Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1973. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 689-706).

This study examines the social and political significance of media among the Iban of Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo. It is intended to contribute both to the ethnographic literature on the lban and to a neglected field of inquiry of key theoretical and practical importance: the anthropological study of media. The thesis is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter introduces the problem by critically reviewing the relevant literature from social anthropology and media studies. The second chapter deals with the production side of modern media from an historical perspective. The production of a modern lban identity through radio and print media in the 1 960s was superseded in the 1970s by a more vigorous rival project supported through television and textbooks: the creation of a Malaysian national culture. The third chapter explores the 'social life and afterlife' of television sets in the Saribas region as they enter into the gift and exchange systems that bind the living and the dead, including burial rites at which television sets are destroyed. This approach reveals growing wealth disparities in rural Sarawak as well as culture-specific ways in which media artefacts are appropriated and disposed of. Chapter Four analyses the critical role of radio, television, public-address systems and other media in the organisation of social time and space in Saribas longhouse communities. I argue that these media help local people to routinely naturalize clock and calendar time both in their daily and festive lives. Chapter Five focuses on the relationship between media practices and the local Saribas ideology, or 'ideolect'. A close examination of school essays, public-address speeches and television commentary reveals a consistent set of developmentalist ideas cutting across these diverse practices. Chapter Six compares and contrasts the findings from the Saribas area (chapters 3-5) with those from a more remote region, the Skrang. I stress the importance of indigenised Christian prayer books in providing recent converts with tools with which to make sense of troubling reports from television and radio, notably news of war, famine and the spread of infectious diseases. Chapter Seven is a summary and conclusion.

The year 1990 not only marks the twenty-seventh year of Sarawak securing her independence within Malaysia, but also signals the ending of the twenty long years of the implementation of an affirmative action called the New Economic Policy. The policy was primarily conceived to provide the indigenous people with a wider opportunity to participate in trade and industry. So far, however, the available statistics do not convince the author that the policy has achieved the desired objective, at least in Sarawak. Scholars are divided on the importance of the influence of culture and structure on the entrepreneurial success or failure of a particular group, and therefore on the varying policy implications produced therefrom. This study explored the problems and entrepreneurial nature of the indigenous businesses in Sarawak, and has shown that their economic backwardness is attributed more to the structural factors than to the cultural ones. This thesis defines its scope through the historical analysis and empirical investigation of the persistent underachievement of the indigenous business as compared to those of other ethnic groups in Sarawak. The study has not only unveiled the problems of Bumiputra small businesses in Sarawak, but has also outlined some policy recommendations. The most important suggestion is broadly the elimination of present inequalities in opportunities and the advancement of preferential measures for the indigenous business. So far, to the best of the author's knowledge, there has been a notable absence of a study of this kind in Sarawak, and this work appears to be the first of its kind. Because of its importance, it is therefore hoped that it will spur further academic interest in the area.

Approximately 6,200 square miles (16,000 square kilometers) of Sarawak, Malaysia, were mapped at 1:125,000 scale, the Area including portions of the coastal swamp plain, the interior highlands, and the intervening lower upland zone in which population and development are largely concentrated. Red-Yellow Podzolic Soils (mainly Dystropepts or Cambisols, and their shallow associateB) are dominant in the uplands and are mainly derived from sedimentary rocks. Terrace Podzols (Humods; Podzols) are important in many swamp fringe tracts. Deep Organic Soils (Fibrists; Dystric Histosols) mantle much of the coastal swamp zone with Gley Soils (Aquents; Fluviso1s) in estuarine and delta tracts. Silication and loss of clay from the upper subsoil are among the processes evident in upland soils but clay il1uviation is slight in most profiles examined. Other soil processes involved in upland areas include layering of subsoil materials' through slope creep and homogenisation through faunal disturbance. The difficulties of applying quantitative classifications to such soils is discussed and the continued use of traditional genetic groupings is supported. Correlations are made with the USDA and FAO classifications and with others regional systems. A proposed classification is developed for the Area's soils, using Groups based on the Thorp and Smith divisions (with some redefinition) and employing Families and Series defined with the requirements of a practical operational classification in mind. These requirements in a Sarawak context are discussed. The study is supported by soil and other maps, by data on sample profiles representing the main Soil Series of the Area, and by discussions of the soil pattern in relation to landform history in the Area and to the agricultural landscape now developed on it

No description available.

When the Malaysian Prime Minister announced throughout the country in November, 1989, that the New Economic Policy, which had been aimed at encouraging the Bumiputras of Malaysia divulge into business, had only achieved 19.4 percent success rate, few were surprised. This was because it had been known over the two decades of the New Economic Policy that the Malays had achieved little impact in the local entrepreneurial scene. What was surprising, was that no one questioned why the NEP had achieved so little, as compared to the hundreds of millions of Malalaysian dollars which had been allocated for the purpose of helping them become more entrepreneurial. It is the view of this researcher that the Malaysian government and publics still have not achieved the expected 30 percent NEP objective of Malay participation because the main issue at the heart of the matter, that is the fact that little is known about the characteristics of the Malays who have become entrepreneurs overnight, is not fully understood. This research, even though only focussing on Sarawak, is meant to act as the springboard for future research into understanding Malay entrepreneurial attributes and what more better way to do that other than by comparing them with the Chinese entrepreneurs in the state, whose successes in business have enabled them to dominate the state economy. Comparison of the business activity of the two races is the prime focus of this research and it is hoped that the results of this study will be useful for future policy makers as well as the entrepreneurial development programmes they design. Failure to do this will result in more wastage in the resources and manpower employed, largely because of duplication of the activities such as seminars, workshops and entrepreneurial courses which everybody seems to be organising but where nobody seems to be keeping record of who is organising what courses, who has attended what courses, who is or is not eligible to attend, or more importantly, even who can achieve the most benefit from what is being provided. This research reveals the similarities as well as the differences between the Malay and Chinese entrepreneurs in the study. These attributes are compared and analysed statistically to see whether certain characteristics (variables) for the two groups are positively or negatively correlated, and if so, how strong the correlation is. The analyses from the study is then compared to earlier studies which have all been done for the Malays and Chinese in Peninsular Malaysia. It is pertinent to note at this point that no study of this kind has ever been undertaken for Sarawak, and this study happens to be the first.

Thesis (M. Ec.)--University of Sydney, 1963. / Also available in print form.

No description available.

Abstract not available

published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts