Introduction

In 2000, the Southeast Asian population was 37 per cent urban but it has been estimated that by the year 2017, the urban population in Southeast Asia will be 50 per cent. In Malaysia, the rate of urbanization has been even more rapid, from 34 per cent of its population being urban in 1970, to 50 per cent in 1990 moving towards 58 per cent in 2000. This is expected to reach 64 per cent by the year 2010 (Jones 1997, p. 238). In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, only 16 per cent of the state's total population lived in urban centres in 1970 and this increased marginally to 18 per cent in 1980. Then it jumped to 22 per cent in 1991 and 48 per cent in 2000 (Ishak Shari et al. 1997, Yearbook of Statistics Sarawak, 2000 and 2003). The Iban and the Bidayuh make up the two largest group of rural migrants. The majority of rural migrants are single with 45 per cent being females. More than half are between fifteen and thirty-four years of age. The major receiving centres are Kuching, Miri, Bintulu and Sibu in descending order of number of migrants. Kuching as the capital and administrative centre of the state has a population of about half a million. It has a large service sector that attracts the highest number of rural female migrants in Sarawak. In the main, manufacturing in Kuching is small to medium size and light industry rather than heavy. In contrast, male migrants are attracted to the petrochemical industries in Miri and Bintulu and to the wood-based industries around Sibu.

Jones (1997) argues that there are several observable trends which have led to an under-estimation of the levels of urbanization in Asia. First, urbanization has led to a blurring of what is considered urban and rural. Increasing penetration of infrastructural and economic development beyond city boundaries has resulted in what McGee (1991) calls the emergence of desakota, which literally translates into “village-town” in Asia. Globalization and the integration of village economies with the urban has meant that there is a reconfiguration of large zones around major cities which are known as extended metropolitan regions (EMRs).