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How a quarrel between two friends became their last in Battle of Lintang Batang 1853

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The Battle of Lintang Batang was one of the many skirmishes which took place between the Skrang Iban led by the famous warrior Rentap and the Brooke government of Sarawak.

One of the historical significance of this battle was that a government officer named Alan Lee was killed and beheaded. His friend William Brereton, however, survived the battle.

Allegedly, Lee’s head was nicknamed “Pala Tuan Lee ti mati rugi” (Lee’s head who died lost).

Dayaks in their war dress
Dayaks in their War Dress . Credits: Public Domain.

James Brooke recruiting Alan Lee and William Brereton

According to Cassandra Pybus in White Rajah: A Dynastic Intrigue, Lee and Brereton were recruited in 1848, making them some of the earliest European officers to work in Sarawak.

Pybus stated, “Returning from England in 1848, the Rajah brought much-needed reinforcements: Spenser St John, the son of an old friend, was to be the Rajah’s private secretary; Charles Grant was to be his personal secretary; and Brooke Johnson was to be aide-de-camp and hold the title Tuan Besar. Brooke Johnson, who had changed his name by deed poll to Brooke Brooke, arrived almost immediately after the Maeander, on another ship which also carried Henry Steele and Alan Lee, young recruits with an eye for adventure.

A further recruit was Willie (William) Brereton, whom the Rajah had affectionately taken under his wing as a 13-year-old midshipman on the HMS Samarang, stranded in Kuching for several months in 1843.

Now Willie was 18 and he too had given up the naval life for the Rajah of Sarawak. In Kuching all these young men made a jolly group around James Brooke, creating what Harry Keppel wryly called “The Rajah’s bower”.

Brereton was in-charge of Fort James at Skrang while Lee was heading Fort Lingga near the mouth of the Batang Lupar.

The Battle of Lintang Batang according to Steven Runciman

There are several accounts recorded on what happened during the Battle of Lintang Batang 1853.

In The White Rajah: A History of Runciman from 1841 to 1946, Steven Runciman pointed out the battle took place when Rajah was in Sambas.

Runciman wrote, “Early in the spring of 1853 Brooke (James) heard of a pirate fleet setting out to intercept it. It may be that he was deliberately misled; for the real trouble broke out elsewhere. The main agent in reviving Saribas piracy was a chieftain called Rentap. He had, even after the battle of Batang Maru, opposed the idea of any compromise with the Europeans; and he had proved his mettle and won great prestige by conducting a profitable raid against a Chinese village near Sambas and by defeating the praus sent by the Sultan of Sambas and the Dutch to pursue him.

“He particularly resented the Skrang Dyaks, whose most influential chief, Gasing, had made close friends Brereton and was now a loyal supporter of the Rajah.”

With the Tuan Besar away off the coast to the west, it was a good moment for Rentap to attack the Skrang. This news reached Brereton, who summoned Lee from Lingga to his aid.

They collected as many loyal Iban and Malay followers they could.

Lee wished to remain on the defensive in the fort at the mouth of the Skrang. However, Brereton insisted on moving to the stockade up the river.

When Rentap’s fleet appeared around the river, the government fleet immediately attacked them.

Brereton hastily joining the fight, found himself running straight into Rentap’s main fleet which was hidden behind the bend.

Lee followed to rescue Brereton and there was a sharp battle.

“Brereton just escaped with his life, but Lee was mortally wounded,” Runciman wrote. Rentap’s son-in-law Layang reportedly killed and beheaded Lee.

As for the battle, heavy fire from the stockade then forced Rentap’s warriors to retreat upriver. There, they came under attack from another Iban chief who was on Brooke’s side. In the end, 20 longhouses of Rentap’s supporters were burned.

Why did Lee decide to attack?

Meanwhile, J.B Archer, the last chief secretary to Rajah Vyner Brooke wrote briefly about what goes behind the battle in The Sarawak Gazette on June 1, 1948.

According to Archer, Brereton accused his friend Lee of cowardice for refusing to advance upriver and attack the enemy.

Lee, who was in command, suspected that Rentap and his men had prepared an ambush and did not want to walk into a trap.

“On the last evening the two had a violent quarrel and the next morning Lee, exasperated by his friend’s taunts, ordered an advance. Exactly as he had foretold happened. The Government forces were surrounded and outnumbered and Lee, up to his waist in water, met a valiant death defending himself with his sword against Dayaks all around him,” Archer wrote.

He added, “Brereton escaped but, they say, never forgave himself for his share in the disaster and died a year or two later.”

According to Archer, Lee was his ancestor. He pointed out, “I have tried many times to identify his smoked head which has been hanging in some Skrang Dayak longhouse as a trophy for nearly a hundred years.”

While Archer was not able to recover his ancestor’s head, he was able to recover Lee’s sword.

Both Lee (without his head) and Brereton were buried in the old Kuching cemetery overlooking Bishopsgate road.

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How Sarawakians enjoyed their alcohol, as observed in the 1930s

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There is a commonly known joke among Sarawakians that the level of English proficiency is correlated with the level of alcohol in your system.

So the more intoxicated you are, the better you can speak English.

In fact it is scientifically proven that alcohol helps you speak a foreign language better. This is because alcohol can lower your inhibitions, making you slowly overcome your nervousness and hesitation.

A sudden fluency in English language is not the only side effect of Sarawakians’ drinking culture.

Back in the 1930s, Sarawak Museum curator Edward Banks visited different communities in Sarawak to observe alcohol consumption among them.

It is amusing to look back and see how much we have (or haven’t) changed over the past 80 years.

Here is Banks’ findings on Sarawakians’ alcohol consumption which was published on the Sarawak Gazette on Jan 4, 1937:

1.The Bidayuhs in Kuching and Serian

The Land Dayaks of the Kuching and Sadong districts in western Sarawak prepare a very sweet, yellowish-brown and clear drink from a medium-sized reddish-orange fruit known as tampoi, by which name they also call the beverage.

The analysis of tampoi from a Land Dayak house at Sennah, Sarawak River is as follows: alcohol (23%), sugar (5%) and acidity (8%).

The Land Dayaks are a timid somewhat forlorn people who have never really recovered from centuries of oppression, and though they will drink a little with a guest, or on special occasions, they have a quite unnecessary dread of doing something original whilst intoxicated, and so they only fall quietly asleep without making any trouble; indeed, they are not in any case a quarrelsome people.

2.The Ibans

The Sea Dayak or Iban brew is sweet and milky, and is known as tuak. It has much the same potency and after-effects as the others, reaching about 20% alcohol by volume.

The Sea Dayak upcountry is a singularly sober person on his own account, and it is probable that no alcohol passes his lips for months at a time; this is not because does not like it particularly, for he will take what he can in bazaars or from traders, although even this amounts to very little, for he is too shrewd and thrifty to spend his money in this way.

