Riau in Transition

The IIAS takes great pleasure in announcing its forthcoming conference, Riau in Transition: the Globalization of a Peripheral Region in Indonesia. Riau, the heart of the Malay world in Indonesia, is a thinly populated area. Consisting of the eastern part of the Sumatran mainland and thousands of islands south of Singapore, Riau became a separate province in the late fifties.
Since its founding in 1958, the province of Riau and its inhabitants have been disregarded by scholars of all persuasions. This neglect has been reflected in the dearth of literature concerning this area. However, in recent times there has been renewed scholarly interest in Indonesia's Malay heartland.

Much of the lack of received wisdom on Riau has stemmed from the attitude adopted by the region's colonial and post-colonial governments. Under the former's jurisdiction, Riau was but another of the many regions to be controlled. The Riauan Malays were swept to the periphery of an empire which focused on Java as its centre. Cultures in the outer islands were interpreted against that background. Bahasa Melayu (the Malay language) was to become the language of the Indonesian nationalists. Nevertheless, this did not give rise to increased interest in the community within which the language predominated.
After Independence, the central government's policy has been to construct a national identity to hold together a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-island country. However, this 'national culture' has, in the course of years become increasingly equated with the Javanese culture.

Rapid economic development
Consequently, areas such as Riau and its inhabitants have until recently been of minor political and economic importance. It is telling for instance, that in the beginning of the seventies, this huge area was still deprived of essential facilities and infrastructure of all kinds. This included the virtual absence of roads, various means of transport, communication and most forms of higher education.
However, the economic potential of Riau has recently been realised again. For the last two decades, economic exploitation of the rich oil resources and vast virgin forests in the mainland have contributed considerably to the national budget. Moreover, the central government in Jakarta has become aware of the economic potential of insular Riau's unique and strategic geographical location. Its proximity to Singapore and Malaysia, two of Asia's main emerging economic powers, locates Riau at the crossroads of three nation states. The growing importance of this area as a centre of international enterprise can be deduced from the fact that Batam and some of its neighbouring islands have come under direct rule from the capital. Thus, Riau is, in terms of its economic status, making significant progress towards a global economy.

Middle class
The consequences of this rapid development on the population have hardly been explored. The forthcoming conference will address a range of topics which contributors are invited to consider as they prepare their papers. For instance, local urban centres like Pekanbaru and Tanjung Pinang have become gradually characterised by what, with some reservations, may be called an emerging middle class. As in other parts of Indonesia, this group absorbs a flow of commodities, images and life-styles that are attached to a pattern of international consumerism. The use of audio systems, television sets, videos, dish antennas, telephones, fax machines and computers is rapidly gaining popularity in these local centres. The impact of such changes on, for example, the domestic sphere have yet to be studied carefully. How do these changes affect existing ideas about the family in terms of its delineation, mutual responsibilities and internal power relations? To what extent do they influence the relationships between the generations as well as between the sexes?

Identity
Furthermore, the increasing possibilities for higher education have flourished alongside the economic boom in the area. Individuals belonging to this new social group are articulating a growing concern for ethnic and cultural specificity. The search for their 'Malayness' is certainly not neutral in the light of State policy concerning national identity. Relatively new regional media agencies such as Genta, Menyimak and Riau Pos have taken issue with this concern. For example, the latter Pekanbaru-based newspaper, which was founded only four years ago, has been a resounding success. Significantly, plans are in progress for it to begin an edition in Tanjung Pinang via satellite. In many respects, the Malays of Riau like many others undergoing such experiences in their search for identity, see language and literature as central to defining their nation. This has resulted in abundant literary expositions focusing on Riau's rich historical past by an increasing number of authors and local publishers. In this connection, certain questions have become increasingly urgent. What, for instance, does 'Riau' mean? What does 'Malay' mean, both in the sense of a language as well as of an ethnic identity? What is the relationship between insular (kepulauan) and mainland (daratan) Riau in this respect? And to what extent does Malaysia play a role in all this, given the ethnic and historical ties of its population with the Riau Malays as well as its economic success?

