Sarawak and its Peoples

Abstract

Sarawak lies in the north-western part of Borneo, sharing its borders to the north-east with Sabah (formerly British North Borneo), a fellow member state of the Federation of Malaysia, and the kingdom of Negeri Brunei Darrulsalam; and to the south-east and south-west with Indonesian Kalimantan (formerly Dutch Borneo). Sarawak is about 124 485 square kilometres (48 250 square miles) and constitutes nearly 38 per cent of the total area of Malaysia. Despite its large land area, its population in 1995 was only 1 9 million, compared to the total population of Malaysia of 20.7 million.