マレーシア研究 第 6 号（2017 年）【Summary】

The Relationship Between Sarawak and Malaysian Studies
SODA Ryoji（Osaka City University）
The Bornean states of Sarawak and Sabah are considered important parts of Malaysia in terms of land area, population size, and economic scale. However, because of
the differences in historical backgrounds, ethnic compositions, and administrative organizations, as well as their geographically separated locations, these states have often been treated separately. Moreover, these states’ political and administrativeautonomy has been overemphasized. Sarawak and Sabah became independent statesin 1963, constituting a new federal country, Malaysia. They began to be subject to political assimilation pressure from the federal government, which is called “Malayanization.” After the 1990s, social and economic relationships between the Bornean
states and the peninsula have become stronger, which is also expressed as “peninsul
ar connection.” Despite the delicate distance in recent years between Sarawak andthe peninsula, as evidenced by the political slogan “Sarawak for Sarawakians,” the“peninsular connection” certainly exists in various aspects. It is now becoming difficult to treat Sarawak as an independent regional unit.
Under such social, economic, and political circumstances, in what direction
should research on Sarawak be aimed? In the latter part of this paper, I look backover the past half-century at the so-called “Sarawak studies” and explore the possibility of future development of Sarawak studies. Conventional research on Sarawak often focuses on culture and ethnicity, and, unlike peninsular-based studies, is notable to expand upon diversified research subjects such as politics, administration, religion, and literature. On the other hand, Sarawak-based studies have the benefit ofcollaborating with natural science fields such as ecology and the promotion of interdisciplinary research projects. However, most of these studies have been completed
within the closed space of Sarawak.
Given that the Sarawak-peninsular relations are changing, previous
Sarawak studies need to be relativized. For this purpose, it is important to explore
the possibility of articulating Sarawak studies to the so-called “Malaysian studies”
that have been advanced on a peninsular basis. However, a part of the Sarawak studies has also taken into consideration its relations with Indonesia, Singapore, China,
Oceania, the Middle East, etc., and also may be developed beyond the framework of
the nation-state, Malaysia. Relativization of Sarawak studies should be promoted after taking into consideration various spatial scales and multidirectional regional
networks.
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マレーシア研究第 6 号（2017 年）【Summary】

Genealogy and Current Issues in AnthropologicalStudies of Sarawak
SAKUMA Kyoko（Ritsumeikan University）
This paper aimed that to: 1）review the many anthropological/ethnographical studies on Sarawak（Malaysian Borneo）that have been written against the trend of theanthropology and the global social condition; and 2）establish the distinctivenessand challenges of anthropological studies on Sarawak. “Anthropology of Sarawak”
refers to anthropologic/ethnographic studies that were compiled and conducted using Sarawak as their research field.
The first part of the paper confirms that the current study situation has followed the ethnic category based on anthropology as an objective science, which was introduced by the United Kingdom. Indigenous people’s world of Sarawak was described by heroic explorers and distinguished district officers of Sarawak Kingdom
under the Brooke family, who spoke Sarawak Malays fluently, in historical times. After the Brooke era, Sarawak was ravaged by the Second World War. The first indepth anthropological study in Sarawak was started in the 1950s by the British colonial service, headed by Edmund Leach. Subsequent studies adhere fundamentally tothe ethnic category that was stated within that milestone research. After overview
of the anthropological/ethnographical studies, this paper gives a description of theanthropologist, Peter Metcalf, who challenged the generally accepted category, andexamines the significance of his work.
The latter half of this paper shows an empirical analysis of the situation
where the ethnic category does not reflect the everyday-life of these indigenous peoples. In contrast to the previous description, certain aspects of their identity havebeen enhanced within their life in the Tutoh basin, Northern Sarawak. Various
small ethnic groups have occupied this area who are generally called Orang ulu, andthe ethnic name, personal name, and the name of the place. This paper describes
how the people negotiate their identity this complex situation, and how they choose
an ethnic name in today’s particular situation.
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マレーシア研究 第 6 号（2017 年）【Summary】