When drinks (usually European spirits) are free, both men and women will drink astonishing quantities “neat” without at the time showing any ill-effects, and the Sea Dayak’s usual sobriety is partly a matter of thrift and lack of opportunity.

On the few occasions during the year, usually in connection with the crops, when a feast or begawai is held, the Sea Dayak men and women may sometimes make up for their normal abstemiousness by drinking to excess, vomiting and then drinking again, this process making a begawai utterly undesirable to attend more than once.

On these occasions the Sea Dayak is somewhat more truculent and aggressive than usual, but fortunately he reaches a state of helplessness before serious quarrels can happen, and there are as a rule no permanent ill consequences.

Apart from this, Iban hospitality in the upcountry districts is showered on the visitors by a long line of girls, each bearing a bowl of drink, each dressed in her best and singing a short song of welcome before presenting the offering.

As nobody wishes to drink eight or ten glasses of doubtfully clean rice spirit, the later glasses may be shared with the givers or any willing helpers so long as a few sips are taken, and drink is not as a rule dished out to all and sundry, the object being rather to stun the visitor, leaving themselves in full possession of their wits.

3.The Kayans and Kenyahs

Drink plays a very large part in the life of Kayans and Kenyahs, no births, marriages and deaths are complete without a liberal supply for anyone who cares to attend, the long and self-imposed pantang periods in connection with their crops are relieved to some extent by the “cup that cheers,” and the stranger within the house may receive a “wet” welcome according to his inclination and the state of his hosts’ resources.

Nothing, probably, is freer than burak, as they call it, and even if one does not wish to drink deep, it is usually necessary to take a few sips in order to show that there is no ill feeling, and although the Kayans and Kenyahs are philosophical enough to accept an absolute teetotaler and not insist, they do not profess to understand it.

It is clear at once that the necessary large supply of yearly liquor cannot be brewed save from very abundant crops, and as these are vary greatly during hard times, sweet potatoes are sliced up and sugarcane crushed and either mixed with a certain amount of cooked rice, or allowed to ferment alone.

Individual Kayan and Kenyahs can consume without apparent effect quantities that beggar description of their own drink or of neat European spirits, and as a race they hold their liquor extremely well. Among themselves quarrels when in drink are rare, any anyone who inclines to become obstreperous or wants to be ill is removed at a sign from the chief or head of the house, and does not return; even those who have “drink taken” maintain a commendable equilibrium, and though possibly extremely cheery, keep well within the bounds of good behaviour.

The effect of social class system in Kayan and Kenyah communities

These people, are divided into social classes, and men of the ruling classes who see their followers going on the spree automatically restrain themselves a little, and though they join in and are by no means spoil-sports, they yet preserve a sufficient detachment instantly to intervene in any possible over-exuberance, and if they and their visitors want to “let go” they retire some other time to their own room and enjoy themselves as much as they like, their followers leaving them to it.

Already possessed with a considerable sense of humour, the influence of burak increases their sense of companionship, and mitigates rather than aggravates differences and quarrels, apparently nothing said or done on these occasions being afterwards used as evidence.

An European returning from two month’s tour was once “overtaken” in the first Kayan house to be reached, and subsequently discovered from some Malays, and of course teetotalers, that he had stayed there two nights, although he only remembered the first one.

On meeting these Kayans later he mentioned his lapse, and hoped all had been well while he was “out,” and his memory a blank; they replied that they pretty sure that nothing untoward had happened although they could not be quite certain, since they, too, had drink deep, and their memories were also blank.

A most gentlemanly gesture, and one which to this day has prevented the European concerned from finding out what exactly did happen.

4.The Kelabit

There are several kinds of Kelabits, and whilst a few probably make drink of nightly habit, there are other who do not make it a routine, though I do not suppose a week passes but that they have one or two cheerful nights.

Partly owing to the nature of the soil where they live, and partly through their very considerable industry their rice crops are larger and frequent, seldom failing, and by this means they are able to supply themselves with plenty of food and with about an equal sufficiency leftover from which to brew drink.

Their hospitality is amazing, and should upwards of a hundred people descend on a house, never very large, they are dined and wined freely as a point of honour, and there is no sign of stint. If they have notice of distinguished visitors they will brew burak as good as that made by most Kayans and Kenyahs, but in the ordinary way it is cooked rice and water, which never gets a chance to last long enough to be particularly appetizing to a European taste.

Though they can stand a vast amount of drink, they are eventually overcome, and though unduly cheery and quite polite, they then become rather stupid and a nuisance, usually being led quietly away by some one more sober-minded.

For all this, the Kelabit is not an out-and-out drunkard, a hard worker as these things go in Borneo, he will entertain visitors up to the limit, and if he hasn’t any visitors handy he will send out and invite his friends from the next house.

One therefore sees alcohol carried somewhat to an excess yet without offence among Kelabits, and though their state of inebriation as a rule surpasses though their state inebriation as a rule surpasses that of the others they are far from being habitual or daily drunkards, and there is no sign of their fertility or their considerable ability or energy being seriously impaired.

5.The Muruts of Limbang and Trusan rivers

… Murut has nearly drunk himself out of existence, and illustrates the evils of excess just as the Western people conform to the vicissitudes of abstention.

One may see a man come home from his farm and after food settle down to his own jar until he falls over sideways to sleep without going to bed, and wakes where he fell to stagger off to work next morning.

Many of them still live at heights of two, and three thousand feet like the Kelabits, but others are settle down country and the drink is a serious question with them all, for there is nothing like the conviviality of the Kelabits, Kayans and Kenyahs.

In parts, it has even become a competition; as elsewhere, a large jar full of drink is tapped at the mouth by two bamboo tubes, through one of which one must suck the beverage, while in the other is a float attached to a most aggravating little pith-gauge at the the top.

It is one’s painful duty by sucking the one tube to lower the gauge the necessary half-inch-or so prescribed by custom.

The competitive spirit arises to see who can sink the float the furthers, and there are ways and means of mixing it or making it stick to fool the boastful entirely foreign to the jovial convivial drinking parties of some of the other tribes.

Edward Banks’ conclusion of Sarawakians’ alcohol consumption

One therefore sees in the West of Sarawak Land Dayaks only who drink a little on special occasions, and are abstemious partly from lack of desire and partly fear of inebriation.

Further North are the Sea Dayaks, who, when left to themselves are abstemious from thrift or also from lack of desire, or for the sake of their health, but who let themselves go to the limit a few times a year on special occasions.

Then the Kayans and Kenyahs, to whom drink a necessary and frequent custom, but with whom it is not overdone to the extent of impairing fertility, health, strength or good behaviour.

The Kelabits, of whom it can only be said that they drink deeply and cheerfully when occasion arises, but that they are not so far impaired in health fertility, carry it a stage further, but their Murut cousins have overstepped the border, their drinking being neither jovial nor convivial but just a beastly debauch with consequent deleterious effects on their numbers and constitution.

