tegy to attain self-sufficiency in food production have been replaced by a production system based on the household, which better suits the modern economy.
In the agricultural sector, while swidden remains an important part of economic activities, the length of time and the amount of labour devoted to this activity have decreased significantly as a result of the use of modern innovations: tools such as the motorized chain-saw and herbicides. Some Orang Ulu have adopted wet-rice cultivation. The Kenyah in the Tinjar valley of Sarawak have cultivated rubber and coffee since it was first introduced into the area by traders in the late 1940s, without any form of inducement from the government, because cash-crop cultivation brought about significant improvement to their lives. As Lian (1987: 161) noted: 'The farmers admit that the introduction of rubber and coffee was one of the major milestones in their economic development and for which the post-war governments have been given some praise.'
There are other socio-political and economic merits of adopting the modern economic systems. Most significantly, cash cropping facilitated erosion of the traditional economic domination of the commoners by aristocratic households. As the lower social classes form the majority of the Kenyah population, their participation in economic development has been crucial in the advancement of the society as a whole. This is one main reason why the Kenyah have been responsive to certain in situ agricultural development projects, but not to the land-resettlement schemes.
Since the early 1970s, the Orang Ulu have participated very actively in the timber industry, contrary to the opinion and claims expressed in much conservationist literature that they oppose logging (Hong, 1987; Sahabat Alam Malaysia, 1990). This has happened in spite of the fact that they are being discriminated against in job and other opportunities. Participation in the timber industry has provided the means by which they could fulfil some of their primary and secondary social and economic needs, objectives and aspirations. Indeed, the industry has enabled some to leap out of the agricultural into the non-agricultural sector. But, as in the past, the Orang Ulu planned their involvement in the timber industry in ways which would least disrupt important aspects of their traditional life, in particular the shifting-cultivation production of rice which is regarded as their basic 'survival kit'. Since wage employment is in direct competition with cash-crop cultivation, the consequent decline in their agricultural cash-crop economy is therefore to be expected.
Participation in the timber industry has also indirectly resulted in the degradation of their swidden land because the shortage of male labour for swidden led to the intensification of the use of fallow land close to the long-houses. But the Orang Ulu see this as a temporary problem, and of less pressing nature compared to the benefits gained from engaging in a timber industry which, as has clearly been understood, will be operating only temporarily.
This response to innovation clearly demonstrates that the penetration and introduction of outside systems can be used to strengthen tribal cultures. Many South-East Asian tribes are capable of accommodating and even insulating their cultures from excessive outside influence. In the Philippines, Keesing (1962) noted how the lowland Filipinos frequently escaped Spanish repression by moving to the mountains. This response is still used. Internal colonialization from both national and international sources has continued to push or force small tribal groups into marginal areas (Atal and Bennagen, 1983; Eder, 1987). Others have used more subtle means. In his brilliantly written book, Weapons of the Weak, Scott (1985) described how the small-scale paddy farmers in Kedah, in one of the main paddy-cultivation areas of Malaysia, succeeded in expressing their grievances and opposition to certain government development policies by using the 'foot-dragging' method of silent protest. The same is al