Cultural construct of customary land from the perspective of Bidayuh community

Abstract

Customary land forms an important asset and are very valuable to the Bidayuh community. Hence, this article attempts to understand the cultural construct of customary land and its relationship to the economic and social dimension from the perspective of Bidayuh community. This study was undertaken in the District of Serian, Sarawak. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey supported by semi-structured interviews. A purposive sampling technique was utilized. A questionnaire survey was administered to 70 land owners who form the respondents of this study and an additional 10 persons from the Bidayuh community were interviewed. The findings reveal that the cultural construct of customary land to the Bidayuh community can be classified into three themes such as, land as cultural identity, land as sustaining heritage, and land as an economic resources. The study implies that the customary land has direct link with the economic and socio-cultural aspects of the Bidayuh community.