AKTIVITAS WANITA EROPA DI KAMP INTERNIRAN BATU LINTANG, KUCHING

Abstract

The Japanese military occupation of Kalimantan resulted in the internment of European civilians, including women, in the Batu Lintang Internment Camp. Within the camp, their lives were subjected to constant surveillance and strict limitations. The women endured extremely harsh conditions—marked by hunger, illness, threats of violence, and psychological pressure from the Japanese military. Batu Lintang functioned as a space in which the Japanese military exercised absolute authority, organizing, monitoring, and restricting civilian life through a repressive and hierarchical structure. These circumstances were the product of a system that forcibly stripped the women of their fundamental human rights. This study aims to examine and explore: (1) the daily activities of women during their internment in the camp; and (2) the acts of violence they experienced while in captivity. The research employs historical methodology, proceeding through five stages: topic selection, source collection—including photographs, interviews, reports from the International Red Cross, and diaries obtained from the Imperial War Museum (UK), Australian War Memorial, NIOD Institute, Beeldbankwo2, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the National Archives. The study then applies source criticism to assess the authenticity and reliability of the materials. In the interpretive phase, the researcher uses Paulo Freire‘s theory of dehumanization, followed by the final stage of historiography. The findings reveal that European women interned at Batu Lintang demonstrated remarkable resilience through a variety of collective activities, such as informal education, cooperative domestic labor, small-scale gardening, and religious practices. These activities not only served as forms of adaptation to the extreme conditions of hunger, disease, and restriction, but also functioned as acts of passive resistance against the camp‘s dehumanizing system. Despite being subjected to severe control and symbolic violence by Japanese authorities, these women maintained
their sense of identity, solidarity, and self-expression—through secret writing, mutual care, and spiritual rituals—which collectively sustained their community life within the oppressive environment of the camp.