SARAWAK POLITICS

Politics

Organised Dayak political representation in the Indonesian State first appeared during the Dutch administration, in the form of the Dayak Unity Party (Parti Persatuan Dayak) in the 30s and 40s. The feudal Sultanates of Kutai, Banjar and Pontianak figured prominently prior to the rise of the Dutch colonial rule.

Dayaks in Sarawak in this respect, compare very poorly with their organised brethren in the Indonesian side of Borneo, partly due to the personal fiefdom that was the Brooke Rajah dominion, and possibly to the pattern of their historical migrations from the Indonesian part to the then pristine Rajang Basin. Political circumstances aside, the Dayaks in the Indonesian side actively organised under various associations beginning with the Sarekat Dayak established in 1919, to the Parti Dayak in the 40s, and to the present day, where Dayaks occupy key positions in government.

In Sarawak, Dayak political activism had its roots in the SNAP (Sarawak National Party) and Pesaka during post independence construction in the 1960s. These parties shaped to a certain extent Dayak politics in the State, although never enjoying the real privileges and benefits of Chief Ministerial power relative to its large electorate due to their own political disunity with some Dayaks joining various political parties instead of consolidating inside one single political party.

The first Sarawak chief minister was Datuk Stephen Kalong Ningkan who was removed as the chief minister in 1966 after court proceedings and amendments to both Sarawak state constitution and Malaysian federal constitution due to some disagreements with Malaya with regards to the 18-point Agreement as conditions for Malaysia Formation. Datuk Penghulu Tawi Sli was appointed as the second Sarawak chief minister who was a soft-spoken seat-warmer fellow and then replaced by Tuanku Abdul Rahman Ya'kub (a Melanau Muslim) as the third Sarawak chief minister in 1970 who in turn was succeeded by Abdul Taib Mahmud a (Melanau Muslim) in 1981 as fourth Sarawak chief minister.

Wave of Dayakism has surfaced at least twice among the Dayaks in Sarawak while they are on the opposition side of politics as follows:

• SNAP won 18 seats (with 42.70% popular vote) out of total 48 seats in Sarawak state election, 1974 while the remaining 30 seats won by Sarawak National Front.
• PBDS (Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak), a breakaway of SNAP in Sarawak state election in 1987 won 15 seats while its partner Permas only won 5 seats. Overall, the Sarawak National Front won 28 constituencies with PBB 14; SUPP 11 and SNAP 3.

In both cases, SNAP and PBDS (now both party are defunct) had joined the Malaysian National Front as the ruling coalition.

Under Indonesia, Kalimantan is now divided into four self-autonomous provinces i.e. West, East, South and Middle Kalimantan.

Under Indonesia's transmigration programme, settlers from densely populated Java and Madura were encouraged to settle in the Indonesian provinces of Borneo. The large scale transmigration projects initiated by the Dutch and continued following Indonesian independence, caused social strains.

During the killings of 1965-66 Dayaks killed up to 5,000 Chinese and forced survivors to flee to the coast and camps. Starvation killed thousands of Chinese children who were under eight years old. The Chinese refused to fight back, even though previously the Chinese had fought against the Dutch colonialist occupation of Indonesia, since they considered themselves "a guest on other people's land" with the intention of trading only.75,000 of the Chinese who survived were displaced, fleeing to camps where they were detained on coastal cities. The Dayak leaders were interested in cleansing the entire area of ethnic Chinese. In Pontianak, 25,000 Chinese living in dirty, filthy conditions were stranded. They had to take baths in mud.The massacres are considered a "dark chapter in recent Dayak history".

In 2001 the Indonesian government ended the transmigration of Javanese settlement of Indonesian Borneo that began under Dutch rule in 1905.

From 1996 to 2003 there were violent attacks on Indonesian Madurese settlers, including executions of Madurese transmigrant communities. The violence included the Sampit conflict

 in 2001 in which more than 500 were killed in that year. Order was restored by the Indonesian Military.