Fluid Boundaries: Modernity, Nation and Identity in the Riau Islands

Abstract

While there is growing scholarly interest in the everyday meanings and practices of nation building in Indonesia, there has been little consideration of the role the sea plays in drawing the nation together or in the ways that it pulls it apart. Even less attention has been given to the ways in which the communities that live along Indonesia's maritime borders experience and understand the border in their daily lives. By focusing on the communities that live along the outer edges of the Indonesian nation-state, this chapter offers a means to explore the everyday salience of water for the process of constructing the wawasan nusantara. We argue that although Indonesia's maritime borders are a constant signifier of national identity and belonging for Riau Islanders, at the same time islanders have a strong sense of regional identity and belonging built on a dense web of transnational flows across the straits. Our research reveals that, for many Riau Islanders, it is the border that unites them with other Indonesians, but it is the waters of the straits that draw them to their northern neighbours.