Hongsok Lee
The large-scale plantation agriculture that began in the colonial era is still practised in the Indonesian archipelago, although the management has changed to large-scale agricultural companies. Colonial plantations in the Dutch East Indies relied heavily on the unfree labour of colonial workers. There are two common explanations for why this was the case. First, because colonial power was absolute, and second, because of the colonialists’ belief that only coercion could free the “lazy natives” from their idleness (Li 2017, 249). Even in today’s Indonesia, indigenous smallholders experience inequality due to the overwhelming difference in capital compared to large-scale agricultural companies. The “lazy natives” frame, used by Western colonialists in the Indonesian archipelago, has also been used by Indonesians since the New Order era to discriminate against indigenous people. Another problem with modern large-scale plantation agriculture is the problem of monoculture, which leads to ecosystem destruction and a lack of biodiversity. These are the challenges facing the Dayak Benuaq community in Kalimantan today.