Spencer Empading Sanggin and neilson Ilan Mersat, Landowner’s Response and Adapation to Large Scale Land development Projects in Sarawak, Malaysia, The Macrotheme Review 2 (6), SI-IMT, 2013 (pp.146-162).

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The Macrotheme Review
A multidisciplinary journal of global macro trends
Landowner’s Response and Adaptation to Large Scale Land Development Projects in Sarawak, Malaysia
Spencer Empading Sanggin and Neilson Ilan Mersat
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia
Abstract
This paper is an analysis of how the rural communities (landowners) in Sarawak are responding to the implementation of commercially oriented land development project. A study was carried out in three different regions of Sarawak to identify issues and problems faced by the people and the agencies during the course of the implementation of the projects. The study’s objective was to identify the livelihood strategies of the indigenous people (i.e. the Iban and Bidayuh communities) who are affected by the large scale land development projects The study used both qualitative as well as quantitative methods of data collection. The selected respondents consisted of local scheme’s participant or landowners.. The study revealed that some of the indigenous people were initially quite skeptical of the large scale land development project as they were not familiar with the concept. Nevertheless, despite their initial reluctance, majority of the indigenous landowners finally agreed to participate in the projects by allowing their native lands to be opened up for the oil palm plantations through which they have benefited not only in terms of increased in income but they also enjoy better infrastructures and livelihood as well.
Keywords: Land development, Iban, Indigenous people, Livelihood Strategies
1. INTRODUCTION
Large scale land development projects started in the 1970’s. The first land development scheme was started by the Sarawak Land Development Board (SLDB) with its pioneer project in the Skrang and Melugu rubber scheme. Both of these areas are located in the Sri Aman Division, Sarawak. Soon it was followed by the establishment of similar rubber plantation scheme in Lambir, Miri Division, and later in Sibu Division. Those projects were aimed at developing idle land and at the same time helping to provide employment and raise the socio-economic well-being of the majority of people in the rural areas. Sarawak Land Consolidation and Development Authority (SALCRA) came in later.
The idea to set up SALCRA came during the Mid-Term Review of the Second Malaysia Plan (1971-1975), when the Government of Sarawak decided to form another statutory body with the objective of developing and managing Native Customary Rights (NCR) land. It was firmly believed that development of NCR land is an appropriate strategy to bring about socio-economic
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development to the rural areas of Sarawak, hence, enabling the participation of rural communities into the mainstream of Sarawak’s development. Furthermore, land consolidation is aimed at consolidating and enlarging fragmented and uneconomic holdings, typical of most, if not all, NCR lands in Sarawak.
Thus, SALCRA was officially established in May, 1976 as a Government Statutory Body under the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority Ordinance, 1976. With the aim of assisting the State Government of Sarawak in achieving the objectives of the New Economic Policy (NEP), particularly concerning the eradication of poverty (Lang, 1987). The objective of SALCRA is to consolidate the development of land for agriculture in Sarawak, especially NCR Land. Its functions were to:
1. rehabilitate land for agricultural purposes;
2. promote and undertake agricultural development or projects in the State;
3. develop for agriculture on its own or amalgamated with others in areas already declared as Development area; and
4. initiate and carry out projects or schemes for development and improvement of agriculture.
SALCRA started its first plantation project with the Lubok Antu Oil Palm Project in Sri Aman Division, Sarawak soon after it came into operation in 1976. Oil Palm cultivation was its main activity until it implemented two cocoa estates in 1982 and the Mayang Tea Project in 1983. The cocoa estates failed and those areas had been replaced with oil palm estates. Today, SALCRA’s core business encompasses the management of NCR land for oil palm plantations and tea estate. Since the establishment of the first oil palm estate in Lubok Antu in 1976, 17 more estates have sprung up, including one tea estate, covering more than 51,000 hectares of land area stretching from Lundu to Bau, Serian, Sri Aman, Betong and Saratok regions.1
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) has been the more prominent cash crop preferred for large-scale land development under SALCRA. The main reason behind this choice of crop is because oil palm is hailed as the highest yielding oil crop per hectare (Basiron, 2007; Teoh, 2010). Also the rate of poverty, especially in the rural areas of Sarawak is one of the highest (5.3%) in the country as reported in the 10th Malaysia Plan 2010. Therefore, poverty alleviation continues to feature prominently in the rationale for continued oil palm expansion (Majid Cooke et al., 2006).
The approach adopted by SALCRA in its land development programme is an in-situ type of development, i.e., bringing projects to where there are already people instead of bringing people to projects. Land development under SALCRA’s concept makes use of the existing unutilised or under-utilised lands for the benefit of landowners or claimants without jeopardising their rights of ownership or claim to such land (Lang, 1987). Implementations of projects are modeled in such a way that SALCRA provides the funds, expertise, and management, while the landowners or project participants provide land and labour (if they can).
1 Corporate Information provided by SALCRA, August 2013
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2. Research Questions
Given the fact that SALCRA had been in operation for more than 40 years since its establishment, one would wonder if the livelihood of the Iban and Bidayuh communities in the affected rural areas (SALCRA Oil Palm Schemes) have changed. How active are they participating in the projects? What are the major impacts of SALCRA oil palm scheme on the local community? Are they dependent on the oil palm schemes or do they resort to other economic activities to support their living?
This study was an attempt to provide answers to the above-mentioned concerns and questions. It is hoped that with a better understanding of the current situations the relevant authority will be able to solve some of the critical problems it is now facing. In particular, the findings of this study may help explain why local people are not actively participating in the project (oil palm plantation). Similarly, an understanding of the status and usage of indigenous knowledge (IK) amongst the local communities would enlighten the importance of IK to the livelihood of the indigenous communities. Subsequently, such an understanding will be useful to plan appropriate strategies for the successful project implementation of the existing ones and any other future project which involves local community’s participation.
Aims and objectives of the study
The primary aim of the study was to determine the status of local people’s participation in SALCRA Oil Palm schemes and the adoption of indigenous knowledge to adapt to the changing environment. Specifically, the objectives were to:
1. determine the level and nature of participation by local communities in the SALCRA oil palm schemes;
2. identify the livelihood strategies of local indigenous people in adapting to the new environment of oil palm plantations; and
3. evaluate the impacts of SALCRA’s oil palm schemes on the livelihood of the landowners.
3. Literature review
The two most important concepts relevant to the study are indigenous knowledge (as in the context of livelihood strategies), and community participation. These concepts are integral to this study as the key issues to be explored concern the lack of active participation by the local people in the development project and how local communities’ livelihood strategies adapt to the changing environment, a term referred to as the indigenous knowledge. Past experiences have shown that development efforts that ignore indigenous knowledge, local systems of knowledge, and the local environment generally fail to achieve their desired objectives (Charyulu, 2008).
According to Grenier (1998), indigenous knowledge (IK) refers to the unique, traditional, local knowledge existing within and developed around the specific conditions of women and men indigenous to a particular geographic area. It is the participant’s knowledge of the temporal and social space. It is more than just technologies and practices. It includes information, practices and technologies, beliefs, tools, materials, experimentation, education communication as well as human and biological resources. Learning indigenous knowledge can improve understanding of local conditions and provide a productive context for activities designed to help the communities. It has been shown that despite the many efforts to analyse poverty, a lack of understanding of the
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coping mechanisms of target groups is a major cause of project failure (Zoomers, 1999). Indigenous knowledge is also the information base for a society which facilitates communication & decision making. Indigenous information systems are dynamic & are continuously influenced by internal creativity & experimentation as well as by contact with external system. (Flavier et. al. 1995)
Scoones and Thomson (1994) noted that indigenous knowledge is an underutilized resource in the development activities. They argued that indigenous knowledge needs to be intensively and extensively studied, and incorporated into formal research and extension practices in order to make agriculture and rural development strategies more sustainable. Likewise, Warren (1993) contended that the use of indigenous knowledge assures the end user of specific development projects are involved in developing technologies appropriate to their needs. In the context of this study the indigenous knowledge of the local communities is seen as a critical factor in determining the success of the project undertaken by SALCRA. The people’s knowledge of livelihood strategies sometimes interferes with the way they viewed new approaches and strategies of development. Past practices and belief systems can influence how people accept new technologies and ideas. For that reason it is important that the indigenous knowledge be first understood and taken into consideration in the planning process.
