The participation of the local community in the decision-making activity has its own significant role in
determining that every decision made, centralizes on the needs of the local community. Such an
involvement is admittedly crucial in ensuring that every program held is “blessed” by the local
community and wins their support and cooperation in rendering success to the program. In relation to
this, this article aims at recognizing the participation of the Iban community in the decision-making
activities with regards to the poverty eradication programs (or People’s Welfare Development Scheme)
implemented in the district of Song, Sarawak. To meet this objective, the survey method has been
adopted to obtain the information important for the study. The questionnaire forms were distributed to
260 Iban community’s Heads of Household at the longhouse. The data obtained were then analysed
using the descriptive statistics through SPSS. All in all, the discovery of this study points to the fact
that the majority of the Heads of Household (90.0%) have had participated in at least one decisionmaking
activity in relation to the implementation of the programs under the SPKR or the People’s
Welfare Development Scheme. The study finding also shows that the Heads of Household participated
in the program’s decision-making activities have pointed out that they occasionally make their voices
heard and are involved in ways such as attending the meeting, representing the locals in the
discussions, giving opinion in the discussions, managing the conflict that emerges out of the program
implementation and posing questions in the discussion of the program under the scheme mentioned.
Notwithstanding, the findings also establish that many of the Heads of the Household admitted that
they had never taken part in the planning of work, evaluating or troubleshooting that might occur in the
execution of the program, in the resolution of implementation issues and in the decision-making on the
program implementation under this scheme.