The Road to the Highlands: The Socioeconomic Impacts of the Roads Into and Around the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia

There is an ongoing debate over whether the construction and upgrading of roads in remote rural areas is beneficial for the communities that reside within them. The majority of studies carried out thus far have indicated that the introduction of rural roads may assist in alleviating poverty. However, studies commonly do not consider social measures of well-being and resilience (such as education, health care, and the maintenance of cultural identity and way of life), despite the fact that these are increasingly recognised to be important alongside economic measures. This thesis examined the perceptions of the Kelabit community on the social and economic impacts of the construction and upgrading of the road networks into and around the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia. This study is based on a qualitative participatory research design. It gathered data through the use of semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and a literature review (including government documents). In total, 48 community members and eight government employees were interviewed. Results corroborate the findings in or similar research elsewhere, such as the construction of roads has both positive and negative impacts, including the increased mobility of people and goods, increased access to off-farm employment, the increased availability of undesired products and the facilitation of environmental damage. However this study notes some different conclusions from previous work, and finds there was no observed change in enrolment, dropout rates or absenteeism at the highland schools; no increases in exported produce for sale in the urban centres; creation of tension between community groups; and a notable lack of increase of migration in two of the three rural study sites. Moreover, this study revealed that there has been a diverse range of impacts experienced by the Kelabit community in relation to the construction and upgrading of the road network into and around the Kelabit Highlands. The study also found significant local differences of opinion regarding the various impacts of the roads. Differences in opinion at a community level were based on the degree of interaction with the roads, as well as the degree to which groups relied on the roads for mobility. This study shows that there is no consensus amongst the Kelabit community on whether the roads should remain and on whether further development of the road networks into and around the Kelabit Highlands should continue. What can be concluded from this study is that there is still no ‘one size fits all’ strategy to developing rural communities. Using roads to develop rural communities’ can result in a number of community members benefiting, a number of them losing and the rest receiving no evident change. Consequently, at what point do the benefits to some out way the harm to others for the development project to be considered a positive for the community? The debate therefore continues over whether the construction and upgrading of roads in remote rural areas is beneficial for the communities that reside within them.