Ehito Kimura
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Marginality and O pportunity in the Periphery: The Emergence of Gorontalo Province in North Sulawesi* Ehito Kimura The Birth of a Province On January 23, 2000, about thirty thousand ethnic Gorontalo from all over the Indonesian archipelago gathered at the local stadium in Gorontalo City. They were there to celebrate "Hari Patriotik, 23 Januari 1942." Patriot Day commemorates local hero Nani Wartabone and the anticolonial rebellion he led that ousted the Dutch from the region. On that fateful day in January, Wartabone famously declared Gorontalo "free from colonialism."* 1 As a practical matter, Gorontalo would endure Japan's brutal wartime occupation as well as Dutch attempts to return to the archipelago after World War II. But the Gorontalo are fiercely proud of Wartabone's words, often noting that they were the first in Indonesia to declare independence, well ahead of Sukarno's declaration in August of 1945.2 The story of January 1942 is therefore one woven into the larger ’ This article is based on fieldwork conducted in North Sulawesi and Gorontalo over several trips during 2004-2005. The author would like to thank Eunsook Jung, Amelia Liwe, Jennifer Munger, Basri Amin, Paul Hutchcroft, Donald Emmerson, and an anonymous reviewer at Indonesia for comments that helped to improve the article. Remaining errors are the author's alone. 1 Alim Niode and Husein Mohi, Abad Besar Gorontalo (Gorontalo: Presnas Publishing, 2003), p. 38. 2 This fact was recounted to me in numerous conversations with informants in Gorontalo. This discourse was also evident in the local media; for example, see newspaper accounts such as "Gorontalo Jumat 1942 Terulang," Harian Gorontalo, October 21, 2000. Indonesia 84 (October 2007) 72 Ehito Kimura tapestry of Indonesia's nationalist struggle. The annual event is performed complete with the raising of the merah putih (Indonesia's "red-white" national flag), singing of the Indonesia Raya, and speeches by government dignitaries. But the ceremony in 2000 had a slightly different tone. The crowd was larger than in other years, a buzz filled the air, and many of the attendees wore traditional Gorontalo dress. When the official ceremony ended, a new group of speakers took the stage. These were leaders of P4GTR3 and PRESNAS,4 two leading organizations advocating the creation of a new Gorontalo province. Addressing the large crowd at the stadium, H. Natzir Mooduto, a key organizer of the new-province movement, recalled Wartabone's famous words and continued, "Fifty-eight years later to the day, on this Sunday 23 January 2000, we, all the people of Gorontalo, whether inside or outside the region, declare the formation of Gorontalo Province!"5 A few moments later, Nelson Pomalingo, another leading figure, underscored Mooduto's words: "With the blessing of Allah all powerful, on this day, the 23rd of January 2000 that is honored by the January 23 Patriotic Movement, we officially declare the separation of Gorontalo Tomini Raya!"6 If one resisted the excitement and emotion, this might have appeared a slightly awkward moment. New provinces cannot simply be declared into existence. They require extensive bureaucratic scrutiny at multiple levels of government, capped by legislation passed in Jakarta. Though a lobbying process was already underway to establish Gorontalo Province, such a bold pronouncement entailed considerable risk. But like Wartabone's declaration in 1942, the statement of provincial independence proved prescient, if premature. Less than a year later, Gorontalo did succeed in its aspirations.7 A new province called Gorontalo, mostly Muslim and ethnically Gorontalo, split away from North Sulawesi Province, which had a Christian majority and was multiethnic. Why were the Gorontalo so anxious to form their own province? And how did they achieve their objective so quickly? I argue that, historically, state formation and centralization divided—rather than unified—different groups in North Sulawesi, creating a situation I call "marginality in the periphery." By this I mean that, while North Sulawesi region as a whole has historically been a peripheral area in the national context, stark differences in power relations evolved within the province such that some groups dominated and others felt marginalized. With the foundations for this argument in place, I will also argue that the timing and success of the new-province movement can be attributed to Indonesia's political 3 Panitia Persiapan Pembentukan Provinsi Gorontalo Tomini Raya, or Committee to Prepare for the Separation of Gorontalo Tomini Raya Province. 4 Presidium Nasional Pembentukan Provinsi Gorontalo, or National Presidium for the Formation of Gorontalo Province. 5 Hardil Nurdin, Sang Dekarator (Gorontalo: Presnas Press, 2000), p. 77. 