Organizer: Timothy P. Barnard, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Chair: Hendrik M. J. Maier, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Discussant: Leonard Y. Andaya, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Studies in many regions of Southeast Asia often reflect perspectives originating from the centers of power. An example of this is the plethora of studies about Indonesia that focus on Java or Jakarta. In recent years, however, there has been a rise in the number of studies focusing on "outer" areas of Indonesia. One of these areas is Riau, a province located in Sumatra, which is rich in natural resources, a gathering place for many ethnic groups, and the focus of Indonesian development projects This fertile ground for study has not gone unnoticed by a group of international scholars who study this region from a variety of disciplines. More importantly, due to the paucity of studies on Riau within established academic disciplines, these scholars have been supporting each other across disciplinary lines in an attempt to better understand an area that Henk Maier has described as kacu (a jumble, mix). The presentations place a new focus on an economic and cultural margin within larger studies of Indonesia, while providing new insights into studies of history, literature, and anthropology that are based on local traditions and perspectives, and not necessarily ideas or paradigms originating from the center. Through such studies, it is hoped that new questions and approaches can be developed that focus attention on areas that previously have been marginalized. In addition, an awareness of how interdisciplinary studies can support each other and be brought together to create a more nuanced understanding of a little studied region of Southeast Asia can be achieved.
Pulau Penyengat: New Views on the Literary and Cultural Center of Riau
Al Azhar, Islamic University of Riau
In the nineteenth century, Pulau Penyengat, a small island in the Riau archipelago opposite Tanjung Pinang, was a literary, cultural, and religious center. During its heyday, Penyengat was the home of writers and scholars such as Raja Ali Haji, Raja Ibrahim, and a literary organization known as the Rusydiah Club. The works of these scholars and groups ranges from the Tuhfat al-Nafis, a history of the region, to essays and poems on Malay culture and Islam. Although these works are read and appreciated today as important to the development of Malay literature and nationalism in Malaysia, their value is overlooked in Indonesia. Most of these authors were the descendants of Bugis adventurers who had gained control of Riau in the early eighteenth century. Although they were the offspring of both Buginese and Malays, they usually have been identified as Buginese for political purposes. This identification, however, does not take into appreciation the kacu (mixed, jumbled) nature of their Riau and Penyengat in particular. A study of the influences that swept over Penyengat during the nineteenth century shows that it is a mix of Malay, Bugis, Islamic, and other Nusantara-wide cultures. By understanding the role of the cultural mix that existed in Riau at the time, a better appreciation of the early development of not only Malay and Indonesian modern literature but also Malay and Indonesian nationalism can be reached.
The Timber Trade in Early Modern Siak
Timothy P. Barnard, University of Hawaii, Manoa
The extraction of natural resources from lowland eastern Sumatra is not a new phenomenon. It is from the export and trade of natural resources that the kingdom of Siak arose in the early eighteenth century. Although forest exploitation has reached new destructive heights over the past fifteen years, as the eastern Sumatran lowlands have been stripped of trees for the production of paper and plywood, the Siak river basin has been a source of tall and strong trees for centuries. Prior to the advent of modern ship building, hardwood trees from Siak were used in the construction and repair of both Southeast Asian and European ships in the western parts of maritime Southeast Asia. Although most studies of early modern trade in Southeast Asia focus on more valuable and desirable materials, such as tin, gold, or opium, the majority of trade during the period was in agricultural products or natural resources. Very few studies have focused on the trade in common natural resources due to the lack of archival materials concerning a trade that was of little interest to trading companies or colonial authorities. The timber trade in eastern Sumatra, however, was the focus of treaties, trading missions, and letters between the Siak rulers and Europeans beginning in the late seventeenth century until the early nineteenth century. By focusing on this trade, and the sources that describe it, a better understanding of how Siak managed its natural resources, traded them, and used them to achieve its dominating role in eighteenth-century eastern Sumatran politics can be illustrated.
Reconceptualizing the Tenure of Territoriality: The Indigenous Rights of the
Orang Laut (Sea Nomads) in Riau, Indonesia
Cynthia Chou, International Institute for Asian Studies, The Netherlands
This paper focuses on an issue of increasing international concern, namely development considered in the context of globalization, nationalization programs and the crisis of change. The case of the Orang Laut in Riau, Indonesia is deliberated here. The discussion is on their anxious speculations concerning the infringement of development projects on their lives and living spaces in the Riau archipelago. The archipelago encompasses over 3,200 islands in an area spanning the central part of the east coast of Sumatra to the South China Sea. Since December 1989, this region has been designated for development projects to transform it into the Caribbean of the East. The ethnography presented in this paper discusses the Orang Laut's perceptions of themselves and their living spaces, their mode of production and the perceptions of the Orang Laut by other non-Orang Laut. This paper is not solely about the processes of change in the archipelago and its impact on the local inhabitants. Rather, the discussion aims at provoking anthropologists, economists, and planners for development programs to examine where and why they erect categorical boundaries. The challenge is posed to prevailing definitions of the concept "nomad," which has lured unarmed investigators to adopt an evolutionary-ladder approach to examine the cultural differences of people who practice mobile economies. These definitions have consequently been interpreted as unavoidable steps in a progression from primitivity towards civilization. Thus, this paper raises several pertinent questions. The first concerns rethinking the concepts of nomadism and the question of production. The second concerns looking at the concept of ownership by examining the claim of tenure of territoriality.
'Because I am a Malay': The Question of Identity in the Poems and Short Stories
of Taufik Ikram Jamil
Will Derks, International Institute for Asian Studies, The Netherlands
In post-colonial Indonesia, modern literature has always developed in close proximity to the state and the nation. Given the composite nature of this enormous country, which has a multitude of islands, ethnic groups, traditions, religions, languages and dialects within its borders, one of the state's main objectives is the creation of a so-called national culture. Officially consisting of the peaks of all the various cultures within its borders, this national culture is intended to transcend the differences between all Indonesian citizens and thus warrant the existence of Indonesia as a unitary state. For various reasons, however, this national culture has not been as successful as policymakers in the Indonesian capital might have hoped for. Regional cultures and traditions are still important as a basis for one's identity. Moreover, the production and consumption of literary artifacts, particularly poems and short stories, by locally or regionally known modern authors can play a vital part in strengthening the regional culture as a prime focus of allegiance. A case in point is the Malay poets of Pekanbaru, the capital of the heartland of the Malays, in Riau, Indonesia. During the last few decades, they have been making a concerted effort, through their work, to define themselves as Malays rather than Indonesians. One of these poets, who seems to stand out amongst his Malay poet friends, is Taufik Ikram Jamil, a journalist in his early thirties. As is the case with so many other modern Indonesian authors, Taufik's work is scattered over newspapers and journals. Only last year he published a collection of poems, entitled "Tersebab Haku Melayu" (Because I am a Malay). It is this collection of poems as well as the short stories he published in various newspapers and journals that will be discussed in this paper. Special attention will be given to the way Taufik, different for instance from members of the older generation, appropriates and redefines (Sumatran) Malay history and tradition in his work to 'doctor' his own Malay identity as well as that of others. Given the state's policies referred to above, it goes without saying that his work is read as a form of resistance that is not only quite dangerous but also shapes the form and content of his work.