Abstrack:
Religious practices of indigenous peoples of Indonesia are perceived not as religion by the Indonesian state. They are claimed to be merely “cultural.” Indigenous practices, which are theoretically understood as religious in this research, have also been claimed to be full of superstition, myths or childish. Those indigenous religious practices are even accused of irrational and infidels. To state it again, In Indonesia, indigenous religions are classified by the state not as religion but only as adat or kepercayaan. This is the case of a community in a rural island of Timor, which is quite difficult to reach. This community still holds tightly their ancestral beliefs (indigenous religion). This community settle in a village called Boti, in South Central Timor regency, East Nusa Tenggara province. It is often called as Boti ?dalam? (inner) community. For their ancestral belief, the community has been identified as ‘Halaika’ or infidels or irreligious by the government as well as outsiders. Such identification is to mean that the community should alter their ancestral tradition. That is the government pressure. In addition, missionary efforts of world religions as well as modernization have also been part of issues this community has to face. Despite the spiteful pressures of those forces, this small group still survives with ancestral tradition or indigenous religion.
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