Dayaks in politics

Kalimantan

Early movements

The rise of educated Dayak intellectuals in Kalimantan during early 1900s was attributed to education given by missionary missions in the Kalimantan interior. Missionary education served as alternative for Dayak youths to Dutch formal schools that were relatively expensive and discriminative in nature. Previously, Dayaks, particularly Ngaju people, had traditional education institution known as Kuwu, which focused on knowledge of tribal laws, oral traditions, and traditional medicine. This system however, was reserved for aristocrat group within the tribe known as Utus Gantung and not open for public. The Kuwu system gradually declined by 1823, as missionary activities became more prominent since presence of German missionary named Branstein. The rise of missionary education, however, was not linear with conversion rate. Missionary schools such as those by J.F Becker in 1940 had hundreds of Dayak students, but only 13 people converted to Christianity and mostly retained their Hindu folk religion Kaharingan. Many Dayak families were more interested in the education opportunity for their own cause rather than religious cause of the missionary itself.

Organised Dayak political representation in the Kalimantan first appeared during the Dutch administration. The feudal Sultanates of Kutai, Banjar, and Pontianak figured prominently prior to the rise of the Dutch colonial rule. This changed following Tumbang Anoi Agreement of 1894, where many representative of Dayaks gathered and renounced any tribal warfare tradition. Dayaks in the Indonesian side actively organised under various associations beginning with the Dayak League (Sarekat Dayak) established in 1919 in Banjarmasin, to the Partai Dayak in the 1940s, which serves as an early Pan-Dayakism in Indonesia and to the present day, where Dayaks occupy key positions in government. Early Pan-Dayakism sentiment to unite hundreds of Dayak sub-ethnics later influenced by the rise of Indonesian nationalism and as such often got mixed together.

Early Dayak figure Hausman Baboe, a Dayak journalist who managed newspaper Soeara Pakat and later also worked on newspaper Sinar Borneo, was a friend of prominent Indonesian nationalist Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto. He was a district chief of Kuala Kapuas in 1919 after previously was focusing solely on journalism since 1905 and later worked on a Kalimantan magazine Barita Bahalap.

Another Dayak figure, George Obus, who was also educated by missionary, later continued his education to Surabaya and found Persatuan Pemuda Kalimantan (Kalimantan Youth Unity) or PPK. George Obus later became representative of Dayak during Youth Pledge in October 1928. He was also invited by Indonesische Studie Club to form Partai Persatuan Bangsa Indonesia (Indonesian Nation Unity Party) or PBI in June 1928 and later became member of the party. The party was led by Soetomo and later the party became known as Parindra and among the most active Indonesian party in Volksraad.

World War II and Indonesian National Revolution

The violent massacre of the Malay sultans, local rulers, intellectuals, and politicians by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pontianak incidents of 1943–1944 in West Borneo (present-day West Kalimantan province) created a social opportunity for the Dayak people in the West Kalimantan political and administrative system during the Orde Lama era of Sukarno, as a generation of predominantly Malay administrator in West Borneo was lost during the genocide perpetrated by the Japanese. The Dayak ruling elite was mostly left unscratched due to the fact that they were then mainly located in the hinterland and because the Japanese were not interested aside of Dayak Desa War, thus giving an advantage for the Dayak leaders to fill the administrative and political position after the Indonesian independence.

Post-independence

The creation of Central Kalimantan province was pushed by Dayak militia Mandau Talawang Pancasila. The militia also on the other hand helped government to fight Islamist rebellion in South Kalimantan.

In the 1955 Indonesian Constituent Assembly election, the Dayak Unity Party managed to gain:

• 146,054 votes (0.4% of the nationwide vote)
  • One seat in the People's Representative Council from West Kalimantan
• 33.1% of the votes in West Kalimantan (becoming the second largest political party after Masjumi)
  • the party attained 9 out of 29 seats in the West Kalimantan People's Representative Council.
• 1.5% votes in Central Kalimantan (the party managed to obtain 6.9% of the vote in the Dayak-majority areas in the province)

The party was later disbanded after an order by the then-president Sukarno that prohibited an ethnic-based party. The members of the party were then continued their careers in other political parties. Oevaang Oerey joined the Indonesian Party (Partai Indonesia), whilst some others joined the Catholic Party (Partai Katolik).

Among the most prominent Indonesian Dayak politician is Tjilik Riwut, a member of the Central Indonesian National Committee, he was honoured as the National Hero of Indonesia in 1998 for his major contribution during the Indonesian National Revolution in Kalimantan. He had served as the Central Kalimantan Governor between 1958 and 1967. While in 1960, Oevaang Oeray was appointed as the 3rd Governor of West Kalimantan, becoming the first governor of Dayak origin in the province. He held the office until 1966. He is also known as one of the founding fathers of the Dayak Unity Party in 1945 and had been actively assisting the Brunei Revolt in 1962 during the height of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation.

Under Indonesia, Kalimantan is now divided into five self-autonomous provinces i.e. North, West, East, South, and Central Kalimantan. Under Indonesia's transmigration programme, which was initiated by the Dutch in 1905, settlers from densely populated Java and Madura were encouraged to settle in the Indonesian provinces of Borneo. The large-scale transmigration projects continued following Indonesian independence, causing social strains. In 2001 the Indonesian government ended the transmigration of Javanese settlement of Indonesian Borneo. 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 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 in 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 the mud. The massacres are considered a "dark chapter in recent Dayak history".

From 1996 to 2003 there were violent attacks on Indonesian Madurese settlers, including executions of Madurese transmigrant communities. The violence included the 1999 Sambas riots and the Sampit conflict in 2001 in which more than 500 were killed that year. Indonesian military and local politician was instead, supportive of Dayak cause and many Dayak figures use the violence for political cause.

Dayak in Indonesia has legal cultural organization which is National Dayak Customary Council (Dewan Adat Dayak). It has local branches in regencies and cities down to villages, recognized by local government laws, and has a paramilitary wing, Batamad. It enjoys relatively high support from government including close ties to Indonesian military.