Abstract
This chapter studies how the indigenous tribes in Sarawak are using social media to highlight topics pertaining to structural issues related to their native titles—that is, their Native Customary Rights—and traditional land dispossession, particularly by loggers. The Sarawak government often takes a hostile and legalistic attitude towards native claims to land. However, social media provides an alternative narrative to the official version of land disputes and, perhaps more importantly, provides a space for support and comradery among similar groups fighting for their respective native titles around the world. In particular, this chapter provides an overview of how indigenous groups in Sarawak utilise Facebook as a space for resistance, advocacy and political interaction.
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Notes
- 1.
Alternatively known as pemakai menua—the Iban in the northern region of Sarawak tend to replace the “o” sound with “u”, in contrast to their southern counterparts.
- 2.
One of the earliest records of native land ownership in Sarawak was written in 1840, where James Brooke recognised the right to the jungle around native longhouses (Malanjum 2020).
- 3.
- 4.
A network of personal computers acting as both clients and servers, so that users can exchange files and emails directly with every other computer on the network.
- 5.
e.g. “NCR Sarawak”, “pemakai menoa”, “pemakai menua”, “deforestation Sarawak”, “palm oil Sarawak”, #NCRSarawak, #pemakaimenoa, and #pemakaimenua.
- 6.
Presumed dead in 2005, Manser was known for organising series of blockades against timber companies in Sarawak. Like many other critics, Manser believed that excessive timber logging and state corruption prevented the Penan from fully practising their nomadic lifestyles, since greedy corporations and government appropriated their homes.
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Jalli, N., Chin, J. (2023). Native Customary Rights Land Titles and Thwarting Deforestation: Digital Acts of Resistance Among Sarawak’s Indigenous Peoples. In: Loh, B.Y., Chin, J. (eds) New Media in the Margins. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7141-9_2
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