Immigration and adaptation of the Iban from rural to urban outskirts in Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract

This paper aims at clarifying how immigrants from rural areas use the outskirts of Bintulu City in Sarawak, Malaysia and form places of residence there. The area under tropical rain forest climate conditions in Southeast Asia generally has a sparse population. In recent decades, urban areas have started to grow rapidly. In the state of Sarawak, urban areas have developed, and the formation of squatter areas by immigrants from rural areas has been reported. Until a few decades ago, after leaving urban areas, the landscape immediately changed from an urban landscape into a rural one consisting mainly of forests, dotted with swidden farms and longhouses. Recently, however, in areas such as those after leaving the urban area (urban outskirts) of Bintulu City, in addition to shops and offices managed by the Chinese, longhouse communities (LHCs) formed by immigrants from rural areas are densely dotted. In such LHCs, dwellings and ways of living are observed to have different characteristics from those in rural LHCs and squatter areas in urban areas. Characteristics of LHCs in urban outskirts are shown below. Regarding land acquisition, the land was in most cases purchased from former occupants. Regarding members of the LHCs, in LHCs formed before the 1960s, many males married in and households moved in around the 1970s and 1980s. On the other hand, in newly formed LHCs, in many cases no kinship links or very weak kinship links between households are observed. Regarding livelihoods, many members of LHCs work in the urban area, while some who own land cultivate cash crops such as oil palm. Suburban formation has begun as a mix of such LHCs, Chinese shops and offices, and forests in the study area.