One area of indigenous knowledge that the study had tried to focus on is livelihood strategies, which refer to activities undertaken by the local indigenous community to support the life and well-being of the people in the community. In particular, the study seeks to identify the alternative livelihood strategies of the landowners who participated in the oil palm schemes.
Understanding the local context of household livelihoods is not only necessary to ensure appropriate development strategies, but also as a basis for monitoring and evaluation, and a means of assessing potential for replication in other contexts. Every household including those in the rural communities have a range of needs which they access through various means.
Poor people are involved in diverse and dynamic livelihoods strategies utilizing a wide portfolio of resources - material, economic, natural, human and social. This diversity is locally specific, and dynamic. Poor people are poor in different ways and at different times in different places. As such, appropriate development interventions to address poverty alleviation must be based on a thorough understanding of these livelihoods issues (Friend and Funge-Smith, undated FAO document).
The other concept is community participation. One United Nations document (1981:5) defined community participation as “the creation of opportunities to enable all members of a community to actively contribute to and influence the development process. Most development programs are dependent on community’s participation. It is believed that community participation will enable communities to contribute towards designing an acceptable and user friendly designs and to make communities develop interest in the operation and maintenance of projects (Sigwaza, 1997). It makes for justice in decision making – people have some say in, and influence on, collective decisions (Beetham, 1992). Effective people’s participation is essential, both as a means to an end, as an end in itself.
Since community participation is a dynamic process its assessment should include both qualitative and quantitative aspects. A lot of literature agrees that assessment of community participation should not be based exclusively on the measurement of material; but social effects or processes of development are useful as well (Oakley, 1991). Hence this study was aimed at
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both qualitative and quantitative aspects of community participation in the SALCRA’s Oil Palm plantations. Besides looking at the rate of local participation in the land development projects the study also attempted to examine the nature and process of participation by the community in the affected areas.
A number of studies had been conducted pertaining to the participation of local people in SALCRA plantations. However, most of these related studies (King , 1986; Songan, et al., 1996; Horowitz, 1998; Ayob, et al., 1990; Ngidang, 1996) were focused on specific areas and ethnic group. The findings by Songan, et al. (1996) indicated that at the initial stage of development the Oil Palm scheme in Kalaka-Saraibas area most of the scheme participants were satisfied with the performance of SALCRA. Also the rate of community participation was found to be high.
Banerjee and Bojsen (2005) also conducted a study on land use strategies in the SALCRA Batang Ai resettlement scheme. One of the key findings of that study was that a large number of households have been discouraged to practice other agriculture activities, particularly shifting cultivation, other than being participants in plantation schemes. They noted that some households in the resettlement area adopted off-scheme agricultural activities in addition to working in the SALCRA plantation. The adoption of other forms of economic activities besides working in the oil palm plantation was seen as a livelihood strategy amongst the local participants. Incomes generated from their participation (i.e. working in the oil palm plantation) were insufficient to support the family’s growing needs.
Ahmad Madzan Ayob, et al. (1990) also had similar findings in that they pointed out that most households in the three SALCRA oil palm plantations they studied were involved with at least one other economic activity outside the boundary of the plantation areas. The majority of the scheme participants have off-scheme agriculture to fall back on considering the average income from the scheme was less than RM2,000 per year. This indicates that the livelihood of the communities do not and cannot entirely depend on the oil palm plantation. Lang (1987) also noted earlier on that for many rural Ibans, rice cultivation, which is one of the major off-scheme agricultural activities, is more than just growing a food crop but it is a way of life. This has caused serious disruptions to plantation operations as the number of available local labour decreases, particularly during rice farming season.
4. Research Methodology
This is a cross-sectional study involving SALCRA’s scheme participants; both existing as well as past participants. The study used both qualitative as well as quantitative methods of data collection. For the qualitative component, the researchers used observation and in-depth discussion with the respondents. The respondents were comprised of the local scheme participants, i.e. local landowners, as well as the SALCRA’s personnel in the respective oil palm schemes. For a comparative analysis, respondents were stratified based on ethnicity and region.
4.1 Population and sampling
For the quantitative approach to the study, the researchers have identified the schemes’ participants as the population of the study. All scheme participants in Saratok,-Saribas, Sri Aman/Lubok Antu, Serian and in Bau/Lundu SALCRA oil palm plantations were included as the study’s population. Since the size of the population was extremely large (estimated to be about 20,000 landowners), the researchers decided to select a sample of 500 respondents using
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proportionate stratified random sampling technique. A List of scheme participants in each of the schemes were used as sampling frame. Samples were selected based on region and ethnicity.
4.2 Data Collection
.A survey was conducted using interview schedule on selected respondents representing the three ethnic groups who are participating in the SALCRA Oil Palm estates. The interview schedule among others, include questions pertaining to the respondents’ off-scheme activities, their indigenous knowledge of livelihood strategies, their perception towards SALCRA oil palm project and the respondents’ socio-economic characteristics.
4.3 Data analysis
Data collected using interview schedule were processed and analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software. Data were summarized and tabulated to display the frequency distribution.
5. Major Findings and Discussions
The following section presents the major findings of the study in relation to the study’s objectives. The first part relates to the characteristics of the respondents (landowners and SALCRA’s Oil Palm Schemes participants). This is followed by the findings and discussions on the nature and level of landowner’s participation in the oil Palm schemes, their livelihood strategies and finally, the impacts of SALCRA’s Oil Palm schemes on the livelihood of the owners.
Characteristics of the Respondents
As seen in table 1, the respondents were mostly Iban (73.4%). The rest were Bidayuh (26.6%). They were located within the SALCRA Land development areas and most of the respondents were land owners who had participated in the SALCRA Oil Palm schemes. In terms of locality, the Iban respondents were located in 36 Iban longhouses in the Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, Betong and Saratok region whilst the Bidayuh respondents were from 13 Bidayuh villages in Bau, Sarawak (table 2). A total of 500 respondents were interviewed and most (57.6%) of the respondents were between 41 to 60 years old. Only a quarter of them were below 40 years old.
Table 1: Distribution of Respondents by Ethnicity
Ethnic group
No. of respondent
Percentage
Iban
367
73.4
Bidayuh
133
26.6
Total
500
100.0
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Also, majority (57%) of them were male respondents. The respondents were chosen based on their role in decision making in the family as well as their availability to respond to the survey conducted during the time of the interview.
Table 2: Distribution of Respondents by Locality/District
District
No. of respondents
Percentage (%)
Bau
131
26.2
Kabong/Roban
113
22.6
Lubok Antu
105
21.0
Engkilili
76
15.2
Pantu
75
15.0
Total
500
100.0
Indigenous People’s Participation in the Oil Palm Schemes
The concept of In-Situ land development undertaken by SALCRA implies that the local people (landowners) participate actively in the process of developing their land. The approach was genuinely good and in fact it seemed to be working pretty well during the initial stage of development. Based on our interview with the respondents, people were involved actively despite some initial objections in early years. It took a lot of efforts from SALCRA management team together with the help of local leaders to convince local landowners to finally agree to surrender their lands to be developed for oil palm scheme.
The benefits gained by local landowners, particularly monetary benefits mainly in terms of bonuses and dividends were initially very encouraging. However, things have changed drastically over the years. Some of the problems were beyond the control of SALCRA management (such as price of commodity) while others were partly attributed to the inappropriate intervention by SALCRA in its efforts to improve efficiency and performance. Consequently, that had led to the poor performance by several estates under SALCRA and had resulted in gradual lack of meaningful participation from the local people particularly in terms of actual involvement in the schemes.
One of the goals of the establishment of SALCRA’s oil palm schemes was to provide employment and consequently will help to reduce poverty among rural communities. From the survey (table 3), it was found out that only 17.8 % of the households had family members employed in the plantation sector (i.e. SALCRA’s Oil Palm Estates).
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Table 3: Employment in the Selected SALCRA Oil Palm Schemes
Are there any of your family members employed in Oil Palm Scheme?
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
89
17.8
No
411
82.2
Total
500
100.0
In fact, from the respective households surveyed, a total number of 112 persons are currently working in the plantation sector. Thus, the objectives of providing employment to the rural communities through plantation sector to the communities had not been fully realized.
