Shifting Ground’: Renegotiating Land Rights and Rural

Asia Paciﬁc Viewpoint, Vol. 52, No. 2, August 2011 ISSN 1360-7456, pp136–147

‘Shifting ground’: Renegotiating land rights and rural

livelihoods in Sarawak, Malaysiaapv_1446 136..147

Rob Cramb* and Patrick S. Sujang† *School of Agricultural and Food Science, Hartley Teakle Building, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia. Email: [email protected] †PSS Resources Sdn Bhd, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia Email: [email protected]

Abstract: In this paper, we use an actor-oriented perspective to explore the nature and extent of conﬂict and negotiation with regard to land use and tenure among the Iban of Sarawak. The Iban are shifting cultivators who have long been involved in smallholder cash crops. We argue that the complexity of land-use change and the major shifts in land law and policy in Sarawak in recent decades, particularly those favouring the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations on both state and customary land, have created a situation of indeterminacy that can be exploited to renegotiate land rights and livelihoods. We present a case history of an Iban community that has ‘shifted ground’ several times over the past century, both geographically and in its strategic position relative to state and private sector actors. We show how, under formidable pressure from these actors, this community has nevertheless renegotiated its access to land and other resources, and opportunistically developed a diversiﬁed livelihood system that has enabled it to survive in rapidly changing political and economic conditions. While not necessarily typical, the case sheds light on the limits and modes of negotiability in the context of a strong developmental state.

Keywords: land tenure, oil palm, plantations, smallholders

Introduction oped, land that was once remote and unattrac- tive now attracts a premium, and individuals The issue of land rights in Sarawak, Malaysia, is and whole communities relocate to be closer to often presented in simplistic terms as a one- markets, jobs and the provision of services, sided struggle between indigenous, subsistence- especially health and education. In their view, oriented Dayak communities seeking to defend this potentially frees up their ‘idle’ fallow lands their ancestral lands and the combined forces for large-scale commercial agriculture. These of the state and capitalist agribusiness firms complex land use and livelihood transforma- seeking to appropriate these lands for large- tions have major implications for the assertion scale development, mainly in the form of and legitimisation of land claims and entitle- oil palm plantations (Majid Cooke, 2002, 2006; ments (customary and statutory), creating scope Colchester et al., 2007). The reality is often for both conflict and negotiated institutional more complex and the room to manoeuvre change. perhaps greater than at first appears. Dayaks In this paper, following Long (2001), we use who once relied on extensive shifting cultiva- an actor-oriented perspective to explore the tion for subsistence are now engaged in the nature and extent of conflict and negotiation more intensive production of a variety of per- with regard to land use and tenure among ennial cash crops (including oil palm), as well the Iban, who are by far the largest Dayak as non-farm economic pursuits (Cramb, 2011a). group in Sarawak. An actor-oriented approach Moreover, as transport infrastructure is devel- ‘accords priority to in-depth case studies for

© 2011 The Authors doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8373.2011.01446.x Asia Pacific Viewpoint © 2011 Victoria University of Wellington Land rights and rural livelihoods understanding everyday life situations and the 2002; Cramb, 2011b). That is, the social arena dynamic interactions between specific social in which Iban land rights are being renegoti- actors’, thereby highlighting ‘differential respon- ated displays critical ‘open moments’ and ‘grey ses to similar structural circumstances’, recogn- zones’ in which different modes of negotiation ising that ‘all forms of external intervention are have been employed to change the structures mediated and transformed by the social actors governing land resources. To explore how this is and structures affected’ (Ye et al., 2009: 176). working out at the local level, we present a case As Lund (1998) points out, negotiability – the study of an Iban community that has ‘shifted ability of actors to alter the terms of their inter- ground’ several times over the past century, both actions regarding access to resources – is char- geographically and (more recently) in its strate- acteristic of all social arenas to some degree; gic position relative to state and private sector hence, the crucial research question concerns actors. We show how, under formidable pressure how and when negotiability leads to significant from these actors, this community has renegoti- shifts in the formal and informal structures gov- ated its access to land and other resources, erning resource use. Likewise, Banerjee and and opportunistically (or to use Walker’s (2009) Bojsen (2005), in analysing land-use strategies in apposite term, ‘experimentally’) developed a a resettlement scheme in Sarawak, emphasise diversified livelihood system that has enabled the need to examine both the modes of negotia- it to survive in rapidly changing political and bility and the limits to negotiability in a given economic conditions. context. Lund (1998) argues that analysis should The critical events in this localised story of focus on ‘open moments’ as ‘particularly intense agrarian change illustrate the major shifts in periods of rearrangement of the social order’ policy towards upland farmers in Sarawak that (Lund, 1998: 1). He defines open moments as have received critical attention in recent years ‘occasions when the social rules and structures from scholars and activists – the licensing of are suddenly challenged and the prerogatives extensive upland areas for logging, the narrow- and legitimacy of politico-legal institutions ing official view of customary tenure, the wide- cease to be taken for granted.’ Such moments of spread expropriation of customary land for indeterminacy offer a ‘double-edged possibility private oil palm estates, official ambivalence of reassertion or erosion of power’ – at multiple towards the emergence of smallholder oil palm, scales (Lund, 1998: 2). and the use of joint-venture arrangements to Sikor and Lund (2009) further highlight the bring officially recognised customary land into importance of exploring two ‘grey zones’. The the commercial sphere (Hong, 1987; Majid first is between property and access, that is, the Cooke, 2002, 2006; Ngidang, 2002; Cramb, fuzzy area ‘between what people have rights to 2011b). and what they merely have access to’ at a given However, the case study is not presented as juncture (Sikor and Lund, 2009: 2). As discu- typical or representative of the situation of Iban ssed below, this includes the ambiguity bet- and other communities faced with these often ween statutory rights and customary claims and overwhelming interventions. In fact, the out- access. The second grey zone is between author- comes in this case were ‘not too bad’.1 Logging ity and power, that is, ‘successfully and less- did not have a major impact on livelihoods or the successfully legitimised decisions about how environment; the threat of losing customary land resources are distributed in society’ (Sikor and to private development was largely averted; Lund, 2009: 2). Thus, laws and policies confer- smallholder oil palm was supported and flour- ring authority over land allocation and develop- ished; and a joint-venture arrangement was ment can be contested by the exercise of various cautiously pursued in such a way as to safeguard forms of power. the community’s interests. As Yin (2009) points We argue that the complexity of land-use out, a case can be selected precisely because of change and the major shifts in land law and its special or extreme attributes in order to policy in Sarawak, particularly during the past increase understanding of critical processes and 10–15 years, have created a situation of indeter- thresholds. This case study can thus help to minacy in which the stakes have dramatically highlight the critical junctures that enable pot- risen for all the actors involved (Majid Cooke, entially negative interventions in land use and

