戰後砂拉越華人改變戰前的政治態度，不再是對政治漠不關心，反而積極參與。砂拉越華人的國家認同由祖國轉而認同砂拉越這片土地，由於受反殖民主義的影響，於是興起反殖反帝國主義運動，以爭取砂拉越獨立建國。在追求獨立建國的過程中砂拉越華人領袖是左翼的中下階級為主導，以對抗英國殖民政府和反對東姑阿都拉曼的大馬來西亞計劃。砂拉越人民聯合黨號召群眾在柯波德調查團和聯合國調查團期間進行反大馬運動，企圖攔阻砂拉越併入馬來西亞。 大馬來西亞計劃提出後北婆羅洲土著和華人才意識到英國殖民政府將撤離，他們才起來組織政黨，以爭取各族的權益。北婆羅洲華人領袖是右翼上層階級為主導，他們經馬華公會的游說而從反對轉向支持馬來西亞，進而與土著聯合組成北婆羅洲聯盟黨，以實現北婆羅洲併入馬來西亞而獨立。 砂、婆兩邦併入馬來西亞過程中經過民意調查的階段。1962年2月19日至4月18日柯波德調查團到砂、婆兩邦徵詢人民對大馬計劃的意見。砂拉越華人社團與人聯黨的備忘錄堅決反對大馬計劃，而北婆羅洲華人社團、民主黨和聯合黨則主張自治，但是柯波德報告書結果卻操縱在英國政府和東姑阿都拉曼的手中。由此可見，柯波德報告書扭曲民意和違背砂、婆兩邦華人自治和獨立的目標。由於印度尼西亞和菲律賓的攔阻，所以由聯合國介入，派遣聯合國調查團到砂、婆兩邦鑑定民意。最終聯合國裁決砂、婆兩邦併入馬來西亞。砂、婆兩邦併入馬來西亞，在憲法上可獲得二十條保障條款和十年過渡期。國家地位而言，砂拉越和北婆羅洲是從殖民地降為受英國操控的馬來西亞之州政府。 / On May 27, 1961, the prime minister of Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman suggested the Greater Malaysia Proposals, which the Federation of Malaya close together with the territories of Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei in political and economic. However Chinese in Sarawak opposed to the British government and the Greater Malaysia Proposals. The left wing of the Sarawak United People's Party submitted the anti-Malaysia memorandum and signature campaign to the Cobbold Commission. While Chinese in North Borneo, mainly are the towkay, generally supported the proposals, because it meant the greater economic opportunities and strengthen of the politic. Cobbold Commission conducted a public opinion poll in Sarawak and North Borneo regarding to the merge of Malaysia. Cobbold Commission went to Sarawak and North Borneo to received the opinion of Malaysia during 1962 Feb 19 till 18 April. Memorandum of Sarawak Chinese community and Sarawak United People's Part rejected merged with Malaysia, but North Borneo Chinese community and Democratic Party, United Party, advocates autonomous. However the polls result manipulated by British government and Tunku Abdul Rahman. Report of Cobbold Commission distortion public opinion and disobey the target of autonomous and independence Sarawak and North Borneo Chinese. The Secretary-General of the United Nations came to appraise the polls in Sarawak and North Borneo due to the baffle of Indonesia and Philippine government for the formation of Malaysia. At last Secretary-General of the United Nations to rule Sarawak and North Borneo merged with Malaysia.When Sarawak and North Borneo finally merged with Malaysia, they got 20 points safeguards and ten-year transitional period under the constitution. However on the part of the nation status, Sarawak and North Borneo from colony reduced to the state government of Malaysia that controlled by British.

Tropical forests have existed for up to one hundred million years, and today provide many ecosystem services vital for human well-being. They also harbour great biodiversity, which, in addition to its intrinsic value, plays a key role in the functioning of these ecosystems. Despite their local to global significance, there are still many knowledge gaps concerning the dynamic processes that govern the functioning of tropical forests. Rapid rates of deforestation and landscape conversion, predominantly for logging and industrial agriculture, are limiting the time and opportunity available to collect the information needed to fill these gaps. This research aims to shed light on the long-term ecological functioning of tropical forests, specifically investigating the history of disturbance in these ecosystems and the response of forest vegetation to past perturbations. The carbon-rich tropical peat swamp forests found along the coast of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, are a central focus of this study. For these forests in particular, a large deficit of knowledge surrounding their history and unique ecological functioning is coupled with some of the highest conversion rates of all tropical forest ecosystems across the world. In this thesis, palaeoecological data has been used to reconstruct temporal variability in forest vegetation coincident with external perturbations in order to identify changes in the resilience of these ecosystems through time, via indicators such as slowing rates of recovery and reduced regeneration of forest vegetation. Results suggest that tropical forest ecosystems have, for the most part, shown resilience to natural disturbances in the past, ranging from instantaneous localised tree-fall to longer-term regional climatic change; but that recent anthropogenic disturbances, of novel forms and greater intensities, are jeopardizing the potential for forest recovery and thus compromising ecosystem resilience. These findings enhance our understanding of the ecology of tropical peat swamp forests, and tropical forests more broadly. They also provide a context for contemporary tropical forest management, allowing for predictions on future responses to disturbance and enabling more ecologically sustainable landscape planning.

