Borneo-Dayak CRAFTS
indonesia exporter of dayak tribe's handmade crafts & tribal arts

Borneo's Dayak handicraft, the beauty of ancient tribal arts and handmade crafts

The Populations of Borneo

The known history of Borneo concerns mainly the coastal regions, which interacted heavily with other regions of Southeast Asia through maritime trade. These regions support relatively dense populations, but the inland areas are largely under populated due to their forested condition and the low soil quality. The overall population was estimated in 1988 at less than 12 million, with a density of some 15 people per sq. km (or 40 per sq. mile). Compare this with Java's density of over 700 per sq. km. South Kalimantan has a density of over 65 per sq. km, whereas some forested interior districts have about 0.3 people per sq. km. The gap keeps widening as populations move downstream.

Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam share the island (see Map 2). Indonesia's Kalimantan, with less than 9 million people, covers about two-thirds and includes four provinces: small but populated South Kalimantan, and large West, Central, and East Kalimantan, with respectively 3, 1.4 and 1.8 million people, the last two having only 9 people per sq. km. Eighty percent of the population of Kalimantan is rural. Urban centers include Banjarmasin (450,000), Pontianak (400,000). Balikpapan (400,000), Samarinda (over 300,000) and Palangkaraya (100,000). East Malaysia includes two states, Sarawak and Sahah, covering respectively 124,400 and 76,100 sq. km, with populations of 1.5 and 1.1 million, and densities of 12 and 14 people per sq. km. Sarawaks capital Kuching has 400,000 people, and Sabah's capital Kota Kinahalu. 250,000. Brunei has only 5,700 sq. km and a population of 300.000.

A Glimpse of the Economy

Traditional forest products - illipe nuts, beeswax, camphor, incense woods, and honey - still find their way to markets, as well as other products like birds' nests and sea foods. Traditional agricultural trade goods are paddy, copra, and sago. In colonial times, plantations were established for rubber and palm oil, and to a lesser extent, tobacco and coffee. More recently, cash crops like cocoa, pepper, and clove have developed. Cattle are an important trade item in certain regions. Mining resources include gold, diamonds, and huge quantities of coal.

The forest also traditionally yields hardwoods and rattan, and its timber is now intensively exploited. Sawmills and plywood factories have developed notably in recent years. Borneo is well known for its hydrocarbon production. Large oil and gas fields have been tapped in Kalimantan and Sarawak, generating booming towns, like Balikpapan, and Brunei has the reputation of being another oil emirate, with the region's highest GNP per capita. The foreign currencies earned by the hydrocarbons sales used to account for an important part in the development budget of both Indonesia and Malaysia but, with the recent fall in oil prices, these countries have come to rely more heavily on timber and, more recently, plywood exports.

A Complex Human Setting

Among the complex populations of Borneo, resulting from successive inputs of sea-faring peoples of various origins and cultures, the literature used to distinguish between "real" indigenous peoples, the Dayak, all supposedly animists, and the Muslim Malays (or Melayu). These together are distinguished from the more recent Chinese and Indian settlers.

Let us consider the terms Dayak or Daya, and Malay or Melayu. Among indigenous groups, only some Iban and related minor groups in Sarawak and West Kalimantan claim Dayak as their original name. Much has been written on the subject, and Dayak grossly appears to be a rather derogatory term applied by coastal peoples to hill peoples, or by Moslems to non-Moslems. Equivalent terms are orang darat (inland or land people), or orang hulu (upstream people), as opposed to orang sungai (riverine people), or orang laut (low plains or coastal people).

Conversely, the term Melayu tends to be applied indiscriminately by the Dayak to most Moslem groups, along with other regional names. The "Dayak", then, would amount to less than 3 million, and the "Malavs" to over 6 million. However, some 90% of the so-called Melayu peoples are lslamized Dayak and as such, as "indigenous" as the Dayak themselves. Besides, there are Moslem, Malay-speaking groups who explicitly reject the name Melayu. It is assumed that all traces of the former Australoids have disappeared, and the whole indigenous population is of a Mongoloid stock. No further differentiation could be made on a genetic basis between early and late comers to Borneo, although there are obvious local variations in skin color. eye shape, and physique.

We must consider also cultural factors, leading to cultural categories. As we said. "Dayak" peoples fall into the "Melayu" categorv after embracing Islam. Some of them were previously "Hindu", as in the coastal kingdoms prior to the advent of Islam. The Bruneis are an example of a people of local "Dayak" ethnic stock, with a strong "Hindu" cultural background, who later adopted Islam and a "Melayu" language, in the way the southern Belgians are of Germanic ethnic stock, speak a Latin language, and adhere to a religion originating in the Near East.

Neighboring peoples of related blood and background culture may then differ by their recently adopted religion or language, and subsequently fall into distinct categories, like "Dayak" and 'Melayu'. Conversely, unrelated peoples may have come to share a common culture and language because of migration and cultural interaction, and are now called a same name. The term "Melayu" regroups peoples from Sumatra and Malaya, as well as Bornean Muslims. So there is no such thing as a pristine tribe in Borneo. Cultural traits, languages, and religions diffuse across the ethnic-origin category and cut across former cultural or linguistic boundaries, making it really difficult to draw clear-cut categories in such a complex human setting.

Let us first deal with newcomer groups. Chinese workers arrived en masse in the 18th and 19th centuries in western Borneo, and around 1880 in Sabah. These Chinese, mainly Hakka, are now farmers, plantation workers, and traders, making up 23% of the population of Sabah and 31% of Sarawak. The Indians in these states form less than 1% of the population. Other immigrants are the Bugis, who settled from the 18th century onwards in East and West Kalimantan and locally in Sarawak; the Madurese of coastal South Kalimantan; the Javanese, who have settled in small numbers since Majapahit times and have spread in recent years through the Indonesian government's policy of Transmigration; 450,000 official transmigrants moved into Kalimantan between 1967 and 1986, as well as important numbers of spontaneous migrants.

Borneo: An introduction on the island, Historical background of Borneo, The populations of Borneo.