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| The History of Dayak: Dayak write from within. |
FOREWORD
At the foot of Mount Parnassus in ancient Greece stood the sacred Temple of Apollo at Delphi. On the pronaos, above the sun-facing gate, were inscribed words that have endured through the ages: gnōthi seauton.
That simple phrase, rendered in the language of the gods as “Know thyself,” lies at the heart of all philosophy, the root of all wisdom. It is there that humanity is summoned to look inward before attempting to interpret the world beyond.
To know oneself is to trace one’s origins, to walk the paths of genealogy, to understand clan roots, and to inhabit the language and culture that gave us life. Without this, a people lose their bearings. Their blood falls silent, their pulse loses the rhythm of history. For anyone who forgets their origins is, in truth, erasing a part of themselves.
It is for this reason that this book was written and published. This is why this work exists.
We feel it necessary, from the outset, to clarify the background as well as the intent and purpose of this writing, so that readers may grasp it fully. Better still, if readers feel capable, they may be inspired to write the stories of their own peoples. It must be acknowledged that today the Dayak have advanced in many respects. Farewell to the pejorative images of the past. In the modern era, farewell to all that demeans, marginalizes, and reduces the indigenous people of Borneo to mere spectators of development in their own land.
Farewell as well to the era in which Dayak were treated merely as objects of study or commodities of cultural consumption by foreign anthropologists and writers. The Dayak must now be written by Dayak themselves, so that the perspective changes. Dayak history must be written by Dayak. And the destiny of the Dayak must be determined by the Dayak themselves.
Since the Reform era of 1998, Dayak society has undergone a profound social, political, and cultural metamorphosis. Within a relatively short span, barely a few decades, the Dayak have transformed from an ethnic group often marginalized within national socio-political structures into one capable of asserting its existence on equal footing with other ethnicities in Indonesia. This transformation is not merely a shift in social position. It is a mature declaration of collective identity: that the Dayak now stand shoulder to shoulder, equal in stature, across national politics, regional economies, and the discourse of Indonesian culture.
Viewed from many angles, the growth of the Dayak is remarkable. Economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and political achievements inspire admiration. Dayak individuals can now be found at the highest levels. Indeed, not a few Dayak have become “kings” in their own regions. They no longer wish to be ruled by outsiders, for among them are men and women capable and competent in many fields, including governance.
Observing the Dayak’s development over time is deeply compelling. If one were to describe it, the growth has been rapid and expansive, almost exponential. It is a truly astonishing transformation. Yet the people remain cohesive, and in many ways they have not lost their identity or their sense of belarasa, compassion and shared feeling, as an ethnic community born of the same land and island.
We have witnessed how solidarity and a sense of kinship grow naturally among the Dayak. Mutual cooperation remains alive, even as in metropolitan cities neighbors often do not know one another, let alone help each other. The intention and effort to protect and preserve nature, as a calling of humans who see themselves as one with the universe, persist, despite investors’ attempts to turn the Borneo wilderness into industrial plantation forests.
A back-to-nature ethos can still be seen in Dayak wisdom in farming and cultivation. Taking from nature only what is sufficient continues, especially in villages and rural communities. Yet in some places, Borneo’s environment has begun to suffer pollution and degradation. The threat now stands plainly before our eyes.
(More to come)
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