© 2011 The Authors 137 Asia Pacific Viewpoint © 2011 Victoria University of Wellington R. Cramb and P.S. Sujang livelihoods to be renegotiated. What elements begun to cross into the vast Rejang basin in were present in the ‘open moments’ encoun- central Sarawak, though the heartland (menoa tered in this case that enabled the ‘grey zones’ lama) in the Lupar and Saribas continued to between property and access and between be occupied and cultivated on a rotational or authority and power to be favourably exploited? forest-fallow basis.This north-easterly move con- To what degree can these elements be replicated tinued incrementally throughout the nineteenth in other contexts? and twentieth centuries, but now with varying The paper begins with an historical account degrees of state control (both prohibition and of how the case-study community came to encouragement) by the Brooke regime (1841– occupy and utilise its land, consistent with cus- 1941) and the post-war British colonial gov- tomary Iban modes of migration and settlement. ernment (1946–1963) (Freeman, 1970; Pringle, It then describes a significant challenge to the 1970). Iban movement has continued since the legitimacy of this land-use claim in the form of formation of Malaysia in 1963, but mainly in a state lease to a large oil palm company and the form of organised resettlement schemes due the negotiated compromise that eventuated. The to internal and external security threats and the next section explains the serendipitous emer- Batang Ai Hydroelectricity Project (Ngidang, gence of smallholder oil palm as a profitable 1996). livelihood option for the land so retained. The In the mid-1930s, the Brooke Resident at penultimate section describes the on-going Simanggang (now Bandar Sri Aman) sponsored process of negotiation for a large-scale joint- some Iban communities in the long-settled venture project on that portion of the commu- Lemanak River in the southwest of Sarawak to nity’s lands where customary claims have been migrate about 400 km (as the hornbill flies) to the legitimised but which is now regarded as ‘idle’. sparsely populated Tinjar River in the north-east, The final section draws some conclusions to alleviate population pressure and poverty for the larger process of agrarian change in in the former region (Fig. 1). A group led by Southeast Asia. headman (tuai rumah) Rimong, along with Radin, Pagon, and Sujang, took up the offer, keen to find a new and more prosperous territory Migration and settlement (menoa baru) for their followers. The migrants The Iban are well known in the anthropological (orang pindah) formally gave up their land rights and historical literature for their mobility, asso- in the Lemanak and were allocated land to the ciated with the practice of pioneer shifting west of theTinjar River along the north bank of its cultivation (Freeman, 1970; Pringle, 1970). It tributary, Sungai Bok, totalling about 8 km2 is important to emphasise that this mobility (Fig. 2). represented an expansion of occupied and Kuala Bok (where the Bok joins the Tinjar) was cultivated land as some groups hived off and set by the Brooke Government as the upriver struck out for new territory – not the abandon- limit of Iban settlement in the Tinjar. Beyond this ment of degraded land due to prodigal land use point the land was reserved for the Penan, (Cramb, 2007). From their original homeland in Berawan and other pre-existing groups. The the Kapuas basin in what is now Indonesian Penan were initially unhappy to lose their lands Borneo, Iban migrants began to filter across the along Sungai Bok to the Iban, but some compen- low range between the Kapuas and the Lupar sation was paid for the land and fruit trees, and basins into what is now the Malaysian state of eventually the Iban and Penan became ritual Sarawak, perhaps as early as the sixteenth ‘blood brothers’ (Iban: menyadi kempit darah; century (Fig. 1). Some groups moved westward Penan: pade), entailing a sharing of use rights to while the predominant movement was north- land and other resources. Some intermarriage erly, from the Lupar and its tributaries (including also occurred over subsequent years. In contrast the Lemanak, see below) into the Saribas and to the Iban invasions of previous centuries, this Krian. was a relatively orderly process in which territo- From early in the nineteenth century, partly to rial boundaries were established and legitimised escape the newly imposed regime of Rajah by the administrative authority of the Brooke James Brooke and his successors, Iban had state.

