Pontianak lies on the banks of Indonesia’s longest river, the Kapuas, which rises about 1,140 kilometers upstream in central Borneo, the ancestral homeland of the Dayak, and then winds its way through the dense jungles of western Borneo toward the sea.
The name of Pontianak seems to originate from the Malay puntianak, which is thought to derive from kuntilanak — the name given to the wandering ghosts of women who die in childbirth.
It’s perhaps a name that hints at the high levels of poverty and a resulting high maternal mortality rate that plagued the city in former times.
Arriving in the West Kalimantan capital for the first time, I’m more inclined to think it should be called Kota Walet — walet being Indonesian for “swallow”.
Bred in windowless houses for the large ethnic Chinese community, who prize their nests as culinary delicacies, tens of thousands of these tiny acrobatic birds fill the city skies at dusk and just before sunrise.
A small city by Indonesian standards, Pontianak has about 500,000 inhabitants, with one of its characteristics being the high proportion of ethnic Chinese who live in the city — and in most of the towns along the coast of West Kalimantan heading north.
Consequently, Pontianak blends the influence of three ethnic groups to give the city its cultural quality: the ethnic Chinese, who make up about 40 percent, together with the Dayak from the tropical hinterland, and the ethnic Malay community.
Pontianak’s most well-known claim to fame is that it is situated right smack bang on the equator, a geographic fact that was celebrated by the Dutch in 1928 in the form of a strange gyroscopic-looking monument. The khatulistiwa (equator) monument is situated across the Kapuas River from the main town, on the edge of Pontianak.
The original, rather modest Dutch monument is now enclosed in a large concrete dome, constructed in 1991, with a huge replica of the original contained inside now built on top.
It’s interesting to wonder what has history is behind Pontianak’s ethnic mix and why the coast of West Kalimantan has such a high concentration of ethnic Chinese.
The city was founded in 1772 by Sultan Syarif Abdul Rahman on the site of a trading station on marshy ground at the confluence of the Kapuas and Landak rivers, becoming an independent sultanate of Pontianak.
The old 18th-century palace, Istana Kadriyah, built by Sultan Abdul Rahman of Pontianak.
Sultan Abdul Rahman (also known as Abdurrakhman) was one of half a dozen ethnic Malays, who established themselves as Muslim sultans in the area from Pontianak north up the coast to Singkawang.
Then, in the 18th century, gold was discovered. As the economic importance of gold grew in the region, it seems that the coastal sultans, encouraged by the hard-working reputation of the Chinese and their technical expertise in gold extraction, started to import ethnic Chinese workers to mine the gold.
A land-leasing system to encourage exploration of the territory attracted larger numbers of Chinese from their impoverished villages in southern China, triggering something of a gold rush.
Most of the immigrants were of Teochew or Hakka extraction, each with their own distinctive dialect, although Teochew has since come to dominate in Pontianak, while Hakka dominates Singkawang to the north.
The
— Photo by Peter Milne
The Chinese started to arrive in such numbers that they could form kongsi (companies) to protect their interests toward the end of the 18th century.
Amazingly, by the mid-1700s, the area from Pontianak north to Singkawang produced one-seventh of the world’s gold.
It seems that the area’s wealth from gold also influenced the local textiles: Pontianak is famous for kain songket, a decorative fabric with gold and silver thread sown into it.
As increasing numbers of the indigenous Dayak came to the coastal towns in search of work created by the mining boom, so the ethnic mix came to be predominantly Malay-Chinese-Dayak, with smaller communities of Bugis, Javanese, Batak and Madurese.
Today, Pontianak’s cultural mix is reflected in its community facilities: there are numerous ethnic Chinese yayasan (foundations) that cater to that community, but in addition the Malay have their own impressive cultural center, located close to the Malaysian Consulate on Jl. Sutan Syahrir, while on Jl. Sutoyo there is a replica of a traditional Dayak longhouse.
Across the Kapuas River on the marshy area where the Landak River joins the Kapuas is the old 18th -century palace, Istana Kadriyah, built by Sultan Abdul Rahman, while down the road is the impressive royal mosque, Mesjid Abdurrakhman, built in a typical South Sumatran style.
Both buildings are constructed in the local timber called ironwood, or belian in Indonesian, which is famous throughout Indonesia for its strength and longevity.
Sadly, belian is now running out because of rampant logging and the length of time it requires to grow.
The elegant two-story palace was occupied by descendants of the sultan until 1952, and is now a small museum containing photographs, portraits and artifacts of the sultanate. The easiest way to visit the palace and the mosque is to take a public canoe-taxi from the main town across the Kapuas.
The area by the banks of the Landak and Kapuas close by the mosque is a good place to stroll along the wooden boardwalks that give access to the houses on stilts comprising kampung dalam.
Clearly a poor neighborhood, the village is inhabited mainly by ethnic Malay families. Despite the squalor of their flood-prone surroundings, the people are a friendly bunch and the children have an irrepressible desire to be caught on camera.
Washing clothes seems to be a major pastime, and the fruits of this labor can be seen blowing in the breeze from the house fronts. Despite the rickety nature of the dwellings, many are comfortable inside, with comfy sofas and armchairs, and usually large televisions.
While the women busy themselves with the washing, many of the men tend the fishing enclosures that run along the riverward side of the boardwalks.
Dawn on the equator — the view from Pontianak across the Kapuas River. — Photo by Peter Milne
A morning pleasure I had in Pontianak was enjoying the warung kopi (café snack bars) that can be found throughout the city.
These establishments open well before dawn, as the walet start to fill the still dark morning sky.
Run by ethnic Chinese, who obviously know a few things about brewing a good cup of local coffee, some cater more for the ethnic Chinese, others to the ethnic Malays, while some are mixed.
There even seems to be a kind of shift system in some warung kopi, with the industrious ethnic Chinese traders having their coffee fix and snacks well before dawn, and the more leisurely Malays taking the next shift after the sun comes up.
Whatever the mix, everyone seems to know everyone, and the warung kopi are an important venue for exchanging news and reading the morning papers.
The coffee is delicious, often poured into the coffee cups from a jug held up high at arm’s length by the master brewer. It’s then that you realize just how far you are from the Starbucks café culture back in downtown Jakarta.
- See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/01/22/pontianak-the-city-two-rivers-three-cultures.html#sthash.j4Tspvag.dpuf
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Farhana Assegaf