What do you think? Do you agree with Banks’ observation on Sarawakians’ drinking habits? Let us know in the comment box.

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Reminiscences of former Sarawak Museum Curator Edward Banks

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Founded in 1888 and opened in 1891, the Sarawak Museum is the oldest museum in Borneo.

Since its inception until 1974, the head of the museum was called ‘Curator’. After this, the title for the head of the museum became “Director.”

Sarawak Museum has seen so many curators and directors passing through its doors since it was first opened. Each head of the museum has their own stories on how they ended up at their post.

After Sarawak joined to form the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, we’ve had our own Sarawakians as directors: Benedict Sandin (1966-1974), Lucas Chin (1974-1991), Dr Peter Mulok Kedit (1991-1996), Ipoi Datan (1996-1997, and then again in 2009) and Sanib Said (1997-2008). Currently, Suria Bujang is Acting Director.

Of course like any other working environment, Sarawak Museum has its own office stories or rumours to tell. Who better to tell the story other than one of its own curators, Edward Banks?

He served as the curator from February 1925 to 1945. Banks was interned at Batu Lintang camp during the Japanese occupation of Sarawak during World War II.

The former curator once wrote his experiences working at the Sarawak Museum. In the article, he roughly pointed out the contributions and achievement of all the curators that came before him.

Kuching Sarawak the museum building. Photograph. Wellcome V0037397 scaled
Kuching, Sarawak: the museum building. Photograph. Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Photograph c. 1896 By: Charles Hose.
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution.

Here is the article written by Edward Banks which was published in The Sarawak Museum Journal in August 1983:

There are several stories about the origin of the Sarawak Museum. There is no doubt the idea first started from a suggestion from Alfred Russel Wallace when he visited the country. He became a close friend of James Brooke, first Rajah of Sarawak, in fact they went away together to his country house on Peninjau Hill behind Siniawan. It seems certain Wallace persuaded Brooke to have a museum and orders were given for this. Later events delayed the start but Charles Brooke, the second Rajah, took his uncle’s orders seriously and went ahead with the scheme for a Museum.

I have always been told that when looking through magazine he saw a picture of a girl’s school in Adelaide – “Just the thing for a museum”, said he, whistled up the PWD (Public Works Department) and so it was built. You can see a picture of it in Shelford’s book. The question of somewhere for the Curator to live came up and on looking at a picture book about Switzerland and he saw a photograph of Swiss Chalet – “Ha, just the thing for a Curator” and that is where I used to live.

A museum had to have glass cases and stuffed animals. To it came Bartlett, sometime assistant in the London Zoo. He was a very good taxidermist indeed, many of his mounted specimens are still on show. He also sent many specimens home to be mounted by Gerarrd in London and they are still probably home some of the main Museum today with a certain amount of artistic merit. Bartlett’s assistant was a Chinese gentleman named Chiang Jee Koo who became nearly as good as mounting birds as was his master.

Bartlett was replaced by Shelford, almost certainly recommended by Wallace. He brought order to the Museum, everything was catalogued and numbered so that what every specimen you wish could easily be found among the very large reference collection that he accumulated. The museum owes its firm foundation to his orderly mind. I believe Shelford was a cripple and there used to be in Museum a very large back basket in which he is said to have been carried up Mount Penrissen.

Shelford was followed by Hewitt, an indefatigable collector of insect and of plants but he did not stay very long before retiring to Natal.

Then came John Coney Moulton. His service to the museum was immense, he had another wing built on, started the Sarawak Museum Journal and became an authority on Cicada; with a foretaste of things to come the museum was soon full of files and of memos and all the signs of coming bureaucracy. Then can came the first War and Moulten went off to Singapore to join his regiment and when the war was over, he was appointed Director of the Museum in Singapore. Up to this time, Charles Vyner Brooke had been his own secretary, all outstation officers wrote to him and he wrote back to them. In about 1923 he made Moulton his Chief Secretary in Sarawak. It was not a popular appointment, most administrative officers thought they could have done the job better. (After the second war there was once a suggestion they might do worse than have another curator for Chief Secretary and I know what the anti feelings were like!)

The Curator at that time was a Swede named Mjöberg. He must have been the finest collector the Museum ever had. Nothing moved on foot or fin or wing but he had it, he knew what he was collecting too, a very able man. His manners aroused the dislike of many people, some D.Os (District Officers) would not have him in their district, in fact he was just not popular with anyone. He must have used his position as Curator to obtain large numbers of old jars and plates which did not reach the Museum collections. This led to a furious row with Chief Secretary Moultan and Mjöberg had to go. It is almost incredible that he packed up numbers of jars and of plates to take with him. They were of course confiscated by the customs and placed in the Museum. A furious correspondence followed, ordering me to send on his property which of course I could not do and we all got well shot at between the pages of his book “Durch die Insel der kopfjarger.”

I was the next Curator, arriving in February 1925, Moulton put me through it and was apparently satisfied and I was allowed to move in. Here I met an old Chinese gentleman named Chiang Jee Koo who became a lifelong friend. He had started with Bartlett, had seen Shelford, Hewitt, Moulton and Mjöberg come and go and now I must say he had picked up some astounding English from former Curators and it was quite exciting being taken around the Museum exhibits by him. But he was a dear, we got on famously and did not always work too hard, he loved talking about the past. The Sarawak Museum was his God and it owes a great deal to this old gentleman.

Moulton died shortly afterwards and I was on my own. Then came a slump and many officers more useful than I were made redundant, I have not the slightest idea why they kept on. The Museum was at its lowest when Mjöberg left and I remedied this as best I could. It soon became clear to me there could be no lasting support for an institution with just a lot of pin-ups and I began to apply Museum work to technical problems in public life. Sometimes it was the Turtles, the birds nest soup industry, I used to act for the Director of Agriculture or the Secretary for Native Affairs when they went on leave. I know this was often done in time that might have been spent in collecting or research but it gave the museum a very good name with the authorities -they even appointed G.T.M. MacBryan as Assistant Curator!

When the war came, I stayed behind with some idea of persuading the Japs to spare the Museum. I did not have to try very hard, they showed a great respect for the place and never touch a thing.

Finally when the Japs had gone, I rescued from the Printing Office another number of the Sarawak Museum Journal and gave them to my successor.

So who are the people mentioned by Banks in his article?

1.Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)

Best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection, Wallace was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer and biologist.

He arrived in Kuching on Nov 1, 1854 after a brief spell recovering from a shipwreck on his return to England following his explorations of Brazil between 1848 and 1852.

During his stay in Sarawak as the guest of James Brooke, he wrote a paper while occupying a government lodge in Santubong.

Wallace first met James in Singapore in 1854. James invited him to continue his exploration of animal species and to discover the beauty of Sarawak nature.

