The head of the village is the highest authority of the adat administration which covers various smaller villages, i.e. Sukarara village, Lombok has 7 smaller units of organization called Kekliangan. The terminology reminds strongly about the adat organization in Bali. Kekliangan in Bali is called a Banjar, and the head is a Klian which is under the administration of a Desa. Sukarara is also called a Desa with the concept almost the same as what a Desa in Bali is. The resident has been converted into Islam when the kingdom of Makassar took over the rule on Lombok from the kingdom of Karangasem, Bali in 1670. As it is recorded centers of Islamic kingdom of east Indonesia was Makassar. Yet Sukarara still shows the strong practice of tradition combined with Islam which is called waktu Telu Islam. Kekliangan is headed by a kliang which is elected democratically by the member of Kekliangan based onhis education, charisma and social strata. The term of a kliang is not limited like a head of the Desa which is based on national administration on a 8 years term, also based on democratic election. What has made Sukarara so famous among interesting places in Lombok, is their weaving cloth called Subhalmala. According to the tradition this skill was given by holy spirit to one of Royal princes whom then tought to other princes of Sukarara. The work of eaving was believed as a very strong by respected and forbiden to see. One can not see a weaver at work which believed to be able to make impurity and in turn make those visitor come to trance. This is probably the regulation in ancient type as not to trouble the concentration of the weaver of subhalmala. Today subhalmala has become the mark of Lombok, and most women can make the weaving girls of 12 years is started to be educated by material of banana fibers, then using real threads to weave simple cloth such as local belt, scarp, and small size cloths The pattern of design has been developed into more variation such as followers, leaves and any type of graphic art. After the independence of Indonesia the people of Sukarara made an intense move to make the songket subhalmala as one of widely accepted traditional cloth. Through many production association in Lombok, the name of Songket subhalmala is not only known in Lombok, but also outside Lombok, such as big city, tourist destinations, even foreign countries.
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