Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran

Bidayuh Community of Malaysia: Presenting Culture and Nature as a Package for Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism

This paper aims to scrutinise the ethnic characteristics of the Bidayuh community in Sarawak, Malaysia, which could be conserved and capitalised on for the development of indigenous tourism. The community, also called ‘people of the land’, is characterised by its cultural identities such as ‘O gong’ (a gong troupe), massive drums, and ‘pratuakng’ (a percussion instrument made out of bamboo). Furthermore, this study brings to light the willingness of the indigenous community to partake in activities related to tourism. The study investigated the hindrances encountered by them to foster tourism in their region. The community’s ethnic distinctiveness is acknowledged by foreign travellers as well as other Malaysian societies. However, questions have been raised over the actual act of developing tourism so as to reveal the customs and traditions of the community to the rest of the world. Although, according to initial analyses, the community is eager to partake in tourism activities by sharing their culture with foreigners, no effectual developmental initiatives have been undertaken by the government. Thus, this study holds significance from the point of view of generating awareness among the outsiders regarding the unexploited indigenous resources so as to promote sustainable cultural commercialisation.