No.8 February 2014 8 Reports from Project Members Ethnoscape of Riverine Society in Bintulu Division Yumi Kato Hiromitsu Samejima Ryoji Soda Motomitsu Uchibori Katsumi Okuno Noboru Ishikawa ........................................ 1 Events and Activities Reports on Malaysian Palm Oil Board Library etc. Jason Hon ............................................................................................ 15 The List of Project Members ........................................................ 18 Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) In front of a longhouse of Tatau people at lower Anap River March 2013 (Photo by Yumi Kato) Reports from Project Members division has more non-Malaysian citizens, Iban and Ethnoscape of Riverine Society in Melanau people than other areas and less Chinese Bintulu Division and Malay residents. Yumi Kato (Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University) Hiromitsu Samejima (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Historically, the riverine areas of the Kemena and Kyoto University) Ryoji Soda (Graduate School of Literature and Human Tatau were under the rule of the Brunei sultanate until Sciences, Osaka City University) the late 19th century and the areas were nothing but Motomitsu Uchibori (Faculty of Liberal Arts, The Open University of Japan) sparsely-populated uncultivated land (Tab. 1). Back Katsumi Okuno (College of Liberal Arts, J.F. Oberlin then the Vaie Segan and Penan inhabited the basin University) Noboru Ishikawa (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University) Other-Malaysian Introduction Citizens Non-Malaysian 0% Citizens The study site of this project is the riverine areas Orang Ulu 21% Iban 5% 40% Bidayuh 1% of the Kemena and Tatau Rivers in the Bintulu Divi- Malay 9% sion. This article provides an overview of the ethnic Melanau Chinese groups living along those rivers. However, the de- 10% 14% tails of these people, their backgrounds, and their inter-ethnic relationships are covered in many other Department of Statistics Malaysia, Sarawak (2011) studies, so this article solely focuses on depicting Fig.1: Population Compositon by Ethnic Group in Bintulu (2010) the overviews of the ethnoscape. The authors hope Tab.1: Demographic changes in the Bintulu Division this article will be used by social science researchers as a depository; adding knowledge and information to it along with their further studies. For natural sci- ence researchers it could provide an ethnic directory that researchers can bring along to the field work for reference. Overview The statistical data shows that the population of Note1: Dayaks refers to the Iban. the Bintulu Division was approximately 230,000 in Note2: Punans includes both Penan and Punan. 2010. The Iban, which occupies 40% of the popu- lation, is the primal ethnic group followed by the Chinese (14%), Melanau (10%), Malay (9%) and Bidayuh (1%) (Fig. 1). Orang Ulu, comprising in- land ethnic groups such as the Kayan and Kenyah covers a mere 5% of the population. The ratio of non-Malaysia citizens reaches as high as 21% of the total population in this area. A significant feature of the Bintulu Division compared to the constituent population ratio of the whole of Sarawak is that the Photo1: Metu Ulau River (photo by Jabatan Residen Bahagian Bintulu) 1 Planted Forests in Equatorial Southeast Asia: Fig.2 : Major Rivers in North Borneo Fig.3 : Distribution of villages along the Kemana and Tatau Rivers Human-nature Interactions in High Biomass Society 2 of the Kemena River and the Tatau people lived in early 20th centuries, they practiced headhunting the Tatau Basin. Bintulu is said to come from the vigorously in accordance with their traditions. The Vaie Segan words, “metu ulau,” which means to Iban’s headhunting was practiced in the course of smoke the head of the enemy. Even today there is their battles with other minor ethnic groups such as a tributary of the Sebezaw River, the river of Metu the Punan or Bekatan, and those groups were gradu- Ulau, from which the name of Bintulu is said to be ally edged to the Kemena and Tatau Basins. Other derived1 (Photo 1). With the advent of the 19th cen- groups like the Penan, Tatau and Lugat are said to tury, the Kayan, Punan, Bekatan and Lugat began to have fled from the Iban or decided to become a part cross the ridges at the upper reaches of the Rajang of Iban societies (Kedit and Chang 2007). Bekatan River and settled there. In 1883, the basins of both people, on the other hand, became local guides to the Kemena and Tatau Rivers were ceded to the lead Ibans on their headhunting expeditions, devel- Brooke sovereign state from the Brunei sultan. Dur- oping cooperative relations (Uchibori, 1994). The ing this same period, many Ibans came over to this Iban have made a living by planting rice, tapping area from the western part of Sarawak, the Skrang rubber, catching