For local farmer Sibukdin, Sepaku subdistrict in North Penajam Paser regency, East Kalimantan is the only place he knows like the back of his hand. The 60-year-old man said he and his family had been living there for generations. He claimed that his ancestors of the Paser Balik indigenous community had lived in the area centuries ago. Paser Balik is one of 12 subcommunities of the indigenous Paser people, who mostly exist across East Kalimantan. The community formed two sultanates of Sadurengas and Paser between the 1500s and 1910s. A recent survey estimates that around 100,000 Paser people still live across the province, including in Sepaku sub-district. After years of living peacefully working on his own small plantation, Sibukdin recently became concerned about the government’s plan to build a new capital city in East Kalimantan. The only thing that came to his mind ...