Work with ethnic Dayak people now led by Indonesian missionaries

The winding, slippery mud roads to the interior villages of Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo Island, are now familiar to Father Ruben Basenti Moruk.

For the past three years, Father Moruk has taken care of a large mission area on the island, where development remains a pipe dream for most villages decades after Indonesia gained independence in 1945.

"We work in a parish which has 23 mission stations with a total of 2,297 parishioners. There are six stations where almost all of the people belong to the Dayak Meratus tribe," he told UCA News.

Indigenous priests like Father Moruk now completely manage the mission that Western missionaries began over a century ago in Kalimantan. It reflects a trend of local priests replacing Western missioners across Asia.

The Dayak are the second-largest tribe in Kalimantan, after the Banjar. To reach them in their remote, hilly villages is quite a task. Yet Father Moruk, 35, has a personal commitment to take care of these Indigenous people.

"I visit each station at least twice a month. I leave the parish on Friday and spend time at the station until Monday," he explained.

Father Moruk, who grew up in East Nusa Tenggara province, has been in Kalimantan since 2018, continuing the mission work among Dayak people and palm oil workers who migrated from East Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi and Java.

Vincentian Father Jacques Bernard Gros, one of the last foreign missionaries, left Kalimantan two years ago after nearly 30 years of service in the island's remote areas. Father Moruk, who was ordained six years ago, seamlessly stepped into the shoes of his French predecessor after having served as the first priest of a subparish managed by the Vincentians.

The Dayaks are largely Christian and live in the interior, traditionally along rivers in longhouses, unlike the largely ethnic Malay and Muslims, who live mostly in coastal areas.

"The Dayak Meratus generally live in hilly areas. They are uneducated. There is a strong impression that they were deliberately abandoned, including by the government, so that their area which is rich in natural resources can be easily controlled," Father Moruk said.

"It is not primarily about Christianizing them but rather empowering them," Father Moruk said.

The tribal people say many of their land parcels were simply annexed by outsiders and are now controlled by palm oil companies. They cannot do much because of their lack of knowledge. None of their older generations went to school. Even now there are only a few who graduate from high school.

Veronika Waliya, 46, a Dayak and mother of two, is worried about their future in Kalimantan, though it is an area rich in natural resources.

"We are grateful to be able to plant oil palm and make money. However, what is disappointing is that, over time, our land is running out, because the land once planted with oil palm can no longer be used for cultivation," she said.

Her other concerns are the decreasing flow of water in the river and big floods when it rains heavily. "We are also worried about the practice of selling land to migrants. Kalimantan is now controlled by migrants. We hope that the church will respond to these problems," she added.

Waliya said she knows she can speak to Catholic priests who understand her language and culture as her own brothers.

"They are addressing our concerns. We work together for a better life here," she said.

Father Moruk said one of the main focuses in the church's current mission is education.

"The parish, with the help of donors, offers scholarships," he said, noting that church workers encourage residents to enroll their children in school. "There are two girls that we helped send to school and got admitted to a Franciscan-run orphanage in West Java." Now one studies theology and the other, health.

Another challenge involves marriage. Dayaks generally practice polygamy and divorce easily, but now those with Catholic marriages rarely divorce.

"We try and instill a good understanding of Catholic religion through catechesis. We also train lay catechists, who are generally teachers. Also, we are preparing pastoral workers from the Dayak themselves," Father Moruk said.

There is not a single priest among the Dayak of Banjarmasin Diocese, which has been in existence for eight decades. It currently has eight diocesan priests, six of whom are Javanese and two from other ethnic groups.

Father Moruk said he would like to get some of the younger Dayak people to join the minor seminary; two wanted to go this year but canceled their plans.

"We are preparing two for the next year," he said.

With the arrival of Dutch Capuchin friars early in the 20th century, the Catholic Church began its institutional presence in the region.

In February 1905, the Vatican established the Apostolic Prefecture of Dutch Borneo, covering the entire island. Since Indonesia was a Dutch colony then, the Vatican appointed Dutch Capuchin Father Pacificus Boss as the head of the prefecture. He is regarded as the father of the Kalimantan Catholic Church.

After the Capuchins, missionaries from other religious congregations such as the Montfort Fathers, Oblates and Vincentians worked in the area.

Father Gros worked among the Dayak tribe in the mountainous Meratus region for close to four decades. Over time, he witnessed increased government intervention in Kalimantan. He said he began to see this change in 1980, based on Indonesian government policies.

"The land of the Dayaks was overtaken, and rubber plantations, industrial forests and so on were developed. I witnessed the marginalization of the Dayak people in their own land," he recalled.

Catholic missionaries tried to defend the tribe, but it was a difficult task.

Of the six dioceses in the Kalimantan region, five are led by Indonesian bishops, two of whom were diocesan priests. In the past, all bishops were foreign missionaries.

Father Agustinus Purnama Sastrawijaya, superior general of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy Family, said his congregation, which started working in Kalimantan in 1926, now has only one foreign missionary in the region. The others, he said, have returned to Germany, the Netherlands and Poland.

Foreign missionaries, said Father Purnama, have been replaced by local priests. Since 1993 the order has been sending Indonesian missionaries to other countries such as Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, the United States, Germany, France, Chile, the Philippines and Italy.

"Indonesia is one of the countries whose calling is still fertile," Father Purnama said.

The Franciscans have opened three parishes in two dioceses in Kalimantan during the last five years. Franciscan Father Mikhael Peruhe, provincial minister, said they also sent Indonesian missionaries to countries in Asia like Thailand and Myanmar, plus to the Holy Land.

"In the past, missionaries planted the seeds of faith in our land. Now is the time for us to continue their work, not only in Indonesia but also in other places," he said.