In early August of this year, I landed in Sarawak, and made my way in stages up the Baram River to our sister community of Uma Bawang-Keluan. At the mid-way point, I spent a night in the river town of Marudi where I had my first "sighting" of local native culture in the form of an indigenous man with traditional elongated earlobes standing at an ATM machine!

In Marudi I met Jok Jau Evong, the president of UBRA (the Uma Bawang Residents' Association) and a staff member of SAM (Sahabat Alam Malaysia-Friends of the Earth Malaysia). My primary mission was to hand deliver the draft of a Community Mapping Manual which had been prepared by our mapping team.

Passing on the manual was a symbol of The Borneo Project's continued support and commitment to Uma Bawang's struggle to protect their native customary land rights. The secondary, and less defined mission was to spend some time with the community to get a clearer picture of what's going on. Even with the most sophisticated communication technology, you never get the whole picture without face-to-face contact and a few glasses of rice wine.

That first evening in Marudi, Jok and I spoke on a broad range of topics. One of the clearest messages was the importance of keeping in close contact. Speaking of the difficulties of communication, Jok told me of three long letters describing recent activities and political events in Sarawak-- none of which made it through to Berkeley. We had much catching up to do.

When I asked about the community mapping project, Jok handed me a map, digitized using Global Information System (GIS) technology. Jok explained that this map showing Uma Bawang's customary boundaries was endorsed by the community and then sent to the Land and Survey Department in February along with an attorney's letter formally requesting any information on government plans for "land alienation" on their territory. The map had been officially accepted and recorded by the District Office.

On December 5th, 1996 UBRA received an encouraging letter from Sarawak's Land and Survey Department detailing plans to regazette the Long Lama Oil Palm Plantation scheme which originally included portions of Uma Bawang-Keluan's customary land. The letter indicated that Uma Bawang would now be excluded from the land scheme. For Jok and UBRA this news is highly encouraging as it sets a precedent for other communities also affected by undesirable land development plans. However, they are cautious to claim victory considering how many promises have been broken by the government and corporations in the past.

Jok went on to tell me that since the 1995 mapping workshop, both UBRA and SAM have been approached by an overwhelming number of indigenous communities requesting assistance with their own community mapping. However, neither of these organizations has enough staff nor technical capacity to adequately respond to the growing number of requests. It was at this point in our conversation that Jok informed me that he, Raymond Abin and Harrison Ngau, a former member of the Malaysian Parliament and 1990 Goldman Environmental Award winner, recently collaborated to establish the Borneo Resources Institute-- for the purpose of organizing and leading a major community mapping project throughout Sarawak involving people of the Penan, Iban, Kayan, Kenyah and other tribes.

The next evening, following a six hour journey upriver and tough slog through the rainforest, we arrived at Uma Bawang-Keluan. The community turned out in force, rolling out the "visitor's mat" on the long front porch while people sat along the railings and the sides of the biliks (individual family apartments) to talk, tell stories, ask me questions, and exchange news from elsewhere.

That night I watched as members of the community signed and thumb-printed a letter to the Minister for Land Development. This letter stated that the undersigned did not authorize their village chief or any regional chief to negotiate contracts involving their land, forests, or natural resources with any government or corporate entity. This represents another bold initiative by the people of Uma Bawang considering that their regional chief has a history of acquiescing to logging interests. In Sarawak, it is commonplace for village chiefs (who are chosen and supported by the government) to practice power of attorney and negotiate contracts in the name of their constituents.

With this letter, the members of UBRA strongly stated that such decisions can only be made with the involvement, consensus and agreement of all community members.

Fortunately, life in Uma Bawang-Keluan is not just a story of land struggles, politics and legal battles! I spent 3 out of the 5 days in Uma Bawang with various groups on their fishing expeditions in the Temha and other local rivers. On my first fishing experience with members of the women's association I was taught the finer points of scoop-net fishing wading waist-deep in mid-stream. In the following days I experienced spear fishing, fishing with round weighted casting-nets, and the use of racun Kayan: a plant fiber pounded and swished in the water to release a nerve toxin that stuns the fish.

The lifestyle in Uma Bawang-Keluan always reflects the seasonal continuum. Since I arrived during the height of the dry season, most of the people were busy clearing their hill rice plots in preparation for the mid-September burning. Shortly after, rice would be planted and the rainy season would begin. The community expects to harvest sometime next February or March and strongly suggested that this would be a good time for us to return-- just in time for the harvest festival, celebrations, and plenty of strong borak!