west kalimantan

Mangkok Merah 1967, the conflict between the Dayak and Chinese in West Kalimantan

The New Order in Indonesia is the term coined by the second Indonesian President Suharto to describe his administrative era when he came to power in 1966.

In the beginning of this New Order, one incident left a bloody mark in Indonesian history and it is called Mangkuk Merah.

The background factors of the conflict between the Dayak and Chinese

Suharto’s predecessor Sukarno denounced the new nation Malaysia back then, calling it a form of neo-colonialism.

He then secretly trained rebel communist troops from Sarawak known as the Sarawak People’s Guerrilla Army (Pasukan Guerrilla Rakyat Sarawak or PGRS).

They set up camps along the Kalimantan-Sarawak border with many Sarawakian Chinese crossing over to be part of the communist movement.

When Suharto rose to power, he ended the Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation and focused on fighting against communism.

By January 1967, the Indonesian military began to resettle 5,000 Chinese away from the Sarawak border.

The Chinese were no longer allowed to live within five miles of the border.

At that time, the Chinese, especially from West Kalimantan, were believed to be communist sympathisers. The military also believed that a number of them living near the border were from Sarawak not Kalimantan.

In Sarawak, a similar resettlement scheme was carried out in 1965 called Operation Hammer. The Chinese were resettled away from the Sarawak border in order to cut off the Communist rebels’ food and supplies.

The rumours that sparked the conflict between the Dayak and Chinese

In the book Malay and Chinese Indonesian, Dwi Surya Atmaja and Fazhurozi stated the anti-communism movement that began to take a bloody turn.

“A string of murders of Dayak people with unknown perpetrator happened in Ledo, Seluas and Pahauman, Bengkayang and almost all areas with sizable ethnic Chinese communities. This situation was used by the military to scapegoat PGRS as perpetrators of the murders,” they stated.

On top of that, the military allegedly spread rumours that the Chinese were anti-Dayak and all Chinese communists.

The military reportedly used the categories ‘Dayak’ and ‘Chinese’ to indicate loyal citizens and communists, respectively during this time.

Manipulated by the military and enraged by the murders, the Dayak asked for support from the former governor of West Kalimantan and a respected Dayak figure, Johanes Christomus Oevaang Oeray.

Then through a Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) Pontianak broadcast on Sept 21, 1967, Oeray allegedly threatened the Chinese people to leave their areas and move to nearest district town.

Later, on Oct 11, 1967, the Dayak villagers attended a meeting to prepare for what was called a ‘Gerakan Demonstrasi’.

Some historians do not believe that it was Oeray who made the broadcast, but somebody using his name.

However, some believed that Oeray purposely cooperated with the Indonesian military to regain his political footing after he lost his influence over the Dayak community when Suharto came into power.

Regardless, the Dayaks took the broadcast as the announcement of Mangkok Merah.

What is Mangkok Merah?

Dwi Surya Atmaja and Fazhurozi explained in their book what Mangkok Merah meant in the culture of the Dayak of Kalimantan.

Basically, it is the traditional symbol of starting a war.

“Mangkok Merah was used to unite the Dayak tribes if they felt their sovereignty was in great danger. The tribal chiefs usually sent a red bowl (mangkok merah) filled with charcoal, chicken feather, pig blood, and juang leaves, to be passed around from one village to another quickly. A Dayak figure explained that Mangkok Merah was used to call for people, as a communication symbol used in emergencies. When someone brought it from one tribe to the other, it means: come and help us.”

The violence

Following the announcement, a string of massacres took place in West Kalimantan. The peak of violence happened in November 1967.

The attackers started to murder Chinese people using hunting weapons and burning their belongings.

Chinese shops were vandalised and the bodies were lined up on the streets.

Describing the violence in one of her papers, Nancy Lee Peluso stated, “Some Chinese turned their homes and possessions over the Dayak or other Indonesian neighbours for safe-keeping, not knowing they would not be allowed to return. Others ran into the forests and plantations, fearful but hoping to maintain a watch on their land, homes and possessions. From November to January, crowds of Dayak men and boys, wearing red headbands and carrying elongated bush knives (mandau), homemade hunting guns and military-issue firearms, violently evicted all remaining Chinese from the rural areas.”

