THE CONNECTION BETWEEN INDONESIA’S

MIGRATION AND ETHNIC COMMUNITY

Social Geography

RISTY KHOIRUNISA
MSc of Geography, Faculty of Science and Informatics,
University of Szeged
 Social Geography

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1
The History of Ethnicity in Indonesia ................................................................... 2
Theoretical Framework of Migration.................................................................... 3
The Relationship Within Migration and Ethnic Community ................................. 5
Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 7
Reference ............................................................................................................. 7

Introduction

Indonesia’s transmigration program, one of the largest resettlement efforts in

history, provides an ideal setting to understand how intergroup contact can promote
a shared national identity. After declaring independence, the government faced
urgent pressures to forge an Indonesian identity that would unite people from
diverse cultures across the archipelago and overcome secessionist tendencies. The
government viewed resettlement as part of a broader effort to foster greater contact
between more than 700 ethnolinguistic groups that lived historically in segregated
communities (Bazzi, et al, 2017). Between 1979 and 1988, the Transmigration
program assigned two million voluntary migrants from the Inner Islands of Java
and Bali to new settlements across the Outer Islands. This is one of government’s
effort to spread the population to outside the Java Island.

Migration could result from a variety of reasons such as, employment, pursuing
higher education, joining the family or gaining access to better social services.
Migration could also be part of a plan to return to the ancestral place of residence
on retirement following a working career in another part of the country or to further
migrate either to another location within the country or abroad. Migration into or
out of an area has a direct impact on the size of its population as well as on its
structure in terms of age, sex, educational attainment, skill levels of the labor force
and more (Sukamdi, 2015).

In this paper, the author would like to analyse the connection between the pattern
of migration in Indonesia, migration’s dispersion, with the diversity of ethnic, over
300 ethnic groups in Indonesia including Javanese, Sundanese, and Batak. The
population is occupied by the most of the Javanese ethnic (more than 40% based on
2010 census). The impact of transmigration and other internal migration is seen in
the fact that the Javanese are easily the most dispersed population.

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 Social Geography

The History of Ethnicity in Indonesia

With a population of more than 250 million, Indonesia is the world’s fourth most
populous country. It is also among the world’s most diverse, with more than 1,200
self-identified ethnic groups living on roughly 6,000 islands. By far, the Javanese
are the largest ethnic group, constituting 40 percent of the population, followed by
the Sundanese with 15.5 percent (Ananta et al., 2013). Both groups originate
from the Inner Island of Java. Nationally, Indonesia’s index of ethnolinguistic
fractionalization (ELF)—the probability that any two residents belong to different
ethnicities—is around 0.7 (which is big number), according to 2000 Population
Census data (Bazzi, et al, 2017).

The other islands beside Java, were thinly populated but showed great ethnic
diversity, the densely populated heartland island of Java was ethnically almost
homogeneous. Java consisted of mainly three main groups, Javanese, Sundanese,
and Madurese. The following table shows the seven largest groups of ethnic in the
archipelago in 1930 (Klinken, 2003) :

Tabel 1. Seven largest groups of ethnic in Indonesia

Indonesia is often talked about as one of the world’s most diverse nations. Even so,
this diversity has been ordered through the social category of ethnicity. Ethnicity is
now a ubiquitous social category, which either points to Chineseness (e.g. Coppel,
1983; Purdey, 2006) or more commonly a community living in a particular region
of Indonesia who speak a particular regional language (Goebel, 2013).

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The idea of ethnicity was also periodically associated with negative, positive or
neutral characteristics as political and economic events unfolded, often as part of
the nation building process that started with the nationalist though of the 1920s.
Since the 1920s ethnicity has been a constant in political and bureaucratic discourse
and more often than not these discourses have been generated because of inter-
ethnic conflict or calls for separatism from the regions outside of Java (Goebel,
2013).

From 1912 there were many ethnic associations formed – including associations of
people from Ambon, Sumatra, Jakarta, Sunda, and Madura – nevertheless by 1920
thinking and writing about ethnic groups gave way to ideas about one people and
one nation through discourses that noted the need to put an independent Indonesia
on the political agenda (Elson, 2008, pp. 31–32). As Elson (2008, pp. 38–46) goes
on to note, these ideas were actually more widespread than just intellectual circles.
By 1918 ideas about different ethnic groups were circulating in newspapers, while
at the same time Indonesia was constructed as a grouping of ethnic regions.