Changes in Sarawak Politics and Its Impact onFederal Politics in Malaysia
MORISHITA Akiko（Kyoto University）
The essay explores changes in Sarawak politics and political elite in the past 50
years and the future through an analysis of state assembly members since 1969. The
author compiled a database of those who were elected in Sarawak state elections forthe period between the first state election in 1969 and the recent election in 2016.
The data includes election year, constituency, name, political party, and party alliance. Through an analysis based on the database, the author found three crucialchanges in the structure of state assembly members, one occurred in the mid-1990s
and the others gradually over the years. Firstly, the composition of major opposition parties in Sarawak shifted from local parties（i.e. SNAP and PBDS）to peninsulabased national parties（i.e. DAP and PKR）since the 1996 state election. This change
made it difficult for the ruling coalition in Sarawak（Sarawak Barisan Nasional）tobring the opposition parties into the coalition platform unlike the time when localbased parties were the major opponents. The headquarters of the peninsula-based opposition parties have now become one of the stakeholders in Sarawak politics. Secondly, a certain amount of new comers are constantly recruited and elected in every
state election, which resulted in an accelerated ‘metabolism’ in the Sarawak politicalelite. The transformation within can be seen in any party in Sarawak. However, thestate chief minister and significant state ministers have not been changed so often.
The Sarawak major ruling parties and the state cabinet today is still led by senior
members of the state assembly, many of whom were first elected in the 1983 state election（i.e. Abang Johari and James Masing）and the 1987 state election（i.e. Awang
Tengah）. They are the minority in number among state assembly members today,
93.9 percent of whom were first elected after the 1991 polls. The third significant
change was the gap in years of political experience and leadership between the state
leaders and the rest of state assembly members. It became wider and wider over theyears. There is a lack of grooming of the next generation of political heirs who are
now mid-career state assembly members. This could create future leadership problems in Sarawak politics, disrupting continuity and affecting the federal-state relationship after today’s Sarawak leaders retire from politics.
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マレーシア研究第 6 号（2017 年）【Summary】

Evaluation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
in Sarawak, Malaysia
TAKEUCHI Yayoi（National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan）
Biodiversity and ecosystem services contribute to human well-being, and have therefore gained increasing attention. However, because of excessive land use and development by humans, forest cover is declining, especially in the tropical region, which isa hot spot for both biodiversity and ecosystem services. In this paper, first, I describe the background of biodiversity and ecosystem service studies and focus on
biodiversity issues in Borneo, especially in Sarawak, Malaysia. Second, I introduce
our ongoing study on the local community’s forests in Sarawak. These forests provide essential ecosystem services, such as drinking water, cemeteries, recreation, hunting, plant gathering, and ritual/spiritual use, to the indigenous people. The study
aims to understand whether or not the forests could be a conservation target for
maintaining regional biodiversity and ecosystem services; therefore, we conducted abiological survey and analyzed the diversity of tree species in these forests, which
are generally fragmented and surrounded by secondary forests in the current rurallandscapes. However, similar to primary forests, these forests also have high species
diversity. Moreover, we found that all the forests harbored unique and endangered
species. Thus, we have concluded that community forests would be suitable conservation targets for sustaining regional species diversity and endangered species. Third,
I discuss the perspectives of multidisciplinary studies, especially the importance of collaboration between ecology and sociology. A multidisciplinary study is essential to
our understanding of both biological and sociological consequences of biodiversity
and finding a balance between conservation and development in order to move toward a sustainable society.

188マレーシア研究 第 6 号（2017 年）【Summary】

Co-living Among Indonesian Migrant Workers
in Longhouse Communities in Sarawak
KATO Yumi（Kyoto University）
Human mobility has increased greatly due to advances related to globalization. People from India and China have lived in Malaysia for a long time, and in recent
years, the number of foreign workers from neighboring countries including the Philippines and Indonesia has increased. In Sarawak, employment of Indonesian workers
has increased, especially since the 1990s, when the oil palm plantations required massive labor forces. Coexistence of minority foreign workers and local residents whocomprise the majority of the nation-state has significant issues, as multiculturalism
becomes common even in the inland rural communities. Considering these circumstances, this paper does not address human mobility from a state policy or institutional point of view. However, it discusses the ways of cooperation between Indonesian migrant workers and local residents in longhouse villages. The paper particularly focuses on the motivation of the Indonesian migrants in terms of them leaving
their original villages in Indonesia to move to longhouses in Sarawak, and how they
cooperate with local residents of longhouse villages.
The cases of six Indonesian migrants who live in longhouses located in the
Kapit Division are discussed in this article. These migrants originally worked in various sectors, including logging, oil palm harvesting, construction, or transportation,and now they live in the longhouses. As individuals enter the local longhouses, thedaily relationships formed between the longhouse residents and these Indonesians isnoteworthy, and another significant point is the formation of a communal space bypeople of various backgrounds. The Malaysian labor force is constantly insufficient,
especially in the oil palm industry, and the existence of foreign workers is becoming
unavoidable. This paper shows the viewpoint of a multicultural society by describing
the daily practice of people who seek co-living and cooperation.

