Post-War Borneo, 1945-1950

Nationalism, Empire and State-Building

Ooi Keat Gin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134058105
• Subtopic: Asian History
• Index: History

This book examines Borneo, both British Borneo – Brunei, Sarawak and North Borneo – and Dutch Borneo in the period 1945-1950. Borneo then was at the crossroads. Following the Japanese Occupation, the likely future status of the various Bornean territories was not at all clear, and the book discusses the various factions and powers, both local and international, who were contending for control in this period. It examines the effects of the Japanese surrender, the impact of the subsequent interregnum and Australian and British military administrations, the reassertion of Dutch control, the struggle for Indonesian independence, and movements for local autonomy, reassertion of ethnic rights, interests and identity. It charts developments throughout this volatile and uncertain period, up to the point at which the newly independent Republic of Indonesia emerged and a more settled period began.

1

Introduction

Three international boundaries demarcate contemporary Borneo into four parts. The northwest portion comprises the East Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah (formerly North Borneo) with the Malay-Muslim sultanate of Brunei Darussalam lying on the northern coast, entirely surrounded by Sarawak. The remainder of the island, the east, south and west, is Indonesian Kalimantan, Kalimantan being the Malay/Indonesian term for Borneo. Initially in 1949 when the Republic of Indonesia was founded, the original provinces were East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. Central Kalimantan was created in 1957 from South Kalimantan. Present-day Kalimantan has four provinces or propinsi, namely Kalimantan Timur (Kaltim, East Kalimantan), Kalimantan Selatan (Kalsel, South Kalimantan), Kalimantan Tengah (Kalteng, Central Kalimantan), and Kalimantan Barat (Kalbar, West Kalimantan). The politico-administrative structure and population of contemporary Borneo is presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Politico-administrative structure and population of present-day Borneo

Nation	Province/State	Population	Area (sq km)	Administrative centre
Brunei	—	348,800a	5,743	Bandar Seri
Malaysia	Sabah	2,900,000±	75,821	Begawan Kota Kinabalu
	Sarawak	2,300,000±	124,485	Kuching
Indonesia	West Kalimantan	4,073,304*	146,760	Pontianak
	Central Kalimantan	1,912,747°	153,564	Palangkaraya
	South Kalimantan	3,446,631#	36,984	Banjarmasin
	East Kalimantan	2,750,369*	211,440	Samarinda

Notes: ^a 2003 estimates; ± 2005 estimates; *2004; °2007; #2008.

Sources: The Europa World Year Book 2005, I, p. 928; Ensiklopedi Indonesia Seri Geografi, pp. 150, 158, 165, 173; Ooi, Historical Dictionary of Malaysia, pp. 230, 283.

Geographical background

Covering an area of 754,000 square kilometres, the island of Borneo ranks as the third-largest in the world after Greenland (2,175,600 square kilometres) and New Guinea (885,780 square kilometres). It sits in the middle of Southeast Asia on the equator and is almost equidistant from Vietnam (and mainland Southeast Asia) to the northwest, West Malaysia (the Malay Peninsula) and Sumatra to the west, Java to the south, Sulawesi (Celebes) and Irian Jaya to the east, and the Philippines to the northeast. The warm waters of the South China Sea (north and northwest), the Java Sea (south), the Celebes Sea (Sulawesi Sea) (east), and the Sulu Sea (northeast) bathe its shores.

The fact that Borneo possesses neither volcanoes nor volcanic activities owes to its geologic genesis. The island is in fact a part of a very stable continental shelf, Sundaland. Some 100 million years ago the Eurasian continental shelf extended out from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Borneo, and Java. The western part of Borneo forms the southeastern-most edge of this continental shelf. When sea levels rose, some 10,000 years ago, Borneo emerged as an island from the South China Sea.¹

The island’s mountainous backbone, beginning in the northwest (Sarawak’s Batang Lupar), spreads to the southwest (the ranges of Iran, Hose, Muller, Nieuwenhuis, and Schwaner), and then runs in a northeasterly direction (Crocker and Brassey ranges) to culminate in the highest peak of Mount Kinabalu at 4,095 metres above sea level.

