Bakumpai people, religion and identity an regional autonomy study of communal identity in south Kalimantan

The regional autonomy study in Indonesia, more or less, has affected the communal identities in South, Central, and East Kalimantan. The understanding of the relationship between ethnic groups, beliefs, and languages holds an important role, which, become the object of ethnographic study. Schwaner (1963) categorized the group of Dayak Barito as Ngaju. The term Ngaju in the local language means “upriver.“ Besides that the term “Oloh Ngajus“ is also used to identify the group which is different from the other group called “Oloh Tumbang“, the Dayak community who live in the estuary. This study has found how the religion identity of Bakumpai in the context as Dayak and Moslem in Kalimantan, live in the estuary of Barito River refer to Orang Bakumpai. The data are collected with 15 informan, the period of August 2015 to June 2016 using the ethnographic approach in the area of Barito River, Samba, and Long Iram. The narration of the lives and identity of Bakumpai People in South and Central Kalimantan. Bakumpai People who make the conversion to Moslem do not automatically omit their Dayak; they do not change their custom and culture like what has been found in another Dayak in Kalimantan to become Melayu (Tame Melayo, Basalam). The structure of the former community does not automatically change Dayak into Melayu. Some researchers have touched the identity issue. Therefore the term “Dayak” is not inclusive of Islam; however, Bakumpai People, as Moslem Dayak, say proudly that the are part of Melayu as ancestor and Ngaju.