Chicken, Nusantara’s Gift to the World
Tauhid Nur Azhar
In recent days, amidst the contestation of national leadership candidates, a fundamental question arises about what truly made us a great nation from the beginning. Nusantara and Nusa Jawa, as elaborated by Denys Lombard in the cultural trilogy Nusa Jawa Silang Budaya, are regions resembling emerald jewels on the equator, incredibly rich in biodiversity, with a year-round preserved climate and vast oceanic potential unmatched by continental nations.
Green volcanoes in the Ring of Fire, adorned with billowing cumulus clouds, embellish the azure sky that blends with quartz beaches in turquoise lagoons — a truly perfect beauty.
Look also to the Priangan mountains, where terraced rice fields intertwine with coconut trees on their embankments. The gentle sound of crystal-clear water can be heard from small, rocky creeks, where tilapia and gourami ponds are scattered throughout the villages. The splashing of fish creates ripples that sway lotus flowers and water hyacinths, with blue dragonflies perched upon them. Harmony and serenity always prevail in Nusantara every morning.
More than 8,000 plant species can be found in Nusantara, ranging from coastal areas to the peaks of Cartenz Jayawijaya, which support the world’s roof. There are over 2,215 animal species that inhabit every corner of the tropical forests in the vast wilderness of Borneo, as well as in Sumatra, Sulawesi, with their unique endemic characteristics influenced by the Wallace Line. The same goes for the islands of Nusa Tenggara, Bali, Maluku, and Papua.
Moreover, in the sea, it perfectly aligns with the motto of our Navy, “Jalesveva Jayamahe,” which means “In the sea, we are victorious.” Or the motto of the Marine Corps, “Jalesu Bhumyamca Jayamahe,” which means “In the sea and on land, we are victorious.” The Indonesian seas boast the world’s richest marine biodiversity. There are no fewer than 8,500 fish species, 555 species of seaweed, and 950 species of live coral reefs thriving in our oceans.
The maritime potential of Nusantara has also yielded remarkable maritime technologies. Navigation, shipbuilding, and human resources in the maritime field have been Indonesia’s comparative and competitive advantages since ancient times.
Djong Jawa and Malangbang even left Portuguese and Iberian sailors in awe. Their oceanic vessels seemed like small boats compared to the mighty Jung Jawa. Even Ludovico di Varthema (1470–1517), in his book “Itinerario de Ludovico de Varthema Bolognese,” the account of Ludovico’s travels, stated that the Javanese people had sailed to a “distant land in the south” until they reached an island where daylight lasted only four hours and was “colder than any part of the world.” Modern research has determined that this place is located at least 900 nautical miles (1,666 km) south of the southernmost point of Tasmania. This strongly suggests that the Javanese or Nusantara sailors had reached the South Pole long before the European explorers.
Even the likelihood is that the Nusantara sailors were the ones who sailed to the Americas long before Christoper Columbus. This is clearly depicted in the letter from Alfonso de Albuquerque to King Manuel I on April 1, 1512, which describes the discovery of sea voyage maps by Nusantara sailors. An excerpt from the contents of the letter is as follows:
… a large map by a Javanese pilot, which includes Cape of Good Hope, Portugal and the land of Brazil, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Spice Islands, the navigation of the Chinese and the Japanese, with rhumb lines and direct routes that can be taken by ships, and the hinterland, and how the kingdoms border each other. To me, Sir, this is the best thing I have ever seen, and Your Majesty would be delighted to see it with Javanese names written on it, but I have a Javanese who can read and write, so I am sending this work to Your Majesty, which was traced by Francisco Rodrigues from another, where Your Majesty can truly see where the Chinese and the Japanese came from, and of course, your ships should go to the Spice Islands, and where the gold mines are, and the island of Java and Banda, the origin of nutmeg and cloves, and the land of the Siamese king, and also the end of the Chinese navigation, the direction they took, and why they did not navigate further.
With their sailing abilities, navigation skills, and cartography, it is reasonable to assume that the Nusantara civilization has long been spread to various parts of the world. And the chicken is one of the evidence. Naturally, the question arises, why is it so?
The chicken, scientifically known as Gallus gallus sp and belonging to the bird family Phasianidae, has anatomical structures and physical characteristics such as long, tapering feathers on the neck, nape, and mantle, which are golden-brown in color with a red face, brown iris, dark green back feathers, and shiny black underbody.
