INTRO

A collection of personal photographs taken throughout the island of Borneo (Malaysian Sarawak & Indonesian Kalimantan) during travels and research fieldtrips (started since 1997). Though being results of something that started as a triviality, only later I realized that these photos have inadvertendly captured the changing face of the island.


Sebuah koleksi foto-foto pribadi yang diambil di pulau Kalimantan (Negeri Bahagian Sarawak di Malaysia dan Provinsi-provinsi Kalimantan di Indonesia) selama perjalanan-perjalanan dan penelitian lapangan yang telah dimulai sejak 1997. Berawal dari kegiatan sampingan, baru belakangan saya sadari bahwa foto-foto ini bisa sedikitnya mengungkap berbagai perubahan yang mengubah wajah pulau ini.

BORNEO / KALIMANTAN: Political Divisions

Map (p) 2002 by dlumenta, generated using SRTM data (by NOAA)
processed through 3DEM & MapInfo v. 7.5

THE BATANG KANYAU IBAN AROUND BETUNG KERIHUN NATIONAL PARK (I)

Location: Betung Kerihun National Park, Upper Kapuas District, West Kalimantan (Indonesia)
Date: Dec. 2000 - Jan. 2001, May 2002
Nikon FM-2 (film: -, ASA: 200)

Betung Kerihun National Park (Taman Nasional Betung Kerihun - or TNBK) in Kapuas Hulu District, West Kalimantan, stretches along the Kalimantan - Sarawak border, spanning the vast distances between the Embaloh (or in Iban, Batang Kanyau) river in the west to the Upper Kapuas to the east.

Illegal logging within the park (which implicated a vast transnational network involving Sarawakian timber moguls, local politicians and Ibans) became a major concern nationally between 2002 - 2005. These pictures were taken in 2000, barely one year before illegal logging became rampant.

Struggling up the Tekelan river to the Gerugu Naris gorges (far right).

The upper Batang Kanyau became the frontline of border battles fought during the 1963-66 Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation, followed by counter-insurgency operations against the remnants of the communist PARAKU (Pasukan Rakyat Kalimantan Utara) from 1967 to 1992. Iban support as porters, rowers or guides was crucial to the success of all military operations to both warring sides in the area.


As recently as 2002, weapons and ammunition dumps were still found deep inside the Park. The late Apai Linggong ak. Sandom (1940-2003) shows a recently discovered British-made Stengun (top below), while Panglima Jimbau and Apai Jayang (far below) reminisce about their involvement in the 1967-68 anti-PARAKU operations.

THE BATANG KANYAU IBAN AROUND BETUNG KERIHUN NATIONAL PARK (II)

Location: Kelayam village, Kapuas Hulu District, West Kalimantan (Indonesia)
Date: June 2002.
Nikon FM-2, (film: +; ASA: 100)


GAWAI IBAN

Gawai Iban, or the Iban rice harvest ceremony (linking the old and new agricultural cycles) is celebrated throughout the Iban areas of West Kalimantan & Sarawak, which usually falls around June or July (and made a national holiday in Sarawak). It is the most important event of the year, marking the return of every Iban (especially Iban working migrants) to their respective villages.

Ijuk, or rice wine, is a primary treat in the longhouse (L), while rendai (rice crispies) and eggs make up the essential offerings to the spirits (center), while the chicken is the standard medium in besampi prayers (R)


Rendai is being thrown outside the longhouse to appease the spirits (L), old traditional Iban weaving cloth (Pua Kumbu) many over 100 years old, are put on display (center), while reading a pig's liver makes an essential reading to forecast life events during the next agricultural cycle (R)



Apai Kunyan doing a Ngajat (Iban dance) to bring the vividness of his Entelah (traditional Iban riddles) to life.