Figure 1. Major rivers of Sarawak showing original location of case-study community along Lemanak River and resettlement site along Tinjar River

The new community settled first at Kuala Bok moving further up the Tinjar to Long Terikan, on the north bank of the river, built a temporary beyond the stipulated boundary of Iban settle- longhouse (dampa) and proceeded to clear the ment, while Rumah Radin2 remained in Sungai forest for hill rice farming (Fig. 2). An old long- Sebatang. Eventually, after several years, Rumah house site (tembawai) exists at this location. Pagon was persuaded by the British colon- From there, they moved to the middle of Sungai ial government to move back downriver and Sebatang, a tributary of Sungai Bok, and built a returned to Kuala Bok, the original location. more permanent longhouse at a site called Meanwhile, around 1963, Rumah Radin suf- Bandong. There was a split in the community at fered another wave of illness, with many young this time – one group moved away to Sungai boys dying. Radin and some households scat- Teru, further down the Tinjar, while the other, tered temporarily to farmhouses (langkau)in under their new headman, Radin (the son of Sungai Alat, a tributary of the Sebatang, while Rimong), remained. This house came to be con- Sujang led a group back to Kuala Bok, merging sidered unhealthy or ‘hot’ (rumah angat)asa with Pagon’s group. This move was both to get number of people died, so they moved to the away from the unhealthy site and to be more upper part of the river (Ulu Sebatang) and built accessible to the bazaar downriver at Long a new longhouse about a half-hour walk from Teru, which was now becoming more signifi- the Bandong site. This house too came to be cant in the longhouse economy. Four or five considered angat, prompting a move downriver years later attempts were made to consolidate to a site at Sebatang Ili’. the two groups, but Radin’s group refused In the mid-1950s another split emerged in and remained in the unfavourable location. the community, with one group, led by Pagon, In 1970, Rumah Pagon built a substantial

Figure 2. The Sungai Bok lands showing Tinjar Road, location of leases to Rimbunan Hijau and general location of proposed joint-venture scheme longhouse at Kuala Bok, accommodating 25 munity’s hinterland to the west but at the time households (bilek). this did not impact greatly on local livelihoods By this time, much of the forest in the and was not seen as a major concern, even allocated territory that was accessible by river though the logging took place within the allo- had been brought into the shifting cultivation cated longhouse territory. The terrain was not cycle and thus converted to secondary forest excessively steep and the logging was selective. (temuda), subject to customary ownership by Then, in 1976, the Tinjar Road, linking the individual households (Cramb, 2007). In addi- major north–south Miri-Bintulu Road through tion, rubber smallholdings had been established Beluru to Long Lapok on the Tinjar (and ulti- along Sungai Bok and Sungai Sebatang, some mately to Long Lama on the Baram), cut through with the assistance of the colonial government’s this hinterland (Fig. 2). From this time, indi- Rubber Planting Scheme (RPS) in 1966–1967, vidual households started moving upstream to enabling households to supplement their sub- the roadside because of the vastly improved sistence production with cash income from the access it provided to towns and markets, espe- sale of rubber sheets at Long Teru. cially the divisional capital, Miri. Some of this From 1965, a Japanese logging contractor land had already been cultivated before the was operating a timber concession in the com- road was built, and some rubber planted with

140 © 2011 The Authors Asia Pacific Viewpoint © 2011 Victoria University of Wellington Land rights and rural livelihoods the assistance of the RPS happened to be near from the Land and Survey Department that the the road. However, much of the land was selec- Sibu-based global timber and plantation giant, tively logged forest that people proceeded to Rimbunan Hijau (RH), had been given a provi- clear for rice farms, including both hill and sional lease to an area of about 5000 ha along swamp rice. Permanent farmhouses were built the western side of the Tinjar Road to plant oil and pepper gardens established in response to palm (Fig. 2). The area (shown as Lots 57 and 58 the boom in pepper prices at that time. in Fig. 2) included land that had been cultivated In 1985, the whole community of Rumah for hill rice and was now secondary forest, as Radin moved to the road but, by mutual agree- well as some rubber and pepper gardens. One ment, split into two longhouses, now called of the Sungai Bok longhouses was also on the Rumah Musin and Rumah Jemat.Two years later, western side of the road. Moreover, the whole Rumah Pagon moved from Kuala Bok to the road, area lay within the original territory acquired also dividing into two longhouses, now called from the Penan and allocated to the settlers at Rumah Gansa and Rumah Ela. Altogether, there Kuala Bok in the 1930s, including forested land were about 70 households – too many to build that had never been farmed.3 Nevertheless, the one longhouse.The limited land and the desire to Land and Survey Department’s position was be close to farming land led to the decision to that, as the land in question had not been cul- build several smaller longhouses distributed tivated before 1958 (the cut-off date in the along the road. In 1995, Rumah Gansa burned Sarawak Land Code for acquisition of native down and was replaced by two shorter long- customary rights (Porter, 1967)), it was legally houses – Rumah Gansa and Rumah Engah. State land, available for alienation to other Thus, the original migrants to Kuala Bok had, parties. It is this narrow official interpretation of through complex processes of demographic customary rights that has been behind many of and socio-economic change, given rise to five the high-profile conflicts over oil palm develop- longhouse communities distributed along the ment (Ngidang, 2002; Majid Cooke, 2006; Tinjar Road in the upper reaches of Sungai Bok. Colchester et al., 2007; Cramb, 2007). However, these five groups still shared access The Bok communities objected to the notice, rights to their original territory (menoa), which claiming that they held native customary rights remained undivided (tanah saum). Following to land inside the lease area. The basis for their Iban practice, they would first confer with each claim was that the entire territory had been other (baum dulu) before any one group could allocated to them by the Brooke Government make use of the land for farming or other pur- when they were asked to migrate to the area, poses. The legitimacy of customary land tenure including cleared and uncleared land. A more thus remained unchallenged, whether from practical concern was that of the 71 households within the communities or from the state. at the time, 25 younger households that had formed since the move to the roadside would have had no land at all if the lease was Plantation agriculture and contested enforced. There was much heated discussion in land claims the longhouses and in government offices However, the Sungai Bok lands are on the fron- during 1989, partly informed by younger, edu- tier of the dramatic expansion in oil palm cul- cated members of the community, some of tivation that has been occurring in Sarawak whom worked in or had links to relevant parts of since the 1980s, particularly in north-eastern the government bureaucracy. Sarawak. With Abdul Taib Mahmud’s accession At a longhouse meeting (aum), it was eventu- to the chief ministership of Sarawak in 1981, ally decided to pursue a compromise with the official policy towards customary land shifted government and the company. Rather than claim sharply towards a presumption of state propri- all their original territory, they would make a etorship, mainly to facilitate the alienation of smaller claim that would encompass most of the land for private-sector oil palm development land needed by households to maintain their (Cramb, 2011b). The customary ownership of livelihoods. There was much argument about the Sungai Bok lands was called into question in how far to claim, some wanting to push the 1988 when the communities received notice boundary further, while others were pessimistic

