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If you are not familiar with Flores island, Indonesia, it was the home of Homo floresiensis, a species of small archaic human. This species of human was nicknamed ‘Hobbit’ by its discoverers, after the fictional race popularised in J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit. It is believed that the Homo floresiensis lived on Flores island until […]
Outram Prison was one of the earliest prisons in Singapore. Originally, it was known as Pearl’s Hill Prison before being called Outram Prison or Outram Road Prison. Completed in 1882, the jail complex had five blocks for male criminals; four for natives and one for European. Other buildings housed the female prisons, hospitals, employees’ quarters, […]
‘Sumpit’ or ‘sumpitan’ are what we call the blowpipe or blowgun in Borneo. Some communities in the Philippines and Sulawesi also refer to the blowpipe as ‘sumpit’. In fact, the first written description of sumpit can be found in the works of Italian scholar and explorer Antonio Pigafetta in 1521 who visited the Palawan people. […]
When humans decide to start a war, there is always a price to pay. Other than innocent lives, the environment and the animals are the casualties of war which are often overlooked. Looking back in history, here are five sad stories on what happened to some animals during World War II (WWII): 1.The British pet […]
Junyo Maru was one of the many Japanese hell ships during World War II. It was used to transport Prisoners of War (POWs) with bamboo cages built in to imprison them. When it was attacked and sunk on Sept 18, 1944 by British submarine HMS Tradewind, it became the world’s greatest sea disaster at the […]
We have heard of stories of how Sarawak Rangers assisted in the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) when Sarawak was a British Crown Colony. And we have read stories of how Dayak climbers assisted in scientific expeditions all the way to New Guinea. But did you know why did Dayak volunteers were sent to Federation of Malaya […]
“Genjer-genjer” is an Indonesian folk song written in the Osing language about a plant called genjer. Also known as yellow velvetleaf, genjer (Limnocharis flava) can be found in countries such as Indonesia, South America, Sri Lanka, India, Cambodia and Malaysia. When the songwriter came up with “Genjer-genjer” it would later became one of the most […]
Today, the Kayan people of Borneo are known to practice mainly Christianity. Most of them have left their traditional belief called bungan and shamanism. However, did you know that hundreds of years ago, a Muslim sultanate called the Bulungan sultanate was allegedly founded by a Kayan princess from Apau Kayan who had married a Bruneian? […]
Today, the journalism industry is tainted by the wild spread of fake news and the oppression against the media. Plus, the digital age of information has not been entirely favourable towards journalism. On the good side, news and information are easier and faster to dispense to the wider crowd. At the same time, plagiarism and […]
When it comes to traditional or the ‘old school’ way of smoking in Borneo, most people are familiar with the technique of wrapping the tobacco in a dried banana leaf before lighting up. However, the oldest traditional form of smoking in the world is actually pipe smoking. Even though pipe smoking in Borneo was less […]