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マレーシア研究第 6 号（2017 年）【Summary】

Rainforest Hero or State Enemy? :Bruno Manser and the Fight of the Penan
KANAZAWA Kentaro（Shinshu University）
On the cover of the Asian version of Time dated September 3, 2001, there was a faceof Bruno Manser. The heading of the table of contents is “missing in action” and continues as follows. Swiss activist Bruno Manser was one of the loudest champions ofBorneo’s Penan tribe and the slice of rain forest they call home. But Manser, demonized by Malaysian loggers and officials, vanished last year － and the forest
keeps disappearing. Manser invited the Western media to the rain forest in Sarawak,
Malaysia, and attracted worldwide attention to commercial logging’s endangermentof the life of the indigenous Penan tribe.
Manser had been called a “hero of the rainforest,” while the Sarawak state
government named him “state enemy number one.” He was tracked by the police, under accusations of radical foreign incitement because he supported the Penan, whowere erecting blockades across logging roads. Hero or enemy; these are both biased
images. Because the Penan, with whom he was living, actually called Manser a“Penan man.”After his death, the Swiss-based nongovernmental organization（NGO）, the
Bruno Manser Fund（BMF）, welcomed historian Lukas Straumann as its new executive director. Straumann rebuilt the stagnated BMF lacking the founder. He emphasizes role-sharing within the BMF and overseas NGO networks, and has created aflat and open organizational structure. At the same time, he has cut into the corruption and illegal fund flows related to export of tropical timber. Meanwhile, inSarawak, the Penan still face various conflicts involving commercial logging, oilpalm plantation development, and construction of dams and natural gas pipelines. Issues concerning Native Customary Rights are still pending.
Abdul Taib Mahmud, who was the Chief Minister of Sarawak for 33 years,
has stepped down, and the voice of the Penan has begun to surface. For example, progress has been made on the “Penan Peace Park” initiative regarding a proposed community-managed, protected area to maintain the unique and species-rich ecosystemof the Upper Baram River. A delegation of Penan representing 18 villages expressedgratitude that in 2016 the government finally consented to discuss their proposal.
This marked the first time in three decades that the Sarawak government spokewith the Penan community that was opposed to commercial logging.
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マレーシア研究 第 6 号（2017 年）【Summary】

Sarawak as a Resource of One-Party Dominance
SUZUKI Ayame（Doshisha University）
Sarawak State has been called as a “fixed deposit” for the Malaysia’s long-serving ruling coalition Barisan Nasional（BN）. In fact, in the 2013 General Election when BN’sshare of seats in the Lower House was only 60％ --the lowest in its history, the BNcomponent parties in Sarawak could retain 81％ of the seats allocated to the state.
This paper examines the significance of the state of Sarawak in the national politics based on the electoral and budget data. Through the examination of
the data of the past five elections from 1995 to 2013, it will be shown that the BN component parties in Sarawak have succeeded in retaining higher share of Lower Houseseats than that of BN as a whole: 81％ to 100％ of the Lower House seats inSarawak BN versus 60％-90％ for BN across Malaysia. The primary reason for the
success of Sarawak BN can be attributed to the small size of constituencies that are
mostly located in the rural areas in the state. In these constituencies, voters do nothave access to the alternative media, and cash-handouts by the BN works as an effective tool to earn rural votes.
Despite their electoral contribution, this paper argues that the Sarawak BN
has not received the commensurate fiscal and development support from the central
government. While the per capita developmental budget to the state from year 2001
to 2010 exceeds that of a median state, the allocation to the state may not be sufficient given the lower average and median per capita income and higher inequality,
as measured by the GINI coefficient, in the state.
The paper concludes by providing a possible explanation for the Sarawak
BN’s decision to remain in the coalition in spite of the limited reward by the federal
government: a limited revenue base of the state government as well as social and economic backwardness. These two conditions prompt the state government to continue
to rely on the grants by the federal government, resources that could only be secured if they remain within the coalition that controls the federal government.

