Tomini
Tomini
Numbering around 74,000 in 1980, the Tomini (Tiadje, Tialo, Toli-toli, Tominers) occupy the northern Sulawesi Island peninsula in Indonesia. Tomini is classified in the West Indonesian Group of the Austronesian Language Family. Villages, small and comprised of houses on stilts, are located on the coast. Maize and sago are the staples, wet rice having been introduced in the early 1900s. Copra is raised commercially. Tomini are Sunni Muslims, although there are still small animist enclaves in the mountains. The animist population is referred to as suku terasing, meaning "foreign tribes," and they have been the object of Indonesian government acculturation programs including relocation. The Tomini are presently very much involved in commercial clove production and are active participants in the Indonesian state.
Bibliography
Nourse, Jennifer W. (1984). "Tomini." In Muslim Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey, edited by Richard V. Weekes, 789-793. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.