South Sulawesi to Jambi province in Sumatra. It will be shown that this migration is not only significant for the development of the area of settlement but may also be necessary
