Bario's Historic Background - Post #1

In the tribal heartlands, most Kelabits live in longhouses.

Bario Asal, the original longhouse (until 1963, the only longhouse) at what is now called Bario, extends in territory from the Tama Abu Range to the Dabpur River. The plains it is located upon, and the longhouse itself, was known to the Kelabits as Lemba'a (literally wet place). Members of Z Special Force made a parachute drop into this area in 1945 and set up their HQ there. Defining this operational area as "The Plains of Bah", they waged a guerrilla campaign against Japanese forces with the help of Kelabit warriors.

When the war was over, the Kelabits finally entered the mainstream of 20th Century life. In recognition of wartime service, many warriors from this longhouse were awarded medals and decorations. And the airstrip built to service the war effort became, and still remains, the only gateway into Kelabit territory till 2008. Shortly after the war, groups of missionaries arrived, chastised the Kelabits roundly for their pagan ways of life, destroyed many cultural artifacts and converted them into Christianity, almost en masse! Around that time, too, came the first schools.

Sarawak was then a British Colony. In 1963, Sarawak joined Malaya as another state in the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia. Indonesia laid territorial claims to Sarawak and began what is now known as the Confrontation, with Indonesian soldiers entering Sarawak and attacking tribal people living along the border areas.

Since Bario had the largest area of flat land on which to build an airstrip, it became the operational centre for British forces stationed to defend other Kelabit longhouses deep in the interior. However, many of these were too close to the Indonesian border and too dispersed to be properly defended.

People from the border areas were, thus, re-settled on the Bario plains, to protect them from Indonesian attack. Land was donated to them by the people of Lemba'a, not only for building new longhouses but also for raising padi. These migrations, staggered over a period of time, were quite complex. The original longhouse people renamed their home Bario Asal to differentiate it from those of the newcomers.

Ulung Palang Upper, its people originating mostly from the now extinct Pa' Main longhouse, and Ulung Palang Lower, with people from the now extinct Pa' Mada longhouse near Long Dano - lie between the old airstrip and the two schools. (Note: The former was destroyed by fire on 8th August 1997 and has not been re-built.)

Pasir Puteh - once listed as two separate entities, namely, Padang Pasir (around the old runway) and Kampung Baru (about half an hour away from the runway). Not really a longhouse, except as an administrative entity, it is an assortment of single houses built around the old airstrip and several government buildings. The area was developed fairly recently, around and after 1990, mostly by displaced retired Border Scouts from various places, such as Pa' Ramudu, Pa' Dalih and Long Dano. Bario's one and only shopping mall is located there!


A Brief Profile: The Kelabit of the Kelabit Highlands

Poline Bala
Faculty of Social Sciences Universiti Malaysia Sarawak -UNIMAS
94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
(photos Roger Harris)


Introduction: Location and Homeland 
The Kelabit at approximately 5000 people, are one of the smallest ethnic groups in the state of Sarawak. Historically, they are a highland community that inhabit the Kelabit Highlands, a highland plateau with an altitude approximately 1000 meters above sea level and situated above the furthest reaches of the navigable rivers of Baram and Limbang Districts of Northeastern Sarawak. Currently there are about 1800 people living in the highlands while most of them now live outside the highlands. They moved out mostly to get further education and to get jobs that suit their qualifications in towns and cities like Miri, Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Kuala Lumpur and other places overseas. Many are involved in a range of pofessional occupations. 

The Kelabit in the highands, like many other indigenous communities in Sarawak live in longhouses, although recently many families built single houses scattered around in the villages. Today, there are 16 villages in the area, which include Pa’Umur, Pa’ Ukat, Pa’ Lungan, (located along the Depbur basin), Long Dano, Pa Dalih, Ramudu (located along Kelapang basin), and Pa Ramapuh Benah, Pa Ramapuh Dita, Pa Derung, Ulung Palang Dita, Ulung Palang Benah, Padang Pasir, Kampung Baru, Arur Layun, Bario Asal and Arur Dalan, in the Merariu river basin. There are 4 other Kelabit settlements located further down the tributaries of the Baram River: Long Peluan, Long Seridan, Long Lellang and Long Napir. 

Language and Name  The Kelabit speak their own language, which is called “Kelabit ". Today, many have learned to speak English and Malay languages. Unfortunately, this has affected the usage of Kelabit language very badly. It is decreasingly used particularly by the younger generations. The Kelabit did not have a written form of their language until education was introduced on the highlands about 40 years ago. A recent effort was taken to document the language in a dictionary, partly to preserve the language.

Basically, a Kelabit name has two parts: the given name and the father’s name. Some common male Kelabit names are Lian, Agan, Giak and Apui. Some common female names are Supang, Sigang, Rinai, Dayang and Ruran. A common Kelabit name would be Supang (given name) Lian (father’s name).

The Kelabit practice an elaborate and fascinating teknonymic system, thus distinguishing them from the other tribes in Sarawak. This practice requires new parents and new grandparents to change their names completely and permanently, making their old names redundant. These new sets of names have to be announced to the community at the Irau Mekaa Ngadan (Changing Name Ceremony).

