West Kalimantan, with a population 4 million, 11 percent of which is ethnic of Chinese, is a province with one of the highest concentrations of ethnic Chinese in all Indonesia. The land area of the province chiefly consists of the Kapuas River basin. The Kapuas River, the longest river in Indonesia, is Kalbar’s geographical landmark.

During the 19th century, the western part of Dutch Borneo was more visited than the now popular East Kalimantan. James Brook, the Englishman who received the territory that is now called Sarawak from the Sultan of Brunei, was perceived as a threat to Dutch sovereignty in West Borneo.
The Dutch reinforced their presence around Pontianak the current provincial capital and its vicinity, in order to keep the ‘White Raja’ in bordering Sarawak at bay.

Shortly after the arrival of the Dutch in the archipelago, the diamond fields in western Borneo aroused their interest. Warehouses were established at Sambas and Sukadana, but these were soon evacuated, because of dwindling supplies and Holland’s concentration on Java and the spice-rice Moluccas.

Almost a century after they first arrived in the archipelago, the Dutch intervened to force the Malay rulers of West Borneo to recognize the suzerainty of the sultan of Batam in Java, which already under Dutch control.

Then, for a short while, one of Holland’s two principal administrative centers in Dutch Borneo was established at the upriver town of Sintang. This administrative push inland, backed by the military when necessary, opened the way for the exploration of the immense, unknown interior of the island.

Today, West Kalimantan holds one of the highest concentrations of ethnic Chinese in all of Indonesia. The estimated 430,000 Chinese-Indonesians here make up about II percent of the province’s population. These numbers include descendants of Chinese-Dayak marriages.

Large numbers of Chinese arrived in the archipelago beginning in the 172s to work the abundant tin deposts on Bangka Island. Following the lead, Malay ruler of Sambas invited the Chinese to work the alluvial gold deposts found on his territories, and the migration began on a small scale in the 1730s, picking up speed around 1790.

The invitation to work the gold fields was not a humanitarian gesture. The Chinese were forbidden to farm or to trade, so they would be forced to by everything necessary from the sultan at highly inflated prices. Plus they had to pay tribute.

When they became strong enough, the Chinese rejected all demands and set up independent units called kongsi, patterned after their clan-based organizations back home. These communities blourished during the height of the gold boom in 1790-1820. By the first decade of the 18th century, more than 40,000 men had arrived.

Most of the Chinese settled around the gold fields Mandor and Montrado, both quite close together, located between Sambas and Pontianak. The kongsi formed to federations, one controlling the fields of Mandor, the other those of Montrado. Each had an agricultural arm, which grew irrigated rice and other foodstuffs to feed the miners. Other groups built and maintained the water channels, which fed the sluices where the precious Meta was washed out of the auriferous clay. The West Borneo gold fields were rich, with the quality of the metal running from 18 to 21 carats, but all observers agree that their success was mostly due to the Chinese propensity for intensive labor and skill full handling of water resources.

When the yields began to diminish, feuds and violence weakened the Chinese community. All out battles between federations somewhat fragmented and dispersed the Chinese. Facing a determined Dutch military, the Mandar area quickly submitted.

The Montrado Chinese had retained enough cohesion to defend themselves, and keep trading through Singakwang. Since the java Rebellion og 1825-30 required all available Dutch soldiers, Borneo and the Chinese were left alone. Until, that is, Raja Brooke’s empire in Sarawak began to attract Holland’s interest once again.

Dutch measures included the administrative reorganization of West Borneo, and a major, military expedition which ended Chinese intransigence at Montrado. The fending kongsi were dismantled, but by then large-scale gold mining had ended. Since most of the Chinese could not afford passage home, they settled in West Borneo.

Pontianak, the provincial capital, is graced with busy docks where Bugis schooners tie up, a regional museum, the Jami Mosque and the old sultan’s palace. The coastal area to the north of Pontianak has some nice beaches, and near Singkawang are the caly works where huge ceramic ovens produce copies of ancient Chinese jars, formerly an essential trade item for the Dayaks of the interior.