Theoretical Framework of Migration

The movement of population within national boundaries, as opposed to

international migration across national boundaries, is called internal migration.
Balanced spatial distribution of population within a country is critical to ensuring
sustainable and equitable economic development. It is therefore important to have
information on the magnitude and direction of internal migration as well as the
characteristics of migrants (Sukamdi, 2015).

Based on Greenwood (1975), Migration represents a form of utility-maximizing

behaviour that distinguishes migrants from their counterparts. It can be considered
first and foremost a mechanism to achieve better education, job opportunities and/or
living environment. In terms of the migration-development relationship, some
studies (see for example Wajdi et al. 2015; World Bank 2012) have shown that
migration is directed towards more developed regions; that is, metropolitan areas in
Java (Wajdi, 2017).

The increase of new arrivals was also related to the transmigration program,
especially in South Kalimantan. The Transmigration Program is a migration
program during the third and fourth Five-Year Development periods (or Pelita)
from 1979–1988 under Suharto. During this period, the Suharto government
massively expanded the program to relieve perceived over-population pressures in
the Inner Islands and underdevelopment in the Outer Islands. A total of 1.2 million
people were resettled in Pelita III, and an additional 3.75 million people were
planned to be resettled in Pelita IV.

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Even though the migration was happened mainly because of the drives for better
economy and education, however, acccording to Sunarto (1984), the history and
background of internal migration in Indonesia cannot be separated from the ethnic
composition of the population.

It must be taken into account that culturally the Minangkabau ethnic group in West
Sumatra has always been associated with the tradition of wandering about
(merantau). Naim (1979) mention five essential elements in the concept of
merantau: (1) they leave home, (2) on their own, (3) study or look for new
experience, (4) intention of returning, (5) entrenched as a social institution. As the
fourth element is intend to return back, merantau can also considered as temporary
population mobility. However, as the time duration might last for years, it is
essentially migration.

Migration by the Bugis-Makassar ethnic group is one example of how migration

patterns are associated with trade. When migrating, Bugis bring along family and
form new colonies scattered throughout Indonesia. Migration of the Bugis is one
important factor to explain the flow of migration from Sulawesi to other regions in
Indonesia (Sukamdi, 2015).

Based on World Bank Report in 1984, East Kalimantan also attracted migrants
because of its logging and petroleum industries. In Sulawesi, the province of
Central Sulawesi experienced a rather large shift in migration process. In 1971 net
in-migrants were less than 2% of the population; in 1980 the process was reversed
and net in-migrants were 12% of the population. The number of migrants to
Southeast Sulawesi tripled during the 1971-80 decade and the total of the out-
migrants doubled, resulting in a positive net in-migration. Nationally,
interprovincial mobility increased (from 4.8% to 6.8%).

Although migration is closely linked to economy and education factors, the decision
to migrate is also strongly influence by social, cultural and political factors. In
socio-cultural context, migration in Indonesia appears to have been closely related
to the ethnic factor. Based on Sunarto (1984), 1.9 million migrants in Indonesia, the
majority (57.8 percent) came from Java. Most of the migrant from Java (73.2
percent) migrated to Sumatra. Sumatra ranked second as the place of origin sending
migrants to other province (15.5 percent) even though the gap is a bit huge. In the
recent migration, the majority (46.9 percent) migrated to Sumatra and those
immigrants are mostly from Java (90.3 percent). Likewise, with Kalimantan and
Sulawesi, most immigrants were from Java. This suggest that Java is also the largest
island sending migrants to other islands, aside become the favourite destination for
migrants.

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The Relationship Within Migration and Ethnic Community

The most mobile of all major ethnic groups in Indonesia are the Minangkabau
people, whose homeland is the province of West Sumatra. Although the highly
restrictive migrant definition criteria meant that many Minangkabau movers would
not have been designated migrants, the 1971 census showed that 11 percent of all
persons born in West Sumatra lived outside the province and a further 12 percent
of those residing in the province had previously lived in another province. The
centrifugal tendencies within this society are embodied in their concept of
merantau, which has been defined as leaving one's cultural territory voluntarily
whether for a short or long time, with the aim of earning a living or seeking further
knowledge or experience, normally with the intention of returning home. (Naim,
1976).

