Concerning Toba Batak’s Local Wisdoms and Cultural Values for Regional Character Building

Background/Objectives: This article is aimed at seeking Toba Batak’s local wisdoms, for instance, its types and cultural values, which are potential for the development of character building in the regions. Methods: The study of local wisdoms and cultural values for the development of regional character building in the North Tapanuli, Central Tapanuli, Toba Samosir, Humbang Hasundutan and Samosir regencies was made on the basis of anthropolinguistic analysis. Components of performance, indexicality, and participation can be considered effective in the assessment to text, cotext and context of local wisdoms. Three auxiliary components were paid attention, namely, interconnection, valuability, and sustainability. Findings: Local wisdoms of Toba Batak try to reach some values, such as, trustworthy, polite and respectful, honest, promoting togetherness and convention, tolerant and harmonious, responsible and committed, caring, and grateful. These local people are hoped to have the following characteristics: hard working, dilligent, disciplinary, mutually assisting, and environmental caring. These are called working ethics. Therefore, Toba Batak has eight cultural values, for instance, paradaton ‘being a custom’, partuturon 'kinship', parsaoran dalihan natolu ‘interaction of three customary parties”, tanda habatahon ‘marders of Bataknese identity', hagabeon ‘posterity and long life’, hamoraon ‘welfare’, hasangapon 'honor', and haporseaon ‘faith, belief”. These values produced eight auxiliary values: maradat 'customary, civilized’, martutur 'being involved in kinship', parsaor ‘friendly; interactive to the three customary parties’, marhabatahon 'being identified as Batakness marker', marroha hagabeon 'being hopeful of long life and good posterity', marhamoraon 'hopeful of being welfare’, marhasangapon 'hopeful of honor', and marhaporseaon ‘having good faith’. Improvements/Application: Materials in this article shall determine some polite components of local wisdoms that can be used for the ongoing development of character building in the regencies so that local goverments build infrasctructure from inner hearts.