Send message to Author

Paper short abstract:

The government of Murung Raya Regency is pursuing industrial development based on resource extraction, which it declares will bring people 'freedom from stupidity, poverty, and isolation'. This paper examines how local Siang people interpret these values, and how they compare to their own.

Paper long abstract:

In Murung Raya, the northernmost regency (kabupaten) of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan Province, the government's slogan is "freedom from the '3Ks': stupidity, poverty and isolation" (kemiskinan, kebodohan dan keterisolasian). On billboards and in policy publications the government declares that remedying these three problems will lead the regency to a "golden future". The values that underpin this Utopian vision are enacted in government development programs, which are largely based around the extraction of natural resources, particularly coal. This slogan and the associated discourse are hugely significant in framing the supposedly imperative development of Murung Raya, but what are the implications of valuing wealth, intelligence and centrality? This paper will examine how these values are interpreted by local Siang people, with whom I conducted year-long field research in 2011. How are these values supported and contested? And, looking within a broader historical and cultural context, how do they differ from the values that have traditionally underpinned Siang life? I will show how this slogan has led the government to prioritize education programs, resource extraction and associated industrial development, and the development of infrastructure. I will argue that this slogan shapes local peoples conception of their place within the broader Indonesian state and the global economy.