© 2011 The Authors 141 Asia Pacific Viewpoint © 2011 Victoria University of Wellington R. Cramb and P.S. Sujang that their claim would be accepted. Eventually, land had been excised from a lease to the pow- there was consensus that they would use a erful RH company, and as described below, logging track that followed a ridge to the west of was subsequently extensively planted with oil the road, forming a ‘natural boundary’. Beyond palm by the longhouse residents and others, it the ridge was mainly logged old growth forest, seemed unlikely that another company would be though there was also some temuda outside the allocated the land. Nevertheless, the status of proposed boundary. The community members this crucial stretch of land exemplifies the ‘grey then went to the ground to clear along the ridge zones’ referred to by Sikor and Lund (2009), in (ngerentis) to mark the boundary, the usual pro- which property and access coexist in uneasy cedure when land was to be formally surveyed. ambiguity. Following this, a meeting was held in Beluru, the sub-district headquarters, with the Sarawak The emergence of smallholder oil palm Administrative Officer in charge of the sub- district, the government-appointed Iban regional In 1989–1990, the Department of Agriculture headman (penghulu), the headmen (tuai rumah) provided oil palm seedlings to the landholders of the Sungai Bok longhouses and a representa- under its Oil Palm Subsidy Scheme (since dis- tive of Rimbunan Hijau (formerly a government continued, largely because of a policy bias agricultural officer in Miri, known to some in favour of large-scale development (Cramb, members of the Bok communities). The proposal 2011b)). All those with temuda along the road to excise the area up to the ridge from the RH planted oil palm, though in a half-hearted way, lease was accepted, subject to two conditions. mainly to reinforce their now-tenuous claim to First, the communities should plant oil palm on the land. Prices were also relatively low at the the land acquired and sell their fruit to the RH time. Hence, there was no maintenance of the mill to be built at Simpang Empat. Second, they crop; in some cases, the young palms were even should support the company to apply for addi- cut to harvest the edible pith or ‘cabbage’ (upa). tional State land to the southwest (beyond Sungai Palms took three to five years to bear fruit, which Bok in the upper Bakong watershed), to replace is slow by commercial standards. Then in the the land surrendered. This was agreed. Subse- mid-1990s the Sarawak Oil Palm mill was quently, the Land and Survey Department subdi- approached to see if they would buy the fruit (the vided the original lease area into Lots 57 and 58, RH mill was not yet operational). One longhouse as shown in Figure 2, with Lot 57, totalling member bought a truck and offered MYR 50 per 2800 ha, surrendered by RH due to the existence ton to transport the fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to of native customary rights claims (though this did the mill. He was paid immediately by the mill not entail formal recognition of those claims by and in turn immediately paid the owners. The the government). In return, Lot 56 was added to incentive of cash in the hand encouraged them the RH lease (Fig. 2). to clear, maintain and fertilise their oil palm Some community members were not happy plots, resulting in increased yields and profits. with this outcome, particularly those with Since then, there has been renewed interest in temuda beyond the negotiated boundary. Some planting. The soils are quite productive, receiv- claimed that those in favour of the new boundary ing annual depositions of fertile silt during flash had sold land to RH. Others were suspicious flooding. Better planting material has been about the planting of oil palm, fearing it would obtained from the Department of Agriculture’s somehow enable the government to take back nursery at Kabuloh. Higher prices in the late the land. Indeed, the legal status of the surren- 1990s led to further increase in profits. Although dered Lot 57 gave some cause for concern. A harvesting ceased with the price downturn in community member who worked in the Land 2001 (falling to MYR 80 per ton of FFB), when the and Survey Department indicated in an anno- price rose to MYR 120 per ton in 2003–2004, tated map that having been surrendered to the profitable harvesting resumed and new planting State, Lot 57 was now registered as State land, continued. The cost of planting was reduced by meaning that in principle, anyone could apply cultivating hill rice and other crops between the for it in the future; it did not have the status of oil palm for the first two years, which also mini- Native Customary Land. However, now that the mised weeding requirements without impacting

