Eighth biennial meetings.

THE EIGHTH BIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE BORNEO RESEARCH COUNCIL, 31 JULY-1 AUGUST, 2006

HOSTED BY THE INSTITUTE OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES (IEAS), UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK 

The Borneo Research Council's Eighth Biennial International Conference, "Borneo in the New Century," was held at the Holiday Inn in Kuching, Sarawak, over a two-day period, 31 July-1 August, 2006. The conference was hosted by the Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS), the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Kota Samarahan, and was co-sponsored by the Borneo Research Council.

This was the third time that the Borneo Research Council has held its biennial meetings in Kuching. Kuching was also the site of the Council's first biennial meetings held in 1990, and also of its sixth, held in 2000.

More than 140 papers were presented. In addition to local presenters, more than thirty speakers came from overseas to attend. In addition to Malaysia, speakers and participants came from Indonesia, Singapore, the United States, Canada, France, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, UK, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong. Local Malaysian participants came from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), and the host institution, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak(UNIMAS).

Because of the large number of papers and the comparatively compressed two-day conference format, the program scheduled five concurrent panels each day. In all, there were 35 panels. These included: "Grammar Studies and Writing Systems in Bornean Languages"; "Response to Market among the Dayaks of Sarawak"; "Indigenous Politics"; "Traditional Borneo Performing Arts"; "Envisioning a Future for the Kelabit Highlands"; "Future Scenarios for Conservation and Development in the Kelabit Highlands"; "Conservation and Use of Biological Resources"; "Minorities in Malaysia"; "Ancestors in Borneo Religion"; "Language Shift and Maintenance in Sarawak"; "Endangered Minorities: Assets of a Nation"; "A Woman's Work is Never Done: Women and Work in Sarawak"; "Regional History"; "Ethnographic Perspectives"; "Conflict and Politics"; "Revitalizing Language through New Technologies"; "Borneo Storytelling: Oral Narratives and their Ethnographic Context"; "Current Issues in Education"; "Social Transformation: Changing Perspectives"; "Electoral Competition"; "Comparative Linguistic Studies in Bornean Languages"; "Issues in Development Planning"; "Tourism: Issues and Challenges"; "Social Transition: Emerging Issues for the Young and Old in Sarawak"; "Ritual, Cosmology and the Supernatural"; "Iranun of Sabah"; "Inter-Cultural Dialogue"; "Regional History (2)"; "Urban Development"; "Products of the Forest as Resource"; "Agents and Agencies of Development"; "Re-Examining the Past"; "Wildlife and Conservation"; and "English as a Second Language."

For some participants, a highlight of the conference was a paper entitled "Malaysia's Ethnic Minority Language and Culture: Inseparable Assets of the Nation" given by Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Haji Mulia, a former federal minister from Sabah. In his paper, Tan Sri Pandikar argued that minority languages and cultures must be protected as they form part and parcel of Malaysia's diverse polity. Malaysia's diversity should not be seen as a liability but as an asset to the nation. The push by certain quarters to assimilate minority cultures into the mainstream is short-sighted as different cultures and languages are the key to the nation's strength. Culture and language diversity, in short, should be celebrated and accepted by all.

The formal opening of the conference was celebrated by a dinner, on the evening of 31 July, at the Holiday Inn's "Dewan Asajaya." This was officiated by the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Pehin Sri Haji Taib Mahmud, who presented the opening address. On behalf of the Borneo Research Council, Professor Vinson H. Sutlive, the Executive Director of the Council, thanked both the Chief Minister and Professor James Chin, Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies and the conference organizer, for making the Eighth Biennial BRC Conference possible. He also presented the Chief Minister with copies of some of the BRC's most recent publications.

The keynote address, "Where Do We Go from Here?" was given the following morning, 1 August, also in the "Dewan Asajaya," by Professor Vinson H. Sutlive, Professor Emeritus of the College of William and Mary in the United States, an expert on Iban society and language and the editor of the Encyclopaedia of Iban Studies. In his keynote address, Professor Sutlive placed Borneo studies in a wider global context and suggested some ways in which future and continuing research might contribute to an understanding of recent historical change and contemporary world tensions.

In partial answer to the question of "where do we go from here," Professor Sutlive also announced, at the beginning of his address that the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) had communicated to the Council that they are prepared to host the Ninth Biennial Conference in Kota Kinabalu in 2008. So, in partial answer, we go, in two year's time, to Sabah. (Prof. James Chin, Director, Institute of East Asian Studies, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak)