Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Blood, timber, and the state in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Blood, timber, and the state in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Abstract: West Kalimantan (West Borneo) has a history of violent communal conflict.1 It also has extensive forests that have been looted for decades. The argument will be that these two are linked, but not by the grievances of the forest dwellers. Except in its first few days, the two main episodes of 1997 and 1999 were not driven mainly by grievances among marginal groups. Rather, explanations based on the ‘resource curse’ carry more weight. These focus attention on the contested nature of the state, rather than on rebellious activities of marginal groups. When state institutions were thrown into disarray by the sudden resignation of President Suharto in 1998, Dayak militants already close to state power rewrote the rules of local politics by demonstratively ‘cleansing’ certain areas of an unpopular immigrant minority. This theatrical manoeuvre impressed political rivals sufficiently to allow Dayaks to gain control over several timber‐rich districts, which had a thriving black economy. Malays later imitated these techniques to stem the tide. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Asia Pacific Viewpoint Wiley

Blood, timber, and the state in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Asia Pacific Viewpoint , Volume 49 (1) – Apr 1, 2008

Loading next page...
 
/lp/wiley/blood-timber-and-the-state-in-west-kalimantan-indonesia-R0ZKjNh0Ao

References (40)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2008 The Author
ISSN
1360-7456
eISSN
1467-8373
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-8373.2008.00359.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract: West Kalimantan (West Borneo) has a history of violent communal conflict.1 It also has extensive forests that have been looted for decades. The argument will be that these two are linked, but not by the grievances of the forest dwellers. Except in its first few days, the two main episodes of 1997 and 1999 were not driven mainly by grievances among marginal groups. Rather, explanations based on the ‘resource curse’ carry more weight. These focus attention on the contested nature of the state, rather than on rebellious activities of marginal groups. When state institutions were thrown into disarray by the sudden resignation of President Suharto in 1998, Dayak militants already close to state power rewrote the rules of local politics by demonstratively ‘cleansing’ certain areas of an unpopular immigrant minority. This theatrical manoeuvre impressed political rivals sufficiently to allow Dayaks to gain control over several timber‐rich districts, which had a thriving black economy. Malays later imitated these techniques to stem the tide.

Journal

Asia Pacific ViewpointWiley

Published: Apr 1, 2008

There are no references for this article.