Land problems
Developmental processes in Riau have also affected some traditional communities. Certain suku terasing ('indigenous': another term for further discussion) groups, as they are called in Riau today, have been forced to relinquish their land and livelihood in the name of 'national interest' (kepentingan nasional). Jakarta-based conglomerates have been offered vast plots of land as concessions. This has seriously affected various communities. The same holds true for other socially less well-defined tillers of the soil in the province's rural areas.
Although Riau is sparsely populated, it is presently facing land shortage problems. The intricacies of this phenomenon have hardly been studied carefully, let alone understood. Unanswered questions remain. For instance, to what extent has physical transformation of the environment affected the socio-historical (oral) traditions of the people? How has the national transmigration programme which has resulted in an influx of Javanese, reinforced the problems for the local inhabitants? How has the local bureaucracy dealt with the people it has uprooted? Do these people resist the changes brought about in the name of progress? How, if at all, does this resistance take shape?

'Riau in transition'
The time seems appropriate to convene a gathering of scholars from various disciplines to consider 'Riau in Transition'. Issues to be discussed for the forthcoming conference would be wide- ranging in nature. Participants from various fields of study are encouraged to engage in a lively inter-disciplinary discussion on issues relevant to present-day Riau. The co-convenors of the 'Riau in Transition' conference intend to bring together eminent scholars from various disciplines. For example, contemporary history, literary studies, anthropology, cultural studies, economics, ethno-musicology etc. The aim is to make a significant contribution to the renewed interest in this area which is undergoing swift changes in its physical and social structures.
The organisers are calling for papers that will link theoretical discussions with contemporary issues in Riau. Likewise, papers examining current changes within the framework of the region's rich historical past are welcomed.

Preliminary Programme

Prof. Henk Maier (State University of Leiden)
'Tradition and modernity in Malay writing'

Dr. Vivienne Wee (Centre for Environment, Gender and Development, Singapore)
'Continuity and discontinuity in the multiple realities of Riau'

Speakers (in alphabetical order)
Dr. Ken-ichi Abe (Kyoto University)
Cari rezeki, numpang, siap - reclamation of peatswamp in Riau'

Dr. Muchtar Ahmad (Universitas Riau, Pekanbaru)
'An inquiry into Malay economic sense in Riau'

Drs. Al azhar (Universits Islam Riau, Pekanbaru)
'Kemelayuan di Riau: kajian dan revivalisasi jatidiri'

Mr. Timothy Barnard (University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu)
'Local heroes versus national consciousness: the politics of hajiography in Riau'

Dr Cynthia Chou (IIAS, Leiden)
'Ownership and social relations: the Orang Suku Laut of Riau, Indonesia'

Dr Will Derks (IIAS, Leiden)
'Malay identity work'

Drs. Ewald Ebing (State University of Leiden)
title to be decided

Mr. Tenas Effendi (Yayasan Setanggi, Pekanbaru)
'Masyarakat Petalangan dan perubahan di Riau'

Ms. Kate Hoshour (Harvard University, Cambridge)
'Population movement, ethnic identity, and the state'

Ms. Lioba Lenhart (Institut für Völkerkunde, Universität Köln)
'Perceptions of ethnicity/ethnic behaviour and attitudes towards interethnic contact: the case of the Orang Suku Laut of the Riau Islands (perspectives of Orang Suku Laut and non-Orang Suku Laut)'

Prof. Mubyarto (Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta)
'Progress and poverty in Riau'

Prof. Kato Tsuyoshi (Kyoto University)
'The localization of the Kuantan area: from Rantau Kurang Oso Dua Puluh to Kabupaten Indragiri Hulu'

Drs. Jan van der Putten (State University of Leiden)
title to be decided

Mr. Ashley Turner (Monash University, Adelaide)
'Searching for žsymbols of Malayness" in the expressive culture of Riau's suku terasing groups'

Co-convenors
Cynthia Chou and Will Derks
International Institute for Asian Studies
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
Tel: +31-71-272227
Fax: +31-71-274162
E-mail: IIAS@let.leidenuniv.nl