COMPLAINANT: Tuan Tanah of the South
RESPONDENT: The Matulessy family
BACKGROUND
The above-named Complainant hereby submits this formal notice in accordance with the laws governing the occupation of spirit-owned land within the Eastern Archipelago. All land within these boundaries is, and has always been, the property of the Complainant. Tenancy was granted to the Respondent's ancestors under the condition that the terms outlined below would be observed without exception, and passed down without alteration to each succeeding generation.
The Respondent's grandfather accepted these terms upon first occupying the land, as evidenced by the ritual offering of betel leaves and areca nut, and the blood of a young chicken smeared upon each house-post at the time of construction, in accordance with customary law. The Complainant acknowledges that for two generations, the Matulessy family observed the terms of their tenancy without significant violation. The grandfather was a careful man. He taught his children the boundaries. He performed the ceremonies without abbreviation. He understood, in the way that the best tenants understand, that the land did not belong to him.
TERMS OF TENANCY
The following terms were agreed upon at the time of occupation and remain in effect for the duration of the Respondent's stay:
1. Acknowledgment of Prior Ownership. The Respondent shall at no time conduct themselves as though the land belongs to them. It does not. It has never belonged to them. All acts of cultivation, construction, harvest, and habitation are conducted at the discretion of the Complainant and may be revoked.
2. Observance of Local Law. The rules governing this plot of land are specific. They are not transferable, and they are not negotiable. They do not resemble the rules of neighboring plots, nor should the Respondent expect them to. Ignorance of their specificity is not admissible as a defense.
3. Ritual Compliance. All required ceremonies shall be performed at the prescribed times, without abbreviation, substitution, or omission. The offering is not symbolic. It is obligatory. A relationship with a Tuan Tanah means that one gets a predictable response when one repeats a certain act or gesture in the spirit's presence. The Complainant has held up its end of this relationship for three generations. The same is expected of the Respondent.
4. Maintenance of Boundaries. The Respondent shall not overstep the boundaries, physical or otherwise, of the tenancy. The more-than-human world predates the human one and holds greater authority within it. The Respondent is reminded that they are guests within a world that was not made for them.
NATURE OF BREACH
The Complainant submits the following account of events, entered into the record in the order in which they occurred.
In the first month of the dry season, the eldest Matulessy son began clearing land beyond the eastern boundary at the dry riverbed. He had been told by his father that the riverbed marked the edge of their plot. He cleared it anyway, cutting back brush and stacking timber on the ground that isn’t under their terms of tenancy. When the Complainant caused the timber to collapse twice in a single afternoon, the son rebuilt it both times and attributed the collapses to poor stacking. He did not consider any alternative. This is the first breach.
In the second month of the dry season, the youngest Matulessy daughter began playing at the ceremonial stones on the southern boundary. The Complainant does not hold children to the same account as adults. However, the stones were disturbed. Two were overturned. One was carried forty paces north and left in the grass. The parents noticed after the third day. They did not replace the stone for nine. This deliberate act of neglect constitutes the second breach.
In the third month of the dry season, the seasonal ceremony was due. The Matulessy family has performed this ceremony every year for three generations, and the Complainant has, every year, responded in kind: the harvest has been plentiful, the house posts have held. This is what a functioning tenancy looks like. This year, the father was unwell, and the ceremony was performed by the eldest son, who abbreviated it, omitting the second and third offerings and concluding the ritual in under a quarter of the time his grandfather would have taken. The Complainant notes that the son did not abbreviate the ceremony out of ignorance. This is the third and most serious breach.
The Complainant wishes to note, for the record, that following the abbreviated ceremony, the family's youngest child fell ill for eleven days. The Complainant does not state this as an admission of responsibility. It states it as an observation. The Respondent may draw their own conclusions.
REMEDY REQUIRED
The Respondent is hereby required to remedy the above breaches within seven days of receiving this notice through the following actions:
1. The eastern boundary must be restored. The timber must be removed from beyond the riverbed, and the cleared brush must be returned as best it can. The eldest son must perform this work himself.
2. The ceremonial stones must be returned to their exact original positions. The Complainant acknowledges that the Respondent may not remember the exact positions.
3. A full ceremonial offering must be conducted at the southern boundary stones at dawn, with no members of the household absent. The father, though unwell, must be present. The eldest son must perform the complete ceremony, without abbreviation, in the manner his grandfather taught his father and his father taught him.
Failure to comply will result in enforcement by the agents of the Complainant, either resulting in direct eviction or a harsher fate.
CLOSING NOTICE
The Complainant notes that the Matulessy grandfather once sat at the southern boundary stones for an entire afternoon after a poor harvest, not in protest, but in acknowledgment of the land, of his place within it, of the terms he had accepted. He brought an offering that had not been asked for. The Complainant found this sufficient, and the following season was generous.
The Complainant does not expect the grandson to be his grandfather. It expects only compliance with the terms of the agreement that his grandfather signed in blood and good faith. The Matulessy family has benefited from this land for three generations. The land has asked very little in return.
Issued by the Office of the Tuan Tanah.