THE 30-meter pole is made of belian wood and has begun to blacken with age. The wood is not unlike a longforgotten memorial: dull and uncared-for. Yet what is written on the wood is not easily erased. The people of Monterado village, Selamantan district, Bengkayang regency in West Kalimantan still tell the story behind the wooden monument well: the tale of their ancestors, immigrants who came from China in the 17th century in search of gold. R