Entitled “On the Law which has regulated the introduction of new species”, the paper was then published in The Annals and Magazine of Natural History in London in September 1855.

The paper was later known as the Sarawak Law which in it Wallace declared, “Every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with closely allied species.

2.Edward Bartlett (1836-1908)

Bartlett was the Curator of the Sarawak Museum from 1893 to 1897. Prior to his stint in Sarawak, he had travelled to Palestine, Amazon basin and Peru. He was Curator of Maidstone Museum, England from 1974 to 1890.

Banks pointed out that Bartlett was a very good taxidermist. He perhaps learned the trait from his father Abraham Dee Bartlett. Abraham was a taxidermist and an expert on captive animals. As a superintendent of the London Zoo, he was known to bring the zoo into prominence. It was maybe under his father’s influence that Bartlett was able to work as an assistant in the London Zoo, as stated by Banks.

One of Bartlett’s publications is “The Crocodiles and Lizards of Borneo in the Sarawak Museum,” published in April 1894 in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Gerrard that was mentioned by Banks is most probably referring to Edward Gerrard, another fellow taxidermist. He worked for the British Museum (Natural History) as the resident Taxidermist from 1841 to 1890.

3.Robert Walter Campbell Shelford (1872-1912)

Portrait Robert W C Shelford
Portrait of Shelford. Credits: Creative Commons

Shelford was a naturalist with a special interest in entomology and insect mimicry. His favourite insects? Cockroach and stick insect.

After graduating from Cambridge in 1895, he went to Yorkshire College as a demonstrator in Biology. He arrived in Sarawak in 1897 and held the post as Curator of the Sarawak Museum for seven years. During his tenure in Sarawak, he sent a number of specimens to his alumni at Cambridge.

Banks believed Shelford was a cripple and while it is a derogatory term, it is kinda true. He developed a tubercular hip joint as a child that incapacitated his mobility. After an operation, he became more mobile again but with some limitation. For instance, he could never participate in sports.

His best-known book A Naturalist in Borneo was published in 1916 after his death. It would be interesting if the Museum still has the basket which Shelford was carried around in.

Read more about Shelford here.

4.John Hewitt (1880-1961)

Banks pointed out that Hewitt did not stay very long in Kuching as the Curator of the Sarawak Museum, which is true. The herpetologist only served in Sarawak from 1905 to 1908.

5.John Coney Moulton (1886-1926)

Moulton was the Sarawak Museum Curator from November 1908 to January 1915. As per mentioned by Banks, he was the founding editor of the Sarawak Museum Journal in 1911.

Thanks to him, Sarawak has one of the oldest scientific journals of the South-east Asian region.

The Sarawak museum building in 1911
The Sarawak museum building in 1911. The construction of new wing of the museum was in progress. However, the brick work steps outside the old wing was demolished in 1912. Credits: Public Domain.

6.Eric Mjöberg (1882-1938)

While Mjoberg was not able to take the old jars and plates from Sarawak (thanks to the Customs Department), he did take material from Australian Aboriginal people illegally.

During his 1910 expedition to Australia, Mjoberg took the skeletons of the Aboriginal people without permission, passing them off as kangaroo bones to get them out of the country. This might make you wonder; how similar are human and kangaroo bones?

Anyway, he served only for two years as the Curator of the Sarawak State Museum from 1922 until 1924.

He died in poverty in Stockholm. Towards the end of his life, Mjoberg was reportedly being haunted by constant nightmares of Aboriginal people chasing him.

7.G.T.M MacBryan

gerard
Gerard MacBryan after his pilgrimage to Mecca. Credits: Public Domain.

G.T.M MacBryan was born Gerard Truman Magill MacBryan. He entered the Sarawak government service in 1920 at the age of 18.

He was the acting Curator for Sarawak Museum only for about two months from Dec 20, 1924 to Jan 24, 1925.

Some historians believed he was Sarawak’s equivalent to Rasputin.

Read more about MacBryan here.

8.Chiang Jee Koo

The most interesting figure mentioned by Banks is none other than Chiang Jee Koo. The only online record found about him is from National Herbarium Nederland.

According to the record, he was an employer of the Sarawak Museum since it was first founded. He was working as a clerk and taxidermist. Chiang retired from the museum in 1927 and died in 1932 in Kuching.

Despite some of their flaws and quirks, each of the curator had contributed significantly to the museum. Today, Sarawakians have the collections at Sarawak State Museum to thank them for.

If you have any information on Chiang Jee Koo let us know in the comment box.

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The spiritual causes of sickness, according to Iban shamanism

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Long time ago, the Iban believed that a variety of illnesses were caused by ‘antu’ or demonic spirits.

According to Iban ethnologist Benedict Sandin, one such sickness was known as ‘pansa utai’ or ‘pansa bulu babas’. It was thought to be caused by an attack of the invisible antu grasi, or demon huntsman.

“A wound made by these spirits is likely to be dangerous and a fully initiated manang (shaman) should be called upon to treat this type of spiritual injury,” Benedict wrote in his paper “Mythological Origins of Iban Shamanism”.

If it is not that dangerous, the manang may simply apply his ‘penampal abi’ or patching ointment on the afflicted part of the patient’s body.

What if it is serious? The manang is likely to perform a ‘bebunoh antu’ rite in order to slay the demons huntsman who has spiritually wounded his patient. If the manang is afraid to perform such a ‘pelian’ (healing ceremony) himself, then he may suggest to the patient’s family that they call a more senior, daring manang.

Stalling the attacks from antu grasi

According to Iban shamanism belief, in order to forestall attacks by the antu grasi, Iban manang and dukun warn those who experience bad dreams or encounter ill-omens that they must not work outside their longhouse for a day or more.

This was so that they would not tbe seen by the roaming demon huntsmen who invisibly hunt over the countryside. To these spirits, the souls (semangat) of those who ignore the warnings of dreams and omens appear as wild boars.

1277px Schwaner Een Bilianfest der Dayakkers van Soengie Pattaym Jahre 1846
Dayak Festival in a traditional Longhouse, 1846, Dutch Borneo. Credit: Public Domain

Spirits believed to cause miscarriage

If there were a case where a woman suffered from repeat miscarriages, the cause was often believed to be the sexual assault of incubus spirits.

These spirits are called tunang utai or tunang antu. They are thought to appear at times in the form of animals or fish or eels.

To prevent such assaults, women are warned to be careful while washing their clothes in the river.

If a woman’s clothes are lost, the incubus may trace them to their owner in order to have sexual intercourse with her spiritually.

Some of the animals believed to be able to court women are crocodiles, monitor lizards, deer, clouded leopards, short-tailed macaques, bear cats and cobras.

The only way to protect a woman is to employ an expert manang to kill the spirit through bebunoh antu.

