Native Customary Rights Land Titles and Thwarting Deforestation: Digital Acts of Resistance Among Sarawak’s Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

This chapter studies how the indigenous tribes in Sarawak are using social media to highlight topics pertaining to structural issues related to their native titles—that is, their Native Customary Rights—and traditional land dispossession, particularly by loggers. The Sarawak government often takes a hostile and legalistic attitude towards native claims to land. However, social media provides an alternative narrative to the official version of land disputes and, perhaps more importantly, provides a space for support and comradery among similar groups fighting for their respective native titles around the world. In particular, this chapter provides an overview of how indigenous groups in Sarawak utilise Facebook as a space for resistance, advocacy and political interaction.