According to the practice, the child’s parents and grandparents will invite the whole community for the irau or feast, which is held at the tawa’ or open gallery of the longhouse. Some times up to 20 pigs, a buffalo or a cow are/is slaughtered for the occasion. Rice and drinks are prepared in abundance for the guests. While the women usually prepare the rice and drinks, the meat is prepared and cooked by the men in the community. The rice is mashed and wrapped in huge leaves call daun isip, which are distributed to the guests at the feast.

The guests normally arrive in their best outfit for this special occasion. The women adorned themselves with their colourful bao or beads. Beads, like jars are highly valued amongst the Kelabit, and have great significance to the wealth status of a person in the community. The Kelabit value different kinds of beads and used them (the beads) for various purposes. For example, the well known bao alai, a shiny yellow long oval venitian glass, is used as bane or necklace, while the bao rawir, normally come in length of 15-25 mm and are composed of very fine, smooth opaque pale dusty orange glass, are commonly used for the peta or bead cap. The bao bata madi and bata agan are especially used for the beret or belt. The former are tiny glass beads with slight green and blue shade over it, whereas the later are the blue glass beads with white plain inside the beads. However, the alai are the top valued beads among the Kelabit. Most are plain yellow (unpatterned) and some others are patterned with rose buds and golden dust and are known as the alai barit. The old alai (alai maun) used to cost about RM200-250 a piece. Most of these beads are heirloom, which are passed down from the older generation to the new generation. Hence, they are very valuable and highly treasured by the Kelabit.

And also, under this unique system, the couple address each other and are addressed by members of the community with their parenthood titles, which are determined by the sex of their first child. A father of a boy will be addressed as Tamabu, literally means “father of a boy”, while the mother will be addressed as Sinabu, meaning, “mother of a boy”. Meanwhile, if the first child was a girl, the father will be addressed as Temamu, which means, “father of a girl” and the mother as Sinamu, meaning, “mother of a girl”. They carry these titles until their first grandchild is born, where they have to take up new titles, also depending on the sex of their first grandchild. If the first grandchild is a boy, both the grandparents are addresses as Tepuabu, meaning, the “grandfather/grandmother of a boy”, and they are addressed as Tepuamu, which means the “grandfather/grandmother of a girl” if the grandchild is a girl.

For an example, when Supang, a baby girl was born to Pasang and Lalleng, the former was immediately addressed as Temamu Pasang and the later as Sinamu Lalleng. Under the system, the couple also had to change their names, by taking up new names, and discarding their old names. These new names are publicly announced and affirmed at the irau mekaa ngadan. At the irau, Temamu Pasang adopted Balang Siwa as his new name and Sinamu Lalleng, Sinah Balang Siwa.

Supang’s grandparents also needed to change their names, which usually began or ended with Tepun or Pun, short terms for Tehtepuh, which means “grandmother or grandfather of”. Their names also will be announced publicly at the irau mekaa ngadan. Tamah Saging, Supang’s grandfather, adopted the name Tepun Bawang, while her grandmother, Sinah Saging, took up the name Pun Midang Aren.


Folklore 

Over a century ago, the Kelabit were involved in head hunting raids, not so much for ritual purposes but as a means to prove one’s courage and bravery, and to get even with an enemy. Thus, a person who succeeded in head hunting exploits was hailed as a hero and looked upon as a role model. Stories of successful exploits are narrated in various forms of oral stories. One of these heroes is Agan Tadun. His fame and achievement are recounted in legends, myths and traditional songs.

One popular myth among the Kelabit is that all human kind were originally from the highlands until a big flood flooded the whole earth. Many people had to build rafts to survive and were brought to the coastal areas by the water. However, some had build big and heavy rafts, and therefore were stranded on the highlands. And, that is why and how the Kelabit remained on the highlands to this day. 


Religion
Most Kelabit are fervent Christians since a Spiritual Revival broke out amongst them in 1973, causing the whole tribe to embrace Christianity. As a consequence, they have abandoned most of their traditional beliefs which they felt have been a burden to them. They believed that Christianity has brought them freedom from the old religion.

Formerly, the Kelabit had to rely on bird and bird augury and dreams as guidance before beginning an important journey or starting the agriculture cycle. Certain rituals and practices were observed before commencing any undertakings. Sometimes these rituals required them to abandon a field that had been cleared for farming or leave their ripened rice to rot.
 

Major Holidays
Two major holidays for the Kelabit are Christmas and Easter. They celebrate both occasions as a community, and not merely as a family affairs. Opening one’s home to visitors is one of the main features of Christmas. Visitors are served with variety of cakes and cookies, and drinks. Besides that, longhouse communities get together for a meal either on Christmas Eve or Christmas lunch, or both, after Christmas services.

Easter celebration lasts for 4 days at least. The whole community will get together at the Central church to worship and fellowship together. Special speakers are invited to give sermons. It is an occasion most people look forward to attending.