Typically, a married woman is troubled by that kind of spirit dreams that she is sexually courted by a man who often appears to her in the form of her husband or a handsome young man.

Frequently, the spirit is seen early in the morning leaving the longhouse in the guise of an animal. With this, others know that a woman is being molested by a tunang spirit.

Antu Buyu

Another harmful spirit in Iban shamanism belief is the antu buyu. They represent the bad souls of old women who are thought to act like witches. These spirits disturbs and possibly even kill newborn babies.

Benedict stated, “The presence of such women is particularly associated with old, long-inhabited longhouse settlements. The antu buyu feed on rice bran (seku) left un-swept by the women after winnowing their rice along the main passage-way of the house.”

Hence, bran should be carefully swept away and not left for the spirits to feed upon.

Occasionally, Iban bachelors as they walk quietly along the longhouse’ gallery to court girls at night, see the antu buyu walking below the eaves of the longhouse.

It is believed that these antu buyu are on their way to look for rice bran or to frighten or kill infants as they sleep.

They also appear to grown-up children in the form of an ugly black, hairy spirit. Moreover, children who see them could become nervous and ill.

To guard a child from such danger, a manang may be called upon to perform a protective pelian.

In the end of the pelian, the manang may hang a charm made from wasps on the door or window of the family’s room. This is to frighten away the antu buyu and other spirits.

Nonetheless, there are sicknesses that the manangs cannot cure. Usually, these are the afflictions caused by disobeying taboos such as causing a fire at a cemetery or forbidden islet of forest.

Mythological origins of Iban Shamanism was published in The Sarawak Museum Journal in August 1983.

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James Brooke’s role in the Battle of Marudu Bay 1845

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“The Battle of Marudu Bay sees James Brooke enlisting the help of the British Royal Navy in Singapore to defeat Sherif Osman, a pirate leader from North Borneo, effectively ending his piracy,” this is what you will find on the Sarawak goverment’s official website of what happened in 1845.

But is there more to the story than the first White Rajah defeating a group of pirates?

Marudu Bay is located at the northern tip of Borneo where, in the 1840s, it was led by a man named by Syarif Usman (sometimes spelled as Sherif Osman).

According to Clifford Sather, Marudu Bay in particular, in the early 1800s served as a major staging point for slave-raiding operations.

“By the 1820s, the presence of Bajau and Ilanun settlements in coastal Sabah effectively eliminated Brunei’s political and commercial hold over the region,” Sather wrote.

In the meantime, Illanun slave trading activities allegedly sponsored by the Sulu was causing a blow to Brunei’s maritime commerce. These pirates disrupted sea routes and cut Brunei’s connections with the vital Chinese junk trade.

For a short period in the beginning, the northern Borneo settlement, particularly those of the Tempasuk Bajau was strong enough to ignore Sulu’s hegemony.

However in the 1830s, the Sulu reasserted its influence by recognising the powerful chief Syarif Usman as its regional governor in Marudu.

Believed to be a charismatic and a brave leader among the locals, the Westerners on the other hand, had a different perception of Syarif Usman.

James Brooke’s role in Battle of Marudu Bay 1845

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James Brooke

Brooke at that time was seeking to consolidate his uncertain position in Borneo.

While he was already treated as the Rajah of Sarawak, Brooke was worried about his position with regards to Britain.

Steven Runciman in The White Rajah: A History of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946 wrote, “He wanted official support, some form of official rank and a guarantee that Britain would interest herself in Borneo.”

Brooke finally could sigh a relief in February 1845. At that time, Captain Charles Bethune arrived from London with a despatch appointing Brooke as Confidential Agent to Her Majesty in Borneo.

Runciman stated, “Bethum also brought a letter from the British Government to the Sultan of Brunei, expressing the intention of co-operating with him against the pirates.”

Brooke then accompanied Bethune to deliver this letter to Brunei to which the Sultan received the latter politely.

After his visit to Brunei, Brooke found out that Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane commander of the Far East Fleet was at Malacca.

He hurried to see him. The admiral shared Brooke’s views about the pirates and promised to join him in expedition against Marudu Bay.

In order to strengthen his position in Borneo, Brooke’s alleged principle method was to campaign for the destruction of ‘pirate’ strongholds on the island including Marudu Bay.

How the Battle of Marudu Bay 1845 went down according to Captain Pascoe

Captain R.N. Pascoe who took part in the expedition to Marudu Bay 1845 recorded about the attack in his journal:

It was on the 18th of August 1845 that a British squadron, consisting of H.M.S. Agincourt, Vestal, Daedalus, Vaxen and the sloops Cruiser and Wolverine, under the command of Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane, anchored at the entrance of Marudu Bay, the expedition having for its object the destruction of a nest of pirates under a Serip Usman, an Illanun pirate chef.

The attacking force, which consisted of 530 seamen and marines, in 24 boats, of which nine were gunboats, took up station off the mouth of Tandik river, in the southeast corner of the Bay, at 3pm and at dawn next day proceeded up the river, the pinnace with guns leading. Two Malays from Sarawak accompanied the forces as guides.

About six miles from the entrance the advance was checked by a boom moored across the river by view of three batteries “about musket range from the boom;” the largest fort, mounting eight large pieces, stood on the right bank gaily decked with banners, stood at the junction of the river, which at this point divides into two branches, the third was a floating battery moored to the left bank.

A messenger “an Illanun from Mindanao in rich attire,” with a flag of truce came down to meet the force, with the request that the two senior Officers should proceed to the fort and negotiate, “but they were not thus to be trusted,” and a reply was sent back that unless Serip Usman (Syarif Osman) himself came down fire would at once be opened.

Immediately the messenger’s boat was clear of the boom, a galling fire was opened from the forts. Gibbard, mate of the Wolverine, fell mortally wounded, and a brisk fire was kept up from both sides.

The enemy’s guns being lad on the boom, caused fairly heavy loss amongst the attacking force, which was working hard to remove the obstacle. In about at hour an opening was effected; two cutters with marines instantly carried the three-gun battery, and the enemy, abandoning the forts, fled through the town in the rear and made for the jungle.

At 2pm the forts, towns, and enemy vessels being destroyed, the force reassembled to return to the ships, taking with them the hospital pinnace with the wounded. The casualties amounted to ten killed and fifteen wounded, three mortally. The number of the enemy slain is not computed, though it seems to have been very large, the carnage being described as frightful, and the destruction of the pirate’s stronghold was complete.”

The other side of the Battle of Marudu Bay’s story

Even so, not everyone believed that Syariff Osman was a pirate captain. Alternatively, the locals believed he was a leader who brought prosperity to Marudu Bay.

German author Bianca Maria Gerlich who wrote the book Marudu 1845 believed that not everything happened like in the Western records.

She told an audience during a talk on Syarif Osman in Kota Kinabalu in 2019 that James Brooke defamed Marudu as a pirate’s lair.