The problem of lack of interest and gradual decrease in participation by local population, particularly working in an estate-type of environment was anticipated. In a paper presented at AZAM seminar in April 1986, Lang (1986) pointed out the importance of human element in development. He emphasized that the scheme participants should be involved in certain level of decision making. In the case of SALCRA the labour needed to implement the project comes from the project participants (i.e. landowners). Unfortunately many of the project participants still continue to practice hill rice cultivation, tapping rubber and planting pepper, practices which have caused serious disruptions to plantation operations. As a result many SALCRA schemes have reported difficulties in retaining local scheme participants to work in the plantation. To overcome labour shortages SALCRA had resorted to employing foreign workers as source of labour for SALCRA’s oil palm plantations.
The low rate of participation in the SALCRA oil palm schemes by the local people in later years partially contradicts the objectives of establishing SALCRA in the beginning. This could imply that the local people will not gain maximum economic benefits from the projects even though they may enjoy the infrastructural facilities provided for by SALCRA. In addition, the indigenous landowners are also assured of their rights to the land through issuance of land titles by the government (SALCRA, 2013). In SALCRA schemes, NCR landowner participants provide their land for one cycle of oil palm of 25 years, while SALCRA provides financial and technical resources. This venture is signified by a letter of consent between two parties, SALCRA and the native landowner participants (Majid Cooke, et.al., 2011).
Indigenous Knowledge – Livelihood Strategies
This study had attempted to examine the level of indigenous knowledge (IK) practice among SALCRA’s participants who are involved in Oil Palm industry but at the same time try to sustain their indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is said to be threatened through the destruction of forests replaced by government projects or through commercialization of natural resources (World Intellectual Property Organisation, October 1999: 9). The clearing of Native
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Customary Rights land for commercial plantation by SALCRA in Sarawak is one good example. Landowners no longer have control over their NCR land and the natural resources that they have managed for many generations once their lands are surrendered to SALCRA for Oil Palm plantation. From the survey it was found out that almost all (98.8%) of the respondents stated that they still collect forest products (table 4). Evidently the collections of forest products were carried out in the remaining forest areas which were not utilized for oil palm cultivation. Most of these products are for family use rather than for sale, although there were cases where vegetables collected from the forest ended up in the nearby markets. The distribution of respondents by the types of forest products collected is shown in table 4a below.
Table 4: Utilization of forest products by Ethnicity of Respondents
Ethnicity of Respondents
Frequency (%)
Iban
363 (72.6)
Bidayuh
131 (26.2)
Total
494 (98.8)
Table 4a: Distribution of Respondents by Types of Forest Products Collected
Types of Forest products collected
Frequency
Percentage
Construction timber
326
86.0
Other types of construction materials
90
23.0
Firewood
5
11.1
Bamboo
12
3.2
Rattan
137
73.7
Wild Mushroom
116
69.9
Weaving materials
219
73.2
Wild vegetables
94
25.5
Fruits
226
95.4
* Multiple responses (N=500)
The other aspect of the indigenous knowledge is how the local indigenous people (Iban and Bidayuh) adapt themselves to the changing economic environment. In other words, what are their livelihood strategies given the changes affecting them with the introduction of oil palm plantation in their area? In particular, the issue of concerns is with regard to the sources of income other than working in the oil palm scheme. This study as well as past studies also revealed that many farmers also have existing crops like rubber and pepper to maintain (table 5). With the current booming price of rubber many scheme participants have temporarily abandoned work in the oil palm plantations and concentrate on tapping rubber trees as they do get more income by doing so. At the same time there were cases where local participants left their rural community to seek
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employment elsewhere, particularly in the urban areas. All these strategies were undertaken out of necessity to meet the needs (mostly financial) of the landowners.
Table 5: Respondents’ Other Economic activities besides working with SALCRA Oil Palm Scheme
Other Activities
Frequency
Percentage *
Tapping rubber trees
42
53.8
Other general agricultural activities
40
51.3
Rice cultivation
35
44.9
Pepper cultivation
4
5.1
Note: * Multiple responses (n=78)
Findings from earlier an earlier study by Ayob et. al., (1990) also noted that scheme participants while working with SALCRA also spend equal amount of time on their land holdings where they grow subsistence as well as cash crops, such as pepper, cocoa, rubber, and fruit tree. Almost half of their income originates from their own smallholdings agriculture.
Impacts of SALCRA Oil Palm Schemes on the Livelihood of the people
One of the main objectives of SALCRA was to bring socio-economic development to the rural areas. That would mean better income and living conditions for the rural people. The development of idle land in the rural areas was seen as one of the strategies to help eradicate poverty amongst its population. The measures of improvement in the living conditions amongst rural population, particularly in the study areas, are mainly the income level of the families affected by the projects, the houses they occupied, and accessibility to infrastructural facilities available.
Household Income
Table 6 below shows that majority of the respondents were earning less than RM500.00 a month in terms of cash income. This amount is far below the state level poverty line (RM830.00). Fortunately, rural communities, including those in the study areas, have other sources of non-cash income to fall back on. It must be noted however, that cash income is a critical factor for many rural inhabitants as cash is needed by families to meet the necessities of life such as sending children to school, paying for transportation, electricity and water bills, and the like. Non-plantation agriculture (such as rice cultivation and rubber small holding) contributes significantly to the livelihood of the scheme participants. Thus, a reliable alternative source of cash income is deemed necessary as a livelihood strategy. Obviously, the local people’s perception of the income gained from employment in SALCRA’s scheme is not enough to sustain their livelihood. Nonetheless, yearly bonus and dividend given out by SALCRA is still an
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important component of cash income for many rural families in the affected areas. In fact, about 64% of the landowners indicated that one of the main reasons why they allowed SALCRA to develop their land was to increase income for their families. A study by Christensen et al (2003) in Kampung Bokah, Bau, Sarawak also found that the participation in SALCRA has improved the socio-economic condition in Bokah, as it increases the income opportunities for people in the kampung.
Table 6: Distribution of Respondents by Monthly Income
The Deputy Chief of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu, also claimed that “SALCRA had been successful in eradicating poverty in the rural areas based on the fact that the NCR landowners had been receiving dividends for participating in SALCRA oil palm schemes.” (The New Sarawak Tribune, 2013)
Further observations and discussions with the management in a few schemes revealed that the local people (landowners) are becoming less interested working in the oil palm scheme. Some of them prefer to do other jobs to earn additional income. Labour will still be an issue, as farmers tend get older, with the younger ones moving to the cities for emplylment.
Better Houses – indicator of improved living standard
The finding of the study indicate that all of the respondents are living in their own houses (either longhouse or village type). The quality of houses owned or occupied by the respondents and their family members to some extent indicates their well-being. From the survey, only about 40% of the longhouses (and the “bilek” in the longhouses) were rated as good compared to 54% in the village-type houses. However, only a very small fraction (less than 1%) of the respondents’ living quarters can be considered as in extremely poor condition (table 7). As claimed by SALCRA,
Respondent’s Monthly Household Income (RM)
Number of household
Percentage
≤300
242
48.4
301 – 500
118
23.6
501 – 700
50
10.0
701 – 900
29
5.8
901 – 1100
16
3.2
1101 – 1300
10
2.0
1301 – 1500
6
1.2
≥ 1501
29
5.8
Total
Range=50.00– 7000.00
Mean = 526.00
500
100.0
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many of the landowners who participated in the Oil Palm schemes have improved the conditions of their houses, many used to be wooden type houses, now upgraded to brick houses.
One of the reasons for the highly significant number of “good” houses can be partially attributed to the impact of SALCRA’s oil palm schemes found in some of the communities. From the researcher’s observation, those longhouses which were owned by scheme participants were likely to be better-off than those which were not. One would likely jump to a conclusion that scheme participants are better-off than those who are not. However, the bigger factor, in our opinion is that these houses are accessible by roads (one of the benefits of SALCRA’s land development) and therefore have easy access to the markets or towns where building materials can be obtained.
Table 7: Distribution of respondents by types of houses, conditions and construction materials
Types of house
Longhouse (66.8%)
Village-type house (33.2%)
Conditions:
Freq
%
Freq
%
Good
136
40.7
90
54.2
Moderate
192
57.5
64
38.6
Not in good condition
5
1.5
11
6.6
Very poor condition
1
0.3
1
0.6
Total
334
100.0
166
100.0
Ownership of Household Items
