Adaptation and Compliance to the Building Ordinance for Housing of Indigenous People in Sarawak.

Chai, Elena Gregoria Chin Fern (2022) Adaptation and Compliance to the Building Ordinance for Housing of Indigenous People in Sarawak. In: Social Adaptation of Indigenous People in the Traditional House to a Modern Habit. UNTAN Press, pp. 44-63. ISBN 978-623-7571-75-9

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Abstract

This paper discusses a case study involving the resettlement of a group of indigenous communities at a tributary of the Balui River in Kapit division (northeastern Sarawak). The resettlement was due to the development of a state-owned hydroelectric dam. The construction of the dam inundated seven villages of more than 1400 people. The Sarawak Energy Berhad, the dam developer, compensated the affected villages by providing new housing with basic amenities and other forms of indemnification. In Sarawak, traditional houses of indigenous communities are generally built from knowledge, experience, and past practices. The majority of the traditional houses are usually built from available resources such as wood, leaves, etc., that are catergorized as fire risk materials. The traditional houses also portray little structural designs that curb or retard fire spread. However, in the case of the resettlement housing at Murum HEP, the houses built for the relocated communities comply with the Building Ordinance. Professional architects were involved in the concept design and final design output for the resettlement housing. This paper examines the adaptation and compliance of the resettlement housing to the Building Ordinance. Keywords: Building Ordinance, housing designs, Murum HEP, Penan, Sarawak

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