At the Edges of States Dynamics of State Formation in the Indonesian Borderlands.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Patronage, Political.

Kapuas Hulu (Indonesia)--Politics and government.

Kapuas Hulu (Indonesia).

Patronage, Political--Indonesia--Kapuas Hulu.

Indonesia--Kapuas Hulu.

Physical Description:

pages ; cm

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : Brill Academic Pub, 2014.

Summary:

Set in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, this study explores the shifting relations between border communities and the state along the political border with East Malaysia. The book rests on the premise that remote border regions offer an exciting study arena that can tell us important things about how marginal citizens relate to their nation-state. The basic assumption is that central state authority in the Indonesian borderlands has never been absolute, but waxes and wanes, and state rules and law are always up for local interpretation and negotiation. In its role as key symbol of state sovereignty, the borderland has become a place were central state authorities are often most eager to govern and exercise power. But as illustrated, the borderland is also a place were state authority is most likely to be challenged, questioned and manipulated as border communities often have multiple loyalties that transcend state borders and contradict imaginations of the state as guardians of national sovereignty and citizenship. Book jacket.

Contents:

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-colomial frontier 77

Drawing borders: Colonial Encounter 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

The Paraku: Insurgents or liberation army? 132

Establishment of a borderland elite 144

New Order legacies: Authoritarian rule and resource extraction 150

Large-scale timber concessions and military rule 151

Moulding loyal citizens and its paradoxixal outcomes 159

5 Patronage and power 165

Decentralization, informal networks and 'illegal' logging 166

Towards increased regional autonomy 167

Cooperative logging and a booming economy 169

Negotiation and colusion: elite opportunities 175

Cross-border patron-broker-client relations 180

The Malaysian connection 181

Captain of the timber industry 183

Small border elites 187

Cooperation and disputes 191

Non-state forms of authority 198

6 Intersecting Spheres of legality and illegality 205

Vigilantes: The usnata killing 208

'Wild' logging and 'gangsterism' 213

Confession of a Malaysian timber baron 216

Shifting loyalties 223

Illegal but licit: Circumventing the law, enforcing local norms 227

Defying the limits of legality 230

Shades of gray 232

7 Sovereignty and security 235

Securtiy through development 237

Grand schemes 246

Re-militarizing the border 249

Contesting large-scale schemes 254

Tightening border regimes 257

8 Borderland autonomy and Local Politics 261

Promotion of a 'North Border District' 262

Fustification for a new district 268

Separatism: Playing the border card 271

Ethnic sentiments 272

Multiple levels of power struggle 274

National and transnational network of influence 277

9 Conclusion 283

Fluid borders and fluctuating borderlands 284

Claiming authority, negotiating autonomy 287

Zones of semi-autonomy 290.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9789004263765

9004263764

OCLC:

866620258

Publisher Number:

99958149238