fish, hunting animals such as wild and Saribas areas (Fig. 2). The Chinese also began boars and raising livestock. The cultivation of rice to arrive in this area for trade. isn’t as popular today as it was before, and many of them find jobs in the urban areas or timber compa- The rest of this article provides concise introduc- nies. Oil palm smallholdings are also popular among tions of ethnic groups in Bintulu, such as the Iban, them today. Kayan, Kenyah and Punan (Fig. 3). It should be noted that the following numbers of villages catego- Among Iban communities, traditional religion is rized by ethnicity are based on governmental infor- still strong but it is common to find many Christians. mation which may not reflect the actual situation. Their traditional harvest festival, gawai, is today held on the first day of June, which is officially des- Iban ignated as a public holiday by the state government The Iban are the largest ethnic group in Sarawak. of Sarawak. During the festival period, home-brew They are also found in Sabah, Brunei and Indonesia. wine, tuak, made from sweet rice is served. Iban The Iban, previously inhabiting coastal areas, were society is said to be non-hierarchical and bilateral called Sea Dayak, as many of them were engaged in (Freeman 1955), and their language is similar to acts of piracy. The Iban are said to come from the Sarawakian-Malay. Kapuas River of West Kalimantan, Indonesia (Prin- gle 1970). They mainly lived by swidden agriculture According to government records, there are 410 and moved their settlements through the process of Iban longhouses in all areas of the Bintulu Divi- shifting cultivation. They came to the southwest area sion. 229 of them are in the Bintulu District and the of Sarawak by the 15th century and settled on the remaining 181 longhouses are in the Tatau District. Lupar, Skrang, Saribas/Layar, and Rajang Rivers, Those longhouses are dispersed throughout much and then gradually spread into all areas of Sarawak of the riverine system except in the upper regions in the one hundred years that followed (Fig. 2). of the Tubau and Kakus Rivers (Bintulu District Office 2011; Tatau District Office 2011). The Iban By virtue of the custom of bejalai, Iban males moved into the Kemena and Tatau Basins during the had no hesitation in exploring unknown places for mid-19th to the late 20th century. They came from the trading of jungle produce. Through the 19th to various places of western Sarawak and experienced 3 Planted Forests in Equatorial Southeast Asia: frequent gathering and break-ups in the process of Chinese settling in the Division. They were from Seratok, The Chinese occupy the second largest ethnic group Sarikei, Skrang, Sibu, Engkilili, and Saribas (Layar) in the Bintulu Division. Government statistics show that (Fig. 2). The migration of Iban in the middle area there are 32,000 Chinese residents in the Bintulu Dis- of Kemena River began when Penghulu Jelani of trict, and 2,000 live in the Tatau District. The Chinese Skrang moved into the tributary of Sebauh River, are comprised of various dialect groups like Hakka, Fu- with permission of the Brooke government and soon zhou and Teochu, based on where each of them comes many groups of Iban followed (Linggang 2008). from. Officially Chinese settlements in the Bintulu Dis- Around the Jelalong River, the upper part of the trict began in the middle of the 19th century (Liggang Kemena River, until the early 20th century both the 2008). It is known that the Chinese have been living in Brooke government and British colonial government the Tatau Town since the Brunei era. Back then, they did not authorize the Iban to immigrate into this were active traders, dealing with many kinds of forest area. This changed with the formation of the Federa- products and conducted business with local people of tion of Malaysia in 1963. Today, Iban people inhabit the upriver regions. the entire area of the Jelalong River. Today, many of them are doing well in their busi- The earliest stage of Iban settlement in the Tatau nesses running companies or shops in urban areas. area is estimated to be the mid-19th century during The dialect groups of Chinese, dominating the timber the Brooke period. Iban people of Rh. Agul, along and plantation businesses in Bintulu, are the Fuzhou the Muput River and Rh. Sagin, along the Tatau-Bin- who mainly moved from Sibu. The Fuzhou came to tulu Road are said to have moved into the junction of the Kemena Basin in the 1920s with the support of the the Muput and Tatau River in the middle of the 19th Brooke government in order to cultivate rice and rubber century at the time of the rebellion of Rentap. Along in Sebauh. They were keen business people and soon the Kakus River, the upper reach of the Tatau River, started the trade of sawn iron wood and its roofing atap( the Iban were not allowed to settle there until the belian).