Michael Eilenberg At the edges of states Dynamics of state formation in the Indonesian borderlands AT THE EDGES OF STATES Power and Place in Southeast Asia The series examines social struggles and their connection with the par- ticularity of places in Southeast Asia. It embraces an ecumenicity of in- novative approaches within the humanities, social and political sciences, while retaining a central role for ‘power’ and ‘place’. Editors: Gerry van Klinken (KITLV) and Edward Aspinall (Australian National University). V E R H A N D E L I N G E N VA N H E T KO N I N K L I J K I N S T I T U U T VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE 275 MICHAEL EILENBERG AT THE EDGES OF STATES Dynamics of state formation in the Indonesian borderlands KITLV Press Leiden 2012 Published by: KITLV Press Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies) P.O. Box 9515 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands website: www.kitlv.nl e-mail: kitlvpress@kitlv.nl KITLV is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) Cover: Creja ontwerpen, Leiderdorp Cover photo: Borderlander standing on the hilly ridge that constitutes the heav- ily forested border between Indonesia and Malaysia. Photo by the author 2007. ISBN 978 90 6718 374 1 © 2012 Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright owner. Printed in the Netherlands In memory of Reed Lee Wadley Acknowledgements I wish to thank all the people who in various ways have helped me dur- ing the research process leaving up to this book. First and foremost, I would like to thank the members of Rumah Manah and the surrounding communities in the Kapuas Hulu borderland, both for helping me with my research and letting me take part in their daily lives. In particular, I thank the families with whom I stayed for welcoming me into their homes and making me family. Thanks to Devi, Wati, and Lala for help- ing me through the bureaucratic labyrinths in Pontianak, introducing me to interesting people and making my stays in this bustling city pleasant and enjoyable. In the academic arena, I wish to acknowledge the mentoring I re- ceived from Reed L. Wadley who sadly passed away before this book was completed. Reed generously shared his large knowledge of the West Kalimantan Iban and gave me excellent advice and inspiration through- out my undergraduate and graduate studies. I am profoundly grateful for his intellectual engagement and collegial support and dedicate this book to him. I would like to thank the following people who have all read, and commented on, the articles/chapters included in this book and who have been important sources of inspiration: Christian Lund, Tania Murray Li, James Scott, Nancy Peluso, Willem van Schendel, Barbara Andaya, Derek Hall, Thomas Sikor, Lesley Potter, Michele Ford, Lenore Lyons, Keith Foulcher, Campbell Macknight, Timo Kivimaki, Ole Bruun, Nils Ole Bubandt, Mikael Gravers, Ida Nicolaisen and several anonymous reviewers. Special thanks are owed to Gerry van Klinken and Edward Aspinall editors of the KITLV Press sub-series on ‘Power and place in Southeast Asia’, whose support was crucial for the publication of this book. Many other people contributed immensely to this work but I cannot mention each of you by name. Your contribution is greatly appreciated. Sections of the data presented in this book have previously been presented in various articles. The data have, however, been extended viii | Acknowledgements and revised. Drafts of the second part of Chapter 1 were published in Michael Eilenberg, ‘Borderland encounters: a letter from Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan’, Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs , 42-1 (2008): pages 191-200. Parts of Chapters 3 and 4 were elaborated in Michael Eilenberg, ‘Straddling the border: A marginal history of guer- rilla warfare and ‘counter-insurgency’ in the Indonesian borderlands, 1960s-1970s’, Modern Asian Studies , 45-6 (2011), pages 1423-1463. Parts of Chapter 5 were published in Reed Wadley and Michael Eilenberg, ‘Autonomy, identity and “illegal” logging in the borderlands of West Kalimantan, Indonesia’, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 6 (2005), pages 19-34. The essence of Chapter 6 was addressed in Reed Wadley and Michael Eilenberg, ‘Vigilantes and gangsters in the borderland of West Kalimantan, Indonesia’, in Alexander Horstmann (ed.), States, Peoples and Borders in Southeast Asia. A Special Issue of the Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia 7 (2006), pages 1-25. Finally, drafts of parts of Chapters 7 and 8 were drawn upon in Michael Eilenberg, ‘Negotiating autonomy at the margins of the state: The dynamics of elite politics in the borderland of West Kalimantan, Indonesia’, South East Asia Research 17-2 (2009), pages 201-27. Field research conducted for this book was funded by the Danish Council for Development Research and carried out under the auspices of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, LIPI). The study was also made possible by the Department of Political