It has a serrated comb and red wattles on its head. Its tail consists of 14 to 16 metallic greenish-black feathers, with long central tail feathers that curve downward. Its legs are gray with a spur. Female chickens have non-spurred legs, short feathers, and a dark brownish-yellow color with stripes and dark spots.
It is unique that advancements in livestock biotechnology have successfully mapped the genealogy or origin of domesticated chickens worldwide, revealing that they originated from wild chickens in Indonesia (Gallus gallus sp).
The reconstruction of the phylogenetic tree to trace the ancestors of laying and meat chickens, which have become major sources of food and animal protein worldwide, was conducted using molecular biology techniques that identified the Hypervariable-1 (HV-1) D-Loop sequence from mitochondrial DNA. The HV-1 segment is a non-coding region that is more polymorphic compared to other mitochondrial DNA segments.
Among the approximately 25.9 billion chicken populations globally, it is known that their origins or ancestors stem from Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, and have spread worldwide for around 10,000 years.
More specifically, during the Holocene epoch, the fourth and most recent epoch of the Neogene period. The name Holocene comes from the Greek words ὅλος (“holos”) meaning whole or entire, and καινή (“kai-ne”) meaning new or recent. This epoch is sometimes referred to as the Alluvium age. The Holocene epoch has lasted approximately 11,700 years until the present. During the Holocene, much of the ice in the polar regions melted, causing a rise in sea levels. One of its impacts on the Indonesian Archipelago was the flooding of the Sunda Shelf and Sahul Shelf.
As parts of the continental shelves submerged, the Nusantara archipelago formed, and ancient civilizations emerged, with chicken domestication beginning. After the formation of Lake Bandung approximately 15,000 years ago, and the deformation of the Sunda volcanic arc into mountains such as Tangkuban Parahu, Burangrang, and Bukit Tunggul, the lake’s surrounding areas became fertile land. Livestock farming and agriculture practices commenced, and these new traditions gave rise to domesticated species that would later be carried by Austronesian migrations, both towards the Pacific and in return migrations to the north.
Molecular studies using the HV-1 D-Loop mitochondrial marker on 15 local Indonesian chicken breeds, compared with various foreign chicken breeds, have established the fact that all chickens worldwide are descendants of Indonesian red jungle fowl. (Muhammad Syamsul Arifin Zein and Sri Sulandari, 2009).
Then what is the contribution of chickens, which in 2020 provided 99.09 million metric tons of meat and in 2023, 86.3 million metric tons of eggs consumed by humans worldwide? Undoubtedly, the animal protein source from chickens has become a primary anabolic raw material for human body formation, including shaping their characteristics and intelligence.
Perhaps through its chickens, Nusantara (referring to the Indonesian archipelago) has contributed to the formation of specific genetic characteristics in all human populations worldwide through the mechanisms of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics. Nutrigenetics describes the interaction between genetic variations and the environment, including the nutrients contained in food. On the other hand, nutrigenomics indicates the impact of nutrient intake (macronutrients, micronutrients, and bioactive substances) on gene expression, where nutrients can activate or suppress certain genes. Thus, nutrigenetics plays a role in providing an overview of individual responses to the environment, while nutrigenomics can provide recommendations for appropriate diets (Helmyati, 2020).
From a nutrigenetic and nutrigenomic perspective, the meat and eggs of chickens have undoubtedly contributed to the configuration of proteins, enzymes, biochemical processes, and specific gene expressions in Homo sapiens, or humans. An example in this field is the activity of the enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR). The MTHFR enzyme is involved in folate metabolism and influences homocysteine levels. Certain MTHFR gene variants (C677T and A1298C) are associated with increased homocysteine levels in the blood, which correlates with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Nutrient intake, such as micronutrients and vitamins, can modulate specific genes, ultimately affecting their expression. This includes the synthesis of certain proteins or substances correlated with specific pathological conditions.
Therefore, chickens, with their meat and eggs consumed by billions of people over centuries, may have served as carriers of genetic information from the early Nusantara civilization, which, in turn, contributed to shaping modern humans in various parts of the world. At the very least, chickens have been a primary source of protein that has nourished and enhanced the intelligence of many human populations.
In conclusion, it seems that the motto “Jagonya Ayam” (The Champion is the Chicken) is more appropriately attributed to our ancestors, the first chicken farmers, who made remarkable contributions to the world.