Weavers in the town of Sambas create beautiful cloth, integrating gold and silver threads into ancient pattern. There is the sultan’s mosque in town, and on the way to the city from Pontianak, one pauses several Chinese temples.

The landscape of west Kalimantan is dotted with high, steep-sided rock formations, which offer a challenge to the rock climber and a rare view over the jungle canopy from their heights. The most dramatic of these peaks, Mount Kelam, rises from the forest quite close to Sintang.

To get upriver to KalBar’s remote interior, there are three possible departure points on the Kapuas River. From Sitnang, 450 km from Pontianak, one can motor up the Kapuas, then the Kayan or the Pinoh.

Either Semitau or Selimbau, further up the Kapuas, can serve as a departure point, which is connected, to the Kapuas by river. This unusual ecological zone is the home of Iban and other scattered Dayak groups.

Putussibau, the last town of importance on the Kapuas, lies almost 900 km from Pontianak. Here Kayan and Maloh Dayaks live in traditional longhouses. From Putussibau one can also cross the island, by travelling to the far reaches of the Kapuas and ten trekking through almost uninhabited mountain forest to the Mahakam watershed in the east.

‘Land Dayak’ is a catchall term that dated from the last century, invented to differentiate the Dayaks of the island’s interior from the so-called ‘Sea Dayaks’, or Iban. The name Land Dayak, which comes from Sarawak, has been applied to the peoples of West Kalimantan living in the lower and middle Kapuas River basin: the Selako, the Singgi, the Jagoi, the Sadong and various groups living upstream on the Sanggau and Sekayan Rivers. These groups, as well as the Iban, who live chiefly in Sarawak although there are some 7,000 in KalBar, speak languages related to Malay.

For centuries, the Kapuas River Dayaks have faced outside influences. There are remains here of a first-millennium AD Hindu culture, and the Majapahit Empire of Java established spheres of influence on the coast. It is though that the presence of these Javanese triggered migrations of both the Iban and the Land Dayaks from southwest Borneo to their present locations.

Not long after the fall of the Hindu Majapahit to Islam in the 14th century, the Land Dayaks came under the influence of the coastal Muslim sultanates, which controlled trade, often exploiting and attempting to proselytize the Dayaks. When the Dutch presence was left in the region, they put an end to Islamic proselytizing, but supported Christian missions among the Land Dayaks.

The Land Dayaks lived in longhouses, but their villages also contained a distinctive men’s house. The circular building, topped by a high, conical roof, was both a ceremonial center and a meeting hall. Some of these structures were as high as 10m off the ground, with a trap-door entrance. The men’s houses have disappeared today.

In the old days, the war god required offerings of dog meat smeared with human blood, and successful warriors ate a kind of porridge made from human brains and rice wine. When a chief died, his likeness was carved onto a thick post, and the statue was offered a freshly cut head.

• PONTIANAK

A few kilometers from the sea, away from the coastal mangrove swamps, the city of Pontianak lies on the junction of the Kapuas and Landak Rivers. It is on the edge of the 5,400 sq km Kapuas delta. A thriving urban and trade center of 360,000 of whom around 30 percent are Chinese; Pontianak owes its prominence to its strategic location and a history of fending West Boernan sultanates. And to a certain uknsuperstitious Arab.

In 1770, Syarif Abdul Rahman al Gadri, who had earned quite a reputation for his rather dubious activities on the high seas, decided to go respectable and settle down. The spot he chose was deserted, and had no claimers, because it abounded in the evil spirits called Pontianak by the Malays. Our Arab was a man of commonsense, and eliminated the Pontianak just as he did his earthly enemies, with a sustained cannon barrage. The spirits fled, but the name stuck.

