The Dynamics of Conversion: the Islamisation of the Dayak peoples of Central Kalimantan1 Ian Chalmers Humanities Curtin University of Technology2
[email protected] As is the case throughout Borneo, and indeed much of Indonesia, Central Kalimantan is in the midst of a process of Islamisation. As described below, there are two factors responsible for the growing popularity of the religion in the province. One is the pattern of migration, for significant numbers of Muslim settlers, both spontaneous migrants and transmigrants, have relocated to Kalimantan in recent decades. A second and more significant reason is that Islam is gaining local converts, particularly among the indigenous Dayak peoples who have traditionally dominated the province. This finding is surprising, for the Dayaks have long been closely associated with Christianity and, to a lesser extent, nativist belief systems. It also challenges the contrast often drawn between the Muslim Malays of the coastal regions and the 1 This paper was delivered to the 16th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) in Wollongong, 26-29 June 2006. It has been peer-reviewed and appears on the Conference proceedings website by permission of the author, who retains copyright. The paper may be downloaded for fair use under the Copyright Act (1954), its later amendments and other relevant legislation. 2 Some acknowledgements for assistance in preparation of this study are due. This paper is largely based on research conducted in Kalteng in 2003 and 2004, funded by the Division of Humanities, Curtin University, and the ‘Research Unit for the Study of Societies in Change’ (RUSSIC), also based at Curtin University.