Nuraini M. Aris: Cultural Diversity of West Borneo

1. Malay Culture

Traditional Costum of Sambas Malay

The Malay are an ethnic group of Austronesian people who inhabit the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, the southernmost part of Thailand, Burma's southern coast, coastal Borneo - including Brunei, West Borneo, coastal Sabah and Sarawak, and the smaller islands that lay between these locations. The golden age of Malay Sultanates, dating from the 15th century, introduced the foundations of a common Malay identity based on language, Islamic belief and cultural traditions. The Sultanate of Brunei ruled a large part of northern Borneo from the 15th to 17th century.

By the 18th century, the area from Sambas to Berau became vassals of the Banjar Kingdom, which under the reign of Prince Nata Dilaga (1808 - 1825) relinquished its territories, including Sambas, to the Dutch East Indies. During the 19th century, the Dutch established their own distict kingdoms, installing native leaders, who owed their allegiance to the colonial government.

Jami' Mosque of Sambas Palace

2. Dayak Culture

The Dayak are the aboriginal people of Borneo. The name of “Dayak” refers to more than 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups occupying the interior of Borneo. Although all ethnically Dayak, each of these groups possesses its own dialect, customs, laws, home territory and culture. In times past, the animistic Dayak were feared for their ancient tradition of headhunting. After conversion to Christianity and islam anti-headhunting legislation was introduced by colonial rules precipitating the gradual dis-appearance of this gruesome tradition. Traditionally, Dayak agriculture was based on slash and burn shifting rice cultivation techniques.

As a result, agricultural land was largely limited to hillside rice farming and forest plots. Today approximately 90% of Dayak are Christian, a religion introduced by missionaries in the 19th century. Under Indonesia's transmigration program, farmer from densely populated areas in Java and Madura were encouraged to settle in the Indonesian provinces of Borneo.

3. Chinese Culture

Successive waves of Chinese emigration to Sambas were driven by wars and starvation taking place in mainland China. Most immigrants were illiterate farmers and laborers, historically known as "collies". The sultans of Western Borneo imported Chinese labourers in the 18th century to work in gold or tin mines. In Singkawang and Sambas the first major Chinese mining settlements dates from around 1760. Some of these mining settlements managed to gain a degree of political autonomy, such as the Lanfang Republic that existed from 1777 until its end in 1884, when the Dutch took control in an action recorded as breaking up of a "Chinese upsiring". The Chinese descendants, known as "Tionghoa", who initially settled across the Singbebas region, remain there today seven generations later.