eBKF9 Workshops
Workshop 1 : Hike the highlands!
Abstract This work shop will involve a collaborative approach to identifying landmarks around Bario with a view to creating interpretation boards for a self-guided trail. This process will build on memory and local stories. Participants from the community will identify places associated with significant eras in Bario: megaliths; houses and padi barns; significant trees; certain padi-fields; places associated with the Semut operations; Confrontation, the Christian revival. Landmarks will only be put as places on the trail map that meet criteria of suitability and sustainability.
Participants: village leaders; homestay owners; tour guides; members of the Bario tourism task group; knowledgeable elders.
Methodology: open discussion in groups using a World café technique with graphic recording
Outcome: A route and a series of landmarks are set to establish a self-guided walking trail.
Facilitators Datu Ose Murang and Dr Valerie Mashman
Valerie Mashman PhD is an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Borneo Studies UNIMAS. Her interests include oral history and material culture and she has been involved in the setting up of two self-guided trails with Dr Kit Pearce at Mount Matang and Kubah National Park as part of the Beccari Centenary Celebration.
Datu Ose Murang grew up in the Kelabit Highlands. He had an illustrious career. Among his diverse tasks, he coordinated the preparation of the Management Plan for Gunong Mulu National Park and the Headhunters Trail. He went on to climb Sarawak’s highest mountain and waterfall of Gunung Murud at 2,424m and Julan Waterfall in Usun Apau at 1,100m asl, respectively.
Workshop 2 : Documenting and Securing Ownership to NCR Lands
“Take Action Now”
“Kuching (Sept 2): The total acreage surveyed under the Sarawak government’s new initiative for native customary rights land is at 2.57 mln acres as of July 31 this year, Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said”
Borneo Post online Sep 2, 2022
Abstract: The singular issue hindering documentation of the estimated 1.5 million hectares of Native Customary Rights Lands (NCR Land) is the rampant incidence of counter-claims or disputes by third parties regarding the rightful ownership and the boundaries of the NCR land. This problem has caused much disquiet and frustration to the natives, and thus, requiring an urgent pragmatic and effective solution by the government.
The solution to this enduring problem is now successfully addressed through the implementation of the NCR New Initiative since July 2010. This paper provides background information, progress to-date, and some suggestions for remaining communities to re-consider coming on board the New Initiative; as the default position is the very real likelihood of losing their NCR lands.
Participants: Political leaders, community leaders, village headmen, influential villagers, NCR landowners.
Methodology: An interactive briefing followed by a Q and A session on key issues.
Outcome: Heightened awareness and desire to coming on board the NCR New Initiative.
Presenter: Datu Ose Murang (oseford@gmail.com) dedicated his working life in the Sarawak Civil Service. His notable contributions include the initiation of policies on the NCR New Initiative, the Unit for Other Religious Bodies (UNIFOR), the creation of Bario Sub-District, and the creation of Mulu State Constituency.
Moderator: Dr Ramy Bulan (ramybulan@gmail.com) retired as Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya. She continues as a Research Fellow and the Director of the Centre for Legal Pluralism and Indigenous Law at the Faculty of Law. Dr Ramy has published widely on legal issues relating to indigenous peoples, including on Native customary land rights, native legal institutions, customary restorative justice, traditional knowledge systems and cultural heritage as well as indigenous environmental governance. A book that she has co-edited entitled “An Anthology of Indigenous peoples’ Issues” has just been published and released by Thomson-Reuters, Sweet & Maxwell in October 2022.
Participants: village leaders; homestay owners; tour guides; members of the Bario tourism task group; knowledgeable elders.
Methodology: open discussion in groups using a World café technique with graphic recording
Outcome: A route and a series of landmarks are set to establish a self-guided walking trail.
Facilitators Datu Ose Murang and Dr Valerie Mashman
Valerie Mashman PhD is an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Borneo Studies UNIMAS. Her interests include oral history and material culture and she has been involved in the setting up of two self-guided trails with Dr Kit Pearce at Mount Matang and Kubah National Park as part of the Beccari Centenary Celebration.