One’s life quality can be measured not only by how much income is generated but also by the types of equipment and facilities that one can use and enjoy in enhancing the comfort of life. Among others such facilities as Television, radio, telephone or hand phone, refrigerator, cars, air condition units, can improve the quality of life even in the rural areas. Table 8 below shows that almost every family (93.6%) owned a television set; almost up to 90% have radios and a significant number of families owned motorcycles and/or cars. Some families have refrigerators and/or fans, depending on availability of 24-hour electricity as well as their income level. It is worth noted here that those houses which accessed to electricity were likely to have more electrical appliances than those that does not. Table 8 below shows the distribution of respondents’ households by types of equipments and facilities owned.
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Table 8: Distribution of Respondents by ownership of Household Equipments and Facilities
Household Items Owned
Percentage of Respondents
Television
93.6
Radio
88.
Astro / Satellite TV
31.4
Cell-phone
10.8
Refrigerator
75.4
Air-condition
3.0
Car
42.0
Motorcycle
80.0
Gas stove
98.0
Fan
81.8
Sewing machine
46.4
Settee (sofa/cushion)
70.4
Infrastructural Facilities
One of the impacts of SALCRA oil palm schemes on nearby areas includes enhancement in accessibility to basic infrastructures and amenities. Basic infrastructures such as electricity, water supply, roads and bridges are important for the well-being of the people. From the survey, all of the villages are accessible by roads, with 66.2% of the respondents reported that the road leading to their villages and longhouses are tar-sealed. The other 33% of the respondents indicated that the roads leading to their houses are graveled road and they are looking forward for the government to upgrade those roads. Many of these roads were only built after the implementation of SALCRA oil palm projects. Other than providing access to oil palm estates, the building of access roads to many longhouses and villages was considered as SALCRA’s social responsibility to the scheme participants.
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Table 9: Distribution of respondents by their accessibility to infrastructural facilities
Infrastructural Facilities
Percentage (%) of Respondents having Access to Facilities
Percentage of Respondents who rated the conditions of Facilities as “good”
24 hr Electricity
75.0
90.9
Piped water
97.0
54.2
Clinic
74.0
86.2
Community hall
33.2
63.3
Telephone
30.8
62.3
School
99.2
92.1
Gravel road
34.2
6.4
Tar-sealed road
66.2
55.9
N=500
N=500
Conversely, table 9 shows about 75% of the respondents reported that they have access to 24-hour electricity; almost all (97%) of the respondents have access to piped water supply. However, slightly more than 50% of these respondents considered the condition of the piped water as moderately good. This is because the piped water is mostly gravity fed and usually untreated. Most of the respondents also reported having no problem with access to schools and health clinics or hospitals. Nevertheless, only about 30% of the respondents have telephones or hand phones. This is because the areas where they live do not have telephone lines or outside the range for reception of mobile phones.
Overall, most of the respondents were happy with the infrastructural facilities available to them. Many claimed that without the SALCRA projects most of the rural areas affected would still be lacking in some of the facilities that they are enjoying now. Seen from this angle, one could say that the quality of life among many of the respondents had improved significantly.
6. Conclusion
For the people who live in the rural areas land is their most important asset. Land has been the source of livelihood for the majority of rural populace in Sarawak. The development of the indigenous people’s land in some areas of Sarawak had brought about significant changes not only to the landscape but also to the quality of life in the rural areas. In Sarawak SALCRA is one of the agencies that has been entrusted by the state and federal government to develop rural NCR land, which are otherwise unutilized, for commercial oil palm plantations with the ultimate aim of eradicating poverty amongst the population in the rural areas state of Sarawak.
Spencer Empading Sanggin and Neilson Ilan Mersat, The Macrotheme Review 2(6), SI-IMT, 2013
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As evidenced from this study, there had been some significant changes in the lifestyle and quality of life of the Iban as well as the Bidayuh after the implementation of the oil palm plantation by SALCRA. However, the indigenous people’s participation in the oil palm schemes had gradually decreased over the years. In fact, most of the harvesting works in the SALCRA oil palm plantations have been taken over by foreign workers, mainly from Indonesia. Many of the local workers had resorted to other economic activities for their livelihood, including seeking employment in the urban areas.
Despite the decreased in the number of local people remained working in the oil palm scheme, SACLRA had brought some positive impacts to the Iban and Bidayuh indigenous communities in the affected areas. These include improvement in cash income to the families, accessibility to infrastructural facilities such as roads, water supply, electricity, clinics and so on, which makes the overall quality of life of the local people generally better.
References
[1]. Ahmad Mahdzan Ayob and Noran Fauziah Yaakub (1991).
Development and Change in Batang Ai. Perception of a Resettled Iban Community. Sarawak Museum Journal, Vol. XLII (No. 63), December, 1991.
[2]. Ayob, A.M, Khalid Abdul Rahman, Ahmad Shuib, Mohd Mansor Ismail, Sazali Abu Mansur and Noran Fauziah Yaakub (1990). A Socio-economic Study of Three SALCRA (Sarawak) Land Schemes: Participants' Perception, Attitudes and Levels of Living. Unpulished report submitted to the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (SALCRA), Dec. 1989-July 1990.
[3]. Banajerjee, N & Bojsen, K.P.M. (2005). Negotiability and limits to negotiability – land use strategies in the Salcra Batang Ai resettlement scheme, Sarawak, East Malaysia. Danish Journal of Geography 105(1): 17-28.
(4). Basiron, Y. (2007) Palm oil production through sustainable plantations. European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology 109 (2007): 289-295.
[5]. Beetham, D. (1992). Liberal democracy and the limits of democratization. In D. Held (ed.). Prospects for Democracy. North, south, east, west. Cambridge: Polity.
[6]. Charyulu, A.S. (2000) Dissemination of Indigenous Knowledge: A Way to Sustainable Agriculture. Material retrieved from the internet [http://www.manage.gov.in/ managelib/ faculty/chary.htm] March 28th 2008.(Accessed on 14 August 2013)
[7]. Christensen , L., Stine Grønbæk Jensen, S.G., Pedersen, S., and Pu W. (2003). The Impact of Oil Palm Scheme on Livelihood Strategies and Environment: Field Study in Kampung Bokah, Sarawak, Malaysia
Available at http://www.sluse.dk/Courses/ILUNRM/~/media/
AGRECO/SLUSE/ILUNRM/reports/02_03_MA_oilpalm.ashx. (Accessed on August 13, 2013).
[8]. Flavier, J.M. et al. (1995)""The regional program for the promotion of
indigenous knowledge in Asia", pp. 479-487 in Warren, D.M., L.J. Slikkerveer and D. Brokensha (eds) The cultural dimension of development: Indigenous knowledge systems. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.
Spencer Empading Sanggin and Neilson Ilan Mersat, The Macrotheme Review 2(6), SI-IMT, 2013
161
[9]. Friend, R and Funge-Smith, S.J (2002). Focusing small-scale aquaculture and aquatic resources management on poverty alleviation. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand. RAP Publication 2002/17. 24 pp.
[10]. Grenier, L. ( 1998). Working With Indigenous knowledge: A guide for researchers. Ottawa, ON: International Development Research Centre.
[11]. Horowitz, L.S. (2008). “It’s up to the clan to protect”: Cultural heritage and micropolitical ecology of conservation in New Caledonia. The Social Science Journal, vol 45, issue 2, June 2008, pp 258-278.
[12]. King , V. T. (1986). Planning for Agrarian change: Hydro-electric power, resettlement and Iban swidden cultivation in Sarawak, East Malaysia. Occasional paperNo. 11. Centre for South East Asian Studies. University of Hull.
[13]. Lang, D. (1987). Salcra’s experience in land development: A case study of Lubok Antu Oil Palm scheme. Angkatan Zaman Mansang, Jernal Azam (AZAM) No.3, 1987.
[14 ]. Majid Cooke, F., Ngidang, D. and Selamat, N. (2006) Learning by Doing, Social Transformation of Smallholder Oil Palm Economies of Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia. Report submitted to UNESCO under their Participatory Programme Research Project No. 272 132 03 MAL
[15]. Majid Cooke, F., Toh, S. and Vaz, J. (2011) Community-investor businessmodels: Lessons from the oil palm sector in East Malaysia. IIED/IFAD/FAO/ Universiti Malaysia Sabah, London/Rome/Kota Kinabalu.
[16]. Ngidang, D. (1996). Batang Ai Hydropower resettlement scheme: lessons learnt in resettlement and development in Sarawak: Experiences and future trends: proceedings of seminar. 28-29 June, 1995, Miri Sarawak. Angkatan Zaman Mansang (AZAM)
[17]. Oakley, P. (1991). Projects with people: The practice of participation in rural developmen. Geneva, International Labour Office, 1991
[18]. SALCRA . (2013). Corporate Information. Available at http://www.salcra.gov.my/v1/index.php/about-us/corporate-info. (Accessed on August 14, 2013).
[19]. Scoones, I and Thompson, J. (1994). Beyond farmer first. Intermediate Technology Publications, London.
[20]. Songan, P., Sanggin, S. E., & Abdullah, A. R. (1996). Kalaka-Saribas Integrated Agricultural Development Project: Project Completion Benefit Monitoring and Evaluation Report. Unpublished. State Planning Unit, Sarawak.
[21]. Sigwaza, T. (1997). Water and sanitation for all: partnerships and innovation: Community participation in Qadi-Nyuswa Project. 23rd WEDC conference, Durban, South Africa.
[22]. Teoh, C.H. (2010) Key Sustainability Issues in the Palm Oil Sector: A DiscussionPaper for Multi-Stakeholders Consultations. The World Bank Group.
[23]. United Nations (1981). Popular participation as a strategy for planning community level action and national development. New York: United Nations
Spencer Empading Sanggin and Neilson Ilan Mersat, The Macrotheme Review 2(6), SI-IMT, 2013
162
[24]. Warren, D.M., G.W. von Liebenstein, L.J. Slikkervee r (1993).
Networking for Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor. Vol. 1(1) pp 2-4.
[25]. Zoomers A. (1999). Linking livelihood strategies to development.: experiences from the Bolivian Andes. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute.
Newspaper articles
The Sarawak tribune (2013). 806 land titles issued to SALCRA scheme participants Wednesday 01-May-2013. Avilable at http://www.newsarawaktribune.com /news/4236// (Accessed on 13 August 2013).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Universiti Malaysia Sarawak for its support to attend the conference and the financial assistance through the Fundamental Research Grant, FRGS/05(11)/656/2007(21), for the completion of the research project.

