In the beating heart of Sarawak’s northeast, a new festival has taken root. The Indigenous Exchange Festival 2025 (IXF2025) unfolded from 12th to 14th September 2025 at Alter/Space Gallery & Studio, bringing together Indigenous artists, performers, and cultural thought leaders from across Borneo, Taiwan, Indonesia, and beyond. It was more than a festival; it was a movement where stories, struggles, and celebrations converged. 

The festival’s symbol — an asterisk — marked what history often overlooks: the voices of Indigenous people. At IXF2025, those voices were celebrated through music, film, dance, workshops, and exhibitions, creating a vibrant space where culture and creativity thrived.

Miri, Sarawak: The Perfect Crossroads for Indigenous Exchange Festival 2025

Miri, long known as the birthplace of Malaysia’s oil industry, also holds one of the largest concentrations of Sarawak’s Indigenous communities. Its international airport and modern infrastructure make it an easy gateway, while its cultural heartbeat has been felt through long-running events like the Borneo Jazz Festival. 

But IXF2025 gave Miri a new role, not just a venue for tourism, but as a stage for celebrating Indigenous traditions and their modern expressions.

Land, Climate, and the Preservation of Heritage in Sarawak

One of the most powerful moments came from Celine Lim of SAVE Rivers, who reminded audiences that nearly four in ten Sarawakians are Indigenous, with deep cultural and environmental ties to their land. She introduced concepts like Pemakai Menoa (ancestral domain), Pulau Galau (communal forest), and Temuda (cultivated land), showing how these traditional systems are connected to both heritage and environmental stewardship. 

Celine’s message centred on climate resilience, emphasising that preserving ancestral lands is vital not only for Indigenous identity but also for the protection of forests and rivers that sustain communities. Her talk highlighted how caring for the environment and safeguarding culture are deeply interconnected.

Art as Resistance: Preserving Indigenous Culture in Borneo

Art at IXF2025 was powerful in its diversity, acting as a bridge between the past and the future. 

• Nadira Ilana (Sabah) screened The Silent Riot, a rare documentary revisiting a chapter of Sabah’s history often left untold. Her more recent film Were the Sun and the Moon to Meet reflected personal stories of love and migration in Kota Kinabalu, tying private lives to broader social currents. 
• Sarah Lois Dorai (Sarawak), through Songs of the Highlands, showed how musician Alena Murang uses music as a cultural archive, one of the last ways for endangered Kelabit words to survive. 
• Genevives Sulan (Sarawak) brought to screen Hivan Kayau, documenting a ritual dance tied to headhunting. Though the practice has ended, the dance endures as a link to heritage, proving that difficult histories can still be honoured. 
• Mathew Ngau Jau (Sarawak), the sape master recognised as a Living National Heritage, embodied continuity. Known as the “Keeper of the Kenyah Ngorek Songs,” he not only plays but also builds sape instruments, ensuring that knowledge survives through teaching and sharing. 
• Cikgu Meges Laoi (Sarawak) amazed audiences by transforming discarded items (kettles, PVC pipes, CDs, scrap wood, and more) into working musical instruments. His performance was not only inventive but symbolic, showing how Indigenous creativity can reclaim and repurpose what others discard, highlighting the deep link between sustainability and culture. 
• Eleanor Goroh (Sabah) explored the revival of traditional handpoke tattooing, once discouraged, now celebrated as an artform of identity and cultural pride, particularly for younger Indigenous people. 

These performances and films underscored a common truth: in preserving, reimagining, and carrying Indigenous culture forward, art becomes both archive and living identity.

The Next Generation: Young Indigenous Voices Reviving Tradition

The festival also amplified youth voices, showing how a new generation is reshaping Indigenous identity. 

• Velvet Aduk (Sabah), who first gained fame on Akademi Fantasia, performed songs from her Dusun-language album Ogingol. Singing in Dusun was once rare in mainstream platforms, but Velvet’s work shows how language can be revitalised through popular music. 
• Genevives Sulan (Sarawak), as a young filmmaker, exemplified how digital media can carry stories once limited to oral tradition. 
• Panels like “Connecting Our Next Generation with Indigenous Values” emphasised the urgency of passing knowledge on, whether through film, music, or performance. 

At the fringe workshops, this intergenerational exchange came alive. From weaving to sape lessons to bamboo music and tattoo rituals, elders and artisans placed knowledge directly into the hands of younger participants. For many, these weren’t just activities but also living classrooms for cultural survival.

Markets and Exhibitions: Indigenous Creativity on Display in Miri

The Tamu Marketplace was more than a shopping space. It was a statement of cultural economy. Local vendors offered foods, crafts, and books produced within Indigenous communities, showing how tradition can sustain livelihoods in the present. Buying directly from artisans allowed visitors to support families and keep crafts alive without mass commercialisation. 

The Borneo Altered Natives exhibition went further, interrogating how Bornean identity is shaped in the age of climate change and globalisation. Artists like Elroy Ramantan (Brunei) and Zakaria Pangribuan (West Kalimantan) used visual art to explore ecology, hybridity, and Indigenous futurism, insisting that Indigenous culture is not frozen in the past, but evolving with new tools and visions.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Indigenous Festivals in Sarawak

While Sarawak is already home to iconic events like the Rainforest World Music Festival and Borneo Jazz Festival, IXF2025 marked something different: an Indigenous-led celebration where heritage, creativity, and climate awareness took centre stage. 

By highlighting the preservation of language, traditions, and sustainable practices, the festival offered guests an authentic glimpse into the cultural resilience of Borneo’s Indigenous people. 

The asterisk of IXF2025 reminds us of what history has footnoted. Last weekend in Miri, it became a symbol of continuity and resilience, a promise that Indigenous culture will not just survive, but thrive, on its own terms.