“GARUDA DI DADAKU, MALAYSIA DI PERUTKU”: BORDERING AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF BUGIS IN INDONESIA SEBATIK BORDER ISLAND

Abstract

The research aims to investigate the social transformations of everyday life in borderland of Sebatik Island of Indonesia and Malaysia as bordering processes and practices that being co-constructed by the nation-states and the Bugis local residents. I pay an analytical attention to the border dynamics as both a top-down and a bottom-up practices. Both the state and ordinary citizens are active agents of the processes of bordering Based on ethnography and historical research, I examine three areas of social life along the borders of Sebatik island – economy, Islamic education, and local politics. There have been multi layered processes and practices of navigating and negotiating state borders in their everyday life which result in ‘new’ and ‘old’ border imaginary and life along the borders. Sebatik island is a strategic site to examine the reconfiguration of borders and its impact on borderlanders’ everyday life and the reordering of border communities.