Outcome Based Education Written by Don Closson

Outcome Based Education

Written by Don Closson

Outcome Based Education

Times are changing. The pressure on our public schools to improve, and change, has become intense. Since 1960 our population has increased by 41%, spending on education has increased by 225% (in constant 1990 dollars), but SAT scores have fallen by 8% (or 80 points). Although few would argue that the schools are solely to blame for our children's declining academic performance, many are hoping that schools can turn this trend around.
The decade of the 80s brought numerous education reforms, but few of them were a dramatic shift from what has gone on before. Outcome-based education (OBE) is one of those that is new, even revolutionary, and is now being promoted as the panacea for America's educational woes. This reform has been driven by educators in response to demands for greater accountability by taxpayers and as a vehicle for breaking with traditional ideas about how we teach our children. If implemented, this approach to curriculum development could change our schools more than any other reform proposal in the last thirty years.
The focus of past and present curriculum has been on content, on the knowledge to be acquired by each student. Our language, literature, history, customs, traditions, and morals, often called Western civilization, dominated the learning process through secondary school. If students learned the information and performed well on tests and assignments, they received credit for the course and moved on to the next class. The point here is that the curriculum centered on the content to be learned; its purpose was to produce academically competent students. The daily schedule in a school was organized around the content. Each hour was devoted to a given topic; some students responded well to the instruction, and some did not.
Outcome-based education will change the focus of schools from the content to the student. According to William Spady, a major advocate of this type of reform, three goals drive this new approach to creating school curricula. First, all students can learn and succeed, but not on the same day or in the same way. Second, each success by a student breeds more success. Third, schools control the conditions of success. In other words, students are seen as totally malleable creatures. If we create the right environment, any student can be prepared for any academic or vocational career. The key is to custom fit the schools to each student's learning style and abilities.
The resulting schools will be vastly different from the ones recent generations attended. Yearly and daily schedules will change, teaching responsibilities will change, classroom activities will change, the evaluation of student performance will change, and most importantly, our perception of what it means to be an educated person will change.

