West Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan,the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak. The province has an area of 147,307 km2,and had a population of 4,395,983 at the 2010 Census and 5,414,390 at the 2020 Census;the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 5,470,797. Ethnic groups include the Dayak,Malay,Chinese,Javanese,Bugis,and Madurese. The borders of West Kalimantan roughly trace the mountain ranges surrounding the vast watershed of the Kapuas River,which drains most of the province. The province shares land borders with Central Kalimantan to the southeast,East Kalimantan to the east,and the Malaysian territory of Sarawak to the north.
Singkawang or Sakawokng in Dayak Salako or San-Khew-Jong,is a city located in the province of West Kalimantan,on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. It is located at about 145 km north of Pontianak,the provincial capital,and is surrounded by the Pasi,Poteng,and Sakkok mountains. Singkawang is derived from the Salako languange,which refers to a very wide area of swamps. In addition,the ancestors of the Hakka Chinese community in Sakawokng also named this area in Hakka as "San-Khew-Jong" (Mount-Mouth-Sea),which means "A city located at the foot of a mountain near the sea and has a river that flows up to the mouth of the river (estuary)."
Bidayuh is the collective name for several indigenous groups found in southern Sarawak,Malaysia and northern West Kalimantan,Indonesia,on the island of Borneo,which are broadly similar in language and culture. The name Bidayuh means 'inhabitants of land'. Originally from the western part of Borneo,the collective name Land Dayak was first used during the period of Rajah James Brooke,the White Rajah of Sarawak. At times,they were also lesser referred to as Klemantan people. They constitute one of the main indigenous groups in Sarawak and West Kalimantan and live in towns and villages around Kuching and Serian in the Malaysian state of Sarawak,while in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan they are mainly concentrated in the northern Sanggau Regency. In Sarawak,most of Bidayuh population can be found within 40 km of the geographical area known as Greater Kuching,within the Kuching and Serian Division. They are the second-largest Dayak ethnic group in Sarawak after the Iban and one of the major Dayak tribes in West Kalimantan.
Pontianak or Khuntien is the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan,founded first as a trading port on the island of Borneo,occupying an area of 118.31 km2 in the delta of the Kapuas River at a point where it is joined by its major tributary,the Landak River. The city is on the equator,hence it is widely known as Kota Khatulistiwa. The city center is less than 3 kilometres (2 mi) south of the equator. Pontianak is the 26th most populous city in Indonesia,and the fifth most populous city on the island of Borneo (Kalimantan) after Samarinda,Balikpapan,Kuching and Banjarmasin. It had a population of 658,685 at the 2020 Census within the city limits,with significant suburbs outside those limits. The official estimate as at mid 2021 was 663,713.
Malay Indonesians are ethnic Malays living throughout Indonesia. They are one of the indigenous peoples of the country. Indonesian,the national language of Indonesia,is a standardized form of Riau Malay. There were numerous kingdoms associated with the Indonesian Malays along with other ethnicities in what is now Indonesia,mainly on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. These included Srivijaya,the Melayu Kingdom,Dharmasraya,the Sultanate of Deli,the Sultanate of Siak Sri Indrapura,the Riau-Lingga Sultanate,the Sultanate of Bulungan,Pontianak Sultanate,and the Sultanate of Sambas. The 2010 census states that there are 8 million Malays in Indonesia,this number comes from the classification of Malays in East Sumatra and the coast of Kalimantan which is recognized by the Indonesian government. This classification is different from the Malaysia and Singapore census which includes all ethnic Muslims from the Indonesian archipelago as Malays.
The Ibanic languages are a branch of the Malayic languages indigenous to western Borneo. They are spoken by the Ibans and related groups in East Malaysia and the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. Other Dayak languages,called Land Dayak,which are not Ibanic,are found in the northwest corner of Kalimantan,between Ibanic and non-Ibanic Malayic languages such as Kendayan and the Malay dialects of Sarawak and Pontianak.
The Barito languages are around twenty Austronesian languages of Indonesia (Borneo),plus Malagasy,the national language of Madagascar. They are named after the Barito River located in South Kalimantan,Indonesia.
