The seping of Belaga and the politics of identity

Abstract

Although Sarawak has witnessed, during the past one hundred years or so, the disappearance of ethnic minorities through assimilation, some ethnic minority groups have been able to maintain intact. their identities. The Seping of Belaga District is one of these groups. The Seping are a minority group with a population of 284 people residing in three settlements along the Belaga River, outside the perimeter of the Asap Resettlement. The paper looks at the strategies they use to maintain their identity as a minority group in surroundings undergoing rapid change and development. It also examines their participation in the socio-economic life of the country.