Maude (1980) in a recent paper has suggested, on the basis of his fieldwork in
several West Sumatra villages, that the incidence of Minangkabau migrants settling
permanently outside of their homeland has increased. In East Java, perhaps the most
mobile group are the Madurese, many of whom have moved, either permanently or
temporarily, from their small island northeast of Java to mainland East Java, other
parts of Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi (Hugo, 1982). In East Java, perhaps the
most mobile group are the Madurese, many of whom have moved, either
permanently or temporarily, from their small island northeast of Java to mainland
East Java, other parts of Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi. Mainly due to conflict
between tribe and ethnic.

From the research that done by Gerry Van Klinken (2003) shows that ethnicity
problem has become a major reason for migration, like an inter-ethnic war which
took place in Madura region, in East Java. When indigenous Dayak warriors in
West Kalimantan took up their machetes against settlers from the far-away island
of Madura in late 1996, hundreds were killed and tens of thousands displaced,
mostly Madurese. Another such wave of killing and expulsion followed in 1999,
and then another in the neighbouring province of Central Kalimantan in 2001.

Likewise, migration also become one of the reasons of ethnicity conflict.

The Sampit conflict that happened in Central Kalimantan in 2001 was an outbreak
of inter-ethnic violence in Indonesia, happened between the indigenous Dayak
people and the migrant Madurese from the island of Madura of Java. The Madurese
first arrived in Borneo in 1930 under the transmigration program initiated by the
Dutch colonial administration, and continued by the Indonesian government
(Pudjiastusti, 2002). Madurese were mutilated, raped, and killed by the Malays and
Dayaks and 3,000 of them died in the massacres (BBC, 2001). This is one of the
examples of the war that happened between local and immigrant.

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The Dayaks came into competition with the highly visible and industrious
Madurese and in places like Sampit the Madurese quickly dominated low-level
sectors of the economy, which negatively affected the Dayaks' employment
prospects. Additionally, new laws had allowed the Madurese to assume control of
many commercial industries in the province, such as logging, mining, and
plantations (BBC, 2001). Dayak and Malay people felt that they lost their job due
the Madurese people that comes to their land and Madurese slowly dominated the
economy sector of their homeland. Based on CNN Article in 2008, At least 300
Madurese were decapitated by the Dayaks during the conflict. The Dayaks have a
long history in the ritual practice of headhunting, though the practice was thought
to have gradually died out in the early 20th century as it was discouraged by the
Dutch colonial rulers.

Another tribe or inter-ethnic war also happened in Maluku. Just as Kalimantan,

settlers from other islands bore the brunt of anger from local Ambonese. However,
the conflict soon became a religious war, pitting Christian Ambonese against all
Muslims, whether settlers or native Ambonese (Klinken, 2003). Historically, there
are many migrants of Bugis people from South Sulawesi, as well as from the
northern Gorontalo region. The regency is also a focus of the government's
transmigration program, which aimed at bringing citizens from densely populated
areas, such as Muslim-dominated islands including Java and Lombok, as well
as Hindu-dominated Balinese islands, to scarcely populated areas.

By the end of 1999 Christian-Muslim fighting also broke out in the northern
Moluccan islands (Maluku) of Ternate, Tidore, and Halmahera. There too it was at
first about place of origin, but became religious over time. Another Christian-
Muslim conflict broke out around Poso in Central Sulawesi late in 1998, flaring up
again at various times in 2000 and 2001. The Christians were locals while many of
the Muslims were recent arrivals from South Sulawesi. Thousands have died in the
Moluccas and in Central Sulawesi, with hundreds of thousands displaced from their
homes, not to mention the destruction of houses, food gardens and economic
infrastructure (Klinken, 2003).

Looking back, the ethnicity problem that forced some migration happened also
occurred in 1998 riot and commotion in repressive New Order (Orde Baru) when
people revolted to bring down the president at that time, Soeharto. The Chinese
ethnic in Indonesia had a lot of abduction, rape, assault and even arson. Chinese
holocaust at that time was really horrible which turned that ethnic to migrate from
Indonesia to any other country, or migrate from Java island, especially Jakarta to
other cities in outer island of Java, since the most severe riot happened in Capital
city of Indonesia, Jakarta.

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Conclusion

Although migration is closely linked to economy and education factors, the decision
to migrate is also strongly influence by social, cultural and political factors. In
socio-cultural context, migration in Indonesia appears to have been closely related
to the ethnic factor. This could also lead an inter-ethnic conflict because of fear of
dominance of the local or native people over immigrants. Also, the insecurity that
the migrant would steal their job and their local people’s economic went down.
Likewise, the conflict also can be the cause of another migration like 1988 riot that
cause ethic Chinese to move out or migrate from Jakarta for safety.

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