Moreover, Gerlich said that Brooke defamed Syarif Osman as a pirate chieftain.

Brooke did that to eliminate a possible rival for his influence over parts of Borneo, which were not yet occupied by other Western powers.

She stated, “Syarif Osman had not only built a strong, economically expanding and independent polity in Marudu Bay, but moreover was in contact with many important leader personalities of the region. His fair-reaching authority was considered too dangerous by James Brooke.”

Perhaps Colombian writer Nicolas Gomez Davila’s famous quote was right, “Truth is in history, but history is not the truth.”

With most records still written Syarif Osman as the pirates leader, the Battle of Marudu 1845 did not only destroy the town but also the memory of its development as a coastal state.

KajoMag readers, let us know in the comment box what do you think? Was Syarif Osman the leader of pirates? Was the Battle of Marudu Bay necessary>

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Remembering an old Iban ceremony called ‘Gawai padi datai’

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The Iban community is known for having different kinds of gawai celebrations.

Even though we associate the word ‘gawai’ with partying today, the feasting and festivities are actually secondary to the main event of the gawai celebration which is the religious ritual.

Some of the examples of gawai rituals include Gawai Antu (rituals to invite dead souls to their final separation from the living), Gawai Ngar (to celebrate patrons of weaving) and Gawai Melah Pinang (for the deity of creation).

One of the rare gawai rituals that are perhaps no longer celebrated is Gawai Padi Datai.

Betong’s then acting district officer A.M. Phillips witnessed the ritual, writing about it in The Sarawak Gazette on Sept 30, 1955.

According to Phillips, Gawai Padi Datai is held when the harvest is low, and is a celebration for paddy which they believed fell from the sky.

He stated that most longhouses in the Layar, Padeh, Spak, Rimbas and Paku areas had either performed the Gawai Padi Datai themselves or had at least attended one or two of the ritual.

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Gawai Padi Datai is celebrated when the harvest is low.

Here is Phillips’ account of Gawai Padi Datai:

A feature of this gawai is that paddy which alleged to have fallen from the sky is brought from other houses to the house which is about to celebrate.

On arrival at the foot of the ladder a babi bland and manok labang (white pig and spotted white chicken) are killed and an offering made at the bottom of the ladder.

From the landing stage (pendai) to the foot of the ladder, thence up the ladder on to the ruai, and from the tanju to the bilik and into a tajau lama run strings, either of decorated rattan or of red cotton threaded with hundreds of puffed rice grains (letup).

The whole house is spread out with mats covering all the ruai and the whole of the bilik.

The visitors with the padi datai sit on the ruai together with 11 or possibly 13 women dressed in white, as men, with feathered hats and parangs, who make the offerings etc.

What happened after the offerings?

After this, during the night, grains of paddy are found from time to time either on the mats or on the ground outside the house.

Stones and animals’ teeth are also found, sometimes on the mats, sometimes in the offerings, sometimes falling from the roof.

All these grains of paddy and pebbles are supposed to bring good luck.

Most of the paddy probably falls out of the paddy bins in the roof whence it is disturbed by the usual rats, cats, or shaking of the house caused by the crowd of visitors.

The stones and animals teeth could also be placed in situ by subterfuge. If it is a hoax it is a big one and is yet undiscovered by the locals. The house carrying out this gawai and who place not a little faith in its efficacy include houses with many Christians. This phenomenon impresses or seems to impress, much more quickly and effectively than such mundane benefits as local authorities, or indeed V.H.F. telephones.

So what do you think? How did the paddy grains, stones and animals’ teeth are found after the Gawai Padi Datai? Let us know what you think in the comment box.

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Cultural similarities between Naga people of India and Myanmar regions, and the people of Borneo

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The Naga people are tribes who live in northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar. They make the majority of the population in the Indian state of Nagaland and Naga Self-Administered zone of Myanmar.

The Naga people are known for their strong warrior tradition. In the olden days, the Naga people practiced headhunting, as they took the heads of their enemies in the belief that they would also take their power.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles from India and Myanmar, the indigenous people of Borneo also had a culture of headhunting. But what do these two indigenous groups share besides cutting off the heads of their enemies?

Former Sarawak Museum curator Edward Banks explored this question in a paper published in The Sarawak Museum Journal in August 1983.

According to Banks, there were many other things the Naga and Borneo peoples did the same way because they lived under the same conditions, not because they are related.

Naga People
The Naga people made an appearance during Rainforest World Music Festival in 2019 at Sarawak Cultural Village.

Here are some of the comparisons between the Naga people and the ethnic groups in Borneo according to Banks:

1.Clothing

The Naga people, like the tribes in Borneo, wore loin cloth in the olden days. In Assam, they called it lengta.

Naga People 2

2.Slash and burn method of farming

“Both sides plant rice by first cutting down the jungle, burning it off and then planting hill rice in the clearings,” Banks wrote.

To celebrate bountiful harvest, both cultures also have festivals at the end of harvest season.

3.Rice Wine

Most societies that rely on rice as a staple food tend to use its surplus to brew rice wine.

Here in Sarawak, we are known for our tuak and burak. The Naga people also have their own version of rice wine.

Banks stated, “The brews seem to be very much the same, boiled rice fermented with the dust from the winnowing of the husked rice. The taste seems to be much the same and so does the result, not very intoxicating at the time you merely feel rather ill the next day.”

4. Knife and sword

Naga knives, known as “dao”, were made so that the hilt angled upwards from the blade to prevent the back of the hand being skinned against the tree trunk or log which was being cut.

The “dao” mostly resembles the Bidayuh people’s war sword called pandat as well as the parang latok or latok from Kalimantan.

5. How a woman was buried

Banks in his paper pointed out, “One of the oddest things common to Kayans and to Nagas was the hanging up of the departed lady’s sun hat beneath her tomb. I do not know anyone else does this and it is an extraordinary custom to crop up thousands of miles apart.”

6.Bachelor’s house or head house

A baruk (also known as pangah/baluh/balu/pangarah) is an important architectural feature in a traditional Bidayuh village.

It works as a meeting hall, shelter and where they used to keep the heads of their enemies.

Similarly, the Naga people have a bachelor’s house where they had meeting, welcomed strangers and kept the heads.

In the olden days, women were not allowed to enter this house.

7.Jar burials

Jar burials were common in many cultures throughout Southeast Asia. However, the manner of how a jar burial was conducted might differ.

According to Banks, the Kelabits used to cut a ridge in the jungle, dig a trench, put in the jar containing the bones of the deceased and erect an upright stone pillar with a large flat stone at its base.

“These menhirs are just the same as those used by some of the Nagas, the likeness is astonishing,” he stated.

8.The naming of a son

Banks also claimed there was a similarity in the ceremony for naming a son between the Naga people and the Kayans.

