Villa Burung Gili Air

Gili Air Language & Culture. What to expect!

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The people of Gili Air are a diverse community with heritage from across Indonesia and beyond. If you’re looking for a guide on Gili Air, what to expect—language and culture, you’re in the right place.

The history of Gili Air

The Gili Islands form part of North Lombok Regency, meaning they belong to neighbouring island Lombok. Due to the islands’ limited supply of fresh water, the Gilis have only been permanently inhabited by humans since the 1970s. Before that, the Japanese briefly used the islands as a prisoner-of-war camp and vantage point during World War II. Relics from this time include the remains of a bunker on Gili Trawangan and a shipwreck off Gili Air which is popular among divers

Bugis fishermen from South Sulawesi were some of the first settlers as the islands were a convenient stop-off location for their fishing voyages. Later, Lombok began establishing coconut plantations on the islands. To help with the coconut harvests in the late 70s, inmates from Lombok’s overcrowded Mataram prison were sent to the Gilis. Some of them ended up settling on the islands.

It was in the 1980s that the islands first started to see tourism due to their close proximity to Bali and Lombok. Initially, Gili Air was the island that saw the most tourists as it had the most established infrastructure at the time, likely due to it being the only island with subterranean water—this is where the island gets its name ‘Air’ which translates to ‘water.

Who lives on Gili Air today?

Gili Air has a population of around 1,800 and has the largest local population (not including foreigners) of the three Gili Islands. The majority of the locals belong to the Sasak ethnic group, who are originally from Lombok.

The next largest demographic is the Bugis people. But Indonesia in general has a migratory culture, and there are several other Indonesian ethnic groups that reside on Gili Air including Balinese, Sumbanese, Chinese-Indonesians, Arab-Indonesians, and Flores people.

Which languages are spoken on Gili Air vs what language do Balinese speak?

As a result of Gili Air’s ethnic diversity, you’ll hear a mixture of languages being spoken on the island, but the most common local language is Sasak. This is the language of people that are ethnically from Lombok (Sasak people make up 85% of Lombok’s population). The Sasak language has some similarities to Indonesian, Balinese, and Javanese, but it is a distinct language. 

The Sasak language of Lombok belongs to the Austronesian language group, and within the Sasak language, there are at least five dialects: Kuto-Kute, Meriaq-Meriku, Nggeto-Nggete, Meno-Mene, and Ngeno-Ngene.

The dialects are named after how speakers say ‘like this; like that’. As you can see just from looking at the dialect names, they have many stark linguistic differences, meaning that some of the dialects have low levels of mutual intelligibility. The most common dialect to be spoken on the Gilis seems to be Kuto-Kute which originates from North-West Lombok.

The majority of Indonesians speak and understand the lingua franca language, Indonesian—this is the language of instruction in every school in the country. But only one in five Indonesians speak Indonesian as their first language, and some older or uneducated people may not speak Indonesian.

It is commonly, and incorrectly, assumed that in Lombok (including the Gili Islands) the people all just speak the same language as the Balinese: “Indonesian”. When referring to the “Indonesian” language it is also fine to say “Bahasa Indonesia” if you are speaking English. Most Balinese speak at least two, if not three, languages (Indonesian/Bahasa, Balinese, English), however Sasak is not one of them! Indonesia is an incredibly linguistically diverse nation!

On Gili Air, however, you’ll find the majority of locals speak Indonesian and speak or understand at least a little English—many speak good English. However, it’s nice to be able to speak to someone in their mother tongue, and Sasak people will love to hear you try to speak some of their language.

Basic Sasak phrases

Hello

Helo

How are you?

Jekem kembe?

Fine, thank you

Matur tampi asih 

Please

Silak 

Thank you

Tampiasih 

What is your name? 

Sai aranm side?

My name is ______

Arank aku______  (informal); Arank tiang ______ (formal)

Nice to meet you

Demen bedait dait side

You’re welcome

Pade pade

Yes

Aoq 

No

Ndeq

Do you speak English?

Side bau base inggris? 

How much is this?

Pire ajin?

Where is the toilet? 

Mbe taoq WC [pronounced way say]?

I want to go diving.

Meleng ku lalo menyelem.

How do I get to Villa Burung?

Mbe jalan bak Villa Buring?

What is Sasak culture?

Sasak people have ties to the Balinese and Javanese. The Sasaks have historically been (and still are today) fishermen, farmers, and craftsmen—often producing beautiful weavings and other crafts. The culture of the Sasak people varies from region to region and even village to village. 

One noteworthy practice of many Sasaks is how the men go about their marriage ‘proposals’ to their girlfriends. ‘Proposals’ is in quotations because the men don’t actually propose—instead they kidnap the woman they have decided they want to marry. They take the woman to their parents’ house and she must remain there for three days until the future groom’s father goes to talk to her family about the marriage. Today, it seems a lot of the kidnappings are carried out for the sake of tradition and are not exactly genuine kidnappings—although these do still go on in some places.

The Sasak people are overwhelmingly Muslim, with most practising a form of Sunni Islam that is called ‘Lima Waktu‘—this translates to ‘[pray] five times [a day]’. There is one mosque on Gili Air—Central Mmasjid Mosque. The mosque is relatively newly built and it’s quite beautiful, but non-muslims are generally not allowed inside. When it is time to pray, the mosque (very loudly!) plays the call to prayer, called ‘adzan‘, so that everyone knows it’s time to head to the mosque.

You will hear the adzan five times a day, with the first playing at around 4:30 am and the second just before 6 am. If you’re staying close to the mosque, it will probably wake you up. Fortunately, Villa Burung isn’t too close to the mosque, so it’s not normally loud enough to wake our guests up. While being woken up so early is not always pleasant, do bear in mind you are a guest in a Muslim country and this is simply the way things are done here. It’s a beautiful part of the culture and a rich travel experience.

What is Sasak cuisine?

‘Lombok’, where most Sasaks are from, means ‘chilli’ in the Sasak language, but actually the food mostly isn’t all that spicy. Much of the cuisine incorporates coconut milk and candlenut and emphasises tangy flavours from tamarind or salty, fishy shrimp paste (terasi). 

The Sasak people’s signature dish is ‘ayam taliwang‘—grilled or fried chicken with a distinctive coconutty, aromatic marinade that is hot and sweet. There’s also pelecing kangkung—a cooked salad with water spinach, beansprouts and grated coconut topped with a fiery and sour mix of raw tomato and chilli sauce (sambal).

One of the very best things to do on the Gili Islands is a cooking class, or enjoy eating at the local warungs.

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