本文以馬來西亞近代發展沿革為經，華人族裔金融機構的組織變貌為緯，同時援引社會學族裔經濟（ethnic economy）之理論及概念，作為歷史詮釋的張本，嘗試勾稽華人族裔金融機構的發展梗概，論析砂拉越華資銀行在此脈絡下的發展與侷限。進而回答何以全馬僅大眾、豐隆等少數繼續茁壯，更大多數的華人金融機構卻陸續退出市場？及其所蘊寓的華人族裔經濟意涵為何？ 本文指出，在英人殖民時期，華人移民因創業謀生之所需，同族互助而有華資銀行等族裔金融機構的誕生，隨著華人逐漸融入當地生活而在戰後初年達到發展高峰。嗣後馬來西亞聯邦成立，華資銀行則在國家大力扶持土著資本的影響下趨向邊緣化；1997年東南亞金融風暴後，馬國政府力促銀行整併以回應全球化競爭，過程中華人資本被迫淡出，多數的華資銀行也因而走入歷史。總體而言，華資銀行歷經「在地化」及「土著化」進程，反映出馬來西亞華人經濟的質量變化，就社會學的領域，即是華人在馬國金融業的參與，已由早期族裔擁有的經濟（ethnic ownership economy），朝族裔控制的經濟（ethnic control economy）方向演化。 在企業史的層次，個案研究顯示：馬國絕大多數的華資銀行屬中小型規模，發展深受在地政商脈絡及華人族裔特性之影響。砂拉越的華資銀行脫胎於傳統的族裔金融機構，專注於當地業務及同族市場，有著穩健成長的特色，雖對華人經濟作出貢獻，卻難以應付一再增加的族群政策鉗制及市場競爭壓力。本文也發現，隨著時間過去，華資銀行的族裔色彩逐漸淡化，幫權結構也不斷崩解，惟有家族經營始終強韌，顯示族裔特性依然存在，但其內涵早已今非昔比；而主導銀行的家族不願向外發展，擴大規模，以免流失控制權的保守心態，亦侷限其進一步發展的可能性。 / This paper studies the history of Chinese ethnic financial institutions in Malaysia, and explores its implications of the “ethnic economy” theory. Following this context, this article aims to explore the societal changes resulting from the adaptation of Chinese communities to the local host population, and gradual transformation of family-controlled Malaysian Chinese banks and ethnic financial institutions. Meanwhile, I also uses case study to discuss the development and limitation of a Sarawak bank. In this paper, I try to answer the reasons why a few Chinese banks in Malaysia thrived while other ethnic financial institutions eventually went out of business. And how do the evolution of ethnic financial institutions and the related turning point reflect the meaning of the ethnic economy? I pointed out that ethnic financial institutions were created under a particular time period and background, ethnic entrepreneurs fined-tuned their resources for applicable business strategy, and their strategy allowed Chinese communities to expand in every aspect of the economy at the early colonial era. Banking systems in Singapore, Malaya and Sarawak were originally introduced by the British; later Chinese communities became involved and the financial industry reached its peak in the first few years after the World War II. The Chinese banks played a great role in the local financial industries/enterprises at the time were owned by single or multiple families. The industry then underwent a series of events, such as the sovereign separation of Singapore and Malaysia, implementation of New Economic Policy(NEP), and ongoing mergers since the millennium, resulting in only two Chinese banks, Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank, remaining in the industry with a continued decline in the proportion of their stockholding. Malaysian Chinese with significant amounts of capital were once highly involved in the banking and financial industry, but with the passage of time, the development of Chinese financial institutions was subject to the phenomenon of “indigenization” and “bumiputraization”, which both hindered their ongoing development and later drove them out of business. In the light of the ethnic economy theory, Participation of Chinese financial institutions in Malaysia were moving from an "ethnic ownership economy" towards an "ethnic controlled economy". The analysis of the Sarawak case indicates the development of Chinese banks was subject to the influence of political and local business relationships, and the distinctive ethnic features of the Chinese communities. The majority of the Chinese banks in Sarawak evolved from ethnic financial institutions, small and medium-sized business within the family control, they focused on local businesses and markets of the same ethnicity. Even though these banks contributed to the ethnic economy and saw constant growth, they were swept aside by the tide of history once the political and economic environment began to change. This article also discovered that as time went by, Chinese bank gradually changed their image as ethnic banks. The structure of “dialect groups” began to collapse as well; this was a distinctly ethnic concept whereby only family management could maintain the existence of a corporation. The major limitations which restricted the development of ethnic financial institutions were conservative family management and a reluctance to expand outward in the hope of preventing the dispersion of power.