He stated, “A 100 foot jointed bamboo pole was placed in the ground and supported by a forked stick about one third of the way up so that the rest of the pole bent over in a graceful arc with the tip almost touching the ground. The pole was covered with bamboo leaves, gourds and flat pieces of bamboo were tied on near the tip and the whole thing clapped away merrily when the wind blew. You can see a picture of one in Hose’s book. In pre-war days, there were lots of these lovely things up and down the banks of the Baram river.”

Early nagas
Black and white photographs taken by R.G. Woodthorpe, c.1873-1875 Tangkhul Nagas photographs Tangkhul Woodthorpe/ R.G.(1873-1875). Pitt Rivers Museum Archive, Oxford AL.62.1.4 Credit: Public Domain.

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Mandi Rumah, an old Iban housewarming ceremony

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Iban Batang Lupar Kalimantan Barat 3
An example of an Iban Longhouse. Dusun Kedungkang, an Iban longhouse located near Danau Sentarum, West Kalimantan.

Different cultures have different housewarming traditions as people embark on the next step of their lives, which is settling into their new homes.

While housewarming rituals can encompass religious blessings, other cultural traditions may include symbolic gestures like lighting a candle on the first night, or painting the front porch roof blue or ringing a bell around the house to create positive spaces.

For the Iban people of Sarawak in the olden days, their specific ceremony when they started to move into a new home was called mandi rumah.

One of the few testimonies of mandi rumah from back then was written by Reverend William Howell, who submitted an essay about the ceremony to Sarawak Gazette which was published on March 1, 1909.

Here is what Reverend Howell wrote about the Iban ceremony, mandi rumah:

When a new house has been taken possession of by its future occupants, there are few ceremonies that must be gone through in order to make it habitable, such as the rite of making it lawful for the house to receive food for its inhabitants.

But the rite of mandi rumah (house washing) may be deferred although the house must be under certain restrictions until it has been performed.

Mandi rumah literally translated is “to bathe the house”. Yet the term is more common than the more exact phrase masu rumah ‘to wash the house’.

Muai rumah (to abolish the house) is also used as the name of this feast, having reference to the abolishing of restrictions by its observance.

It is hard to say what was the original significance of this observance, for nothing but the name implies anything about washing, the ceremony as now performed having nothing to suggest it. Perhaps, however, there is a hint of the original idea remaining in the restriction that prevents anyone polluting the water of the bathing and watering place, by fishing with the aid of tuba (poisonous root) which is thrown into the water to stupefy the fish or kill them, before the masu rumah.

Again, if, as the name implies, a cleansing of the house is meant it is difficult to divine its purpose. The washing of an old house might signify the purging of some stain of guilt attaching to it or its inmates, but in the case of a new house it seems to imply a sort of consecration to good purposes, and the formal renunciation of all that is accounted by Dayak custom immoral.

The restrictions before mandi rumah

Iban ceremonies typically have a period of “fasting” before the actual event, where certain daily activities which could affect the outcome of said ceremony will be put on hold.

In the case of mandi rumah, that means that alot of the activities typically held in the longhouse veranda are prohibited. These include settlements of disputes; fines, if imposed may not be paid; wearing and the making of blankets from bark (tekalong) are also prohibited until the housewarming ceremony is held.

Anybody caught breaking these rules will have to pay a fine, which usually takes the form of sacrifice. It is believed that paying this penalty will prevent any misfortune from falling upon the residents of the longhouse as a result of their misstep.

Preparing for mandi rumah

The mandi rumah feast itself is generally held after a good harvest. According to Howell, preparation for the feast typically takes two to three months.

When the event, or “promise of three days” nears, invitations are sent out, and fighting cocks are prepared for the festivities.

Much like Gawai Dayak today, mandi rumah also takes place over the course of three days. Unlike Gawai Dayak, however, the main event – which is the feasting – is on the third day.

The first day is devoted to making the ladder for the house which will be used in a ritual called beban tangga. The second day to preparing cooking of piring i.e. offerings that are to be made to the gods at the feast.

Three rites properly belong to the feast; namely beban tangga, mangkong tiang (striking the post) and ngiga igi engkuni (seeking the seed of the engkuni tree) which is used as a charm.

The feast of mandi rumah

When all the guests, who include all the men of importance arrive, they are received with great ceremony and a pig is sacrificed for them, or a libation made of their tuak, or homemade drink.

This is by way of an offering to their patron saints or gods.

The opening ceremony is miring ka tangga (the offering of the ladder). As soon as the new ladder is placed in position, Pulang Gana and other gods are honoured with an offering, which is hung underneath the ladder, and the sacrifice of a pig.

Howell says a chanter (typically an old man) then recites as follows:

“But thou art the heart of iron wood,
Come up, and bring with them brassware,
As gongs, tetawak and bebendai,
Let their merchandise be cheap, etc.”

Mangkong tiang

The second ceremony is mangkong tiang. The same chanter enters the room of the tuai rumah, or head of the longhouse first, to perform this rite.

Another offering is prepared in the room, and is placed on the shelf of the kitchen for Pulang Gana, the god of the earth.

The old chanter then strikes a post of the house with a bamboo containing pulut while reciting this incantation:

“Thou art not a common bamboo,
Thou at the heart of iron wood,
Be thou a supporter to fill the paddy bin,
And cause the Malays, the Chinese, the Europeans,
To come and buy paddy, and help us, O Pulang Gana.”

The chanter must repeat the ceremony in every room. According to Howell, it can take a better part of the day, and the old man might feel very drowsy or fatigued by the whole thing.

Ngiga igi engkuni

Iban Batang Lupar Kalimantan Barat 9
The ruai of Dusun Kedungkang, an Iban longhouse of Batang Lupar district, West Kalimantan.

In the ruai or reception room of the house, the professional reciters are deeply engaged with their incantation called “pengap” to look for igi engkuni.

It is a long recitation and it is done at the top of their voices to implore the father of Nendak to descend from above and give them the igi engkuni.

Apai or the father of Nendak, is believed to come down and put the igi engkuni in the engkuni post from where the longhouse people will pick it up.

The incantation begins in the afternoon and will continue until daylight the next day.

The feast itself lasts a day and a night and the house or village is generally quite full.

At the approach of daylight, the longhouse is a hive of activity again as Apai Nendak, Pulang Gana and the rest of the gods are believed to have arrived at the feast.

Offerings are made to them and musical instruments are struck louder and with more liveliness and energy.

“Shouting and laughter, the crowing of cocks and dogs fighting all about the place are enough to drive anyone mad. Such is this religious feast of the Dayaks.”

Have you witnessed this ceremony of mandi rumah in your own longhouse? Let us know in the comment box.

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What you need to know about the first Sarawak Chamber of Commerce

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This is part of Sarawak that no longer exists, which is the first Sarawak Chamber of Commerce:

After 30 years of Brooke rule in Sarawak, the end of 1871 saw how vastly the import and export trade of the country had increased.