There were several sultanates then competing for the area’s control, including Sukadana, south of Pontianak, although it was fading after its heyday as Borneo’s most important power and diamond center. Sambas, an established sultanate to the north, represented a serious rival for Abdul Rahman. So did Mempawah, on the coast, a center of power then recently founded by a Bugis nobleman who had been expelled from the Riau Islands by the Dutch. Rahman’s move, and subsequent success, was due in no small part to the support of the Dutch authorities who helped him against the sultans who refused Holland’s ‘protection’.

When the 18th century gold rush made the west coast of Borneo look attractive to the colonial power, and the British in Sarawak seemed to take an increasing interest in the territory to their south, Pontianak took on strategic importance in the eyes of the Dutch. It grew from a modest outpost to its current dominant status in the region.

Syarif Abdul Rahman’s original settlement began on the confluence of the Kapas and the Landak. A century after Syarif Rahman settled the land at the confluence of the rivers, a large Malay village had grown up behind the mosque and just below the main mosque. Although not on the coast, the town’s low, swampy ground flooded daily at high tide wherever no dikes were built. Drainage canals helped, but mud was a fact of life here.

Pontianak is made up of waiters which were once independent settlement, or kampongs, until the city around them. The original town is the area around the Jami Mosque and the sultan’s palace or kraton. The area nearby is the Kampong Dalam, an inner village that in the past sheltered the sultan’s friends, court and retainers. The Kampong Saigon testifies to old relations with Vietnam. A large overall area, which includes all the mentioned kampongs now fused together, reaches towards the east and is called Kampong Bugis. Kampung Bugis is linked to the rest of the city by two bridges, one crossing the Kapuas River, the other the Landak.

To the north of Kampong Bugis, across the Landak River, is a quarter called Siantan, the southern terminus of the province’s paved road system. The main part of Pontianak, the commercial sector, follows the southwest bank of the Kapuas, around an extended market area and the old Chinese water. Jalan Tanjungpura is the heart of this area.

Just in the last deaden, a new quarter Kota Baru has been developed. Located southwest of the downtown, Kota Baru, is strictly for government offices and housing.

Most of Pontianak’s highlights are concentrated in a relatively small area, and in a day or two you can explore the city’s various points of interest. You can cover everything on your own, walking and taking a couple of rides across the Kapuas River.

The mosque and palace complex is a short boat ride across the Kapuas from the market area, or you can take the around about land route over the Kapuas bridge. The Mesjid Jami was first erected a couple of centuries ago, and the various reconstructions have remained faithful to the original layout. The mosque was huge for the time it was built, the late 18th century and has a triple roof and stained glass windows. You are welcome to enter for a look. Don’t miss the wooden sculptures of the mimbar (pulpit).

The sultan’s palace, an impressive wooden structure, is just 100 meters away, and like the mosque, was built by order of Syarif Rahman. The cursive Arabic script on the front of the Istana reads ‘Al Gadri’. The name of the founding family. A part of the palace is still inhabited by the descendants of the sultans. They will open the main hall for you, which included two elaborate thrones, fading photos, Chinese ceramics and Western statue. The furnishings go back to days, if not of glory, at least of better financial circumstances. A contribution, say $1 per person, is appreciated.

Around the market area and the old Chinese quarter, there are several pekong or Taoist temples, which carry various Buddhist labels so as to quality’s an officially accepted region. You are welcome to enter and look around any of them.

A short ways downstream from the market area, freighters berth at the Dwikora docks, while the more exotic Bugis schooners tie up opposite the sultan’s palace. No one objects to foreigners sauntering around here, snapping shots of the human and armies loading or unloading the cargo of the schooners.

From the docks, it’s a long walk to the state museum, the Museum Negeri. Better to hope on a minibus from downtown for 15 Cents. The museum is worth a visit. There is a wealth of items here relating to the local Malay culture, a fair number of Dayak pieces and almost nothing on the Chinese except a few examples of export porcelain. Gigantic relief sculptures cover the museum’s front with one side depicting scenes from traditional Dayak life, and the other side showing that of the Malays.