Sciences, Tanjungpura University (UNTAN), Pontianak, and Professor Dr. Syarif I. Alquadrie, who acted as my academic sponsor in Indonesia and aided me in many ways. I am most grateful to these institutions for their support. Any conclusions and opinions drawn here are my own and are not necessarily shared by the above institutions. Any errors in this book are entirely my own. Lastly, my warmest gratitude and love goes out to my partner Rikke and to my two wonderful daughters, Liva and Aja, who provided im- measurable encouragement. Without their support, none of this would have been possible. Michael Eilenberg Aarhus Denmark Contents acknowledgements vii List of maps and figures xiii Terminology xv Note on spelling and translation xv 1 introduction 1 Prologue 1 Borderland encounters 8 Researching borderlands and illicit practices 13 The Kapuas Hulu borderland 17 The border advantage 24 Structure of the book 32 2 borders of engagement 43 Borders and borderlands 44 State formation from below 49 Decentralizing Indonesia: More room to manoeuvre 58 Patterns of patronage and the ‘border effect’ 60 Rules and norms as processes of negotiation 67 3 evading state authority 75 Settlements on the pre-colonial frontier 77 Drawing borders: Colonial encounters on the frontier 83 The wild frontier: Batang Lupar country 88 Migration and warfare 92 Rebellion and pacification 97 Border outlaws: Perpetuating semi-autonomy 101 4 guerrilla warfare and resource extraction 113 Konfrontasi: State making on the border 114 A time of disruption: Nationalist aspiration and state violence 119 Operation Destruction: Counterinsurgency and anti-communism 124 x | Contents The PARAKU: Insurgents or liberation army? 132 Establishment of a borderland elite 144 New Order legacies: Authoritarian rule and resource extraction 150 Large-scale timber concessions and military rule 151 Moulding loyal citizens and its paradoxical outcomes 159 5 patronage and power 165 Decentralization, informal networks and ‘illegal’ logging 166 Towards increased regional autonomy 167 Cooperative logging and a booming economy 169 Negotiation and collusion: elite opportunities 175 Cross-border patron-broker-client relations 180 The Malaysian connection 181 Captain of the timber industry 183 Small border elites 187 Cooperation and disputes 191 Non-state forms of authority 198 6 intersecting spheres of legality and illegality 205 Vigilantes: The usnata killing 208 ‘Wild’ logging and ‘gangsterism’ 213 Confession of a Malaysian timber baron 216 Shifting loyalties 223 Illegal but licit: Circumventing the law, enforcing local norms 227 Defying the limits of legality 230 Shades of gray 232 7 sovereignty and security 235 Security through development 237 Grand schemes 246 Re-militarizing the border 249 Contesting large-scale schemes 254 Tightening border regimes 257 8 borderland autonomy and local politics 261 Promotion of a ‘North Border District’ 262 Justification for a new district 268 Separatism: Playing the border card 271 xi Contents | Ethnic sentiments 272 Multiple levels of power struggle 274 National and transnational networks of influence 277 9 conclusion 283 Fluid borders and fluctuating borderlands 284 Claiming authority, negotiating autonomy 287 Zones of semi-autonomy 290 appendix 293 Timeline of important events 293 acronyms and abbreviations 295 glossary 299 bibliography 301 index 339 List of maps and fi gures Map 1: Indonesia Map 2: Island of Borneo Map 3: District of Kapuas Hulu Map 4: Colonial Borneo, 1747 1 Map 5: Colonial West Borneo, 1895 2 Map 6: Batang Lupar Country, 1895 3 Fig 1: Badau border crossing (PLB), 2007 Fig 2: Labour migrants resting before crossing into Sarawak, 2007 Fig 3: Official border crossing point (PPLB), 2007 Fig 4: The town of Lanjak, 2005 Fig 5: The Lanjak -Badau road (Jalan Lintas Utara), 2007 Fig 6: The Governor’s visit to Lanjak, 2007 Fig 7: The Governor’s speech, 2007 Fig 8: Forest cover along the West Kalimantan-Sarawak border, 2007 Fig 9: Iban swidden fields in the border hills, 2002 Fig 10: Planting hill rice in the border hills, 2002 Fig 11: Hunters in the border hills, 2007 Fig 12: Small concrete border pillar, 2007 Fig 13: A group of Batang Lupars, 1920 Fig 14: Temporary longhouse in the vicinity of Nanga Badau, 1932 Fig 15: Batang Lupars parading at a visit by Governor-General, 1920 Fig 16: Batang Lupars in full wardress (date unknown) 1 One of the first Dutch maps of Borneo, dated more than a century before the colonial borders were drawn. The map shows the interior of the islands as largely unexplored and unknown (source: Jacob Keizer and Jan de Lat, 1747, ‘Kaartje van Borneo’ in Weerelds Hand-Atlas ). 2 Section of Dutch colonial map of West Borneo dated 1895 (G.A.F. Molengraaff, 1895, ‘Stromkarte von West Borneo’ in Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen 41 , tafel 14). 