Socio-Cultural Values of Traditional Communities: A Case Study of the Dayak in Kalimantan

This article is intended to reveal the socio-cultural values of traditional remote area communities of the Dayak in Central Kalimantan based on two legends and the existence of these communities. By applying semantics of sign systems, the expressions in texts showed connotative meanings referring to river communities, and the denotative meaning of living in forests for forest communities. While, expressions of migration could be related to cultural of manamuai ‘wander’ tradition and way of life as shifting cultivation farmers. Recently, the existence of these communities has contradicted government rules due to the laws in opening forests illegally. However, based on the characteristics, these communities can live in harmony with the government and forests investors through the empowerment programs for remote communities and CSR of forests’ companies (logging or palm oil).