Beberapa aspek budaya1 DAN NILAI2 HIDUP MASYARAKAT KEEROM3 Kabypaten keerom, papua

Abstract

To develop a society government and other institutions like nongovernmental organizations tend to use two approaches, namely, top down and bottom up policy. The first one has failed to improve the welfare of society. This, moreover, has caused much trouble for citizens. The later is used or at least is promoted, but how it works is very unclear and doubtful. Meanwhile we have often heard in Papua the phrase like: The development of Papua is based on three foundations, i.e. government, religion and culture (adat). In this article I will pay attention on the culture, although I have to admit that there are many problems behind this point, which gives rise to some questions such as: “Which culture of Papua will be considered as the representative of Papuan cultures? Has any serious attempt been conducted to study the Papuan cultures in to order to bring it together as a useful guideline in developing Papua? Which element of Papuan cultures will be accepted as key symbol for the Papuans?” I will not answer these questions in this article, but I shall focus on and delve into the Keerom culture, one of the Papuan cultures, to figure out the values that indigenous people have been living for centuries as local wisdoms which guided them to get for a better life, namely, the abundant life.