What is OBE?

Education is a political and emotional process. Just ask Pennsylvania's legislators. That state, along with Florida, North Carolina, and Kansas, has been rocked by political battles over the implementation of outcome-based educational reforms. The governor, the state board of education, legislators, and parents have been wrestling over how, and if, this reform should reshape the state's schools. Twenty-six other states claim to have generated outcome- based programs, and at least another nine are moving in that direction.
Before considering the details of this controversy, let's review the major differences between the traditional approach to schooling in America and an outcome-based approach.
Whereas previously the school calendar determined what a child might do at any moment of any school day, now progress toward specific outcomes will control activity. Time, content, and teaching technique will be altered to fit the needs of each student. Credit will be given for accomplishing stated outcomes, not for time spent in a given class.
The teacher's role in the classroom will become that of a coach. The instructor's goal is to move each child towards pre-determined outcomes rather than attempting to transmit the content of Western civilization to the next generation in a scholarly fashion. This dramatic change in the role of the teacher will occur because the focus is no longer on content. Feelings, attitudes, and skills such as learning to work together in groups will become just as important as learning information--some reformers would argue more important. Where traditional curricula focused on the past, reformers argue that outcome-based methods prepare students for the future and for the constant change which is inevitable in our society.
Many advocates of outcome-based education feel that evaluation methods must change as well since outcomes are now central to curriculum development. We can no longer rely on simple cognitive tests to determine complex outcomes. Vermont is testing a portfolio approach to evaluation, in which art work, literary works, and the results of group projects are added to traditional tests in order to evaluate a student's progress. Where traditional testing tended to compare the abilities of students with each other, outcome-based reform will be criterion based. This means that all students must master information and skills at a predetermined level in order to move on to the next unit of material.

Implementing OBE Reform

Reformers advocating an outcome-based approach to curriculum development point to the logical simplicity of its technique. First, a list of desired outcomes in the form of student behaviors, skills, attitudes, and abilities is created. Second, learning experiences are designed that will allow teachers to coach the students to a mastery level in each outcome. Third, students are tested. Those who fail to achieve mastery receive remediation or retraining until mastery is achieved. Fourth, upon completion of learner outcomes a student graduates.
On the surface, this seems to be a reasonable approach to learning. In fact, the business world has made extensive use of this method for years, specifically for skills that were easily broken down into distinct units of information or specific behaviors. But as a comprehensive system for educating young minds, a few important questions have been raised. The most obvious question is who will determine the specific outcomes or learner objectives? This is also the area creating the most controversy across the country.

Transitional vs. Transformational OBE

According to William Spady, a reform advocate, outcomes can be written with traditional, transitional, or transformational goals in mind. Spady advocates transformation goals.
Traditional outcome-based programs would use the new methodology to teach traditional content areas like math, history, and science. The state of Illinois is an example of this approach. Although outcomes drive the schooling of these children, the outcomes themselves reflect the traditional content of public schools in the past.
Many teachers find this a positive option for challenging the minimal achiever. For example, a considerable number of students currently find their way through our schools, accumulating enough credits to graduate, while picking up little in the way of content knowledge or skills. Their knowledge base reflects little actual learning, but they have become skilled in working the system. An outcome-based program would prevent such students from graduating or passing to the next grade without reaching a pre-set mastery level of competency.
The idea of transformational reform is causing much turmoil. Transformational OBE subordinates course content to key issues, concepts, and processes. Indeed, Spady calls this the "highest evolution of the OBE concept." Central to the idea of transformational reform is the notion of outcomes of significance. Examples of such outcomes from Colorado and Wyoming school systems refer to collaborative workers, quality producers, involved citizens, self-directed achievers, and adaptable problem solvers. Spady supports transformational outcomes because they are future oriented, based on descriptions of future conditions that he feels should serve as starting points for OBE designs.
True to the spirit of the reform philosophy, little mention is made about specific things that students should know as a result of being in school. The focus is on attitudes and feelings, personal goals, initiative, and vision--in their words, the whole student.
It is in devising learner outcomes that one's worldview comes into play. Those who see the world in terms of constant change, politically and morally, find a transformation model useful. They view human nature as evolving, changing rather than fixed.
Christians see human nature as fixed and unchanging. We were created in God's image yet are now fallen and sinful. We also hold to moral absolutes based on the character of God. The learner outcomes that have been proposed are controversial because they often accept a transformational, changing view of human nature. Advocates of outcome-based education point with pride to its focus on the student rather than course content. They feel that the key to educational reform is to be found in having students master stated learner outcomes. Critics fear that this is exactly what will happen. Their fear is based on the desire of reformers to educate the whole child. What will happen, they ask, when stated learner outcomes violate the moral or religious views of parents?
For example, most sex-education courses used in our schools claim to take a value-neutral approach to human sexuality. Following the example of the Kinsey studies and materials from the Sex Education and Information Council of the United States, most curricula make few distinctions between various sex acts. Sex within marriage between those of the opposite sex is not morally different from sex outside of marriage between those of the same sex. The goal of such programs is self-actualization and making people comfortable with their sexual preferences.
Under the traditional system of course credits a student could take a sex-ed course, totally disagree with the instruction and yet pass the course by doing acceptable work on the tests presented. Occasion-ally, an instructor might make life difficult for a student who fails to conform, but if the student learns the material that would qualify him or her for a passing grade and credit towards graduation.
If transformational outcome-based reformers have their way, this student would not get credit for the course until his or her attitudes, feelings, and behaviors matched the desired goals of the learner outcomes. For instance, in Pennsylvania the state board had recommended learner outcomes that would evaluate a student based on his or her ability to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of families. Many feel that this is part of the effort to widen the definition of families to include homosexual couples. Another goal requires students to know about and use community health resources. Notice that just knowing that Planned Parenthood has an office in town isn't enough, one must use it.

Parents vs. the State

The point of all this is to say that transformational outcome- based reform would be a much more efficient mechanism for changing our children's values and attitudes about issues facing our society. Unfortunately, the direction these changes often take is in conflict with our Christian faith. At the core of this debate is this question, "Who has authority over our children?" Public officials assume they do. Governor Casey of Pennsylvania, calling for reform, told his legislature, "We must never forget that you and I--the elected representatives of the people--and not anyone else--have the ultimate responsibility to assure the future of our children." I hope this is merely political hyperbole. I would argue that parents of children in the state of Pennsylvania are ultimately responsible for their children's future. The state has rarely proved itself a trustworthy parent.
Outcome-based education is an ideologically neutral tool for curricular construction; whether it is more effective than traditional approaches remains to be seen. Unfortunately, because of its student-centered approach, its ability to influence individuals with a politically correct set of doctrines seems to be great. Parents (and all other taxpayers) need to weigh the possible benefits of outcome-based reform with the potential negatives.

