Some key informants were selected in this fieldwork to be interviewed. Some were government authorities who were in charge of family planning and population-related programs and some were academics from University of North Sumatra in Medan. The selection of academics was based on their ethnic background so that they could give information from their real life experiences.
One key informant has a background in anthropology and comes from a Batak Karo family but was raised in a mixed cultural environment. His first language was Javanese when he was a child, because during his childhood he was influenced by his Javanese neighbours on the outskirts of Medan. He was so close to that family, that he feels that he knows and understands Javanese culture. His father and mother were working and his family can be categorised as high socio-economic status.
Another informant is a lecturer in the University of North Sumatra. She comes from a Malay family and is married to a man from the same ethnic group. Another informant has an overseas university background and comes from a Batak Mandailing family; he is married to a Tapanuli Batak woman. He has the opposite background to another key informant who is a Batak Toba woman married to a Mandailing man. Her knowledge of her culture is from her experience of growing up as a Batak Toba woman. She was born in Simalungun regency, the place where Batak Toba and Simalungun, Batak
Karo, and Javanese live together. The last informant is a civil servant in Medan, a North Sumatra Javanese with a high education background.
Other key informants include those who worked in BKKBN, and in the
Posyandu. I interviewed public servants in Deli Serdang, Simalungun, and South Tapanuli Kabupaten, and BKKBN field officers in Percut Sei tuan, Tiga Raja, Hutabayu Raja, and Padang Sidempuan Barat Kecamatan (Districts).
3.6.5.2. Selection of women
This fieldwork is also aimed at collecting opinions about changes in fertility. The information collected related to the number of children women had compared to their parents or other relatives in the past. The aim was to obtain ideas about whether the respondents had noticed that there had been a decline in fertility in their society, and to obtain their opinions about the factors associated with it based on the customs practised in the society. A random selection of women present in the Posyandu was carried out. Interviews were conducted with both young and old mothers. A young mother is defined as one aged 25 years and below; the other group of women were considered as older mothers.
DOES FERTILITY DECLINE
DIFFER BY ETHNIC IDENTITY?
4.1. Introduction
This chapter describes the change fertility levels and trends, and factors underpinning the decline according to ethnicity in North Sumatra. Levels and trends of fertility are indicated through the calculation of Total Fertility Rates in 1980 and 1990. The related factors are defined as marital fertility, and the proportion married. The factors associated with marital fertility are the efforts to limit family size, mostly associated with the use of contraception, both modern and traditional, since other means of limiting family size such as induced abortion or voluntary celibacy are either non-existent or not influential. Induced abortion is illegal in Indonesia and its incidence is relatively low especially among married couples. Changes in proportions married are associated mainly with the change in age at first marriage. Since the age at first marriage is also strongly related to the first birth, its change will have a substantial effect on fertility.
Efforts to limit family size are influenced by social, economic, and cultural values. To examine the role of cultural values on the fertility decline, this chapter observes fertility performance according to ethnic identity. The main ethnic groups in North
Sumatra are the focus of the discussion. The language spoken at home defines ethnic identity. Accordingly, with this categorisation, there are five main ethnic groups observed: foreign, Muslim Batak, Christian Batak, Javanese, and Malay. The foreign group is defined as those who speak a foreign language at home; further investigation shows that this group consists mainly of the Chinese community. For example, the religion of foreign language speakers is mainly Buddhism, known to be the main religion of the Chinese people. Some of them are the descendants of the Chinese plantation workers recruited by the Dutch colonial planters in the early years of the twentieth century.
The Batak are subdivided according to religion because in some cases they have different traditions influenced by religion. The different influences can be related to the timing of first marriage and the use of some particular types of contraception. It was found from the field observation, for instance, that the Christian Batak people had substantially higher rates of sterilisation than the Muslim Batak. Also, among the Muslim Batak people young marriages are more common than among the Christian Batak people.
It is still possible to identify Javanese in North Sumatra through the language spoken at home, because most of the Javanese in North Sumatra still speak Javanese in their daily life. In the field observation, it was also noted that the Javanese still maintain their Javanese culture. However, there are some adaptations that differentiate them from the Javanese who live in Java. The most
noticeable difference is in use of ‘the Javanese language’. The Javanese language spoken in North Sumatra differs from the original Javanese in status term and vocabulary. In the original Javanese language, there are at least three levels of language to be used to three different statuses of people. They are the terms used for communication with (1) the common people including siblings, and close friends, (2) more respectful people including parents, older people, or strangers, and (3) the highest level equivalent to the kings or the royal family. Nowadays, the third level of the Javanese language is rarely spoken. In the case of North Sumatra, the spoken Javanese language is mostly the first level language. This makes the language sound impolite if it is spoken to people who come from Java. Besides, the Malay language has influenced the Javanese language spoken in North Sumatra, therefore much of the vocabulary does not even exist in the original Javanese language.
Unlike Javanese, Malay is very similar to Indonesian, some people in North Sumatra think that the two languages are identical and do not distinguish them. Accordingly, many Malays answer the question about language spoken at home as the Indonesian language. In order to identify the Malays, an adjustment is made. According to Sinar (1994), the Malays are followers of Islam. Most of them live in coastal North Sumatra including Kabupaten Labuhan Batu, Kabupaten
Asahan, Kabupaten Deli Serdang, Kabupaten Langkat, and Kabupaten Binjai; therefore the Malays in this study also include Muslim people who speak the Indonesian language in these areas. The area excludes Kotamadya Medan to
avoid confusion with other ethnic groups with similar assumed characteristics, since many ethnic groups whose religion is Islam live in Kotamadya Medan and speak Indonesian.