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centre both for his tourism activities and also for
conducting research, gathering information and
writing documents and reports, including a concise
development proposal for the Kelabit Highlands
to be submitted for consideration under the Ninth
Malaysia Plan. It was in this context that he stated
that the Internet gave him access to a mass of in-
formation and enabled him to communicate with
relevant people and agencies, such as the policy
makers, politicians and government officials: 'The
Internet seems to reduce the amount of protocol
one has to endure in order to get through to these
development conveners.'
Robert's statement indicates that some Kelabit
are turning to these technologies as means to strat-
egize their actions in their encounters with ideas,
intervention and people from the outside world.
This is particularly important as new notions of
development which include commercial logging
and large-scale, futuristic development plans for
the Highlands are currently being introduced and
implemented in the Bario. For instance, in 2003,
commercial logging as a form of development has
been introduced in the Kelabit Highlands. This
differing concept of development has begun to
shift attention away from socio-economic develop-
ment among the Kelabit to their legal rights and
governance in relation to their land and cultural
heritage in the Highlands. This has stimulated
individuals and groups to speak up after many
years of moving in tandem with state-initiated
plans for development. This is because there are
significant concerns about the potential impact of
logging in the Highlands area. These include the
effects on watersheds for wet rice cultivation in
the area; the Kelabit dependence on the forest for
jungle produce and wild game; and the growing
ecotourism in the Kelabit Highlands. Numerous
people provide guiding and lodging services for
Malaysian and international tourists, many of
whom are attracted by the opportunities for long-
distance trekking. Seen in this light, demands for
land for timber concessions are bound to come
into conflict with Highlanders in competition for
the same resources. This is due to the very nature
of logging is in complete contradiction to the new
types of tourism that the Sarawak Tourism Board
and the Kelabit themselves want to attract.
Simultaneously, there is a feeling that the
Kelabit are dealing with the limitations of available
local institutions and practices for confronting the
many problems that commercial logging and road
building are generating and will continue to do
so. One critical issue is the shifting notion of land
ownership, which is seen as a steady alienation
of the Kelabit from their heritage land, and if left
unaddressed, could become a growing arena for
political conflict at the village level.
All these social and political processes are
beginning to shape Kelabit modes of engagement
with ICT, and their outcomes in the Highlands.
The use of the Internet, computers and telephone
permits a form of political agency, especially
as these new forms of intervention threaten to
change the physical and cultural landscape of the
Highlands. The new technologies inspire those
in Bario to reach out to those that have left the
Highlands, but still maintain a strong interest in
the affairs of the village.
A good example of this is the use of community
websites such as the Online Kelabit Society (OKS).
As an online forum, the site features discussions on
various issues which currently face the Kelabit. It
is an on-line forum, and the discussions that take
place within it, which allow for exchanges of ideas
between members of the community both within
Malaysia and beyond. Some topics or themes
are the encroachment of commercial logging and
the impact of development in Bario, mapping of
Native Customary Land and cultural sites in the
Kelabit Highlands, and the documentation of the
Kelabit language, which are increasingly being
managed via the Internet. A recent example of
this is an Internet forum to revive the use of the
Kelabit language among the younger generation.
The initiative was launched by a Kelabit woman
living in Miri, who is very concerned about the
declining interest for and usage of the language
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