PLAYER 1: LOCAL COMMUNITY

5.3.1. PLAYER 1: LOCAL COMMUNITY

Dayak is a local tribe in the hugest island in Indonesia, Borneo Island. The ethnic comprises into seven main tribes, which each of them consist of around 18 small sub tribes. One of small sub-tribe is Basab which lives in Karaitan village. It is 30 km away from Segading sub-district town, Sangata Municipality, East Kalimantan.

During the observation, 21 families were living in Segading village. They were still doing nomad farming. They were planting paddy for each rainy season. After the harvest time, they were moving into another field. They kept moving for six times and moved back to the first field. If that so, each family managed over six fields, each was around one to two hectare coverage. They were staying at tend near their farm for four to six months to take care of their plantation and then moved again for another field. To meet protein needs, they were hunting a

local deer. As a nomad community, they couldn’t do anything for cattle. No wonder that a view number of villagers stayed at their house at Segading village.

In Segading, there are around 20 houses, one school building with three class rooms, and one village hall. They had a teacher for their school children but it was long time ago. They also mentioned that there was a nurse who could help for delivering baby. Once the observer met the local nurse, he just said that it was coincidence that made him become a local nurse. He come from Kediri Java, and was working for a Basab family. When his wife delivered a baby in the middle of the jungle, no one else could help her. He helped her wife to delivery their baby and fortunately it was success. After that, everyone in the village had been calling him for a favor on delivering a baby. He even never graduated from elementary school.

Segading is the third village for this generation of Basab tribe. Their ancestors were living at Karaitan village, far away at a remote area. A small vessel was the only transportation Segading is the third village for this generation of Basab tribe. Their ancestors were living at Karaitan village, far away at a remote area. A small vessel was the only transportation

After several years in Bengalon, some families of the tribe decided to move back into the jungle for some awkward reasons. First, some women mentioned that they had no land and no right to live over there. Some people mentioned that it was not their way of live to sell something for a life, because their ancestor granted them lands which provide a plentiful of foods. Another reason was a dispute over land ownership and financial support from the government and some coal mining company which started to utilize some lands in their area. Some accused the local leader who managed those resources for abuse power. The disputes made those families separated. Around 20 families moved to Segading, while the village leader and some families still stayed at Bengalon.

It appears that Segading is not the last village for them. The village was surrounded by a number of coal mining companies. Some of mining companies took over their lands for some huge money. After selling their land, almost every family had some modern facilities, like electricity generator, motorbikes, television with parabola antenna, and cellular phones. However, th ey couldn’t do something like their ancestors, especially hunting. No more animal left for hunting due to mining activities, while most of the plants surrounding their homes were

getting vanished. 1 They had to go to the jungle for the paddy plantation as far as possible from the mining activities. They spent much money for the modern equipments. For cellular phone, a family can spend around $50 per month, while they also should buy gasoline about $60 per month for both electric generator and the motorbikes . One of a local leader’s wife mentioned that they got money from selling a local deer. They could get around $1500 for a big deer. In fact, they rarely could find a local deer due to the mining activities. Most likely, they still kept some money from selling their lands. It is a big question on how they could survive.