Other Concerns About OBE

Many parents are concerned about who will determine the learner outcomes for their schools. One criticism already being heard is that many states have adopted very similar outcomes regardless of the process put in place to get community input. Many wonder if there will be real consideration of what learner outcomes the public wants rather than assuming that educators know what's best for our children. Who will decide what it means to be an educated person, the taxpaying consumer or the providers of education?
If students are going to be allowed to proceed through the material at their own rate, what happens to the brighter children? Eventually students will be at many levels, what then? Will added teachers be necessary? Will computer-assisted instruction allow for individual learning speeds? Either option will cost more money. Some reformers offer a scenario where brighter students help tutor slower ones thereby encouraging group responsibility rather than promoting an elite group of learners. Critics feel that a mastery- learning approach will inevitably hold back brighter students.
With outcome-based reform, many educators are calling for a broader set of evaluation techniques. But early attempts at grading students based on portfolios of various kinds of works has proved difficult. The Rand Corporation studied Vermont's attempt and found that "rater reliability--the extent to which raters agreed on the quality of a student's work--was low." There is a general dislike of standardized tests among the reformers because it focuses on what the child knows rather than the whole child, but is there a viable substitute? Will students find that it is more important to be politically correct than to know specific facts?
Another question to be answered by reformers is whether or not school bureaucracies will allow for such dramatic change? How will the unions respond? Will legislative mandates that are already on the books be removed, or will this new approach simply be laid over the rest, creating a jungle of regulations and red tape? Reformers supporting outcome-based education claim that local schools will actually have more control over their programs. Once learner outcomes are established, schools will be given the freedom to create programs that accomplish these goals. But critics respond by noting that although districts may be given input as to how these outcomes are achieved, local control of the outcomes themselves may be lost.
Finally, there are many who feel that focusing on transformational learner outcomes will allow for hidden agendas to be promoted in the schools. Many parents feel that there is already too much emphasis on global citizenship, radical environmentalism, humanistic views of self-esteem, and human sexuality at the expense of reading, writing, math, and science. They feel that education may become more propagandistic rather than academic in nature. Parents need to find out where their state is in regards to this movement. If an outcome-based program is being pursued, will it focus on traditional or transformational outcomes? If the outcomes are already written and adopted, can a copy be acquired? If they are not written yet, how can parents get involved?
If the state is considering a transformational OBE program, parental concerns should be brought before the legislature. If the reform is local, parents should contact their school board. Parents have an obligation to know what is being taught to their children and if it works. Recently, parental resistance halted the OBE movement in Pennsylvania when it was pointed out to the legislature that there is no solid evidence that the radical changes pro-posed will actually cause kids to learn more. While we still can, let's make our voices heard on this issue.
Notes
1. "Beyond Traditional Outcome-Based Education," Educational Leadership (October 1991), p. 67.
2. "Taking Account," Education Week (17 March 1993), p. 10.
3. "Beyond Traditional," p. 70.
4. "Amid Controversy, Pa. Board Adopts 'Learner Outcomes,'" Education Week (20 January 1993), p. 14.
5. "Casey Seeks Legislative Changes in Pa. Learning Goals," Education Week (3 February 1993), p. 19.
6. "Taking Account," p. 12.

©1993 Probe Ministries

Project Title : Human Communities and Their Uses of Natural Resources

Project Title : Human Communities and Their Uses of Natural Resources   

 

 

Executive Summary of Research Proposal (maximum 300 words)

(Please  include the background of research, literature reviews, objectives, research methodology and expected outcomes from the research project)

 

Ringkasan Cadangan Eksekutif Penyelidikan (maksima 300 patah perkataan)

(Meliputi latar belakang penyelidikan, kajian literatur, kaedah penyelidikan, objektif dan jangkaan hasil penyelidikan)

 

Located on the island of Borneo, Sarawak, covering an area of 12.5 million hectares, has 36 ethnic indigeneous groups (Joe & Insham, 2004).  Sarawak is also a state which is richly endowed with natural resources.  The abundant natural resources in Sarawak are not only the main driver for economic growth. In fact, many indigeneous communities in Sarawak are still dependent greatly on these resources for their daily life, cultural heritage, social value, traditions, medical knowledge, belief system and quality of life (Joe & Insham, 2004). Thus, promoting sustainable socio-economic community development and natural resource management in the national development strategies are playing a crucial role in this context. With the many sub-ethnic groups carrying their respective indigeneous knowledge, a total number of 6000 respondents will be interviewed in this study to identify different indigeneous communities found in Western Sarawak ranging from the Sarawak River, Batang Sadong River and Batang Lupar River riverine. This study also tries to explore various uses of flora & fauna currently still found in Western Sarawak among the different local indigenous communities and make comparison on the economic, social, cultural values of these natural resources to the local communities. On the other hand, this study would also investigate possible gaps in the current local knowledge of these natural resources uses between the elderly and the younger generations; and to explore the practices among the indigeneous communities on the conservation and preservation of different uses of various types of flora and fauna found in Western Sarawak besides accessing the livelihood strategies of these indigeneous communities and to evaluate to what extent these livelihood strategies are sustainable in the changing biodiversity environment in Western Sarawak. Finally, it is hoped that appropriate policies would be recommended to ensure a more sustainable use of natural resources particularly in Western Sarawak.

 

Detailed proposal of research project:

Cadangan maklumat penyelidikan secara terperinci:

 

(a) Research background including  Hypothesis /Research Questions and Literature Reviews.        Keterangan latar belakang penyelidikan termasuk kenyataan hipotesis / persoalan penyelidikan dan kajian literatur.

       

Sarawak, covering an area of 12.5 million hectares, has 36 ethnic indigeneous groups (Joe & Insham, 2004).  It is also richly endowed with natural resources.  The abundant natural resources in Sarawak are not only the main driver for economic growth. Many indigeneous communities in Sarawak are still dependent very much on the biodiversity of the resources for their daily life, cultural heritage, social value, traditions, medical knowledge, belief system and quality of life (Joe & Insham, 2004). Nevertheless, many areas including protected areas in Borneo are already moderately to seriously altered as a result of logging or fires set for purposes of local claims (Curran et al, 2004).  Promoting sustainable socio-economic community development and natural resource management in the national development strategies are thus playing particularly crucial role in this context. Integrating local knowlege into a more scientific research setting (Oudwater and Martin, 2003) is increasingly gaining importance to ensure sustainability of natural resource management (Steele and Shackleton, 2010).  This is important as it involves local community participation and it in fact entails inclusiveness by involving stakeholders in the decision making process. Furthermore, engaging the local community by understanding how they currently use and value the natural resources available in the area is deemed very crucial in ensuring that the indigeneous knowledge to practise conservation and uses of different natural resources available is preserved to sustain their livelihoods.  At the same time, it will ensure conservation of the ecosystem and natural resources in the area. This would ultimately enhance success rate in preserving rich biodiversity particularly in the state of Sarawak. Several studies (Nakagawa et al., 2006; Ashton & Macintosh, 2002) have raised concerns on how the local communities utilize the natural resources available in a particular area has caused degradation and even threatened the ecosystem.

