Maintaining Rupiah Sovereignty at the Border

In Jagoi Babang, Bengkayang Regency, West Kalimantan, the national border sometimes feels thinner than a phone signal. Carsan, familiarly known as Asep Dea, often finds his mobile phone catching a Malaysian operator’s signal as he walks towards SDN 08 Risau, where he teaches. This is not unusual in the border area of Bengkayang Regency. Malaysian radio broadcasts sound clearer, the neighbouring country’s telephone network is often stronger, and even some of the residents’ daily necessities come from Sarawak. Quite a few residents of Jagoi Babang cross the border almost daily to trade at the Serikin market in Sarawak, a well-known weekend market. At this market, agricultural produce, vegetables, fruits, and handicrafts from the Indonesian border region are sold to buyers from Malaysia, India, Brunei Darussalam, and even foreign tourists who visit on weekends.

For the people of Jagoi Babang, Malaysia is not just a neighbouring country. For years, it has been the place to shop, sell garden produce, and exchange currency. The ringgit circulates quite familiarly in the hands of residents, coexisting with the rupiah in many economic activities. Meanwhile, access to Indonesian banking services has not always been easy to reach. The changes now occurring in the border area have been witnessed firsthand by Asep Dea. He is not just a teacher in Jagoi Babang, but also a living witness to how border communities live their daily lives between two countries, while slowly adapting to the advancements in Indonesian financial services.

Asep has dedicated himself to education for many years. His career began in 2002 at SDN Wirata 3, located in the Sentimok area, Kumba Village, a border region of Sambas Regency adjacent to Sajingan Besar District. He then continued his service in Seluas District, Bengkayang Regency, from 2007 to 2020. After that, he was assigned to SDN 06 Sei Take Jagoi Babang from 2020 to 2023, before finally teaching at SDN 08 Risau, Jagoi Babang District, Bengkayang, from 2023 to the present. Since then, Asep has also resided in Seluas, an area directly bordering Malaysia. For the border community, Asep is not only known as an educator. He is a figure who has grown alongside the pulse of life in the Indonesia-Malaysia border region. The Indonesia-Malaysia border is not only separated by an imaginary line between nations but also by challenges of access and distance. For nearly two decades, he has witnessed how residents have had to struggle to overcome limited access, including access to financial services.

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