1. The Origin

Ara is a town in Bulukumba district, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. In this area, originated a game named akmemu-memu. The Akmemu-memu is derived from “ak” meaning “to do something” and “memu” meaning “squirrel”. Thus the word akmemu-memu means “doing something similar to what squirrels did”. Purportedly, the game of akmemu-memu begins from the habit done by people of Ara who went to the forest to seek fire wood.

In the forest, they saw between squirrels and monkeys were fighting to get the fruits on the trees. The fights have inspired the children of Ara to modify it as a game. In the game, the players are divided into two groups, the group of squirrel (memu) and the group who attack (doeng), as the symbol of monkey. The attacker fights the squirrel groups by beating them (with their tails). When the member of the two groups is equal, they will pull each other, either with hands or sarong to determine the winner.

2. The Player

The Akmemu-memu is a collective game. The game is valid if there are two groups of player. The entire players are 6-9 children. All children, either men or women are allowed to play the game. Usually their ages are around 6-13 years old. From the nine players, only one of them is chosen as a monkey (attacker), by considering his strength and ability to face all the risk the entire game. Meanwhile, other players will act as the memu led by a child who is believed to have equal strength with the doeng.

3. The Arena/Place

The Akmemu-memu game can be played in every open place; in the yard of houses, or in the fields. The game can be played either in the day light or at night.

4. The Equipments

The equipment of this game is sarong for each of the players. The sarong will be tied in the stomach and its appendage is twisted around in such a way so that it shapes tail of monkey or squirrel.

5. The Rule of the Game

The core of the akmemu-memu is the attacker should fight to get the members of memu group until the member of both group is equal. If the number of each group is equal, they will pull each other, using hands and sarong, until one of the groups does not have a member. The group, which successfully pulls the opponent members, becomes the winner. Orderly, the rule of the game is in the following:

1. The election of the leader of the memu group and the attacker should be agreed by all players. The players usually know who is the strongest and the most eligible to be chosen as the attacker as well as the leader of the memu group, so the process of election will not take time without making gambreng or suit  before the play;
2. The queue order of the memu should be fixed before attack;
3. The members of memu group are forbidden to change the place;
4. The attacker has to beat the members of memu who stand the most rear;
5. Attacker is prohibited to use his hands to push or to dodge but with his body;
6. The leader of memu group is banned to trap the attacker when he tries to protect his members;
7. The memu leader is only allowed to open his arms to protect his members from the attacker; and
8. The player, who stands in the rear and is beaten by the attackers` tail, should quit from the game and become the member of the attacker to be fought in pull over session. 

6. The Process

The process of the akmemu-memu game could be determined into three stages, as follow:

1. Ammile (election) phase. In this stage the leader of the group will choose his members who will then queuing up after behind him. The way the leader chooses his members order is by facing the walls or pillar while closing his eyes. After that the attacker (doeng) will arrange the members of memu after their leader who is still closing his eyes. The arrangement is meant to make the leader of the memu find it difficult to guess who is standing behind him. Then the memu leader is pleased to declare the order number of line behind him. The members of the memu then will queue up according to the numbers they have.
2. Akluru (attack) phase. In this stage the akmemu-memu game is similar to tan besi game in Moluccas. It is the attacker (doeng) will try to pull the member of the memu in the backside of the line, not using hands, but by beating his tail. When bothering, doing moves to the right and left to find the finest position. If he succeeds in attacking one of the members of memu, he will be renounced to become the member of attacker. The attack will be forced over and over until the attacker has the equal number of members with memu group.
3. Sibesok (pulling out) phase. This stage is power struggle, it is in pulling out each of the members that have two methods, it is pulling out with hands (sibesok lima) and pulling out with tail (sibesok ingkok). Sibesok lima is done by holding each others` hands of the two groups under the boundary line for the game.  If one of them can pull his friends cross the line, he will win and be eligible to bring the loser to become a new member of his group, henceforth until the leader of memu faces the leader of doeng. In practice, sibesok ingkok is done in the same way of sibesok lima, however the players do not use their hands but tail (sarong) they wear. In this phase of sibesok if the leader of doeng be able to pull the leader of memu across the line, the doeng group won and vice versa.

7. The Cultural Value

The values inside the akmemu-memu game are: hard working, cooperation, and sportive. Hard working value is reflected from the spirit of the leader of doeng who struggles to steal one by one the members of the memu. The hard work also can be seen from the spirit of the players when they try to pull each others to win. Cooperation value is mirrored from the cohesive of memu group in challenging the leader of doeng when he tries to steal memu`s members. This cooperation value reflects the character of Bulukumba people in their daily life, which in turn can be the resource to strengthen the unity of the community. The sportive spirit can be seen from the attitude of the players that after the game their friendship becomes even stronger. The sportive attitude needs to be shown because this game is physical game (struggle of power), which may influence the emotion of the players that could lead to real fight. (HQ/ter/82/11-07)

Source:

Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1980., Permainan Anak-Anak daerah Sulawesi Selatan.Ujung pandang: Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.

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