3 Batang Loepar Landen. (source: Topographisch Bureau, 1895, ‘Boven Embaloeh en Batang Loepar’ in Residentie Wester-Afdeeling van Borneo; Blad XVII en XVIII. Opgenomen in 1890-1894. Topographisch Bureau, Batavia.). xiv | List of maps and figures Fig 17: Catholic school in Lanjak (date unknown) Fig 18: Temenggong (right) in soldiers’s uniform, 1932 Fig 19: Consultant ir. G.A. de Mol and Iban headman, 1932 Fig 20: Military certificate signed by General Soeharto, 1967 Fig 21: Military certificate thanking Iban leader, 1974 Fig 22: Military certificate to Iban WANRA ‘volunteer’, 1988 Fig 23: Monthly honorarium to Iban member of civil defence unit, 1976 Fig 24: Letter of loyalty signed by Iban leader, 1970 Fig 25: Letter of honour to Iban leader, 1972 Fig 26: Hand painted sign on path leading to timber-cutting site, 2000 Fig 27: Mixed forest gardens, along the border, 2007 Fig 28: Logging truck transporting newly cut timber, 2003 Fig 29: Logging road along the border, 2003 Fig 30: Trucks loaded with sawn timber, 2003 Fig 31: Aphengs large sawmill on the Indonesian side of the border, 2003 Fig 32: Newly logged forest and soil erosion, 2003 Fig 33: Jalan Lintas Utara during the rainy season, 2003 Fig 34: Graffiti on a shop in Lanjak, 2005 Fig 35: Confiscated logs from up-river logging camps, 2007 Fig 36: Apheng’s deserted and burnt down logging camp, 2007 Fig 37: Control post along a timber road, 2002 Fig 38: Police post close to the Sarawak border, 2007 Terminology As an aid to the reader I will here briefly sketch the different layers of administrative structures and institutions of authority within Indonesian regional government: Level of administration Government officials 1. Propinsi (Province) 1. Governor (Gubernur) 2. Kabupaten (District) 2. Bupati (District head) 3. Kecamatan (Subdistrict) 3. Camat (Subdistrict kead) 4. Desa (Village) 4. Kepala Desa (Village head) 5. Dusun (Hamlet) 5. Kepala Dusun (Hamlet head) Traditional institutions of authority Panglima perang Traditional war leader Temenggong Dayak tribal-head/ adat leader Patih Deputies of temenggong/ adat elder Tuai rumah Longhouse head note on spelling and translation Throughout the book I will be quoting my informants and including different cultural terms in the text. Communication with informants was carried out in two languages – Indonesian and Iban. When referring to cultural terms and place names I will be using Iban or Indonesian spell- ing but when quoting my informants I will use an English translation for the sake of readability. Modern Indonesian spelling is used in the body of the text. Where references are made to historical sources the spelling in the original is maintained. Quotations from interviews were trans- lated as literally as possible, and significant terms (Indonesian, Iban and xvi | Terminology Dutch) are reproduced in the body of the translation. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations of Indonesian and Dutch data (interviews, documents, reports) are my own. I would like to thank Reed Wadley for granting me access to his large and partly translated compilation of reports on West Borneo from the Dutch Colonial archives, especially the ‘Mailrapporten’ (reports on local/regional conditions) and ‘Verbaalen’ (long reports, both public and classified) from the Algemeen Rijksarchief (now Nationaal Archief), The Hague, Netherlands. Materials from the Algemeen Rijksarchief are designated with ARA. Dutch colonial quota- tions originally translated by Reed Wadley are marked [TransRW]. Map 1: Indonesia Map 2: Island of Borneo Map 3: District of Kapuas Hulu 1 Introduction Smuggling rings, clan and tribal relationships that have spanned territo- rial and/or public-private boundaries [...] have quietly put forth systems of meaning that imply boundaries quite different from those represented in the image of the state. Some have sought to change the lines on maps; others act only to minimize the importance of those lines. In both cases, they have openly or surreptitiously challenged a key element in the image of the state: its claim to be an avatar of the people bounded by that terri- tory and its assumption of the connection of those people encompassed by state borders as a (or the ) primary social bond (Migdal 2001:26). prologue The Indonesian-Malaysian borderland, 7 June 2007. Around noon a convoy of Kijang pick-ups with the Kapuas Hulu district seal accompa- nied by district police trucks entered the dusty border town of Lanjak. The convoy travelled the bumpy gravel road and passed the main bazaar at great speed with wailing sirens and blinking lights en route to the sub- district office close to a newly erected community hall at the outskirts of town. In great anticipation of this arrival a large crowd had assembled along the road, many coming from faraway villages situated close to the international border with Sarawak. Surrounded by heavily armed police, the governor of West Kalimantan stepped out of the front car; flanked by his vice-governor and the district head, he walked the 50 meters towards the community hall. Nervously surveying the crowd, the police bodyguards tried to keep the crowd at bay by levelling their sub-machine guns and using their bodies to erect a defence line. According to a local spectator, this hefty