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Placing expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia in the context of the global land grab, this paper analyzes the contemporary extent and early historical periods of plantation expansion via the theory of accumulation by dispossession (ABD).

After reviewing the empirical debate about the land grab, this paper examines the importance of ABD to understand the land grabs in general and for oil palm plantations in Indonesia in particular. Rather than a new phenomenon of the last four decades of neoliberalism, ABD has a history of several centuries.

Accumulation by dispossession (ABD) is a powerful and appropriate lens by which to understand the land conversion and social displacement occurring in Indonesia. Building on historical understanding of ABD, this paper applies the theory to the Indonesian oil palm case, making the case that the multiple and uncertain sequences of engagement with oil palm expansion are reflective of a broader struggle against dispossession.

ABD is not just a global financial process of corporate-led neoliberalization but also shaped importantly by domestic state and local elites. These elites have shaped ABD differently in colonial, authoritarian, and neoliberal periods.

This study aims to examine entrepreneurial performance differences between indigenous Dayak women entrepreneurs of their high versus low enterprising tendency in Sarawak, Malaysia.

A quantitative approach was used for data collection and analysis. The population of this study was the indigenous women entrepreneurs in Sarawak, Malaysia. Primary data were collected from 129 indigenous women entrepreneurs using convenience sampling. The survey instrument for measuring enterprising tendency and entrepreneurial performance was adopted from the relevant literature. Data were analyzed using independent t-tests in Statistical Packages for Social Science.

This study found that indigenous women entrepreneurs with higher enterprising tendencies performed better than those with lower enterprising tendencies. A significant difference was found between entrepreneurs with a higher enterprising tendency and those with a lower enterprising tendency in three of the five entrepreneurial attributes: need for achievement, creative tendency and calculated risk-taking. Nevertheless, no significant difference was observed in need for autonomy and internal locus of control between the two groups of indigenous women entrepreneurs.

Very few studies are available in the Malaysian context explicitly concerning women entrepreneurs in general and indigenous Dayak women in specific. Therefore, this study provides novel insights into the relationship between enterprising tendency and entrepreneurial performance among indigenous Dayak women entrepreneurs in Malaysia.

Indonesia is one of the world’s “megadiverse” countries, providing ecosystem services that accrue at the global scale. However, control over access to and use of natural resources has historically been a source of tension between the central government and local communities, with the latter usually being marginalized by the former. Since the fall of the authoritarian Suharto regime in 1998, however, a grassroots movement supports the revitalization of customary communities and their traditional systems of social organization (adat). A major part of this quest for legitimacy is the portrayal of indigenous people as environmentally benign. This chapter describes how indigenous systems have been influenced by political processes over time. We then describe how the changing political–administrative landscape has given rise to a national indigenous rights movement. We also analyze international factors that have contributed to the emergence of the indigenous movement before discussing potential challenges facing the movement in the future. This chapter seeks to get beyond the simplistic conflation of indigenous peoples and environmentalism by understanding the strategic articulation of indigeneity and environmentalism.

This paper aims to problematise the notions of both “corporate social responsibility” and “stakeholder theory”. In particular, it seeks to challenge the promises it claims to hold regarding social responsibility and community engagement.

The paper provides a discussion of indigenous stakeholders’ activism in Sarawak, Malaysia.

It is shown that despite the rhetoric of corporate social responsibility and stakeholderism, there is a clear failure of the state government and corporations to actively involve local affected communities. In so doing, both the state and corporations have rendered the local indigenous peoples, a significant and legitimate stakeholder, powerless, redundant and inevitably compromised both the development and management process. The paper also suggests that community engagement can be problematic for indigenous peoples and for it and stakeholderism to be efficacious, they need to involve the discourse of rights and activism within Sarawak and Malaysia.

The paper offers insight into the indigenous peoples at Sarawak resistance against the state Government and corporations, Focusing on stakeholder activism.