Close to the museum, just off A.Yani Street; check out a full scale replica of longhouse, which may be opened later. In the same part of town, but not to close, is the Jihad Mosque, just off Jl. Sultan Abdul Rahman. It’s a new wooden structure with a very distinct style, far from Islamic norms.

Crossing the Kapuas on the ferry, you can then catch a minibus hearing northeast out of town to the equator monument, called Tugu Khatulistiwa, from the Indonesian word borrowed from Arabic meaning ‘equator’. The monument is curious: a pair of tall, dark, columns holds up a jumble of metallic circles and an arrow much like an old astronomical instrument. The Dutch word for equator can be made out, as can the longitude, 109 degree 20 minute 00 second East. This has become come thing of the symbol of Pontianak, and one can find miniatures of it in shops all over the town.

Close to the monument, a road to the left off the highway reaches the Kapuas River at a place called Batu Layang. There used to be a small river side fort here, built by the sultans, but it was taken over by the Dutch and then leveled by the Japanese during the war The sultan necropolis and ornate tombs go all the way back to the dynasty’s founder Abdul Rahman, who died in 1808.

A good system of paved roads links Pontianak to the principal coastal towns to the north. Public buses are frequent, and a sedan taxi can be hired in town. The main road out of Pontianak cuts through coconut plantations along the Kapuas Rive, and then follows the coast. At Sungai Pinyuh, a road, currently in good shape, leads to the interior as far as Sintang, and soon to Putussibau.

From Sungai Pinuh, a branch of the paved road reaches Mempawah, 67 km from Pontianak. A Bugis prince settled this area at just about the time the Arab pirate settled.

Pontianak Rahman later married his son the sultan of Mempawah’s daughter, gaining control of the area. The royal tombs of Mempawah, fashioned of carved and painted ironwood, are excellent examples of Islamic art.

Continuing north along the coast, there are several beaches off the main road between Mempawah and the Sambas River. There is nothing special about the beaches, here and they are mostly frequented by locals. Save your time to visit the pottery works.

The ceramics center is at Saliung, just off the main road, 7 km before reaching Singkawang. There are no signs, so you have to ask where to turn off. Here a huge oven, some 30 meters long, provides the high temperatures needed to fire the fine ceramics.

Craftsmen here make both utilitarian objects and fine copies of Chinese export ware from dynasties past. In the past, there was enough business to keep several operations going, as large jars and other items were made for sale in the interior of Kalimantan. Some ceramic pieces were traded on a regular for salt bought by local boats from Madura Island, off eastern Java. Today, competition from plastic products and low quality ceramics from Mainland China, as well as a factory with modern gas fired kilns, located just outside Pontianak, has cut into the market. Besides, bricks are easier to make and have higher profit margin. But the two ceramics works still remain.

Singkawang, 145 km from Pontianak, is the capital of the Sambas district. The town was founded by the Chinese during the gold rush era, and served as a supply entry port for the gold fields of Montrado. In the 1830s, British naval Capten George Earl described the town in full booms, full of Chinese men and Dayak women. Because of Imperial edicts, Chinese women were rarely allowed to go abroad. Montrado fiercely resisted Dutch interference with its independent status, which lasted until 1856. Recently, the Montrado mas mining company started production in the former Chinese gold rush area.

Continuing north on the main road, keep an eye out for a Chinese temple at Sebangkau it is harmonious and colorful, and is beautifully reflected by the river. The road here cuts inland from the coast and follows the southern shore of the Sambas River to the town of Sambas, 225 km from Pontianak. There is an ancient sultan’s palace here, inhabited by his descendants, and a mosque next door.

A samba is still well known for a special type of cloth woven here. Lots of silver and occasionally gold threads are woven into the surprisingly plain cloth called kain Sambas or kain songket sold in west Kalimantan s well as the rest of Indonesia.

At the Sambas market you can buy handsome weavings, but unless you bargain well you could end up paying more than you would in Pontianak. By asking either at the market or the ‘palace’, you can find someone to take you to see a local weaver at work.