Editing Iban language (section)

===Brooke administration===
Fearing that the Iban tribes outnumbered the pre-existing local tribes with detrimental environmental effects on lands intended for shifting cultivation, the Brooke government restricted the Iban people from further migration to other river systems such as the Baleh river. However, the Brooke government allowed the Ibans to settle in other areas such as Lundu, Balingian, Bintulu, Limbang and Baram to consolidate the government's authority there. As a result of this policy, several minority ethnic groups such as Bukitans living along the Batang Lupar River were assimilated into the Iban people, thus contributing to the growth of Iban tribe and the expansion of the Iban language in the state.<ref name="Shin 2021"/> The Iban language was taught in schools in the 1940s during the Brooke era.<ref name="Ethnic_language">{{cite journal |last1=Metom |first1=Lilly |last2=Ting |first2=Su-Hie |last3=Ling |first3=Hsin-Nie |title=The Iban of Sarawak, Malaysia Ethnic Language Losing Ground to English and Sarawak Malay |journal=Human Behaviour, Development and Society |date=2021 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=54–64 |url=https://so01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/hbds/article/view/250198 |access-date=19 December 2023 |issn=2651-1762}}</ref>