In this chapter, I argue that the festival of Hanta Ua Pua was discontinued in the wake of the dissolution of the Bima Sultanate, the sole sponsor of the festival, in the late 1940s. The friction caused by the political rivalry between the Sultan and the Raja Bicara during that period probably also hastened its end. In the course of my investigation, I have found that the revival of the festival was made possible by the key role played by Siti Maryam, then heir to the Sultanate and architect of the Royal Customary Council, Majelis Hadat Dana Mbojo. This chapter shows how Siti Maryam, as the acknowledged heir to the Bima Sultanate, constructed the meaning of the Hanta Ua Pua festival as it is now celebrated to fit her account of the key role of Dato di Banda in the entry of Islam to Bima.

In this chapter I describe how the festival of Hanta Ua Pua is now celebrated in conjunction with the rituals associated with the Prophet Muhammad's birthday held in the palace of the Bima Sultan and in Kampung Melayu. After beginning with an account of the history of the festival and its relation to the presence of Malay people and Kampung Melayu, I move on to describe the admiration for Dato di Banda and Kampung Melayu commonly felt among the Bima people. The next section explains the celebration of the Prophet's birthday in the palace in Bima and in Kampung Melayu, followed by the discussion of those Mawlid texts widely recited in Bima. I follow this with a chronological description of the Hanta Ua Pua festival. It is also necessary to say a word or two about the dynamics of local politics engendered by the revival of the festival and the role of the Majelis Hadat Dana Mbojo. The final section examines the local dimension of traditionalist and reformist Islam in relation in the religious harmony in Bima.

Historical accounts of the festival

It was 8 a.m. on the morning of 22 February, 2012. The leader of the Malay community (Ind.: Penghulu Melayu), dressed in a red costume and wearing a large red hat, stood on the veranda of the mosque in the village of Kampung Melayu.