Datu Ose Murang grew up in the Kelabit Highlands. He had an illustrious career. Among his diverse tasks, he coordinated the preparation of the Management Plan for Gunong Mulu National Park and the Headhunters Trail. He went on to climb Sarawak’s highest mountain and waterfall of Gunung Murud at 2,424m and Julan Waterfall in Usun Apau at 1,100m asl, respectively.
Workshop 3 : Sustainable Food Manufacturing and Distribution
Introduction:
YourgutBB is a food and beverage manufacturer built based on sustainable practices in the overall aspect of the business. YourgutBB, Your gut’s Best Buddy, with the vision to call for a healthier life, a better environment, and a better future from better people. The organization offers premium quality fermented milk products with viable probiotics at an affordable price. Decentralized manufacturing practices with a produce-on-demand policy enable the business operate with minimal energy consumption(from the cold chain distribution and storage). In results, the overall process reduce carbon footprint and product wastage as compared with conventional yogurt manufacturers. Furthermore, with return bottle policy and business practices in place, Yourgutbb effectively avoids single use plastics containers. The organization do also incorporating waste management practices whereby different categories of waste are segregated internally and channeled to the right organization or institution for recycling or repurpose. At the community level, we perform knowledge transfer to the local community to produce and distribute the products. At current state, YourgutBB is having 5 production studios throughout Malaysia and distribute at each location respectively. Such efforts enable yogurt to be delivered to the consumer at its freshest state, hence offer viable probiotics for the consumer. A healthy gut promotes overall healthy living. Some of the benefit such as viable probiotics prevent bad bacteria growth in the gut and enhance the digestion of food, some research even pointed out that the probiotics help with mental health.
Sharing session content synopsis:
The co-founder will present sample case of YourgutBB on the overall business model in practicing sustainability, Internally and externally. Which includes the on-the-ground experience of the business development, all sorts of pain and gain throughout the years, & of cause the rewards. The session will present the silent impact where YourgutBB had achieve this far. And finally, the way forward for the brand and business and the food manufacturing and distribution industry that we hope to inspire.
Ang Tse Chwan, co-founder of YourgutBB
Ang was trained as a graphic designer and instructional designer. He is an entrepreneur advocating for cultural and heritage preservation and sustainable development. He is the founder of the Illustrato Studio and co-founder of YourgutBB. At Illustrato Studio, he works on creative projects related to documentation, product development, and publication related to environmental conservation & cultural heritage preservation. Where at YourgutBB, he is the brand development director and managing director for Kuching production and distribution. YourgutBB is a food manufacturer with sustainable practices pledged to have a positive impact on the environment and society. Apart from entrepreneurship, he actively involves in NGOs. He is currently the chairman of the Society of Wilderness Sarawak(SOWS) and a member of the Sarawak Creative Arts And Cultural Association (SCACA). He is also a bird watcher and a wildlife observer out of a passion for the natural world, where he believes nature stores the best wisdom and knowledge.
Workshop 4 : Rediscovering & Connecting Indigenous Principles
Indigenous communities have been engaging with innovation in alignment with nature’s principles as their way of lives. Harvesting and creating value from these explorations while still preserving the parameters of the original local context can be a major challenge. Our past research in formulating a knowledge acquisition framework [Mintu et al, 2022] in connecting Indigenous Knowledge to Scientific Knowledge-base has been seen to be promising [George,et al, 2021]. This research expands from an initial mapping of the Penan forest sign language to [George et al, 2021] to enable it to serve as a way to contextualise and document past inventive efforts of remote and rural communities. This talk presents illustrations of how traditional knowledge can be identified and explored a as way to connect it to innovative approaches for solving complex problems within cotemporary settings. The works presented here will have an immense impact of how tacit knowledge can be extracted across boundaries of time and space.
By
Narayanan A/L N. Kulathu Ramaiyer