<![CDATA[This article examines the colonial stigma attached to Banyuwangi as an “unhealthy region” in the early 20th century, a label used to justify massive exploitation of its natural resources. Using a historical method, this research analyzes how this stigma not only served as a tool for colonial legitimation but also causatively created conditions that triggered ecological disasters and a public health crisis in a previously isolated area. Through an analysis of primary sources such as colonial reports, health journals, and newspapers, this article traces how large-scale plantation exploitation, enabled by the stigma, led to deforestation, uncontrolled labor migration, and poor settlement sanitation. The findings indicate that the combination of environmental degradation and inadequate living conditions created an ideal ecosystem for the outbreak of tropical disease epidemics like malaria and cholera, which were not previously rampant in Banyuwangi. Ironically, the colonial government blamed the lifestyles of the local and migrant populations rather than acknowledging the impact of its own policies. This article also reveals that efforts to improve health conditions and eradicate the stigma in the late 1920s, through the provision of clean water, elimination of mosquito breeding grounds, and modernization of health facilities, were only undertaken after the stigma backfired and began to impede colonial economic interests. Thus, this study concludes that the health crisis in Banyuwangi was a direct product of exploitative policies grounded in stigma, demonstrating the intricate link between colonial narratives, environmental destruction, and public health in peripheral regions.]]>