Interestingly, this mountainous landform originated some 40 million years ago as a consequence of the earth’s tectonic forces that lifted the sea bottoms (sandstone, limestone, and mudstone) out of the water, crumpling them into uplands, hills, and mountainous terrain.² This mountain-building process ended about 17 million years ago. The sedimentation of the sandstone and limestone accounted for the creation of minerals such as oil and coal. As a result of such origins, Borneo has little in terms of volcanoes and volcanic activities, except for the isolated few volcanic cones on the northeastern part of the island.

The lowlands average below 150 metres in elevation and are mainly enveloped by a thick, lush equatorial rainforest. Situated at the intersection of the Asian and Australian biomes, the variety of flora and fauna is one of the most diverse and fascinating on the planet. Several distinctive landscape environments and habitats – montane forests, dipterocarp forests, heath forests, mangrove forests, freshwater swamp forests, and coral reefs – support varied and exotic animal and plant life.³ The enormous Rafflesia ( Rafflesia arnoldii ), by far the world’s largest flower that can grow to a metre in diameter and weigh an astonishing eight kilograms, is the most symbolic of Borneo’s flora. Notwithstanding Borneo’s verdant abundance, the laterite soil is often poor owing to heavy rainfall leaching away much-needed nutrients. Exotic fauna include orangutans, clouded leopards, tarsiers, Argus pheasants, pangolin, proboscis monkeys, and hornbills, although such wildlife is not commonly found or seen in its natural habitat.⁴

The myriad network of rivers originating from the mountainous interior flow northwestwards (Baram, Rejang) towards the South China Sea, southwestwards (Landak, Kapuas) and southwards (Mendawai, Kahayan, Barito) to the Karimata Strait and Java Sea respectively, northeastwards (Sugut, Labuk) and eastwards (Kinabatangan, Kayan) to the Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea respectively, and southeastwards (Mahakam) to the Makassar Strait. Despite the development of land and air transport in the mid-twentieth century, the river systems continue to be indispensable arteries of trade, commerce, transport, and communication for the majority of the inhabitants. Towards the north and central-northeast of the island, only a few rivers are navigable for more than 150–160 kilometres; consequently, this interior area remained unexplored, a terra incognito, until the advent of modern air transport. Borneo boasts some of the longest rivers in Southeast Asia, namely Kapuas (998 kilometres), Barito (704 kilometres), Rejang (663 kilometres), Kinabatangan (560 kilometres), Kahayan (343 kilometres), and Mahakam (334 kilometres). The vast stretches of coastline are either covered with mangrove swamps or peat forests. Nonetheless, viable natural harbours are exceptions and found only along the indented northeast coast.

With the equator almost bisecting the island, coastal temperatures range from 23° C to 37° C and it is uncomfortably humid. Further inland, mean annual temperatures are more agreeable at between 24° C and 26° C, and in the mountainous interior from 700–800 metres above sea level, the mercury drops several levels and a cool, pleasant environment reigns. On average, the coastal areas received some 3,000 millimetres of rainfall annually, and it is increasingly wetter inland. Borneo’s tropical monsoon climate is regulated by the flow and ebb of the prevailing wet northwest monsoon and dry southeast monsoon. Generally, the wettest months (landas ) are November, December, and January while the dry season (tedoh ) falls between July and September. Unlike the Philippines, its neighbour to the northeast, Borneo is spared the wrath of destructive typhoons.

Human mosaic

The great diversity of Borneo’s flora and fauna extends to its human inhabitants, comprising indigenes and immigrants. The population has long been characterized as being multiethnic, multicultural, and multi-religious. There are more than 200 ethnic groupings, each with their unique socio-cultural traditions and characteristics. Both Malays and Chinese in Borneo come from immigrants, the former mainly migrating from southern Sumatra during the primacy of Srivijaya (seventh–thirteenth centuries), and the latter from southern China during the Ming dynasty (mid-fourteenth–mid-seventeenth centuries). Malay ethnicity and identity was, and still is, differentiated by the adoption of Islam, hence Malay-Muslim, an indivisible term. Moreover, whenever an individual embraces Islam – termed masuk Melayu, literally ‘entering into Malay-hood’ or ‘becoming Malay’, specifically they become a Malay-Muslim. Their adoption of Islam clearly differentiates them from others, the non-Muslim. Indigenous peoples are collectively referred as Dayak (also Dyak, Dya, or Daya ). The epistemology that Dayak denotes ‘person’ and/or specifi cally ‘inland or interior person’ is disputed: it was attributed to the Malay word aja, meaning ‘native’, or from Central Javanese word that refers to rather inappropriate or improper behaviour.⁵ Nonetheless, Dayak is used as an umbrella term denoting non-Muslim indigenes. Specific groups in designated areas are referred to accordingly as Ngaju Dayak, Baritos’ Hill Dayak, or simply by their ethnic names, namely Iban, Melanau, Bidayuh, Kayan, Kenyah, Maloh (Taman), Lun Bawang, Kendayan, Murut, Kadazan-Dusun.⁶ The spatial distribution of indigenous ethnic communities is portrayed in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 General spatial distributions of indigenous ethnic groups of Borneo. Source: After King, The Peoples of Borneo, p. 39.

