CONTACTS: William Schneider, professor emeritus of anthropology (501)443-2149, [email protected]
Allison Hogge, science and research communications officer (501)575-6731, [email protected]
UA PROFESSOR EMERITUS OFFERS EXPERTISE ON KILLINGS IN BORNEO
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Even as NATO forces bombard the region of Kosovo in Yugoslavia, violence and ethnic crimes continue. But this violence isn't happening between Albanians and Serbs.
Thousands of miles away on the island of Borneo, native groups are engaged in a far more gruesome conflict, one that - according to British and Asian news reports - includes widespread incidents of headhunting and cannibalism.
"The native population has been losing its land and way of life as more outsiders move into Borneo to escape overpopulation on other islands," said Dr. William Schneider, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Arkansas. " After decades of uninformed government policies and economic hardships, these people are resorting to violence."
Schneider spent three years in Borneo from 1969-71, living among the indigenous people and studying their complex system of moral laws. He returned to the island for several weeks in 1992. His research and experiences there have given him a unique understanding of the government policies and native traditions that led to the recent bloodshed.
Reports from British and Asian news correspondents describe machete-wielding gangs of Dayak and Malay men - indigenous peoples of the island - attacking and slaughtering Madurese villagers. Despite the grisly details of these accounts, this would seem yet another example of ethnic crimes such as those seen in Bosnia and Kosovo.
But Schneider asserts that the killings in Borneo are motivated by more than ethnic or religious differences. Instead, the violence represents a combination of traditional practices with long-standing resentment, complicated by the strain of economic decay, land disputes, unfair government policies and overpopulation.
The seed of conflict was planted in 1948 when the governments of neighboring islands Java and Madura sought to ease their overpopulation problems by moving people to Borneo, Schneider said.
With its dense cover of rain forest, Borneo supported a sparse population of native tribes - the Malay along the coast and the Dayak in the interior - who survived through gathering practices and slash-and-burn agriculture. Because of poor soil quality, farmland could be used only once or twice before new fields had to be cut and the old ones allowed to recover.
As the Javanese and Madurese moved into Borneo - bringing with them a tradition of long-term, intensive farming - the forests disappeared, and the soil was quickly exhausted.
"The tragedy of this whole thing is that the Javanese government thought they were moving people into empty land," said Schneider, "But it's land that was already supporting a maximum population according to their way of life."
The Dayak and Malay not only lost their land and livelihood, but they also lost their rights. The central government considered Borneo's native tribes uncivilized and did little to represent their interests.
"The forest was cleared. The soil was spent. And when the economic crisis hit southeast Asia, the only thing these people had left in great quantities was resentment," Schneider said.
The motivation for violence in Borneo may seem to mirror conflicts going on in other nations, but what has so struck the world press is the brutality of the Dayak and Malay gangs. According to Schneider, the gruesome nature of the violence resembles traditional forms of warfare among these peoples.
"All over southeast Asia headhunting had been a traditional part of religion, war and people's everyday lives," he said. "Wherever you find slash-and-burn agriculture, you also find headhunting."
Schneider states that headhunting had served the tribes in two ways. First, it kept neighboring peoples from infringing on tribal land. In addition, heads brought back from battle served as religious symbols. They occupied special positions in people's homes and were honored with prayers and dances.
"Traditional, religious headhunting was a way to strengthen the village. They were recruiting soul substance for their tribe," said Schneider. "These days they do the same thing by sacrificing chickens or pigs."
Though the tribes identify themselves as having a headhunting tradition, they had not indulged in the practice for decades. But when violence erupted this March, the Dayak and Malay returned to their traditional forms of warfare - raiding enemy villages and decapitating their victims.
This time, however, the display of heads seems less like a celebration of religious devotion and more like a warning to outsiders.
"Because the Madurese have a different culture and a different way of life, the Dayak don't consider it taking heads from human beings," Schneider said.
Though Schneider does not doubt the severity of the fighting in Borneo, his experiences there have made him skeptical about the way that British and Asian reporters have portrayed the situation.
"I never saw evidence of cannibalism while I was there, so some of the reports of cooking human flesh have surprised me," he said. "I found the Dayak a very friendly and welcoming people who were willing to help strangers. I have to wonder about the validity of some of those news accounts."
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