142 © 2011 The Authors Asia Pacific Viewpoint © 2011 Victoria University of Wellington Land rights and rural livelihoods on yield. Tuai Rumah Gansa, son of Pagon, one reinforced by the out-migration of young people, of the Kuala Bok pioneers, had 12 ha in produc- many of whom have moved to Miri to work, tion. He employed longhouse people in rotation buying low-cost housing with the help of their and Indonesian plantation workers on Sundays parents and the profits from oil palm. Conse- (their day off). There were now several truck quently, the labour available for farming activi- owners willing to transport FFB to the RH mill at ties is increasingly limited. MYR 50 per ton.The fruit was classed as Grade C The recognition that the land along the road, but the producers were paid directly into their though part of the original territory, was legally bank accounts in Miri. State land, combined with the increasing com- Other longhouses along the road from Beluru mercialisation of agriculture and the trend to to Long Lapok (especially the Sungai Laong off-farm employment, led to a decline of custom- group in Ulu Bakong) began planting in the ary community control over the allocation and 1990s as well. Holdings were mostly around use of land. One Iban-Chinese shopkeeper from 2 ha. In addition, some longhouses entered into Long Teru unilaterally cleared about 40 ha of new contractual arrangements with Miri-based logged-over land within the Sungai Bok territory investors. In one case (Sungai Temam), the com- and planted oil palm on his own account. munity established a joint venture with a well- No-one in the community openly objected as connected developer, with 80% of profits to the no-one’s secondary forest (temuda) was affec- investor and 20% to the landholders. This ted. It was now generally accepted that this was arrangement was opposed by the Deputy Chief State land, even though it was within the tradi- Minister, who was promoting the government’s tional territorial boundary. Other enterprising New Concept (Konsep Baru) of large-scale joint (or opportunistic) young men from within the ventures (Sarawak, 1997; see below). However, community (but with various outside business the Member of Parliament for Baram (brother- interests) have also cleared this logged-over State in-law of the developer) supported the proposal land for oil palm without any decision by the and it went ahead. In another case, land was headman (tuai rumah) or longhouse meeting leased to a local Malaysian Chinese investor at (aum). Some have also cleared or bought land MYR 0.20 per palm per month (about MYR outside the territorial boundary. Effectively there 350 per ha per year). These emerging practices is now an informal individual market for land were outside official policy, reflecting Sikor and along the road. There is some grumbling among Lund’s (2009) second type of ‘grey zone’ – the elders (tuai) about these developments but between authority and power. As discussed no action taken; they have a sense of inevitabi- below, these local-level precedents have pro- lity about the loss of community control. The vided an ‘open moment’ for negotiating policy customs (adat) with respect to individual and change. common rights to farms (umai), secondary forest The focus on oil palm in the Bok communities (temuda), graveyards (pendam), old longhouse and elsewhere has meant that other farming sites and fruit groves (tembawai), are still gener- activities have fallen by the way. Few people ally upheld, but the ‘grey zone’ along the road cultivate pepper, once the mainstay of the long- is clearly witnessing a shift from customary house economy, given the high labour require- authority to unregulated market power. ment, the escalating cost of fertiliser, and the fall in price. Rubber prices have improved since The joint-venture proposal 2002 but the established rubber gardens are mostly too far from the road, having been plan- In 2006, following the success of their road- ted along the rivers when the longhouses did not based smallholdings, the Sungai Bok communi- have road access. Hence, rubber tapping has ties joined with others in the Bakong-Tinjar largely ceased. Rice is still cultivated on a small region to propose a large-scale joint-venture oil scale on nearby swampy land, using fertiliser and palm scheme on their officially recognised cus- herbicide to improve the yield and the return to tomary land (Fig. 2). The proposal, submitted to labour – the fallow vegetation is sprayed and left the Ministry of Land Development under the to decay, the rice is transplanted, and little further government’s New Concept (Konsep Baru) pro- is done until harvest. These trends have been gramme, involved a total of 26 longhouse

