Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Experiencing longhouse life and Kelabit hospitality in the Kelabit High-
lands (
Click here
)
Ascending to the summit of Gunung Mulu, the highest peak in Borneo's
best nature park, or going spelunking in Gunung Mulu National Park (
Click here
)
Entering a netherworld of stalactites and bats in the caves of Niah National
Park (
Click here
)
History
After a century of rule by the White Rajahs and four years of Japanese occupation,
Sarawak became a British Crown colony in 1946. At Westminster's urging, the territory
joined the Malay Peninsula, Sabah and Singapore to form Malaysia in 1963 (Singapore
withdrew two years later). At about the same time, neighbouring Indonesia, under the left-
ist leadership of President Soekarno, laid claim to all of Borneo, including Sarawak,
launching a military campaign known as the Konfrontasi (1962-66). Tens of thousands of
troops from the UK, Australia and New Zealand were deployed to secure Sarawak's bor-
der with Kalimantan.
Since 1981 Sarawak's chief minister has been Abdul Taib Mahmud, who has frequently
been accused of corruption, most recently in a 2012 report by the Bruno Manser Fund
(
www.bmf.ch/en
)
, a Swiss NGO. Entitled 'The Taib Timber Mafia', the dossier identifies
Taib as Malaysia's richest man, with a personal fortune estimated at US$15 billion, and
accuses him of abusing his office to award timber and other resource concessions to fam-
ily and friends. In the state assembly elections of 2011, Taib's political coalition, the Bar-
isan Nasional (BN), retained its two thirds majority but is under pressure in the run-up to
Malaysia's 2013 federal elections.
