Anthony K. Samuel, Contemporary Migration among the Dayak Iban in Sarawak.

Anthony K. Samuel, Contemporary Migration among the Dayak Iban in Sarawak. Anthony K. Samuel, Contemporary Migration among the Dayak Iban inSarawak. Kuching: Masgraphic Services (by the author), paperback, 2005,ISBN ISBNabbr.International Standard Book NumberISBNInternational Standard Book NumberISBNn abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m983-42914-0-X. v+ 95pp. Maps, plates, tables, charts, appendix,bibliography, index. In this brief volume, the author, Anthony Kantan Samuel, an Ibanpolicy specialist, of Saribas origin, who is currently Research Managerat the Sarawak Development Institute, reports on the findings of a studyconducted in 2002-2003 of Iban rural-urban migrants living in so-called"squatter An individual who settles on the land of another person without any legal authority to do so, or without acquiring a legal title.In the past, the term squatter specifically applied to an individual who settled on public land. settlements" in the four main urban centers ofSarawak: Kuching, Miri, Sibu, and Bintulu. The original study was fundedby the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and wascarried out under the auspices of the Universiti Putra Malaysia Universiti Putra Malaysia or UPM is a public university in Malaysia. It was formerly known as Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Malay: universiti, university; pertanian, agriculture; Malaysia). . The book is divided into seven chapters. Chapter One outlines thestudy's objectives. While noting that in developing societies,rural-urban migration Rural-urban migration is the moving of people from rural areas into cities. When cities grow rapidly, as in Chicago in the late 19th century or Shanghai a century later, the movement of people from rural communities into cities is considered to be the main cause. is generally concurrent with rapid economicgrowth, it is also oftentimes of��ten��times? also oft��timesadv.Frequently; repeatedly.Adv. 1. oftentimes - many times at short intervals; "we often met over a cup of coffee"frequently, oft, often, ofttimes associated, the author observes, withurban poverty, social exclusion social exclusionNounSociol the failure of society to provide certain people with those rights normally available to its members, such as employment, health care, education, etc. of the poor, and a "proliferation proliferation/pro��lif��er��a��tion/ (pro-lif?er-a��shun) the reproduction or multiplication of similar forms, especially of cells.prolif��erativeprolif��erous pro��lif��er��a��tionn. of squatter settlements." These latter arise whenever "rapidurban growth outpace out��pace?tr.v. out��paced, out��pac��ing, out��pac��esTo surpass or outdo (another), as in speed, growth, or performance.outpaceVerb[-pacing, [s] the capacity [of society] to provide basicinfrastructure and services," most notably, adequate housing (p.11). The plight of urban squatters is often made worse by policies thatexclude them from their "right to the city" and treat them"as the cause rather than the victims of uncontrolledurbanization" (p. 11). In this light, in Chapter Two, the authornotes that the Sarawak Lands and Surveys Department's officialdefinition of a "squatter" as a "person/persons whosettles on public or private land without any title to the land orwithout any expressed permission or approval" (p. 19) is bothnegative and effectively places squatters outside the law. By contrast,he locates himself among those students of third-world urbanization whosee the creation of squatter settlements as an essentially successfulsolution by the poor to an otherwise intractable intractable/in��trac��ta��ble/ (in-trak��tah-b'l) resistant to cure, relief, or control. in��trac��ta��bleadj.1. Difficult to manage or govern; stubborn.2. scarcity ScarcityThe basic economic problem which arises from people having unlimited wants while there are and always will be limited resources. Because of scarcity, various economic decisions must be made to allocate resources efficiently. of urbanhousing. Chapter Three traces recent rural-urban migration in Sarawak basedchiefly on the 1991 Malaysian census and a Statistics Departmentmigration survey carried out in 1995. Unfortunately, data from the 2000census were not used, nor does the author explicitly relate data fromthese sources to his own study population. Nonetheless, the chaptercontains much of interest. Like the rest of the developing world, recenturban population growth has been extremely rapid in Sarawak; between1981 and 1991, the state's urban population grew at an average rateof 9.3 percent per annum Per annumYearly. . While some of this growth was"definitional," due to a redefinition Noun 1. redefinition - the act of giving a new definition; "words like `conservative' require periodic redefinition"; "she provided a redefinition of his duties"definition - a concise explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase or symbol of urban boundaries, thelargest share came from an influx of rural migrants. Nearly all ruraldistricts in Sarawak are experiencing out-migration, but in 1991 thosewith the highest proportional rates were Kanowit, Dalat, Meradong,Betong, Simunjau, Daro, Julau, and Bau. Not all of these districts are,of course, centers of Iban population. The Iban, however, formed thesingle largest group overall, making up in 1991 just under half (49.1%)of all rural-urban migrants (p. 40). The Iban predominated in Sibu,Miri, and Bintulu, but in Kuching, were outnumbered Outnumbered is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One in 2007.