The Population of Sarawak

Abstract

IN most of the states OF malaysia the indigenous populations are steadily in? creasing, and in the Bornean States of Sarawak and Sabah the rates of natural increase are also very high. But in Sarawak the 28*3 per cent increase in the indigenous population between 1947 and 1960 is overshadowed by an increase in the Chinese population of 57-9 per cent in the same period. Although the total indigenous popu? lation has not been outnumbered by the Chinese as yet, each of the indigenous ethnic groups taken separately has been (except for the Sea Dayaks) outnumbered since 1939. Today 30-8 per cent of the population of Sarawak is Chinese. The total population increased by 36-3 per cent in the last intercensal period. Large areas of the country still remain forest-covered and virtually uninhabited, but most of this land is hilly, mountainous and inaccessible and is unlikely to be suit? able for permanent agricultural settlement. Relatively heavy concentrations of popu? lation are found in coastal areas, particularly in the Kuching region. Three-quarters of the population live south of a line through Sibu and west of a line through Kanowit, i.e. in the First, Second and the western part of the Third Division. In these areas the pressure for land is great, especially near the main centres of the Chinese agricultural communities. There is, therefore, a need to make more land available for settlement. Effects of shifting cultivation are also serious in the Land Dayak areas in the First Division and in the Sea Dayak areas of the Second Division. With the increasing population, one sees the destruction of hill jungle and reversion to derelict, eroded and lalang-irrfested hillsides taking place at an alarming rate. The Census of 1960 showed the population of Sarawak to be 744,529, of whom 68#i per cent were indigenous peoples and 30-8 per cent Chinese. Europeans and others made up the remaining i-i per cent (Jones, 1962) (Table 1). Population increase and ethnic composition.?Before the beginning of the twentieth century the population of Sarawak was scanty and vast tracts of the interior were simply uninhabited forest, much as it is today. At the turn of the century, the estimated population was 400,000. In 1939 it stood at just below 500,000 and by 1947 it was only 546,385. (Noakes, 1950) The next twelve years, however, saw the first significant increases and by 1960 the population total was 744,529. Hence the growth of the population during the first half of the century has been slow, but after the Second World War the population has been increasing rather rapidly. (Table 1). The discouraging population increases during the first half of the century can be attributed to various causes, among the more important of which are the depression of the thirties, the factor of disease, and the ravages ofthe Second World War (Lee, 1962). On the other hand, the phenomenal increases after 1950 have been due largely to the return of peaceful and stable conditions which have helped, in no small way, in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country, and also to the prosperity of the rubber, timber and oil industries which have provided much employment. The construction work in all the major towns together with the employment opportunities in these industries, have drawn in much population both from within and without the country. The annual rate of increase before 1947 was most probably very small, and even between 1939-47 the population increased by only 11 per cent or at the annual rate of 1-4 per cent. Between 1947-60 the population increased significantly by 36 per cent or at the unprecedented annual rate of 2*5 per cent. Although this high annual rate of