Most historians estimated the deaths ranged from 300 to 500 with thousands more becoming refugees. The highest estimated number of refugees is 117,000.

By early 1968, the violence finally subsided.

How the Dayak and Chinese conflict lead to Dayak and Madurese conflict

With thousands of Chinese removed from rural areas in 1967, you might think that there would be more lands for the Dayak occupied.

Writing in the book Golddiggers, Farmers and Traders in the Chinese Districts of West Kalimantan, Mary F Somers Heidues stated, “The New Order actively encouraged migration of settlers from crowded areas of Java, Madura and Bali to less-populated spaces in the Outer Islands.”

She added if the Dayaks who participated in the 1967 Raids hoped that the emptied lands and properties would fall into their hands after the Chinese fled, they were to be disappointed.

“Although Dayaks moved into the area, Dayak hegemony did not last long,” Heidues stated.

Many settlers relocated from Java-Madura, Bugis and Bali into the area in stages. Heidues, further stated, “In the end, the Madurese were to become a focus of resentment in 1997.”

As for the Chinese refugees, many of them resettled in towns such as Pontianak and Singkawang.

Even as a kid growing up in Malaysia, particularly Sarawak, there’s a big chance you might have heard about the bloody interracial conflicts going on in Kalimantan between their native Dayak groups and the Madurese people.

The Dayak-Madurese conflicts caught the attention of international media during the late 90s and early 2000s, with coverage on the massacres featured in The Washington Post and The Guardian, among others.

To begin looking back at these events, we have to start with the transmigration programme.

What was the transmigration programme?

Started by the Dutch colonial government, the transmigration programme was an initiative to move landless people from densely populated areas of Indonesia to less populous areas of the country.

This included moving people permanently from Java, Bali and Madura to less densely populated areas like Papua, Kalimantan, Sumatra and Sulawesi.

It was first started in the early 19th century to reduce overcrowding as well as to provide labour for plantations in Sumatra.

Then the Dutch colonial government demolished the programme during the end of its rule. However, the Indonesian government brought back the programme following Indonesian independence.

The rise of the Dayak-Madurese conflicts

The Madurese started to migrate into Borneo in the 1930s, so there had been Madurese people living in Borneo for about 70 years until these conflicts started.

Several reasons have been put forward to explain the violence between these two communities.

Most scholars and observers had perceived that ethnic tensions had long been simmering.

In an article published by non-profit organisation Cultural Survival, Rachel Leff explained that due to the 32-year authoritarian rule of President Suharto, the conflicts were kept in check for fear of military intervention.

Leff added, “When Suharto was forced from his office in Indonesia, old animosities erupted in violence.”

Besides this, there is another reason which triggered the interracial riots. This is an explanation popular among Indonesians. The outbreaks were reportedly provoked by supporters of Suharto who planned to undermine the democratic elections slated for June 7, 1999.

The third explanation behind the conflicts is the economic crisis affecting the country. In the second half of 1997, Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the Asian economic crisis.

Facing financial difficulties, both Dayaks and Malays blamed the Madurese for stealing jobs from them.

According to Huub de Jonge and Gerben Nooteboom who made a study of the ethnic clashes in Kalimantan, the Madurese had become better off economically because of their attitude to work.

The scholars wrote, “The Madurese tended to accept any available work; for example, they were willing to collect garbage in the cities and break up rocks for the construction of roads. They would do anything to work their way up. Used as they were to hard work and saving, they were often more successful than others in similar work. And this frequently led to amazement and jealousy among other ethnic groups.”

The Sambas Riots

One of the major Dayak-Madurese conflicts happened in Sambas district of West Kalimantan province in 1999.

Before this, the last major conflicts had occurred between December 1996 and January 1997.

During these riots, Madurese were mutilated, raped and killed by aggressors from the Malay and Dayak communities while the government did little to stop the violence.

