Rural-Urban Migration of the Iban of Sarawak and Changes in Long-house Communities

Abstract

The Iban of Sarawak, Malaysia, who are well known as typical long-house dwellers, have attracted scholarly attention because of their frequent migration related to their custom such as shifting cultivation and headhunting. This paper examines a new trend of the Iban's rural-urban migration and its impact on the long-house community. Recent economic development in Sarawak has provided Iban males with stabler jobs, which enabled them to sojourn longer in urban areas. This has resulted in the increase in rural-urban migration accompanied by wives and children. While more females have been leaving the long-house to follow their husbands, Iban villages experienced change in subsistence activities, such as the increase in wet paddy cultivation, the shrinkage of the average planted acreage, and the aging of the farming population. The out-migration of the younger generations and the decline in agricultural activities gave rise to the tendency of the extinction of family line and the bonds between families, which are reflected in the degradation of the long-house community.