At the Edges of States Dynamics of State Formation in the Indonesian Borderlands at the Edges of States
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At the edges of states Dynamics of state formation in the Indonesian borderlands At the edges of states At Set in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, this study explores the shifting relationships between border communities and the state along the political border with East Malaysia. The book rests on the premises that remote border regions o er an exciting study arena that can tell us important things about how marginal citizens relate to their nation-state. The basic assumption is that central state authority in the Indonesian borderlands has never been absolute, but waxes and wanes, and state rules and laws are always up for local interpretation and negotiation. In its role as key symbol of state sovereignty, the borderland has become a place were central state authorities are often most eager to govern and exercise power. But as illustrated, the borderland is also a place were state authority is most likely to be challenged, questioned and manipulated as border communities often have multiple loyalties that transcend state borders and contradict borderlands in the Indonesian of stateDynamics formation imaginations of the state as guardians of national sovereignty and citizenship. Michael Eilenberg (1975) is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University. At the edges His research focuses on issues of state formation, sovereignty, and agrarian expansion in frontier regions of Southeast Asia. of states “Eilenberg’s rich insights could not have been achieved without years spent developing trust and experiencing rsthand the ambiguity of a border as a zone of opportunity as well as control. The analysis of the border elite who combine traditional authority with bureaucratic o ce, charisma with force, and legal practices with illegal Dynamics of state formation in the ones throws into sharp relief a set of practices that are found not only on the fringes of the Indonesian nation, but on the fringes of its cities as well. Anyone interested in understanding how power works in Indonesia should Indonesian borderlands read this book”. Tania Murray Li, Toronto University “This pioneering study of state formation ‘at the margins’ forms a perfect demonstration of the promise of borderland studies. Eilenberg argues convincingly that borderlands – and the international borders that run through them – are critical sites for understanding shifting state-society relations. His book provides a powerful analysis of the local historical contexts of resource struggles, state policies and social strategies in what many consider to be a remote and insigni cant Indonesian borderland. Eilenberg makes us realize how the unpredictable dynamics of such borderland societies a ect entire nation-states”. Willem van Schendel, Amsterdam University Michael Eilenberg KITLV_Monografie door Eilenberg_def_rug21,85mm.indd 1 30-01-12 13:38 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). VERHANDELINGEN VAN HET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT 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: [email protected] 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 | 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 viii 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