The Sampit Conflict

Just like the Sambas Riots, the Sampit conflict in 2001 was not an isolated incident. The last major conflict occurred between December 1996 and January 1997.

The conflict in Sampit broke out on Feb 18, 2001 when two Madurese were attacked by the Dayaks. It resulted in more than 500 deaths with over 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.

There is no one version why this conflict broke out. One version claims the riot was caused by an arson attack on a Dayak house. Then rumours spread that the Madurese caused the fire leading a group of Dayaks to burn houses in a Madurese neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, a professor from Dayak People’s Association claimed that the massacres by the Dayaks were in self defence.

He specifically cited an incident in which a Dayak was tortured and killed by a gang of Madurese following a gambling dispute in Kerengpangi on Dec 17, 2000.

Meanwhile, another version claims that the conflict started in a brawl between students of different races at the same school.

The Dayak also decapitated at least 300 Madurese during the Sampit conflict.

In the end, the conflict resulted in more than 500 deaths with over 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.

Violence fueled by spirit possession?

Besides the long history of headhunting among the Dayak community, another theory behind the level of violence in these conflicts is that it is influenced by local cultural patterns. Researcher Anika Konig from University of Lubeck in Germany pointed out one element of these local cultural patterns is spirit possession.

Based on research in a Kanayatn Dayak village in the conflict region, many of them there claimed spirit possession had played a central role in the riots.

Konig stated, “While possession by spirits in ordinary life is highly undesirable and dangerous situation which causes illness, possession was actively sought by the Dayaks who participated in the violence against the Madurese.”

According to the Dayaks, spirit possession awarded them with supernatural abilities and extraordinary strength.

Konig also noted, “Since the spirits’ favourite food is human flesh and blood, it was this that the spirits demanded from the warriors in return for their help. And it was, accordingly, the spirits who made the men perform these forms of violence.”

Why the Madurese?

The transmigration program had led the migration into Borneo from other ethnic groups such as the Javanese. But why were the Madurese targeted?

de Jonge and Nooteboom who interviewed many Dayak, Malay, Buginese and Banjarese informants, said that these people believed that the Madurese immigrants had not adapted to their new social environment and had a tendency to look down on others.

“Their behaviour is said to be arrogant, short-tempered, macho-like, rude, uncivilised, unfair, avaricious and revengeful.”

In the meantime, many of the Madurese born in Kalimantan blamed this negative image on newcomers.

They claimed that the newcomers from Madura did not know how to behave. Furthermore, some of the newcomers were reportedly members of criminal gangs involved in illegal logging, operating brothels and gambling dens. Some of them even smuggled consumer goods from Sarawak into the country.

Were the Madurese used as a scapegoat?

Again, why the Madurese? Firstly, de Jonge and Nooteboom pointed out that there was evidence that there were economical competitions among the Malays, Dayak and Madurese, particularly in terms of agricultural resources.

However, the competition, especially in West Kalimantan where most of the violence occurred, was not restricted to the economic field.

During the Suharto years, the Dayak and to a lesser degree, Malays had to hand over powerful positions in the provincial bureaucracy to civil servants (often Javanese) from outside Kalimantan.

Furthermore, huge tracts of land in Kalimantan were sold for oil palm, mining and other activities, as industrial-scale efforts to cultivate and develop the land for commercial purposes were implemented, leading to the 1997 Indonesian forest fires (reputed to be the worst in known history) and the Southeast Asian Haze.

On top of having their traditional territory appropriated by outsiders for large scale projects, the Dayaks were reportedly not compensated adequately for their land which was the source of their livelihood and survival.

With all these factors against them, de Jonge and Nooteboom believed that the Madurese were picked as a scapegoat.

“They were a small, controversial and vulnerable group, whose comings and goings incited resentment, who were involved in a series of both small and larger violent incidents, and about whom negative stereotypes abounded.”

Although the Madurese differences to other ethnic groups were largely imagined, they formed a fertile basis on which to continue the violence.

Like any riots in everywhere in the world, once the violence begins, nobody can really pinpoint a single cause for the conflict.