The Pontianak Sultanate was an Islamic Malay state that existed on the western coast of the island of Borneo from the late 18th century until its disestablishment in 1950. The Sultanate was located at the mouth of the Kapuas river in what is today the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan,and the Sultan's residential palace was situated in what later grew to become the modern-day Indonesian city of Pontianak.
Pontianak State Museum is a museum in Pontianak,West Kalimantan,Indonesia,near Tanjungpura University.
Melawi River is a river of north-western Borneo,Indonesia,about 900 km northeast of the capital Jakarta. It is a tributary of the Kapuas River.
Johanes Chrisostomus Oevaang Oeray was an Indonesian politician. He was the Governor of West Kalimantan from 1960 to 1966 and was the first Christian,ethnic Dayak and only Roman Catholic to hold the position.
The Pontianak incident consisted of two massacres which took place in Kalimantan during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies. One of them is also known as the Mandor Affair. The victims were from a wide variety of ethnic groups,and the killings devastated the Malay elite of Kalimantan,with all the Malay Sultans of Kalimantan executed by the Japanese.
Pontianak Malay is a Malayan language spoken in Pontianak,Indonesia and the surrounding area.
Karolin Margret Natasa is an Indonesian politician who is currently serving as regent of Landak. Previously,she had served as a member of the People's Representative Council.
Wilda Octaviana Situngkir also popularly known as Wilda Octaviana is an Indonesian Child Protection Commission Ambassador,Indonesian National Agency of Drug and Food Control Ambassador,actress and model who won the title of Puteri Indonesia Pariwisata 2018. She represented Indonesia at the Miss Supranational 2018 pageant,where she placed as the 3rd runner-up,repeating the same achievement by Cokorda Istri Krisnanda Widani in Miss Supranational 2013,Wilda became the fifth Indonesian to be placed as a finalist in Miss Supranational history,continuing the ongoing 4th year placement streaks of Indonesia,consecutively since Gresya Amanda Maaliwuga in 2015,Intan Aletrinöin 2016 and Karina Nadila Niab in 2017.
The Dayak Desa War or Majang Desa War was an armed uprising by the Dayak Desa tribe,and later Indonesian nationalists,in West Kalimantan against the Japanese Empire and the Dutch East Indies during World War II. The war was initially caused by the local population's opposition against the rōmusha system and disappointment with Japanese occupation. In the initial phase of Japanese occupation,several Japanese companies entered the region to gain natural resources in order to support the Japanese war effort in the Pacific. Occupying Japanese forced locals to work for free for these companies,mainly in coal mining and timber production. After that,a Japanese foreman working in a company wanted to marry the daughter of Pang Linggan,a respected Dayak chief in the region,which caused more tension between locals and the Japanese. Dayak tribes in the region initiated mangkuk merah ritual,as a sign to mobilise men from villages and prepare for war. The Japanese were driven out of the Borneo interior in June 1945,but returned on 17 July and continued until 31 August 1945 when Japanese forces there surrendered and left the region,replaced by Allied forces including the Dutch,who would later be opposed again until recognition of Indonesian independence in 1949.
Dayak in politics refers to the participation of Dayaks to represent their political ideas and interests outside of their community. The movement has continued to have a profound impact on the development of Indonesia and Malaysia,especially in Kalimantan and Sarawak.
Hausman Baboe was a colonial head of Kuala Kapuas district of Central Kalimantan in the Dutch East Indies;he was also an early Dayak journalist and an Indonesian nationalist. Baboe was born into an aristocratic family of Dayak Ngaju people and served as head of Kuala Kapuas under the Dutch colonial government but was dismissed from his post due to his anti-colonial remarks. He became a prominent Dayak political figure and was several times accused of being a communist due to his close association with the left-wing political party Sarekat Rakjat. Despite being a Christian,his Indonesian nationalist ideals drew him close to Sarekat Islam.
Usman Ja'far was an Indonesian politician and businessman who served as the Governor of West Kalimantan between 2003 and 2008,and as a member of the People's Representative Council from 2009 until his death in 2015.
Aspar Aswin was an Indonesian politician and military officer who served two terms as Governor of West Kalimantan between 1993 and 2003 and was also Vice Governor of Bali. His second term as governor occurred during the early Reform era,which saw significant ethnic tensions in West Kalimantan and attempts to remove him from power.
