the people of the Philippines, Taiwan and Ryukyu, Japan]

This is why certain Bugis [and Bajau] words can still be heard spoken by the aborigines in north Australia today.

A visit to the traditional Bugis shipbuilding centre of Tana Beru in Bulukumbar, about 150km south-east of Makassar, confirms that the art of ship building is inherent in the Bugis.

It was also why they were able to establish an influence in many parts of the archipelago.

After a protracted civil war in their homeland in 1669, they made inroads into Sumatra as well as Peninsular Malaysia.

In the peninsula, the descendants of three prominent Bugis brothers — Daeng Perani, Daeng Merewah and Daeng Celak — settled down in Johor as well as Linggi (Port Dickson) and Selangor.

We are told that many Bugis families,the high-prowed vessel – usually painted white – looks sleek, exotic and smart on the high seas.

We also watch Bakri offering prayers by putting sticky rice cakes on the balancing mother pole of a half-finished phinishi.

This is to bless the vessel as well as to make sure that it will be completed with no setbacks whatsoever.

He says there are more complex rituals involved during the launching of a phinishi into the sea, such as the slaughtering of a lamb and chanting of prayers.

We are surprised to learn that the people of Sulawesi, be they Muslims or Christians, still hold on to such ancient rituals.

The Christian Torajans in Tana Toraja (the highlands of South Sulawesi, some six hours’ drive to the north of Makassar), for instance, place such great