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Of Negotiable Boundaries and Fixed Lines in Borneo: Practices and Views of the Border in the Apo Kayan Region of East Kalimantan
Abstract
The paper focuses on borders and boundaries as practiced, perceived, changed, and enforced by different actors in the Apo Kayan region, an isolated plateau in the interior of Indonesian Borneo at the border between Sarawak (Malaysia) and Indonesia. The paper proposes a longitudinal and multi-faceted description of “border” that takes into account the complexity of its historical, political, economic, and cognitive connotations in the context of practices and interactions across the border. The combined ethnohistorical and cognitive approach of this study makes it possible to unravel the contradictions that are inherent in the concept of “border.”
... The incident described above occurred in Kayan Hulu, a subdistrict of Indonesia's North Kalimantan province. Like most Indonesian border regions, Kayan Hulu has suffered long-term infrastructural violence of the "passive" kind (Rodgers and O'Neill 2012: 407) due to state neglect (Eghenter 2007). This passive violence not only manifests in the lack -if not total absence -of public services in the region, but also in the subdistrict's relative isolation from population centers on the coast. ...
This article looks at how once-promising infrastructures that became dormant mediate collective and individual anxiety for historically-marginalized border community in Indonesia. Dormant infrastructures are sleeping, waiting for the right technical and non-technical interventions to awake them. Here, anxiety revolves around the temporary and permanent awakening of these dormant infrastructures, leading to a reconfiguration of the relationship between the state and border residents.
... Similar to much of the Indonesian border area, post-independence Long Nawang has been characterized by both administrative and political neglect (Eghenter 2007 Such intensification of the state's presence through accelerated development transports the half-decade dream of the Kenyah elite to urbanize the village from merely a possibility to the realm of potentiality. Here, potentiality is a useful category to understand the way an aspiration about a future is able to orient actions and behaviours of subjectivated people in the present. ...
Development Zones in Asian Borderlands maps the nexus between global capital flows, national economic policies, infrastructural connectivity, migration, and aspirations for modernity in the borderlands of South and South-East Asia. In doing so, it demonstrates how these are transforming borderlands from remote, peripheral backyards to front-yards of economic development and state-building. Development zones encapsulate the networks, institutions, politics and processes specific to enclave development, and offer a new analytical framework for thinking about borderlands; namely, as sites of capital accumulation, territorialisation and socio-spatial changes.
... Dayaks more commonly determine territory by referring to natural boundaries such as rivers and mountains, rather than nation-state spaces and boundaries. For example, people in East Kalimantan's Apo Kayan region, close to the border with Sarawak, talk of going to, say, the Baluy or Baram River, rather than using the term 'Sarawak' (Eghenter 2007). ...
In this paper, we explore certain aspects of boundaries and ‘transnational’ circulations,
which we think policymakers should pay attention to. Firstly, we emphasise that borders
should not be taken for granted. Moreover, taken outside a state-centric perspective, ‘crossborder’
phenomena should not be assumed as new or objectively ‘problematic’. To do this,
we discuss how young, often illusory, and arbitrary the current Southeast Asian state
borders are when compared to ancient and on-going human relations, mobilities and
circulations.
Secondly, we discuss why it makes sense to think of any state border as a process of
‘becoming’. Indeed, borders are historical and on-going social constructions, which give birth
to and shape a great variety of wider ‘cross-border’ dynamics between people, livelihoods,
economies, identities, ecologies, and more. To show this, we introduce four quite different
Southeast Asian case studies, in which our research group is engaging, and try viewing them
in some connection. The case studies largely focus on political-economic processes and the
dynamics created by cross-border economic disparities. We conclude by calling into question
current claims about governments ‘opening up borders’ as well as with four key points for
policymakers.
In her response paper, an experienced Malaysian human rights activist and researcher urges
policymakers to rethink state securitarian concerns and to envision a people-centred
Southeast Asian immigration policy. This would mean more focus on human rights, need and
dignity. The first step in the Malaysian situation, which the author critically delves into, is decriminalizing
undocumented migrants, asylum seekers and trafficked persons.
Photographic images of interior Dutch Borneo’s nature and, more particularly, her peoples and cultures are examined as they were produced and used around the turn of the twentieth century, from their creation in the context of pioneer exploration across the island to their presentation and display, in various forms, for consumption by the general public back in Europe. A young Dutch army medical officer, later university professor, Anton Nieuwenhuis, a talented Indo military topographer and photographer, Jean Demmeni, and an elderly Norwegian professional explorer, Carl Lumholtz: These three major, yet quite different, players of the “there and then” scene strongly contributed, each in his own way, through the combined power of their visual and textual testimonies, to the shaping of affirmative representations, ideas, and imageries among their home public about Borneo and the peoples of her hinterland, these independent Dayak tribes, which had long been suffering from prejudiced reports, disrepute, and outright ignominy.
The cross-border activities in Kalimantan are often associated
with insufficient border-regional development and
this insufficient development is regarded to be stemming from
the lack of attention from the government. Subsequently, the
Bordercrossing is often framed with negative connotations. However,
little has been discussed on how this border crossing can be
understood from the border local’s perspective and how this border
crossing can be reflected in potential interactions that may play roles
in the context of border-regional development. This dissertation
argues that cross-border interactions in Kalimantan can be
examined by utilizing border crossing dynamics analytical
framework based on two degrees of interaction between
both state and border local over various cross-border
intentions. These two degrees of border crossing – accepted
and contested – are agency highlighting instrumental
behaviour. Therefore, understanding multiple degrees of
the interaction involved may help to better understand
complexities surrounding the border crossing. This study
employs a mixed method approach and empirical data
collected in the Krayan region that borders Indonesia and
Malaysia in Kalimantan to illustrate the discussion.
