Sustainable Business Practices Among the Indigenous Community in Royal Belum

Abstract

Research concerning the Indigenous people have been growing for the past few years. Compared to other ethnic in Malaysia, the indigenous community is still far behind in poverty. The community is considered under the Government's poverty eradication policies and programmes. There are nineteen ethnic subgroups comprised of the indigenous peoples in Peninsular Malaysia, and from these 19 ethnic subgroups are the three main ethnic groups. The Malaysian Government perceives the Indigenous people as underdeveloped and in need of support and modernization. The Indigenous people are roughly from 140,000 to 180,000 in population. The Indigenous households in Kedah State have the second highest number of poor Indigenous households, with 8.8 per cent. The Perak State follows this with a 7.3 per cent household poverty rate in Peninsular Malaysia. The other states were reported to fall at around 3 per cent to 5 per cent in the household poverty rate. The community is well known for conducting domestic business activities mainly for survival by selling raw materials such as various types of fish and many agricultural products, done mainly by the adults. This research examines the business activities conducted by the Indigenous community in Kg Sg Tiang Royal Belum to understand the depth of their entrepreneurship. A face-to-face survey was conducted amongst the Royal Belum community to gauge a deeper understanding of their business activities. Data were analyzed using SPSS ver 28, and the profile of the community who conducted business practices for sustainable business income is presented.

Keywords: Awareness, entrepreneurship, ındigenous community, ınnovativeness, sustainable business practices

Introduction

Various studies have been carried out on the entrepreneurial activities of the Indigenous community in Peninsular Malaysia. One significant characteristic found in past research is their self-sufficiency and reluctance to rely on external parties. Thus, the Indigenous people's main areas of the enterprise are generating cash from products of the forest, either in their natural form or as the main component of a by-product such as weaving handicrafts. They typically participate in agriculture, fishing, hunting, and gathering forest resources; however, they have recently expanded into more lucrative economic pursuits. These alternative activities are mainly the cottage industry of handicraft production. Despite their aversion to reliance on other parties, dabbling in the rattan handicraft business has inevitably exposed them to exploitation by middlemen.

Mohd Rosdi et al. (2018) studied the community's intention towards business start-ups and what forms of support they need. Their study involves focus group interviews with female Orang Asli Semai in Perak. The findings of this study revealed that the Orang Asli have intentions towards business start-ups but lack confidence due to lack of financial and non-financial backing. Bakar et al. (2020) found that only 1 per cent of the Orang Asli communities of Tasik Chini are venturing into entrepreneurship activities, and these activities are mainly in the handicraft manufacturing sector. According to the findings, their success hinges greatly on external support in business knowledge, financial and entrepreneurial training and facilities from the Government. The Orang Asli entrepreneurs rely on ongoing backing from NGOs and higher educational institutions to provide entrepreneurship workshops or training. The Government and the relevant authorities must monitor these ventures to ensure their sustainability and aid the entrepreneurs in overcoming the various obstacles.

To ensure the inclusion of Indigenous communities in the nation's development, the Malaysian Government has implemented a range of initiatives aimed at supporting Orang Asli communities with economic advancement, addressing native land concerns, and enhancing educational opportunities. According to the Minister of Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the Government had allocated RM20 million as start-up capital for businesses under the 11th Malaysia Plan. As a result, there were already 534 registered entrepreneurs, with plans to add another 600 more entrepreneurs to various businesses. Encouraging the younger generations of Indigenous communities to pursue entrepreneurship is crucial for elevating their socioeconomic standing and achieving parity with other communities in the country. The Prime Minister's Department Minister, P. Waytha Moorthy, said these entrepreneurship ventures could be the stepping stones to augment their self-esteem. They will also prove that the communities can compete productively in the country's development. All these schemes have increased awareness among the Indigenous communities about the importance of education and income-generating skills. The main incentive is to make them see that the business is a form of earning a livelihood but to ensure the venture's sustainability; they need to be driven and ambitious.

Problem Statement

Compared to other ethnic in Malaysia, the Indigenous community is still far behind in poverty. The community is considered under the poverty eradication policies and programmes specified by the Government. According to the Annual Report of the Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA) in 2006, out of 147 412 indigenous people living in Pahang and Perak, approximately 76.9 per cent of them still live in poverty.

A preliminary interview with the indigenous people in Royal Belum Perak was undertaken on 22-23 June 2019, revealing that one of the primary sources of income activities in the community is doing business with the tourists and outside people who come to the jetty. They mainly conduct their business activities by selling raw materials such as various types of fish and many agricultural products, mostly done by adults. Aware that entrepreneurial activity has been taking place amongst the community in Royal Belum Perak, the concern is to understand the extent of entrepreneurial orientation in the community. Further, the means for the indigenous people to sustain their income warrants deeper exploration. Hence, this research aims to understand the entrepreneurial orientation among the indigenous community and recommend ways for them to sustain their source of income. The research also aims to help the community by embedding a business mindset in the young through knowledge enhancement on entrepreneurship.

Review of Past Studies

Research Methods

This is an exploratory quantitative research design in a non-contrived setting. This study aims to examine the sustainable business practices conducted by the indigenous community in Royal Belum; therefore, a site visit to the village is most appropriate for the research. The population for this study is all the entrepreneurs among the Indigenous community at Kg Sungai Jahai Royal Belum. The research proceeded with a convenience sampling technique with a total sample of 36 respondents. Data was collected using distributed questionnaires to the respondents. During the survey, a brief interview was conducted with the respondents to gauge more insights into their entrepreneurial activities. A group of researchers went into the Royal Belum and met with the respondents for the data collection procedure for one whole week. The respondents are entrepreneurs in the indigenous community regardless of their years in entrepreneurship activities. Data collected were then analyzed using SPSS software, which conducted frequency and reliability analysis.

Findings

Table 1 below shows the profile of respondents who are entrepreneurs in Kg Sg Tiang Royal Belum. As can be seen, most of them are neither Malay nor Chinese religion and are amongst the Orang Asli ethnicity. More than half of them is male (58.3%), as male are majority entrepreneurs, while the remaining 41.7 per cent are female respondents. A majority of the respondents (33.3%) were aged between 26-35, followed by 15-25 years (27.8%) and 36-45 years (25%). Most are married (88%), while the remaining 11 per cent are single. Most of them are educated at the primary level (55.6%), followed by 30.6 per cent of them who received education up to secondary school, while the remaining 13.9 per cent of them did not receive any formal education.

Conclusion

This research explores sustainable business practices among the community in Royal Belum. Findings show that the community practice sustainable business practices as their source of income. This study conforms to the entrepreneurial behaviour showed other indigenous communities in previous research. It can be concluded that while the indigenous people do more rural and village activities, they reflect knowledge and entrepreneurship awareness. They are able to earn significant income for their families. Future research could look into the need for specific entrepreneurship modules to enhance their knowledge and skills and bring them far into specific industries.

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