Kalimantan’s coastal areas are dominated by Malays. Banjar Malays or Banjarese are demographically prominent in South Kalimantan as well as in Central Kalimantan. On East Kalimantan’s coastal stretch are significant Bugis settlements; they originally crossed from their ancestral lands in south Sulawesi. There are also Bugis in Mempawah, West Kalimantan. The Ngaju Dayaks is the main group in Central Kalimantan. Along the Barito River are the Barito Dayaks found in both South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan. In the upper reaches of the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan are the Kutai people. In the Apo Kayan Highlands within East Kalimantan and across the border in central-northeast Sarawak are Kayans and Kenyahs. In central Borneo, straddling the sources of the Kapuas (West Kalimantan) and the Mahakam (East Kalimantan), are the nomadic, hunter-gatherer, cave-dwelling Punan. In urban areas, especially in West Kalimantan, there is a sizeable community of Hakka Chinese descended from early gold-mining settlements.⁷ Pontianak and Singkawang also have a high concentration of Chinese inhabitants.

Sarawak has more than 20 indigenous communities. As in Kalimantan, Sarawak Malay settlements dot the lower reaches and deltas of rivers and along the coastal fringes. The Melanaus too are coastal inhabitants predominant in the Mukah area. Inland, in the vicinities of Kuching, Bau, and Serian, are Bidayuh villages. The Ibans, the largest native group in Sarawak, are concentrated in the Saribas-Skrang and Rejang river systems. Further inland in the upper reaches of the Baram, Rejang, and Bintulu in the central-northeastern interior and highland regions dwell the Kayan, Kenyah, Orang Ulu, Lun Bawang, and Kelabit. Penan, nomadic jungle hunter-gatherers, roam in the thick forested interior.

Sabah is home to more than 50 native groups; at least 30 ethnic communities were indigenous to this part of Borneo while others migrated from neighbouring islands. While the Kadazan-Dusuns are regarded as early inhabitants, others such as the Bajaus on the east coast, the Suluks, and the Iranuns originated from across the Sulu Sea. The western coastal lowlands and interior are home to the Kadazan-Dusuns, Sabah’s largest indigenous group. Bisayas congregated in and around Beaufort, Kuala Penyu, and Sipitang while the Dumpas, Rumanau, and Minokok are found in the upper Kinabatangan River. The Keningau plains have long sustained the Kwijau (Kuijau), a Dusunic-speaking group. Muruts are dominant in the interior and in the southeastern parts of Sabah. The areas around Kudat and Pitas are home to the Rungus. Tidongs – related linguistically to the Muruts – settled in Tawau and Lahad Datu. Although Malays are resident throughout Sabah, they are mainly coastal dwellers. Brunei Malays (Barunay) are the predominant indigenous ethnic group in Brunei. Other signifi cant minority native communities in the sultanate include Kadayan, Murut, and Dusun/Bisaya.

Overall throughout Borneo i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Preface
• Currencies
• List of abbreviations and acronyms
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Borneo under imperial Japan
• 3. Welcoming the Aussies
• 4. Allied military administration, September 1945 to June–July 1946
• 5. Strengthening the Empire: two Crown Colonies and a protectorate, 1946–1949
• 6. ‘Old’ Dutch and ‘new’ republicans, 1945–1950
• 7. Ushering in a new dawn
• Glossary
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index