This paper describes and explores an incident in which an accusation of sorcery was made in August 1995 among the Kalis of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Kalis, nominally Christian, inhabit an area along the Kalis River and the Peniung River, both of which are tributaries of the Manday River of the Upper Kapuas Regency. They live in four villages: Nanga Tubuk, Nanga Danau, Kensurai and Nanga Peniung. As of 1995, they numbered approximately 2,000. One of their closest neighbors are the Malay Muslims, who live along the lower reaches of the Kalis River. Kalis make their living mainly by rotational agriculture.
In the first part of the paper, the incident is described. Iman (pseudonym) had suffered from insanity for many months. One day, Saung (pseudonym) came to Iman, and confessed to having been forced to assist in the sorcery planned for Iman by both Timbang (pseudonym) and Aga (pseudonym). All four people except Aga, Malay Muslim, belong to the Kalis. According to Saung, the sorcery used on Iman originated from the Malay-Islamic tradition of "isin gila isin budu," which means sorcery to render the victim insane or stupid by chanting Chapter 36 of the Koran. On hearing this, Iman immediately reported the incident to Onyang (pseudonym, the village head of Iman's residence). The next morning, Onyang took this case to the Nanga Kalis police station, which is a half-day ride by boat with an outboard engine from the site of the incident. Daniel (pseudonym, the chief of the Nanga Kalis police station) could not find any evidence connecting sorcery to the insanity after he inspected the people concerned. He then organized "a committee for the leadership of the sub-district (Musyawara Pimpinan Kecamatan)," by calling in the Indonesian National Army at Nanga Kalis, the representative office of the sub-district and the local branch of the Department of religion. The resolution of this case was left up to the "adat" (custom, tradition) of the Kalis by the committee.
Tangkiling (pseudonym, Temunggung of the Kalis River) held the "adat" gathering in the heart of Kalis territory, based on Saung's accusation that Timbang and Aga were the sorcerers responsible for Iman's suffering. Six members of the committee were present at the gathering as observers. First of all, Timbang and Aga totally denied Saung's accusation. An ordeal called "bapak," which in the Kalis language originally means "boiling," was arranged to inquire of the Deity about the truth. First, Aga failed in his attempt to pick up a stone from the boiling water. Timbang, on the other hand, appeared to succeed in picking it up. However, it was revealed that he had treated his injury soon after the attempt. The participants in the "adat" gathering discussed whether Timbang could be guilty or innocent. Finally, both Timbang and Aga were judged to be the sorcerers responsible for Iman's insanity.
In the next part of the paper, how the sorcerers were disclosed by the local/marginal knowledge system is examined. As far as the present writer knows, Timbang and Aga did not disclose whether or not they had really conducted the action of sorcery, even to their closest family members and relatives. What did they really want to express to the public in the "adat" gathering? The important thing is the voices of Timbang and Aga were wiped out by public judgment and then a new social reality was constructed under the perspective that Timbang and Aga were responsible for Iman's suffering. The only way for them to survive in and around the Kalis community was to observe the decision of the "adat" and to keep devoting themselves to a cure for Iman's insanity.
In the last part, the negotiation between the local/marginal knowledge and the modern-central knowledge is focused on and analyzed, under the keywords of difference and unification. The discussion is summarized in the following three points. First, when such incidents are exposed in places other than those of the Kalis residential area, they are likely to be deemed a different "primitive" or "non-scientific" story inter-textually. Talking of the cultural difference in nearby administrative centers such as Putussibau or Nanga Kalis may result in reaffirming the Kalis as "primitive" actors to the marginality.
Second, the "adat" authority demonstrated their will to be in unity with Indonesian modernity, by using Indonesian language all through the gathering and voluntarily mimicking the bureaucratic documents. But the unconscious failure of the mimicry in the verdict of the "adat" functioned to strengthen the difference that exists between the local/marginal and the modern-central knowledge.
Third, why did the police send the case back to the local "adat"? It was because the chief was confident that the people of the Kalis village would solve the problem with their own knowledge. In this regard, the local/marginal knowledge system was well accommodated as a possible resolution to the problem. Thus, the cultural difference was incorporated into the process of unification of modernity.