Lack of Knowledge

'Everything was new' according to the Javanese in all the field sites, and they emphasised how hard it had been to cope with the novelty. Lack of knowledge caused numerous problems, particularly for those settled in the tidal swamps of South Kalimantan. Lack of information made it difficult for them to carry out many basic tasks of daily living.

When we first arrived in tidal swamps most of the women and children burst into tears when they saw the 0.5 to 1.5 metres of water that flooded house-plots and fields, and the thick forest that had to be cleared.

The unique ecosystems of the tidal swamps frustrated the transmigrants. Most were shocked to see water-inundated house-plots, rice fields and dry fields. The women and children preferred to stay in their houses because they were scared of the flooding and the thick forest. Most could not swim, did not have and could not use the small boats known as jukung that were the main form of water transport in the location. They did not know what to do or how to cope with these conditions.

Javanese emphasised that in the tidal swamps 'water manipulated people', contrasting this sharply to conditions in Java where 'people manipulated the water'. They explained how their lives were dependent on the water conditions. For their survival, they had to struggle to control the water and nature.

Although surrounded by water, they lacked fresh water, especially during the dry season, because of the acid or saline taste of the available water. They did not know how to convert saline or acid water into fresh water; nor did they know where to find fresh water. As a result, diseases, especially diarrhoea and skin

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diseases, were reported to have been widespread during the early period. Some settlers reported:

We had to drink saline and acid water because it was all we had. We were also shocked when we saw white rice turn black after it was cooked. When we washed our faces, our eyes smarted and when we bathed, the soap stuck to our bodies.

Lack of information also made it difficult for the Javanese to farm the land. Their agricultural behaviour was largely moulded by their previous experience in Java, so they practised inappropriate techniques, paricularly in the high-tide and indirect swamps. In the daily-flooded swamp, almost no crops could be grown during the first two years of settlement because of the high level of flooding.

The Javanese in East Kalimantan also experienced hard times confronting the novelty of the upland environment. Most had been surprised to find their houses surrounded by scrub and forest. Some explained:

Because of heavy scrub and forest, we could not see each other even though our houses were close.

Those who had originated in the lowland areas of East Java found living in the hilly areas especially difficult. For example, they were unaccustomed to climbing up and down streams searching for fresh water.

The settlers were even more frustrated when they found that the transmigration program expected them to manually clear the thick forest to make their fields. This contrasted sharply with the government promise that they would be provided with cleared land. Conditions were particularly difficult because the forest harboured malarial mosquitoes. Malaria soon became endemic in Bukit

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Village and the Sepaku transmigration settlement; most transmigrants suffered and many died. Respondents said:

It was the worst time for us. Most villagers suffered malaria. Every day we heard that someone was infected and very sick. Unfortunately, some could not be saved. It was a really sad time. It looked like the killing fields for us transmigrants.

Local government support through the health centre was limited. Bukit Village was then still isolated, and communication and transport to and from Balikpapan was poor. No information, warnings or preventive measures against malaria were provided.

However, the high risk of malaria did not make the Javanese give up. ‘We were already here and therefore we had to survive’, some explained, so they worked hard to establish their farms. For those without experience in upland agriculture, the lack of basic information about how to grow dry rice and to clear and cultivate sloping areas, added to their problems.

As the transmigrants settled in to environments with very different ecosystems, soils and climate from those of Java, they had to learn to adapt their agricultural practices to the new conditions. In East Java they had known what crops could be grown, when, where and how to grow them, but in East Kalimantan this knowledge was not appropriate. They grew crops which had been given by the transmigration program or which had been brought from home.

Agricultural management was more difficult in the tidal swamps than in the upland area. The swamps were beyond individual control, and the settlers had to adopt practices that were already adapted to the swamp ecosystems. Local

farmers were already farming effectively, but the relocation of most of the Javanese first settled in the daily-flooded swamp to another transmigration settlement reflected their failure to adopt local methods. By contrast the Javanese in the upland village quickly learned local practices, partly because the new system was much simpler than their original agricultural practices.