Is Rafflesia part of Sarawak Etnoflora?

Many communities in Peninsular Malaysia claim the benefit of Rafflesia in traditional medicinal practices. In my experience, this is not so in Sarawak. People of Sarawak do not seems to be aware of their uses. It is also noted in many publication that the use is prevalent amongst Javanese and this was spread to other parts of SEA when they migrated and settled among local communities. Illegal harvesting of Rafflesia in Sarawak carries heavy penalty and many locals would not dare to take Rafflesia from the wild in Sarawak

Plants role within an indigenous communities of Sarawak

This is Kaempferia galanga L. or known as ‘cekur’ to Iban. The rhizome may be eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable. The rhizome is mixed and chewed together the leaves of sireh & pinang. The paste is smeared on the stomach, usually after childbirth treatment.

Urgency for documentation on ethnobotanical knowledge

Most of the knowledge on the usage of plants has unfortunately not been recorded. It is tend to be handed down from generation by word of mouth. In this respect, oral history and the collection and recording of ethnobotanical knowledge is of the utmost importance before this knowledge on the utilisation of plants is lost to posterity. Wild plants are part of virtually every daily meal, and the built setting of everyday community life, the houses, farm huts, boats, house furnishing, and tools, are all constructed of materials taken largely from the surrounding forest. Local communities have always had an interest in conserving a species-rich environment by creating a variegated landscape of open fields and closed forest in various stages of regeneration.

Changes is obviously inevitable, but without access to forested areas, traditional subsistence strategies are unsustainable and in the face of competing demands, are likely to fail, exposing rural people to possible malnutrition and declining living standard. Local ethnobotanical knowledge is immensely valuable legacy. Today, in Sarawak, this legacy is being lost, creating an enormous urgency for further studies which need to be conducted within a few years. By next ten years, will probably be the ‘last call’ for conducting comprehensive reference studies on the ethnobotanical knowledge of traditional communities in Sarawak. Modernisation and globalization penetrate further and further into previously isolated communities.

Welcome !

Longhouse view in my village. Modern longhouse compared to the olden day. The unroofed part is known as 'tanju'.

These traditionaLonghouses are common in those days until people moved out to town, and created a new kind of longhouses. Modernisation came with a price. Most of the inland forests is logged, and the old tradition dissapears. Most modern longhouses are made of bricks, rather than wooden. Well it is cheaper these days with cement and bricks...