© 2011 The Authors 143 Asia Pacific Viewpoint © 2011 Victoria University of Wellington R. Cramb and P.S. Sujang communities with 537 households occupying ings into shares in an oil palm company (though six adjoining territories (pemakai menoa). New less attractive than receiving titles) would Concept or joint-venture schemes, initiated in ensure that ownership of this asset was secure 1995, involve customary landholders transfer- and inheritable by urban-based children. For a ring their rights to designated plots (typically few longhouses away from the Tinjar Road (not totalling around 4 ha per household) to the part of the Sungai Bok cluster), the development Land Custody and Development Authority of their land would be the only way to obtain (LCDA), which then forms a joint-venture com- road access to the longhouse itself. pany with a private investor. Ninety per cent of The application was lodged with the Ministry the paid-up capital is contributed by the inves- of Land Development in March 2006. In August, tor (of which 60% constitutes the investor’s the officer of the Ministry responsible for north- equity and 30% the landholders’ equity) and ern Sarawak came to the area for a longhouse 10% by LCDA, with most of the funds for plan- dialogue, during which there was heated discus- tation development being borrowed. Dividends sion. The proposal was approved by the State are distributed according to the equity shares as Native Customary Rights (NCR) Land Develop- follows: 60% to the investor, 30% to the land- mentTaskforce in October. It was then sent to the holders and 10% to LCDA (Sarawak, 1997; powerful Ministry of Resource Planning (a port- Majid Cooke, 2002; Ngidang, 2002). folio held by the Chief Minister) for confirmation. The reasoning of those Iban advocating the This required the Department of Land and Survey Bakong-Bok joint-venture proposal was that to determine the boundary of the legally recog- most of the legally recognised customary land nised customary land based on aerial photogra- rights were established along the Tinjar and phy from the 1950s (to conform to the 1958 Bakong rivers and their tributaries at a time when cut-off date in the Land Code). This process took there was no road. Now that their longhouses two years, during which the communities pro- and oil palm smallholdings were established ceeded to sort out individual land claims on the along the road (technically on State land), their ground. This involved households cutting survey original farming land was remote from centres lines (ngerentis) to indicate agreed boundaries of of settlement and economic activity, only acces- individual plots. sible by canoe or by walking along forest paths There were some disputes in this process, for up to 3 hours. Hence, much of this land particularly in regard to individuals who had was no longer cultivated and considered ‘idle’ moved out of the longhouse territory but rem- (nadai diguna).4 Even though there were estab- ained within the district. According to Iban cus- lished rubber groves within this land, the rubber tomary law (adat), such people have ‘migrated’ trees were no longer tapped. A joint-venture (pindah) and thereby handed back their cultiva- project was seen as a way to earn income from tion rights over secondary forest (temuda)tothe the land. longhouse community. However, some indi- The project was also anticipated to provide a viduals continued to press claims to their original number of benefits unrelated to income from oil temuda and crops. This problem of ‘overlapping palm. The project would consolidate and vali- claims’ has plagued some other joint-venture date their territorial claims. Moreover, within schemes, notably Sungai Tengang in Sri Aman each territory, it would provide an opportunity Division, where claimants have harvested fruit to sort out the location and area of individual from disputed land and been arrested for theft; holdings, most of which were now under sec- this dispute has been taken to court. ondary forest. In particular, those no longer In the period since the 2006 approval, many of residing or working in the longhouse had rights the applicants became concerned about the by inheritance to as many as 10 or 12 parcels of proposed joint venture, having heard about land, but could not say exactly where those the 12 000 ha Kanowit Oil Palm Project, where plots were located, let alone use them for pro- landholders had blockaded the estate in protest ductive purposes. The customary land that had over not receiving any dividends more than a once been intimately known through regular decade after planting began. There was grow- usage by everyone in the community had itself ing disquiet in the longhouses and an emerg- become a ‘grey zone’. Converting these hold- ing reluctance to participate, despite initially

144 © 2011 The Authors Asia Pacific Viewpoint © 2011 Victoria University of Wellington Land rights and rural livelihoods supporting the application. Nevertheless, final coal producer and exporter. The joint-venture official approval for the Bakong-Bok joint- agreement was finally signed by representatives venture development was given in December of LCDA and the developer at Beluru (the sub- 2008. A total area of about 23 000 ha was district headquarters) on 30 March 2010, in the approved, of which 7913 ha was identified as presence of the Minister for Land Development Native Customary Land belonging to the appli- and the local State Assemblyman (both Iban), cant communities.5 Perhaps half this area would who ‘urged locals to support the project’.6 Fol- not be available for planting, being already lowing this signing, LCDA officers began the established with rubber. The remaining land, long process of seeking the formal agreement of some of which had been cleared for farming in individual landholders. Only plots of land for the 1970s, was deemed to be State land.This was which a trust deed has been signed by the land- also to be included in the development, but the holder, conveying the rights to the land to LCDA profits would not be part of the joint venture.This as trustee for a 60-year period, can be included was a relatively new arrangement that provided a in the project. However, the misgivings over the strong guarantee to the investor that the project project, which had been brewing for several would be profitable, even without full participa- years (based on the ongoing problems at tion from the customary landholders. Kanowit), the desire to modify the terms of the In response to the worsening problems with agreement to obtain a share of the designated the Kanowit Oil Palm Project and other joint- state land and the dispute over the demarcation venture schemes, in 2009, the State Taskforce between state and customary land, had made approved some changes to the joint-venture individuals reluctant to sign. As of March 2011, agreements, including the payment of an adv- this reluctance was still evident and the investor ance dividend to landholders of MYR 150 per ha had not commenced any field work. per year from Year 1, and the inclusion of a (non-voting) landholder representative on the Conclusion board of each joint-venture company (previously the board was formed by two to three members This case study demonstrates a number of appointed by the investor and one appointed by aspects of contemporary agrarian change that LCDA, notionally acting for the landholders). have relevance elsewhere in the uplands of The Bakong-Bok participants were pushing for Southeast Asia. The first has to do with flexibility. further changes. Some younger households in The Iban communities in this study have ‘shifted these communities owned no land, either close ground’ in multiple senses over the past 80 years to the road or in the proposed scheme; they had – from their origins in the Iban heartland to the to rent or borrow land from others in the com- frontier of Iban settlement in northern Sarawak, munity, or consider leaving. Hence, there was a from the river to the roadside, from subsistence push from community leaders for these landless agriculture based on shifting cultivation to households to be allocated 4 ha of the desig- perennial cash crops and now they are on the nated State land in the joint-venture scheme so verge of shifting from smallholders to sharehold- they could be included as shareholders. In addi- ers. They have not been tied to culturally defined tion, they were asking for shares in the palm oil (and externally reinforced) notions of ‘traditional mill to be built as part of the scheme. Up to now, agriculture’, nor to official depictions of ‘people there has been no landholder equity in palm from the interior’ struggling with an ‘outdated oil mills, whether in joint-venture schemes or economy’ and needing to be brought into the managed smallholder schemes such as those of ‘mainstream of modernisation’ (Cramb, 2011b). the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilita- Rather, they have continually sought to adapt, as tion Authority, yet it is recognised that this is a individuals and communities, to new constraints very profitable activity in the palm oil supply and opportunities. Thus, while Majid Cooke chain. (2006) is correct to argue that earlier policies In 2009, the LCDA developed the joint- based on the assumption that forest-fallow land venture agreement with the approved developer, was ‘idle land’ were in ‘fundamental error’, the Cipta Sawit Sdn Bhd, a newly formed (May 2006) clear perception of Iban landholders in what subsidiary of a successful Bintulu-based char- might be called the ‘post-swidden era’ (Cramb