This paper presents comparative studies of modern transportation systems in the Bengal Delta and British Borneo. To meet the demands of the new modes of resource extraction, the British colonial rulers introduced a new transportation system in both regions and built roads, railways, and navigational routes connecting major commercial and political centers. There has been little research into the historical connections between modern transportation and environmental changes in colonial South Asia and Malaysia. When modern transportation was introduced, environmental consequences were rarely considered. As a result, significant ecological changes and declines were unintentionally caused. The environmental changes brought about by these transportation systems in these two regions were not the same one from the other. For example, railroad construction harmed the plains and waterways in the Bengal Delta, whereas, in British Borneo, rubber plantations for the global market harmed the rainforests.

This study aims to understand the process, structure and determinants of persistent illegal gold mining in Indonesia.

An exploratory study included a literature review, field observations and in-depth interviews. Fieldwork was conducted at two mining locations in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Sixteen respondents representing key stakeholders: government, mining companies, mining associations and community, including illegal miners, were interviewed. The findings of the literature review were categorized as the push or pull factors within the topics, and field observations verified the literature review results regarding Indonesia. Interview data were analyzed using content analysis methods. A structural diagram of the actors and causal loop diagrams among the determinants of illegal gold mining was created and interpreted.

A complex activity process and structure were revealed involving a range of actors. Politicians, government officials and law enforcement authorities added the complexity to the structure. Six main determinants of persistent illegal gold mining emerged: financial, low entry barrier, regulations and policies, supporting resources availability, politics and power and psychosocial factors.

This study provides a deeper understanding for policymakers to consider when formulating policies on natural resources, and insights for mining companies to minimize conflicts with the community.

The study contributes to our knowledge of the complex structure and main determinants of illegal gold mining in Indonesia, which supports efforts to curtail this illegal activity.

The purpose of this paper is to serve as groundwork to investigate the determinants of ethnic food consumption intention in the context of developing markets. Using the theory of planned behaviour as the underlying basis, it is aimed to explain the effect of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behaviour control on consumption intention towards Dayak food. Since Dayak food is relatively unfamiliar compared to conventional food in Malaysia, food neophobia is incorporated into the model so as to assess its moderation effect on every postulated relationship.

A quantitative approach via self-administered questionnaire was adopted. In all, 300 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to non-Dayak Malaysians, and 211 usable copies were subsequently collected, suggesting that non-response bias was not a major issue. A post hoc Harman single-factor analysis was also performed to ensure the variance in the data was not explained by one single factor, thus addressing the common method bias. Structural equation modelling using partial least squares approach was then utilized to assess the relationships of variables under investigation and the moderation effect of food neophobia.

After ensuring the data have acceptable reliability and validity, structural model assessment was performed to test the hypotheses. The findings show that attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control all have positive effect on consumption intention of non-Dayak Malaysians towards Dayak food. However, food neophobia is only found to have a moderation effect on the relationship between subjective norm and consumption intention.

First, the sample is largely consisted of college and university students in Malaysia who are believed to be more daring to try new things, including new food. Second and more importantly, the dearth of literature and empirical studies on Dayak food and ethnic food in Malaysia might have actually pointed to the limitation in using only quantitative questionnaire in the study. As salient beliefs are the antecedents in the theory of planned behaviour, knowing consumers’ specific beliefs about Dayak food would have provided a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of consumption intention and the moderating effect of food neophobia.

The moderation effect of food neophobia on the relationship between subjective norm and consumption intention towards Dayak food implies the importance of recommendations and favourable word-of-mouth from the significant ones, such as family members and peers, to make people willing to try and consume it. This corresponds to earlier findings pertaining to the collectivistic culture in Malaysia. Unlike countries with individualistic cultures, Malaysians tend to conform to the consumption choices of significant others. This implies that those whom they hold in high regard, are able to influence them both positively and negatively through their advice or opinions.