 

According to the 2010 census, there is 2.5 million total population in Sarawak.  This study will focus on the study area in Western Sarawak which ranges from the Sarawak River, Batang Sadong River and Batang Lupar River.  Generally, the population density is higher at the lowland areas as compared to highland areas.  Majority of the Ibans are staying near Batang Lupar area, Malays staying at coastal area of Sarawak River. A mixture of Malays and Bidayuh stay near Batang Sadong and Sarawak River. In fact, each river basin in Sarawak is a distinct social unit (Rousseau, 1990).   In Sarawak, different human communities would use natural resources either for the similar or different purposes. Iban, the largest population of Sarawak, for instance, though known in the anthropological literature as pioneer shifting cultivators, the vast majority of Iban communities practice a cyclic-shift or forest-fallow system of land use involving the continual recultivation of young secondary forest (Cramb, 1988; Cramb & Wills, 1990).

 

In the light of the above, several research questions have been formulated to capture information on what are the natural resources still available in Western Sarawak that are currently still consumed and used by the locals.  What are the common household consumption as well as customary rituals, cultural, religious, medicinal and other uses of these natural resources among the local communities in the study area? How important are these natural resources to the locals? What are the economic, social, cultural values these natural resources to the locals? What are some of the possible gaps in the current local knowledge of these natural resources uses between the elderly and younger generations? To what extent have the local (or indigeneous) knowledge of different uses of these natural resources been preserved and documented? What are the issues and challenges to ensure the sustainable use of these natural resources particularly among the locals in this area? Is there any regulatory or institutional or even social capital support which can protect the over-expoitation of these natural resources and their uses in the area? What are the effective measures that can be taken to ensure sustainable uses of these natural resources in Western Sarawak?

 

Thus, the objectives of this study are to identify different human communities particularly the indigeneous communities found in Western Sarawak and to explore various cultural, religious, medicinal, cullinary and other uses of flora & fauna currently still found in Western Sarawak among different local indigenous communities. This study also tries to make comparison on the economic, social, cultural values of these natural resources to the local communities. On the other hand, this study would also investigate possible gaps in the current local knowledge of these natural resources uses between the elderly and the younger generations; and to explore the practices among the indigeneous communities on the conservation and preservation of different uses of various types of flora and fauna found in Western Sarawak.  In addition, this study would also access the livelihood strategies of these indigeneous communities and to find out to what extent these livelihood strategies are sustainable in the changing biodiversity environment in Western Sarawak. Finally, it is hoped that an appropriate regulatory and institutional framework or even social capital support would be recommended to ensure a more sustainable use of natural resources in the Western Sarawak.  On the other hand, a document repository on various uses of the natural resources among the human communities particularly among the indigeneous communities would also be created by the end of this study. This is crucially important if we were to conserve the rich biodiversity available in the area to enhance the well-being of the local community.  Besides that, it is important to document this indigeneous knowledge on the uses of natural resource for preservation and for the uses of future generation.

 

 

 

(b)   Objective (s) of the Research

 Objektif Penyelidikan

 

        Example /Contoh:

       

        This study embarks on the following objectives:

 

1)    To investigate ......

 

                    2)   To assess..........

                  

 3)    To investigate ......

 

4)    To make recommendation based on ......................

     

         The objectives of this study are as follows:

 

1)    To identify the human communities particularly the indigeneous communities found in Western Sarawak and make comparisons on how these communities use these natural resources today as compared to those in the past;

2)    To identify various cultural, religious, medicinal, cullinary and other uses of flora & fauna currently still found in Western Sarawak among different local indigenous communities and make comparison on the economic, social, cultural values of these natural resources to them;

3)    To investigate possible gaps in the current local knowledge of these natural resources uses between the elderly and the younger generations;

4)    To explore the practices among different human communities particularly among the indigeneous communities on the conservation and preservation of different uses of various types of flora and fauna found in Western Sarawak;

5)    To access the livelihood strategies of these human communities and to evaluate to what extent these livelihood strategies are sustainable in the changing biodiversity environment in Western Sarawak;

6)    To determine appropriate regulatory and institutional or even social capital support which can protect the over-expoitation of these natural resources and their uses in the area and make recommendations on the effective measures that can be taken to ensure sustainable uses of these natural resources in Western Sarawak;

7)    To create a document repository on the uses of natural resources available in Western Sarawak among all the human communities residing there.

 

  

(c)    Methodology

        Kaedah penyelidikan

 

Please state in the form / Sila nyatakan di borang ini

 

1.    Description of Methodology

 

In this study, a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to gather data and information to find out all the human communities residing on the major river basins in Western Sarawak.  Surveys will be conducted by employing various methodological approaches including Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods to find out how these human communities were using and are still using different types of flora and fauna species available along Sarawak River, Batang Sadong River and Batang Lupar River for their own consumption either as food, medicine, for cultural, religious or other purposes.  Questionnaires and interview schedule will be designed to find out the livelihood strategies, various uses of these natural resources and practices of conservation and preservation of various uses of the natural resources found in the Western Sarawak from Tanjung Datu in Lundu to Batang Lupar area by these different indigenous communities.  Activities carried out to solicit information needed in this study also include in-depth and focus group interviews to find out information about historical timeline on resources availability, livelihood matrix in the area and resource wealth and how it affects the quality of life of the communities residing in those areas.  On the other hand, different levels of knowledge on the uses of natural resources available in the study area by both the elderly and younger generations will also be captured through in-depth and focus group interviews.

 

In terms of data collection, only those who are above 12 years old will be included in the sampling frame as the total population of the study.  The rationale of this specification is to get someone in the area comprising of both the elderly and the younger generations who are able to talk about different flora and fauna found in the area and how the local communities use them. Generally, the whole Western Sarawak will be divided into three main areas for sampling purposes, namely the upper, middle and coastal areas.  As more population is found near the coastal and middle areas as compared to upper land area, the proportion of sample frame for upper, middle and coastal areas will be 20:40:40. Stratified Sampling method will be used to collect 6000 samples from the sampling frame for interviews.  Based on the calculations made on the ratio of 20:40:40 for upper, middle and coastal areas, the number of respondents that would be interviewed for would be 1200: 2400: 2400 in the three respective areas (upper, middle and coastal areas).  In each of the areas, another stratum based on the different indigenous communities found in the areas such as Bidayuh (comprising of Bidayuh Sadong, Bidayuh residing along the Batang Kayan river in the Bau/Lundu district and Bidayuh Serian/ Padawan), Iban, Malay, Melanao, etc would be selected for interviews to find out how these different groups of communities use, preserve and conserve the natural resources available in the area. 

 

Besides primary data collected from the local communities, secondary sources of information from Sarawak Gazette, collections from Sarawak Muzeum, Department of Forestry, Department of Statistics and other related agencies and departments would be carried out as well to find out different types of natural resources and their uses by the local communities in the past as well.  Both qualitative and quantitative analysis would be employed for data analysis purpose before discussion on findings and recommendations on sustainable uses of natural resources in the area are made at the end of the study.

 

 

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