Ethical questions raised by the politicising of Iban lives

Abstract

This article unravels corporate ownership in the agricultural sector as a basis for assessing Iban opportunities to develop choices in regard to rural development in Sarawak. It proceeds to investigate the predominant discourse on rural development as the symbolic environment which ultimately determines the nature of participation by agriculturalists. My sources comprise census materials, scholarly research, and newspaper reports from 1987–93. The results reflect critical disablement of recently autonomous peoples at the level of subsistence. My findings affirm the right to participate but they refute any causal linkage of development and economic advantage to rural Iban in Sarawak.