The cross-border activities in Kalimantan are often associated
with insufficient border-regional development and
this insufficient development is regarded to be stemming from
the lack of attention from the government. Subsequently, the
Bordercrossing is often framed with negative connotations. However,
little has been discussed on how this border crossing can be
understood from the border local’s perspective and how this border
crossing can be reflected in potential interactions that may play roles
in the context of border-regional development. This dissertation
argues that cross-border interactions in Kalimantan can be
examined by utilizing border crossing dynamics analytical
framework based on two degrees of interaction between
both state and border local over various cross-border
intentions. These two degrees of border crossing – accepted
and contested – are agency highlighting instrumental
behaviour. Therefore, understanding various degrees of
the interaction involved may help to better understand
complexities surrounding the border crossing. This study
employs a mixed method approach and empirical data
collected in the Krayan region that borders Indonesia and
Malaysia in Kalimantan to illustrate the discussion.
On/y in the years 1890 to 1910 were main/and Southeast Asian states’ borders given an accurate cartographic delineation. Today, these nation-states’ control of their border territories varies widely with their development and modernization level and/or their military and political power, as well as with their traditional patterns of territorial control. These pre-colonial regional patterns are of major relevance to any attempt at understanding the current situation. A strong contrast appears between an accurate, Chinese type of border, demarcating the lowland regions, densely populated through systematic colonization by mainly Chinese or Vietnamese migrants, and a fuzzier, Indian type of border, typical of Assam and of Theravada Buddhist monarchies, concentric “agrarian States” surrounded by a ring of petty tributary States with multiple allegiance to their more powerful neighbors.
This book offers fresh insights into the complex and various ways in which international frontiers influence cultural identities. The ten anthropological case studies collected here describe specific international borders in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, and bring out the importance of boundary politics, and the diverse forms that it may take. The frontier itself may be of great symbolic importance; in other cases the symbolism lies rather in the disappearance of the traditional border. A frontier may be above all a barrier against immigration, or the front line between hostile armies. It may reinforce distinctive identities on each side of it, or the frontier may be disputed because it cuts across national identities. Drawing on anthropological perspectives, the book explores how cultural landscapes intersect with political boundaries, and ways in which state power informs cultural identity.
The book is available (free of charge) on Google Books:
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/J%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_Rousseau_Central_Borneo?id=HjZ9EAAAQBAJ
A note on sources and methodology The physical landscape Ethnographic background Mining pioneers in Bau, 1800-1857 Econoic changes in Bau, 1857-1898 Traditional patterns of trade in Borneo Chinese traders in the Lupar, Rejang, and Baran River basins: The origins and pioneers of Ulu trade Up-river trading and social relations The new Foochow colonists: The beginning of the rubber cash economy in the lower Rejang, 1901-1920 The new Foochow colonists: Social relations and economic transformation, 1921-1941 Chinese labourers and the state economy 1870-1941 The Chinese and the Brookes.
It is argued in this article that anthropology has relied upon a psychologically misleading and overly linguistic model of culture. Psychological studies show that concepts are principally formed independently of language. Moreover, studies of expertise show that in order to become an expert at a familiar task or a set of tasks a person needs to organise his or her knowledge in a way which is not language-like. The article draws on the theory of connectionism to suggest that most cultural knowledge cannot therefore be organised in the sentential logical form characteristic of language. It is suggested that the traditional anthropological method of participant observation enables the cognitive scientist to understand cultural knowledge without the dangerous intermediary of language.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the colonial Dutch state grew increasingly concerned about what were perceived as threats to its authority. The article devotes particular attention to the so-called “Outer Islands”, and the forces that Batavia saw at work in this periphery that were considered dangerous enough to jeopardize imperial survival.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022463400015885
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@article{SEA:7617468,author = {Tagliacozzo,Eric},title = {Kettle on a Slow Boil: Batavia's Threat Perceptions in the Indies' Outer Islands, 1870–1910},journal = {Journal of Southeast Asian Studies},volume = {31},issue = {01},month = {3},year = {2000},issn = {1474-0680},pages = {70--100},numpages = {31},doi = {10.1017/S0022463400015885},URL = {http://journals.cambridge.org/article_S0022463400015885},}
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Kettle on a Slow Boil: Batavia's Threat Perceptions in the Indies' Outer Islands, 1870–1910
Eric Tagliacozzo (2000).
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 31 , Issue01 , March 2000, pp 70-100
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?aid=7617468
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Kettle on a Slow Boil: Batavia's Threat Perceptions in the Indies' Outer Islands, 1870–1910
Eric Tagliacozzo March 2000
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies,
,Volume31,
Issue01,
March 2000,
pp 70-100
http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0022463400015885
Eric Tagliacozzo
(2000).
Kettle on a Slow Boil: Batavia's Threat Perceptions in the Indies' Outer Islands, 1870–1910.
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies,
31,
pp 70-100.
doi:10.1017/S0022463400015885.
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Until 1900 Dutch rule in eastern Kalimantan was little more than nominal. In January of that year, as if to indicate the rapid changes which the new century would bring to this as to other areas of the Outer Islands till then ignored, the Dutch Cabinet gave approval for the Netherlands East Indies government to intervene decisively in the affairs of the states constituting the region. During the year new contracts were signed with the rulers of these states which transferred to Dutch control the external trade upon which the states depended for much of their income. Henceforth Dutch officials would supervise the harbours and levy customs and excise; control of the salt and opium monopolies also passed to the Dutch, and, in some cases, of pawnbroking and gambling. Annual pensions were arranged for the former holders of these rights.
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