Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

An Empirical Study on Compatibility of Sarawak Forest Ordinance and Bidayuh Native Customary Laws in Forest Management

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Small-scale Forestry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the compatibility between the Sarawak Forest Ordinance and Bidayuh Native Customary Laws in Sarawak and to gather the community members’ opinions on the compatibility of these laws. This study was carried out using two research methods, viz. a literature review and a survey among the Bidayuh community in Bau, Sarawak. The documents reviewed were the Forest Ordinance Chapter 126 (1958) and the Adat Bidayuh Order, 1994. There are several notable differences between the two laws in terms of, forest ownership, losing of rights to forest or inheritance, and the management of forest. A list of statements with six interval scales was presented and a majority of Bidayuh community members neither disagreed nor agreed with the statement, (1) Forest Ordinance respects the Bumiputera people’s rights (37.5 %; SD = 1.259) and (2) Forest Ordinance protects the Bumiputera people’s rights (37.5 %; SD = 1.281). The community members are also not sure about the consistency between these two laws (28.1 %; SD = 1.182). These results indicated the need for the State to respect the natives’ rights toward the forest land and its resources, recognize the Bidayuh Native Customary Laws and for the native people to learn about the constitutional provisions. Further studies are needed because the knowledge of Native Customary Law itself cannot guarantee the natives’ future in terms of economic, social and environmental aspects and there is also a need to review the current laws to achieve the objective to protect and preserve the natives’ rights.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. A sultanate is a country that is ruled by a sultan or the period during which a sultan rules.

  2. Interior Area Land—The unsurveyed land, not falling under any of the other four categories (Mixed Zone Land, Native Area Land, Native Customary Land and Reserved Land).

References

  • Bau District Office (2013) List of villages and village chiefs for Bau District year 2013 (Senarai kampung dan ketua kaum bagi daerah Bau Tahun 2013). Bau, Sarawak, Malaysia

  • Chang PF (1999) Legends and history of Sarawak. Lee Ming Press Co., Kuching

    Google Scholar 

  • Colchester M, Wee AP, Wong MC, Jalong T (2007) Land is life: land rights and oil palm development in sarawak. Perkumpulan Sawit Watch Forest Peoples Programme, Bogor

    Google Scholar 

  • de Man R (2012) Agricultural commodities that respect land rights and food security: how to include land governance issues in sustainable commodity standards? Annual World Bank conference on land and poverty, The World Bank, Washington DC, 23–26 April 2012

  • Department of Statistics Malaysia (2010) Population and housing census of Malaysia, 2010 (Sarawak). Malaysia. http://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/down;oad_population/files/population/05jadual_mukim_negeri/Mukim_Sarawak.pdf

  • Egay K (2007) Matter of access, not rights: indigenous people, external institutions and their squabbles in mid-Tinjar river, Sarawak. Working paper no. 13. UNIMAS, Kuching, Sarawak

  • FDS (Forest Department Sarawak) (2013) Official website of Forest Department Sarawak. http://www.forestry.sarawak.gov.my/page.php?id=67andmenu_id=0andsub_id=99

  • Fox J, Fujita Y, Ngidang D, Peluso N, Potter L, Sakuntaladewi N, Strugeon J, Thomas D (2009) Policies, political-economy and swidden in Southeast Asia. Hum Ecol 37(3):305–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friends of the Earth (2007) Sarawak indigenous communities: background situation and challenges. Briefing paper III, Submission for the European Union Delegation for Forest, Law, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), Miri, Sarawak

  • Haarlov-Johnsen P, Ali MO, Jemal AT, Meilinda W (2008) Impact of land use changes on communities’ livelihood strategies and environment in Kampung Empayang, Sarawak. Working paper on interdisciplinary land use and natural resource management, Kuching, Sarawak

  • Jalong T (2012) Indigenous peoples and forest governance in Sarawak: current issues and challenges. Regional conference “sustainable forestry through good governance” Organised by Transparency International-Malaysia, 23–24 Feb 2012

  • Jong WD (1998) Taking non-timber forest products out of the forest: management, production and biodiversity conservation. In: NTFP research in the Tropenbos Programme: results and perspectives, pp 145–158

  • Liew CF (2007) Sustainable forest management in Sarawak. Presentation slide, 17 Jan 2007, Kuching, Sarawak

  • Majid Cooke F (2005) Chapter 1: recent development and conservation interventions in Borneo. Asia-Pacific environment monograph 1 state, communities and forests in contemporary Borneo. ANU E Press, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

  • Majlis Adat Istiadat (Council for Native Customs and Tradition) (2009) The Native Customary Law Ordinance: The Adat Bidayuh Order, 1994. Building Initiatives in Indigenous Heritage, Kuching, Sarawak

  • Mason R, Jawan JA (2003) Bumiputera policy and ‘Dayakism’: an interpretation. Kaji Malays 21:1–2

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran M, Memmott P, Long S, Stacy R, Holt J (2002) Indigenous home ownership and community title land: a preliminary household survey. Urban Policy Res 20(4):357–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ngidang D (2005) Deconstruction and reconstruction of native customary land tenure in Sarawak. Southeast Asian Stud 43(1):47–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Pour AB, Hashim Mazlan, Van Genderen J (2013) Detection of hydrothermal alteration zones in a tropical region using satellite remote sensing data: Bau goldfield, Sarawak, Malaysia. Ore geology reviews. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • SFC (Sarawak Forestry Corporation) (2006). http://www.sarawakforestry.com/htm/abontus

  • SGP (Sarawak Government Printer) (1997) Laws of Sarawak: forest ordinance chapter 126 (1958 edition) revision 1997. Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad, Kuching

    Google Scholar 

  • SGP (Sarawak Government Printer) (1999) Laws of Sarawak: land code chapter 81, 1958th edn. Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad, Kuching

    Google Scholar 

  • State Planning Unit (2012) Sarawak: facts and figures 2012. Chief Minister’s Department

  • Su MT, Grace KT (2005) Case study: Sabah forest ownership. Report for Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Global Forestry Services Inc.

  • Tan CB (1997a) Indigenous people, the state and ethnogenesis: a study of the communal associations of the ‘Dayak’ communities in Sarawak, Malaysia. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 28(2). HighBeam Research

  • Tan CB (1997b) Ethnic groups, ethnogenesis and ethnic identities: some examples from Malaysia. Paper presented at the international symposium “meeting point of cultures: Macau and ethnic diversity in Asia”, Instituto Cultural de Macau, 3–7 Nov 1993, Macau

  • UNPFII (United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues) (2006) Special theme: the millennium development goals and indigenous peoples: re-defining the millennium development goals, 15–26 May 2006, United Nations Headquarters, New York

  • Xanthaki A (2003) Land rights of indigenous peoples in South-east Asia. Melb J Int Law 4(2):467–496

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the cooperation of the Kampung Bobak community members during data collection phase. The authors also would like to thank Bau District Office and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) for permitting us to conduct this study in Bau, Sarawak. We would like to acknowledge the comments made by the anonymous reviewers that greatly improved the quality of this paper. This study was supported under the Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation by The Rufford Foundation with the Reference Number of 13988-1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julia Nelson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nelson, J., Muhammed, N. & Rashid, R.A. An Empirical Study on Compatibility of Sarawak Forest Ordinance and Bidayuh Native Customary Laws in Forest Management. Small-scale Forestry 15, 135–148 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-015-9313-y

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-015-9313-y

Keywords

Navigation