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マレーシア研究第 6 号（2017 年）【Summary】

The Representation of Dayak People
in Sarawakian Authors’ Novels
OIKAWA Akane（Kanda University of International Studies）
Among the Sarawakian writers who use Chinese as their literary language, Taiwanresident novelists Li Yong-ping（born in 1947）and Chan Kuei-hsing（born in 1956）
have produced some novels that are set in their homeland of Borneo. We will examine their works and consider how the novelists redefine their identities as Sarawakborn Chinese, following a brief look at the relationship between the Dayak, the native people of Borneo, and the Chinese, and a short overview of the history of colonial Borneo, as described in Li and Chan’s novels.
Chinese writers have described Dayak people as some kind of external
threat, while at the same time portraying Dayak women as a symbol of the overrun
land of Borneo. Dayak women have been assigned their roles as the wives of Chinese
immigrants and the victims of sexual assault by the white colonizers.
However, when the novels’ protagonists step out of their safe living sphere
into the jungle in search of something, they always need the help of the Dayak people. Even when facing the memory of Communism, inevitable when examining the history of Sarawakian-Chinese, the Dayak people’s help is essential.
The protagonists have inherited both the legacy of Anglo/Dutch-colonized
Borneo and that of the Chinese, with the latter being mainly in terms of higher education through Taiwan. They trace the pioneering history of Borneo, while at thesame time trying to avoid the situation of being Chinese: the people who have oppressed the Dayak people, abused the Dayak women, and have deprived them of thelands and resources. The young protagonists seem to be attempting to build a collaborative relationship with the Dayak people and are becoming the children of Borneo.

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マレーシア研究 第 6 号（2017 年）【Summary】

The National Value of History Education as Evident
in Malaysian Secondary-school Examinations
NAITO Yuko
（Aichi Prefectural Tokoname Senior High School/Aichi University of Education）
How is it possible to improve students’ competence in 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, when the national policy focuses on specific values, such as critical thinking, when the national policy focuses on specific values, such as allegiance to the Sultan and religion? Through an analysis of history examinations, this paper willshow how history education in Malaysia is connected to the aforementioned national policy. In Malaysia, there was a shift in the government’s educational policy
to adapt to global changes resulting in the 1996 Education Act. Then in 2012, Malaysia participated in the -Programme for International Student Assessment-（PISA）,
and now aims to provide education based on global standards.
What does history education actually involve? This paper studies -historyas a compulsory subject, especially the examination papers and textbooks. The research was conducted in a typical boarding high school in Malaysia, located in thesouthern part of the Malay Peninsula. The history examination conducted in May
2016, which comprised three papers, was analysed. The first paper was of 1-hours’ duration and composed of 40 multiple-choice questions; the second, of 2 -hours’ duration, required a short essays; and the last, of 3 hours’ duration, longer essays.
These examinations were offered biannually and covered the whole of the history curriculum. If any students failed their history examinations, they could not move up
to the next grade.
The result of this analysis reveals that the Malaysia government demands
that -history- be made a compulsory subject, teaching the national policy regarding
the abovementioned specific values rather than 21st century skills. This also shows
how history education provides the background needed by the government to establish a bond between different ethnic groups. Further, one peculiarity found with history textbooks is that the viewpoint differs from that of the West; for example, revolutions and the 18th century Enlightenment are only briefly described.
There are just a few years left until the deadline for “Vision 2020”, when Malaysia should have achieved a world-class standard of education. This plan statesthat Malaysians should be ‘living in a society that is democratic, liberal and tolerant’. However, if modern history education does not teach the process of establishing democracy and liberty, how can the students understand these concepts? Having
intellectual abilities such as critical thinking skills, and applying multifaceted,multidirectional perspectives will be crucial in the 21st century.
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