Who are the Bawean?
The Bawean homeland is a 200 square kilometer island 120 kilometers north of Surabaya (East Java) in the middle of the Java Sea. Bawean has been known as the "island of women" because the majority of its inhabitants are women. This is because the men tend to look for employment in other lands. A man from Tanjung Ori village who worked for 20 years in Malaysia said, "A Bawean male is not considered an adult until he has stepped on foreign soil." Merantau (going to distant lands to seek success) is a major aspect of Baweanese culture, and it influences most every other facet of their society. A significant number of the Baweanese reside in Malaysia. In fact, the Baweanese population there far exceeds that found on the island itself, which numbers 60,000 inhabitants. Other areas of Baweanese migration include Singapore, where they are known as the Boyanese people, and Perth, Australia.

What are their lives like?
The culture of merantau creates some interesting dynamics for the Baweanese people. On one hand, their homeland is isolated and cut off from modern Indonesian life. On the other hand, they are very exposed to the world through their family members who migrate and then return to Bawean. Although early settlers came from the island of Madura (as seen in the similarity of their languages), over the centuries the Baweanese have developed their own unique culture. Influences are evident from Madura, Java, S. Sulawesi, Sumatra and Kalimantan. Because of this, Emmanuel Subangun, a Kompas reporter, wrote in 1976 that the Baweanese people are a "crystallization of Indonesian ethnic variety." The main sources of income for those living and working on the island are farming and fishing. Apart from this, some residents make grass mats from palm leaf fiber as a local handicraft, own small shops, or harvest the high quality onyx which is found on the island, and ship it to Java or elsewhere in the world. Most of the income on the island however comes from the family members who live and work overseas and who send money back to their families on Bawean.

What do they believe?
Originally the Baweanese embraced animistic beliefs. Then Hindu and Buddhist influences entered the island until the 1600's when the Baweanese people converted to Islam. Their religious devotion is extremely strong and they pride themselves in that 100% of the island's inhabitants follow Islam. There are many mosques (mesjid), small Islamic prayer houses (musholla) and traditional Islamic schools (pesantrans) in every village. Boys and girls from six or seven years of age receive religious instruction including lessons in reciting the Qur'an, and sometimes live in the house of a kiai (Islamic teacher). Kiais are greatly respected by the Baweanese.

What are their needs?
Although the standard of living on the island is higher than in many other isolated locations, there are still many unmet needs. Electricity 24 hours a day has recently come to the island as have telephones, Bawean's first bank, and a few computers. Yet many homes are still without indoor bathrooms. The tourist sector is open for development in light of Bawean's natural beauty. All of the above are assets to improve Bawean's economy and are open doors to reach out to the Bawean people.