[1] It stars Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner as a mother and father who are outnumbered by their three children. , first, by Bidayuhand, secondly, by Malay-Melanau. Almost half of all rural-urban migrantshad secondary education. The percentage is lower, however, for the Iban,a fact reflected, the author argues, in patterns of employment. Thus,the Iban are disproportionately represented in urban construction(40.3%), and correspondingly underrepresented un��der��rep��re��sent��ed?adj.Insufficiently or inadequately represented: the underrepresented minority groups, ignored by the government.in retail trade, services,and manufacturing (p. 41). As the author notes, migration is by no means a recent phenomenonfor the Iban. Pindah and bejalai are well-established traditions, withhistories that extend deep into the Iban past. Moreover, some ruralcommunities were subject in recent years to state-sponsoredresettlement Re`set´tle`mentn. 1. Act of settling again, or state of being settled again; as, the resettlementof lees s>.The resettlementof my discomposed soul.- Norris. , during Konfrontasi, for example, and for hydroelectricprojects, and one interesting observation that the author makes is thatformer resettlement communities appear to be particularly prone toout-migration. Thus, rather than stabilizing rural population,resettlement appears to have had the opposite effect. Chapter 4 briefly describes characteristics of the 852 respondentsinterviewed by the author during his original study in terms, forexample, of age, education, and Division of origin. Chapter 5 describesthe respondents' answers to questions concerning their reasons formigrating to an urban center, the problems of adjustment theyencountered in doing so, and their attitudes toward urban life andpossible future resettlement. Here many of the answers statisticallytabulated by the author are difficult to interpret in the absence ofanything remotely resembling in-depth urban ethnography ethnography:see anthropology; ethnology. ethnographyDescriptive study of a particular human society. Contemporary ethnography is based almost entirely on fieldwork. . Some of theseanswers suggest, however, that origin-based social networks play asignificant role as sources of job referrals and social support. Thus,almost half of the author's respondents (48%) reported that theyexperienced no difficulty finding a first job and three-quarters (76%)reported that they had no difficulty finding friends. Except forKuching, a lack of jobs does not appear to be a serious problem. On theother hand, many reportedly found it difficult to improve their earningsand move out of low-paying jobs. The principal reasons that migrants cited for moving from thecountryside were "to find a better job," experience "abetter life"--including a better life for their school-agechildren, "improve their income," and for "betteramenities" (p. 64). The overwhelming majority (99.5%) felt thatthey had made the right decision; 98% thought their quality of life hadimproved, and 99.6% were satisfied with their place of residence (p.69). These responses, again, however, are difficult to evaluate withoutknowing more about how the author's sample of respondents wasselected and the conditions of life they left behind. Their answers toquestions about the problems they encountered in taking up life in anurban squatter settlement suggest a far less rosy ros��y?adj. ros��i��er, ros��i��est1. a. Having the characteristic pink or red color of a rose.b. Flushed with a healthy glow: rosy cheeks.2. picture. For example,all reported having difficulty obtaining treated water (100%), and thegreat majority (96.4%) had difficulty obtaining electricity and accessto public transportation (92%) (p. 68). One unambiguously bright spotwas education. Nearly all found schooling facilities accessible and thequality of education superior to that of rural schools. The other brightspot was income. By their own calculation, average monthly incomes rosefollowing migration from RM 241 to RM 750 (p. 57). Not surprisingly, perhaps, the one area in which an overwhelmingmajority of respondents (95.4%) refused to answer the author'sinterview questions concerned their participation in politics (p. 70).The results not only suggest a degree of mistrust of government, butalso bear out this reviewer's own observations that most recentIban urban migrants participate very little, if at all, in citypolitics, but, rather, continue to return to their home communitiesduring elections to vote. In the Saribas, this return creates somethingof a temporary Gawai-like atmosphere that local politicians have longago learned to exploit by providing their local supporters withGawai-like longhouse longhouseTraditional communal dwelling of the Iroquois Indians until the 19th century. The longhouse was a rectangular box built out of poles, with doors at each end and saplings stretched over the top to form the roof, the whole structure being covered with bark. entertainment. Having greater resources, thegoverning party has been particularly adept at this, with predictableresults. Not surprising, too, respondents showed little enthusiasm forresettlement, particularly if it involves being moved intomultiple-storey housing. The volume concludes with a brief summary of findings (Chapter 6)and a conclusion (Chapter 7). A final Appendix lists the names of the 29squatter settlements involved in the study. The volume is beingprivately distributed by its author at a price of RM50 (or US$20),exclusive of mailing, and may be obtained by writing to Anthony K.Samuel, Sarawak Development Institute (SDI (1) (Serial Digital Interface) A physical interface widely used for transmitting digital video in various formats. For electrical transmission, it uses a high grade of coaxial cable and a single BNC connector with Teflon insulation. ), AZAM Complex, CrookshankRd., 93000 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, or by email atankasa@sarawak.com.my (Clifford Sather, Portland, Oregon, USA).