Indigenous Leader in Borneo Vows Mass Protest Against Indonesian Transmigration Program

Petrus Sabang Merah, strongly reject the transmigration program, especially in Sintang, West Kalimantan. Ist.

SINTANG, West Kalimantan — A prominent indigenous leader in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province has issued a strong warning to the central government over plans to expand its decades-old transmigration program into Borneo’s interior. 

Petrus, the chairman of the local civil society organization Sabang Merah, publicly declared his opposition on Sunday, July 6, warning of potential mass mobilization if the program proceeds.

“I, Petrus Sabang Merah, strongly reject the transmigration program, especially in Sintang, West Kalimantan,” he said in a statement.

The transmigration program, originally launched during the Suharto era, aims to relocate residents from densely populated islands such as Java and Bali to less populated regions like Borneo (Kalimantan) and Papua. While the government frames it as a means of national development and equitable population distribution, the program has long been criticized by indigenous communities for disrupting traditional land rights and cultural systems.

Petrus cited concerns over land conflict, environmental degradation, and the erosion of local customs and indigenous knowledge systems.

“This program risks sparking land disputes among local communities,” he said. “It will also have a negative impact on the environment and undermine local social and cultural systems. The principle of ‘where the earth is stepped on, there the sky is upheld’ must be respected.”

He warned that the arrival of settlers could marginalize the Dayak people, the region’s dominant indigenous group, by weakening their ancestral land rights and diluting their cultural heritage.

“The fear is that the land rights of indigenous peoples will be sidelined, and the local cultural order will be damaged,” he added.

In what he called a final warning, Petrus vowed to organize large-scale protests if the Indonesian government moves forward with its plans.

“If the government insists on implementing the transmigration program, I will be the first to mobilize mass resistance in Kalimantan,” he said.

The Indonesian government has yet to respond publicly to the statement. However, officials in Jakarta have recently reiterated their commitment to reviving transmigration as part of their broader national development strategy, particularly amid plans to relocate the national capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan.

For many Dayak communities, the issue of transmigration is not just about demographic change—it is about survival, land sovereignty, and the future of indigenous identities in a rapidly modernizing archipelago.

- X-5/WAG Literasi Dayak