The previous 10 years showcased a steady rise of $100,000 a year until it reached $1,680,000.

Trivia: Did you know the Sarawak Dollar (1858-1953), symbolised by $, was on par with the Straits Dollar? It was used by the Straits Settlements which included a number of territories including Singapore.

In October 1872, the second Rajah of Sarawak proposed to the Supreme Council to have a Mercantile Committee to deal with the increase in trade.

The committee consisted of leading merchants who worked as a consultative body. They met once a quarter year (once every four months) to discuss commercial affairs.

Additionally, they discussed if there were any reforms, improvements or suggestions for the government.

From Mercantile Committee to Sarawak Chamber of Commerce

In February 1873, the Rajah had already completed his plans and drawn up rules to set up the organisation. He eventually called it the Sarawak Chamber of Commerce.

Back in those days, the chamber was made up of European, Chinese, Indian and Malay merchants.

How did these merchants earn their wealth? They mostly owned large vessels that enabled them to trade in Brunei, Labuan, Sabah and even the Philippines.

The Dayaks at that time had not yet earned enough to enable them to join as a member.

In order to join, one had to have land, house or other property amounting up to $2000. If it was a company, the entity must be worth at least $10,000.

According to historian W.J. Chater, the chamber had several functions. “The objects of the Chamber, then laid down by the Rajah, were to facilitate all operations of trade, monetary transactions, traffic, freights, suggesting town and thoroughfare improvements from a commercial point of view; also in settling weights and measures and in giving opinions in matters relating to the Creditors and Debtors’ Court.”

The discussions took place in Malay but the records were kept in English.

The first meeting of Sarawak Chamber of Commerce

Sarawak Chamber of Commerce’s very first meeting was held on May 1, 1873 in a meeting room in the Government Offices.

The first major issue that the Chamber had to deal with was the fact that there were no vessels other than Government steamers to carry freights between Sarawak and Singapore.

Therefore, the Rajah urged members of the Chamber to persuade the leading businessmen to form a shipping company.

In order to avoid unfair competition, he even offered to sell the government steamer, Royalist.

Subsequently, the Singapore and Sarawak Steamship Co. was formed in July 1975. The company then changed its name to Sarawak Steamship Co., Limited. It first operated using the Royalist and a new steamer was built in England called the Rajah Brooke.

Chater stated, “Although the Chamber was expected to meet once a quarter, this was at first unnecessary and for some years they met only once in six months, when their main duty was to decide the value to be placed on rattans; apparently a very valuable item of export in those days.”

Later, the Chamber decided the value and export duty to be levied on other important exports of the time such as sago, gambier, birds’ nests and pepper.

Overall, there were little records of activities of Sarawak Chamber of Commerce.

The end of Sarawak Chamber of Commerce

According to Chater, the Sarawak Chamber of Commerce was shut down in January 1900 without any given reason.

Eventually, most of the chamber’s duties were taken over Kuching Municipal Office in 1906 as well as Chinese Chamber of Commerce a few years later.

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Chinese History Museum now which was used to be Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

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How Raja Simpulang Gana became the Iban God of Agriculture

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Who said only the Greek or Germanic peoples had interesting mythology? Here in Sarawak, we too have plenty of intriguing stories of deities and gods.

Before we know how Raja Simpulang Gana became the God of Agriculture for the Iban community, here is a little background story of his family:

In ancient times, the Iban believed that the gods and spirit-heroes lived in the same world with human beings.

Due to some disagreements, the gods separated from the early ancestors of man and each came to inhabit the different worlds in which they are now found.

According to legend, there once lived a very powerful deity named Raja Durong. His bejulok (nickname) was ‘Lumpong Tibang Bebaring’. He married Endu Dara Talun Pelangka who was also called ‘Kuta Dinding Hari’.

They gave birth to Raja Jembu who was also known as Metha Raja Pengibai. Raja Jembu married to Endu Kumang Baku Pelimbang, the keeper of a charm which can bring food and wealth.

Raja Jembu and his wife gave birth to seven children:

1.Bidok Linggar, who swoops at the bubbling waves was also known as Aki Jugi Menaul Tuntong and Aki Lang Singalang Burong.

2.Matai Tuai Raja Menjaya, whose nickname is Manang Langgong. He owned a charm which could prolong human life.

3.Raja Bikhu Bunsu Petara or Pantan Inan Raja Jadia, the priest of Bunsu Petara, the god of creation.

4.Raja Selampetam, nicknamed Raja Selampatoh, or Raja Selampandai who was the god of blacksmith.

5.Gangga Ganggai or Gangga Ganggong, who was also called Anda Mara. He was the deity of the fountain of wealth.

6.Ini Inda Rabong Menoa, known also as Ini Inee Rabong Hari. She was the inheritor of healing charms and the greatest of the shaman.

7.Last but not least, Rangkang Kirai Raja Sua who was also known as Pepat Pudak Raja Simpulang Gana became the God of Agriculture and owner of the earth.

Singalang Burong dividing the family’s wealth

On one occasion, Raja Simpulang Gana went on a journey to look for the sacred plant called engkenyang lily.

At that time, Singalang Burong divided the family property with his brothers and sister without the consent of their father Raja Jembu.

For himself, Singalang Burong took the most precious charm belonging to his family called igi-mudan. It was used to lead warriors in battle. As a result, he became the most formidable war leader among the deities.

Meanwhile, Raja Menjaya was given a special charm called ubat penyangga nyawa which could cure all kinds of sickness. Due to this, he became the patron god of all manang (shaman).

Raja Bikhu Bunsu Petara was given the power to perform miracles and so became the priest of Bunsu Petara.

As for Raja Selampandai, he was given blacksmith’s tools with which he was commanded to shape earth into the human body. During the Gawai Sakit festival, he was the one to be called to reshape the bodies of those who were sick.

Anda Mara was given a special charm which could bring wealth to men. Those who were looking for riches must make offerings to Anda Mara.

A box full of healing charms and medicines was given to Ini Inee Rabong Hari. Back in the ancient times, she alone could consecrate others to become a manang.

Raja Simpulang Gana, the God of Agriculture

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Since Raja Simpulang Gana was not there when Singalang Burong divided their property, he was only given the family’s hearth.

When he returned home, he was furious to find out what had happened.

To console him, his father Raja Jembu made him the God of Agriculture and owner of the earth.

“If any of your brothers, your sister, or their descendants, want to work the land in the future,” said his father, “they must seek your approval beforehand.”

Due to this, whenever men want to farm a piece of land, they first must offerings to Raja Simpulang Gana to gain his approval.

Benedict Sandin recorded this legend as part of paper Mythological origins of Iban Shamanism. The paper was published in The Sarawak Museum Journal in August 1983.

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