© 2011 The Authors 145 Asia Pacific Viewpoint © 2011 Victoria University of Wellington R. Cramb and P.S. Sujang et al., 2009) is that much of their land is indeed bureaucracy (letters, maps, reports, meetings in ‘idle’, in the straightforward sense of not cur- offices, lobbying).The presence of educated pro- rently used for agricultural production, whether fessional members of the longhouse communi- cultivated or fallowed. Hence, they are seeking ties, with networks and expertise in both the new ways to harness government programmes private and public domains, has enhanced the and private capital to get a commercial return interface with bureaucratic modes of negotia- from this land. tion. The importance of the strong cultural Related is the aspect of complexity. The rapid impulse within Iban communities for thorough- spread of oil palm in Sarawak, and the focus of going debate and deliberation to arrive at clarity NGOs and the alternative media on instances of and consensus appears to have been seriously enclosure and exclusion, has created an impres- underestimated by land development agencies sion of a monolithic state unilaterally dispos- such as LCDA, eager to get targets achieved, sessing customary landholders in favour of its documents signed and investment flowing commercial clients. While not downplaying the (Cramb, 2007; Menua, 2009). reality and seriousness of such dispossession No doubt the state-business alliance in (there are over 200 land cases pending in the Sarawak as a whole is very powerful, and many High Court of Sabah and Sarawak, and intimi- Iban communities responding to such ‘open dation of land rights activists and advocates moments’ in emerging ‘grey zones’ have quickly appears to be increasing), the case study shows encountered the limits to negotiability. Never- that the situation is often more complex than theless, as the case study indicates, there has in one of naked dispossession. The literal ‘shifting fact been some ‘shifting ground’ on the part of ground’ over time on the part of Iban commu- government in response to the agency of land- nities, the layering of dissonant institutional holders and their representatives. The growing arrangements (customary and statutory) and the list of court cases challenging unilateral govern- sharp shifts in government policy (e.g. putting ment actions, and instances of commercially the onus of proof of customary ownership onto costly local-level resistance (e.g. prolonged the claimants) have created very complex, and blockading of the Kanowit scheme and pro- hence, often indeterminate land-use and land- tracted legal proceedings), have helped to con- tenure situations. vince some within the state apparatus and in the Within these complex, indeterminate cont- plantation sector that it is in their interests to exts, there emerges clear evidence of negotiabil- negotiate better arrangements with landholders, ity, particularly during critical ‘open moments’ not just in an ad hoc fashion but structurally.The when the stakes for the actors are raised (the Sungai Bok communities are actively contribut- building of the Tinjar Road, the allocation of a ing to these emerging structural changes and lease to RH, the surge in profitability of small- helping to push back the limits to negotiability, holder oil palm, the push by sections of the not only at the local scale but with state-wide community for a joint-venture scheme) and in implications.7 the emerging ‘grey zones’ between property and access (continued access to customary land Acknowledgments was negotiated with powerful state and commercial actors despite the lack of statutory proper- The funding for this research was provided by the ty rights) and between authority and power Australian Research Council. A previous version (various sources of power were mobilised to of this paper was presented at the International counter the state-legitimised authority of outside Conference on ‘Revisiting Agrarian Transforma- actors). tions in Southeast Asia: Empirical, Theoretical As described above, the major modes of nego- and Applied Perspectives’, Research Centre for tiation employed have been prolonged delibera- Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai Univer- tion, debate, argument and compromise within sity, 13–15 May 2010. We would like to thank communities, as well as between community, Derek Hall, John McCarthy and two anonymous market and state actors, using both customary referees for comments on a previous draft. None modes (notably, the open longhouse meeting of them is responsible for the final analysis and (aum)) and the tools of modern government conclusions.

