RUBBER AND THE MODERNISATION OF THE PAKU IBAN IN ...

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This, according to Kedit, could only be “ponder within the whole context of modernization” (p. 144). In his study, Kedit classifies the Ibans into three categories: the traditionalist, the intermediary, and the modernist. The Paku Iban, he said, are of the intermediary and modernist types. In comparison, the Lubok Antu Iban are of the traditionalist type. Kedit believes the determining factor in this is not education, nor occupation, or religion (christianity vs Iban traditional religion), but the environment. The processes of change that took place among the Paku Iban, especially in the 1950s, could be attributed to the planting of rubber in Paku in the early decades of 1900s. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to show how rubber has influenced entrepreneurial development of the Paku Iban and how this has led to the adoption of a new culture. 2. Study Area The study area is called the Paku Ulu area. Paku is made of up of two main Penghulu jurisdictional areas: Paku Ili (lower Paku) and Paku Ulu (upper Paku). Paku Ili constitutes of tidal areas and is swampy, while Paku Ulu is the fresh-water areas and hilly. The soil in Paku Ulu is suitable for rubber planting. Paku River is a tributary of the Saribas River. Within the Iban community in Sarawak, Paku is considered to be an old country (menoa lama). It is one of the areas first occupied by the Ibans in Sarawak. According to Clifford Sather (1990), the Ibans have settled in the Paku region more than fourteen generations ago. Normally, when people talk about the Paku region, they usually refer to the Paku Ulu area due to its wealth in natural resources compared to Paku Ili. Paku Ulu is more developed and richer than Paku Ili. For example, Paku Ulu is accessible by road since 1967 while Paku Ili only in the late 1990s. Even then not all longhouses in the Paku Ili area are affected. Paku Ulu already has amenities such as electricity supply and telephone services, while Paku Ili still does not have these facilities even though it is much closer to Betong and 2
Spaoh towns. Our study, therefore, only covers the Paku Ulu 6 area. The study involves all fourteen longhouses in the Paku Ulu area. Compared to the Iban longhouses in other parts of Sarawak, the Paku Iban longhouses are relatively short. For example, of the fourteen longhouses in the area, only three are longer than twenty „doors‟ (pintu/bilik) 7 . Five of the longhouses have less than ten „doors‟. The total number of „doors‟ in Paku is less than 210. 3. Research Methods The research populations for this study are the heads of households who are above fifty years old, and must either be born in Paku or have been married to Paku people for more than fifty years, and are residing in the area at the material time of the study. As the number of the potential respondents is only 84, the researchers decide to interview all of them. Data are collected by using questionnaires and by interviewing seven key informants. The questionnaires were administered face-to-face by an interviewer, an undergraduate student in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. The informants were interviewed by the researcher using an indepth interview technique. 4. Background of Rubber Growing in Sarawak The first three rubber trees in Sarawak were planted in Kuching in 1881. One rubber tree was planted in the Anglican Bishop‟s Garden in Kuching, while the other two were planted in the Garden of the Resident. The seeds for these rubber trees were imported by the Right Reverend Bishop Hose from the Botanic Garden in Singapore. The next rubber trees to be planted in Sarawak were planted five years later in the Coffee Estates on the slope of Mount Matang 8 . Some rubber trees were also planted along the roads in Kuching but soils in Matang and Kuching were not suitable for rubber. In 1905, Mr. Moir 6 Kedit‟s study on “the modernization among the Iban of Sarawak” is also conducted in Paku Ulu area. 7 The length of an Iban longhouse is determined by the number of its ‘pintu’ which literally means door. One ‘pintu’ or one door actually refers to one family unit/apartment. 8 Matang is located just outside Kuching. 3
Page 1: RUBBER AND THE MODERNISATION OF THE
Page 5 and 6: After completing their course, they
Page 7 and 8: 6.2.1. Community Based Wealth The r
Page 9 and 10: tappers, 13% had five hired rubber
Page 11 and 12: leather shoes, watches, custom-made
Page 13 and 14: Communally, they became more commun
Page 15: Vol. LXIX, No. 1030, July 1, 1939,

RUBBER AND THE MODERNISATION OF THE PAKU IBAN IN ...

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