Table Of ContentAt the edges of states
Dynamics of state formation in the Indonesian borderlands
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Set in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, this study explores the shifting relationships t
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between border communities and the state along the political border with East Malaysia. h
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The book rests on the premises that remote border regions off er an exciting study arena
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that can tell us important things about how marginal citizens relate to their nation-state. d
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The basic assumption is that central state authority in the Indonesian borderlands has
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never been absolute, but waxes and wanes, and state rules and laws are always up for s
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local interpretation and negotiation. In its role as key symbol of state sovereignty, the f
borderland has become a place were central state authorities are often most eager s
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to govern and exercise power. But as illustrated, the borderland is also a place were t
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state authority is most likely to be challenged, questioned and manipulated as border s
communities often have multiple loyalties that transcend state borders and contradict D
y At the edges
imaginations of the state as guardians of national sovereignty and citizenship. n
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Michael Eilenberg (1975) is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University. o
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of states
His research focuses on issues of state formation, sovereignty, and agrarian expansion in st
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frontier regions of Southeast Asia. e
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“Eilenberg’s rich insights could not have been achieved without years spent developing trust and experiencing ti
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fi rsthand the ambiguity of a border as a zone of opportunity as well as control. The analysis of the border elite n Dynamics of state formation in the
who combine traditional authority with bureaucratic offi ce, charisma with force, and legal practices with illegal i
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ones throws into sharp relief a set of practices that are found not only on the fringes of the Indonesian nation, Indonesian borderlands
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but on the fringes of its cities as well. Anyone interested in understanding how power works in Indonesia should h
read this book”. e
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Tania Murray Li, Toronto University n
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“This pioneering study of state formation ‘at the margins’ forms a perfect demonstration of the promise of es
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borderland studies. Eilenberg argues convincingly that borderlands – and the international borders that run a
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through them – are critical sites for understanding shifting state-society relations. His book provides a powerful
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analysis of the local historical contexts of resource struggles, state policies and social strategies in what o
many consider to be a remote and insignifi cant Indonesian borderland. Eilenberg makes us realize how the rd
unpredictable dynamics of such borderland societies aff ect entire nation-states”. e
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Willem van Schendel, Amsterdam University la
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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).
V E R H A N D E L I N G E N
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 and state violence 119
Operation Destruction: Counterinsurgency and anti-communism 124