Notes De Koninck (ed.), Borneo transformed: Agricultural expansion on the Southeast Asian frontier, p. 44–93. 1 This is a widely-used Australian phrase expressing Singapore: NUS Press. guarded optimism about one’s current status. Cramb, R.A. (2011b) Reinventing dualism: Policy narra- 2 Literally, Radin’s house, it being the practice to name a tives and modes of oil palm expansion in Sarawak, longhouse community after its headman. Malaysia, Journal of Development Studies 47(2): 274– 3 The area of the original RH lease accounted for more 293. than half of the territory allocated to the Sungai Bok Cramb, R.A., C.J.P. Colfer, W. Dressler et al. (2009) Swidden community in the 1930s. transformations and rural livelihoods in Southeast Asia, 4 Informants in the Saribas District described such unused Human Ecology 37(3): 323–346. secondary forest as menoa puang (literally, abandoned Freeman, J.D. (1970) Report on the Iban. London: Athlone. land) though, as in the case described here, there was Hong, E. (1987) Natives of Sarawak: Survival in Borneo’s no intention to give up rights to the land. In fact, in the vanishing forests. Penang: Institut Masyarakat. Saribas too, neighbouring longhouses had grouped Long, N. (2001) Development sociology: Actor perspec- together to request that their land be developed as an oil tives. London and New York: Routledge. palm estate, but by the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Lund, C. (1998) Struggles for land and political power: On Rehabilitation Authority (SALCRA), not as a joint venture the politicization of land tenure and disputes in Niger, with a private company (Cramb, 2007: 343–344). Journal of Legal Pluralism 40: 1–22. 5 It subsequently emerged that the aerial photographs Majid Cooke, F. (2002) Vulnerability, control and oil palm in used by the Department of Land and Survey to make Sarawak: Globalization and a new era? Development this determination were taken in 1951, well before the and Change 33(2): 189–211. 1 January 1958 cut-off date in the Land Code. Hence, Majid Cooke, F. (2006) Expanding state spaces using ‘idle’ the Bok community feels it has been short changed and native customary land in Sarawak, in F. Majid Cooke is in dispute with the Department. (ed.), State, communities and forests in contemporary 6 ‘Ministry Mulls New NCR Land Development Model’. Borneo, pp. 25–44. Canberra: ANU ePress. The Borneo Post, Thursday 1 April 2010, p. 8. Menua, R. (2009) Communication roles of Iban community 7 It is significant that at the signing ceremony for the structures in rural development projects in Kanowit, Bakong-Bok joint-venture agreement, the Minister for Sibu Division, Sarawak. PhD thesis, University of Land Development, James Masing, commented on the Malaysia, Sarawak. need to change the joint-venture approach to develop- Ngidang, D. (1996) Batang Ai hydropower resettle- ing oil palm on customary land. He said: ‘The produc- ment scheme: Lessons learnt, in H. Solhee, D. Chew, tion is not as good as the potential and it needs a new B. Bujang and A.H. Sim (eds), Resettlement and devel- model by the ministry [...]TheintentionoftheNCR opment in Sarawak: Experiences and future trends, [Native Customary Rights] concept was correct but the pp. 18–32. Kuching: AZAM. modus operandi has to be changed.’ He indicated a Ngidang, D. (2002) Contradictions in land development nucleus estate and smallholder model was under con- schemes: The case of joint ventures in Sarawak, Malay- sideration, with soft loans and infrastructure grants to sia, Asia Pacific Viewpoint 43(2): 157–180. improve returns to smallholders (‘Ministry Mulls New Porter, A.F. (1967) Land administration in Sarawak. Kuching: NCR Land Development Model’. The Borneo Post, Sarawak Government Printer. Thursday 1 April 2010, p. 8). Pringle, R. (1970) Rajahs and rebels: The Iban of Sarawak under Brooke Rule, 1841–1941. London: Macmillan. Sarawak (1997) Handbook on new concept of development References on native customary rights land. Kuching: Ministry of Land Development. Banerjee, N. and K.P.M. Bojsen (2005) Negotiability and Sikor, T. and C. Lund (2009) Access and property: A ques- limits to negotiability – Land-use strategies in the tion of power and authority, Development and Change SALCRA Batang Ai Resettlement Scheme, Sarawak, 40(1): 1–22. East Malaysia, Geografisk Tiddkrift (Danish Journal of Walker, A. (2009) ‘Now the companies have come’: Local Geography) 105(1): 17–28. values and contract farming in Northern Thailand, Colchester, M., A.P. Wee, M.C. Wong and T. Jalong (2007) in D. Caouette and S. Turner (eds), Agrarian angst Land is life: Land rights and oil palm development in and rural resistance in contemporary Southeast Asia, Sarawak. Bogor: Sawit Watch.Moreton-in-Marsh, UK: pp. 61–81. London and New York: Routledge. Forest Peoples Programme. Ye, J., Y. Wang and N. Long (2009) Farmer initiatives and Cramb, R.A. (2007) Land and longhouse: Agrarian transfor- livelihood diversification: From the collective to the mation in the uplands of Sarawak. Copenhagen: NIAS market economy in rural China, Journal of Agrarian Press. Change 9(2): 175–203. Cramb, R.A. (2011a) Agrarian transitions in Sarawak: Yin, R.K. (2009) Case study research: Design and methods, Intensification and expansion reconsidered, in R. 4th edn, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.