The word
pontianak — probably from
bunting anak, "pregnant with child" — means the
undead vampire of a woman who died while during childbirth. Disguised as a beautiful woman, the
pontianak
goes around murdering unwary men, harming pregnant woman and eating
babies, but they can be controlled by plunging a nail into a hole in the
back of their neck.
Legend said at the first time of Abdurrahman Alqadrie group
arrival in the uninhabited area of Pontianak, it was haunted by
pontianaks/kuntilanaks, which deterred many of his companions by their
scary voices at nights. To sweep these ghosts away, Alqadrie ordered his
men to fire their cannons to the forest which was believed to be their
base. Afterwards, no more pontianaks' voice were heard ever.
In 1771, Abdurrahman Alqadrie cut down the forest which was at
the crossing between Kapuas and Landak river, then settled there. He was
awarded the title Sultan. Under his leadership, he succeeded to attract
many traders, most of which are ethnic Malay, as well as some Dayaks
from the upstream of Kapuas river.
Following the civil war and widespread poverty in China at the
end of 19th century, many Chinese migrated to Indonesia, which also
targeted Pontianak due to its strategic location for trading, main
occupation of the Chinese. This later added Chinese culture to history
of Pontianak. Chinese sub-ethnics in Pontianak are mainly Teochew,
Hakka, and some Cantonese--dominant Chinese citizens in Hong Kong.
In the early of 19th century, the Dutch occupied Pontianak and
the rest of West Kalimantan cities as part of its colonial campaign.
Pontianak is occupied to become its trading post to gain rich natural
resources, mainly rubber and wood, from the upstream of Kapuas river.
Resistances committed by both ethnic Malay and Dayak occur sporadically,
which forced the Dutch colonial armed forces to request for
reinforcement from Batavia/Jakarta frequently.
Dutch occupation ended in 1941 during the World War 2 when
Japanese imperial forces overrun their bases from the north, which were
not deployed by reasonable amount of soldiers in order to defend
strategic Java island. During Japanese occupation, they massacred tens
of thousands of civilians and intellectuals, mainly those who refused to
recognise the emperor of Japan.
When the Japanese retreated, the Dutch under the Allied Forces
umbrella re-entered West Kalimantan. Their colonial government over
Pontianak ended few years later after series of diplomatic missions and
local resistances which have also freed the other Indonesian territories
at the same time.
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