The present study has not only extended the use of theory of planned behaviour in the context of Dayak food consumption intention in a developing country, but it has also deepened the theory by incorporating food neophobia as the moderator to provide additional theoretical explanation to ethnic food consumption intention. Given the wealth of Asian culture, and its significant role in the global marketplace, the understanding of ethnic food consumption intention of the local and foreign consumers using the extended theory of planned behaviour would contribute knowledge not only to consumer behaviour, but also to food and service industry and tourism.

Traditional cultural expression (TCE) includes music, dance, art, designs, names, signs and symbols, performances, ceremonies, architectural forms, handicrafts and narratives or many other artistic or cultural expressions [World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO)]. To constitute TCEs, the expressions must form part of the identity and heritage of a traditional or indigenous community and need to be passed down from generation to generation (Kuprecht, 2014). This paper aims to analyse the protection of TCE in Malaysia by focusing on the Mah Meri tribe. This paper examines copyright over TCE, recordation as a means of preserving a dying tradition and customary practices and native law.

Information is drawn from personal discussions with the weavers and carvers of the Mah Meri tribe, and a focus group discussion with subject matter experts. As a way of comparison, a personal visit has been made to Sarawak Biodiversity Centre, Sarawak Native Courts, the Dayak Iban Association and Dayak Bidayuh Association.

The research found that copyright law has no specific provision for the protection of TCEs. Customary practices of the indigenous people and the native law of Sarawak have limited effect outside their traditional domain. Recordation and documentation of TCEs are the prime initiatives, but the documents or the recordings do not carry any legal status.

The research is limited only to the Mah Meri tribe with a comparison drawn to the Dayak Iban and Dayak Bidayuh tribe.

The research examines the practical implications of copyright and recording and documentation of cultural expression in Malaysia.

The research sets to unearth and highlight the ideation process in a tribal setting and how that clashes with the formal creation setting in a modern intellectual property system.

This paper was presented at the IAITL Congress 2013. It also appeared in the Conference Proceedings edited by Slyvia Kieerkgard, but it has not been published in any journals.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between individual psychological characteristics (i.e. innovativeness, locus of control, self-confidence, propensity to take risk, need for achievement and tolerance for ambiguity) and entrepreneurial intention.

A total of 676 undergraduate students from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) have participated in the survey. The data were analysed using partial least square technique version 2.0.

The results have shown that innovativeness, self-confidence, propensity to take risk, need for achievement and tolerance for ambiguity are positively related to entrepreneurial intention among undergraduate students. However, locus of control is not significantly related to entrepreneurial intention.

Although samples of the research are quite large, this research only involves undergraduates in UMS. Therefore, findings obtained are not generalized because the results do not include other educational institutions in Malaysia. On the implication aspect, this research might give some views among undergraduates to embark in business after graduating.

In spite of that, students should be encouraged and equipped with innovativeness, self-confidence, propensity to take risk, need for achievement and tolerance for ambiguity to interpret successful entrepreneurial role models and identification of business prospects for their future career.

The findings of the research may extend existing knowledge in the entrepreneurial field as well as to provide valuable information to policy maker in strengthening and redesigning suitable curriculum not only at the university level, but also in pre-school by giving entrepreneurial awareness on how this knowledge will transform us into an entrepreneurial society that can create wonders for human kind.

This study aims to explore the influence of internal and external factors on the entrepreneurial performance of rural indigenous women entrepreneurs (RIWEs) in Sarawak.

The study uses a qualitative approach in data collection and analysis. Data are collected by means of a semistructured interview from 19 RIWEs at rural areas in Sarawak. Data are then analyzed using thematic analysis in NVivo software.

The study finds that RIWEs’ decision to start their business is mainly motivated by pull factors such as ego to succeed, ability to be self-employed and financially independent and to contribute to household income. The important personality traits of RIWEs to succeed in the entrepreneurial venture include self-belief, perseverance, commitment and risk-taking. Functional competencies and relationship competencies are cited as the most important core competencies to succeed. In terms of external factors, social networks, financial resources and support, business training and workshops and government’s preferential treatment policies are found to be important to RIWE’s entrepreneurial success.

This study is one of the few that explores the determinants of successful RIWEs in an emerging economy.