6 Ibid., p. 80. 7 Law Number 38 was passed on December 4, 2000; the official declaration of provincehood occurred on February 16, 2001. See Hasanuddin, Buhanudin Domili, and Sri Suharjo, Otonomi Daerah dan Pengaruhnya Terhadap Pemekaran Wilayah Serta Menguatnya Kesadaran Etnis Di Provinsi Gorontalo (Manado, Indonesia: Kementerian Kebudayaan dan Pariwista, Balai Kajian Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional Manado, 2004). Marginality and Opportunity in the Periphery 73 transition. A weakened state and institutional changes affected the situation at a key juncture, when a variety of actors at the local, regional, and national level developed an interest in seeing through the creation of a Gorontalo province. Together, the historical and more contemporary narratives explain why a new-province movement in Gorontalo emerged and why its advocates were successful. Gorontalo's experience is not unique. Since 1999, six other regions have also split off from their mother provinces to become independent; these include West Papua, North Maluku, Banten, Bangka-Belitung, the Riau Islands, and West Sulawesi.8 Many other regions are in the process of trying to institute new provinces. Furthermore, many other new administrative units at the district, subdistrict, and village levels are being established at the same time.9 While this article does not attempt to explain all new-province formation in Indonesia, it does argue against two strands of thinking regarding the phenomenon. First, the process is not simply being undertaken in the interests of administrative efficiency, as many policymakers and public officials at both the national and local levels claim.10 Bureaucrats and local executives often state that their own newly created district or province was necessary in order to bring local government closer to the people, and the people closer to the government. While efficiency may have been enhanced in some cases, these claims also tend to obscure politics and confer legitimacy on a process that is otherwise dubious.11 The phenomenon of new-province formation needs to be seen as a profoundly political process, undertaken by actors with clear political and economic interests at the local, regional, and national levels. This article seeks to identify those interests and the process by which they changed or emerged in Gorontalo. Nor should this trend toward new-province formation be understood as a general movement seeking regional autonomy in the conventional sense. Much of the scholarship concerning regionalism and territoriality in Indonesia has typically emphasized the ways in which regions press for autonomy from the national state, in places such as East Timor, West Papua, and Aceh.12 This approach tends to obscure the 8 See Ehito Kimura, "Provincial Proliferation: Vertical Coalitions and the Politics of Territoriality in Post- Authoritarian Indonesia" (PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 2006) to see the corresponding mother province for each of these new entities, the law, and the year each newly established province was made official. 9 See, for example Fitria Fitrani, Bert Hofman, and Kai Kaiser, "Unity in Diversity? The Creation of New Local Governments in a Decentralizing Indonesia," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 41,1 (2005): 57- 79. 10 For example, at the national level, interviews with Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, chairman Commission II of the Parliament of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, June 3, 2005; and Suparman, head of Technical Commission on Regional Autonomy, Association of Indonesian Regency Government, Jakarta, May 25, 2005. At the local level, interviews with Edwin Silangen, Interim District Chief, North Minahasa, Manado, March 29, 2005; A. G. Kawatu, interim bupati, North Minahasa, April 1, 2005; Abit Takalingan, Provincial Parliament member, Northern Sulawesi, Manado, April 2, 2005. Interviews with government officials in North Sulawesi and Gorontalo in 2005. 11 See James Ferguson, The Anti-Politics Machine: "Development," Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1994). 12 See, for example, Octavianus Mote and Danilyn Rutherford, "From Irian Jaya to Papua: The Limits of Primordialism in Indonesia's Troubled East," Indonesia 71 (October 2001): 115-139; Douglas Kammen, "The Trouble With Normal: The Indonesian Military, Paramilitaries, and the Final Solution to East Timor," in Violence and the State in Suharto's Indonesia, ed. Benedict Anderson (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia 74 Ehito Kimura diverse and complex political interactions that occur within those regions among social groups and political elites. And separatism in Indonesia, though critical in the context of state resilience, is arguably an exceptional phenomenon