History of Bario

I was born in Bario Asal.  ‘Asal’ means ‘Original’. The longhouse was the first settlement of the Kelabits in Bario.

This is the story told by my grandmother, Bungan:

Bario’s territory is all the way from Tama Abu Range to the Dabpur River, near the Indonesian border. The longhouse, named Lemba’a (literally meant wet place) was the original longhouse of Bario (the only one up till 1963). In 1945, the British landed some troops in Bario through a parachute drop, setting up a headquarters. They waged a guerilla campaign against the Japanese with the help of the local Kelabits under the operation name:  The Plains of Bah.

Shortly after the war, a missionary team arrived in Bario, converting our whole village into Christians, almost all at once. Although the religion brought us light, it came at a heavy price as we soon found out. Many of our traditions were abandoned. Clay pot-making with carvings, tattooing, traditional dancing, traditional clothing and rice wine-making were just some of the many things we sacrificed in the conversion.

In 1963, Sarawak joined Malaya as a state of the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia. Indonesia, who claimed Sarawak as its land, marched soldiers into Sarawak and began attacking tribal people living near the borders. This is now known as the ‘Confrontation’.

An airstrip was built at Bario Asal as it had the largest area of flat land. Due to the area’s accessibility, Bario became the operational ground for the British forces stationed there to defend the longhouses deep in the interior. However, many of the longhouses were located very close to the Indonesian border and were too spread out to efficiently defend.

This confrontation with the Indonesian soldiers led many people of the borders to flee from their settlements to the Bario plains. The people from the Lemba’a longhouse were very generous, donating land not only for building new longhouses, but also for planting padi (rice). These migrations from the borders increased over time. To differentiate from the newcomers, the original longhouse people renamed their home Bario Asal.