Borneo - Page 15

When it comes to inheritance, the deceased usually leaves behind a written will to detail how their property is divided.

If there is no will, then the matter will go to court. Even if there is a will, unhappy family members sometimes will challenge the content of the will.

But what happens when there is no written will? Back in the olden days, Sarawak natives relied on adat or custom for such rulings.

Here is an example of a Melanau inheritance case recorded from the 19th century:

One of Brooke administration’s resident Claude Champion de Crespigny published some works on Sarawak including On the Rivers Mukah and Oyah in Borneo (1873) and On the Milanows of Borneo (1876).

During his stay in Borneo, he witnessed how a Melanau inheritance case took place.

There was once a man named Balang who lived happily with his wife Biam in a longhouse.

Before he was a married man, Balang took two young girls as his adopted children. As for Biam, she adopted a girl before she married Balang.

Since they could not have children on their own, the couple raised the three children as their own.

One day, Biam suddenly passed away. Her sister, Nipiak came in to claim her inheritance from Biam’s property.

Balang did not deny Nipiak’s right but still proposed the matter to be settled in a court. The court then decided the inheritance should be divided according to adat.

Firstly, the couple’s shared properties were divided between Balang and Biam. de Crespigny wrote, “The whole estate, consisting of guns, plantations, share of a house, share of a slave, ornaments, and even cooking utensils, to be sold, and the husband to take his one-half.”

If only the couple had biological children on their own, two-third of Biam’s share of the property could have gone to them. Then one-third of the property gone to the adopted children. Hence, Nipiak would have been left with no share of her sister’s property.

In this inheritance case, the court decided one-third of Biam’s property to be divided among her three adopted children while another two-third was left to Nipiak.

de Crespigny’s thought on the inheritance case

In the end, Balang did not inherit anything from his wife’s property. de Cresigny pointed out, “That which appeared so curious to me, was the fact that the husband was entitled to nothing at all, and only got his half of all the property which belonged in common to him and his wife during the lifetime of the latter.

“I found upon inquiry that she might have made a will in favour of her husband or others, either in writing or verbally before witnesses, but this not having been done, had there been no relatives at all to claim inheritance of her share of the property, it would have gone to the state, and the husband, even under such circumstances, could claim nothing. The Tuahs (leaders) say that this has been custom from time immemorial.”

While many (especially men) might not be happy with this, there is one ancient inheritance law belonging to the Bidayuh that could never be practiced in present day.

James Brooke, in his diary which was published in Captain Rodney Mundy’s Narrative of Events in Borneo and Celebes down to the Occupation of Labuan (1848) wrote about “babukid”.

With babukid, if there were two parties in dispute over the inheritance of land and fruit trees, each party would go out headhunting.

The one who returns with a head will get to claim the inheritance. Meanwhile, if both parties succeeded, then the property would be divided between the two.

Headhunting to settle an inheritance just shows how there’s always a loser when it comes to settling a dispute.

Every ethnic group in Sarawak has a forgotten ritual or ceremony that is no longer practised due to several reasons. The main reason is usually because that ritual or ceremony no longer applies, especially if it is related to headhunting or slavery.

Here is an example of a ceremony that is no longer practised by today’s Iban communities in Sarawak. Iban ethnologist Benedict Sandin shared his research on Gawai betembang which was published in The Sarawak Gazette (Aug 31, 1964).

In Anthony Richards’ Iban-English dictionary, the word “tembang” means a token or pledge given at the formal manumission (which means the formal freeing) of slaves.

According to Benedict, “betembang” is a word used by the Iban to refer to the adoption of a slave or a lower class person by somebody from the upper class at a special feast held for that purpose.

“More than a century ago, the Ibans of Saribas and Skrang in the second division of Sarawak used to engage in piracy. Through these piratical pursuits they captured many slaves as victims of their raids,” Benedict stated.

“The other Ibans who lived further inland, especially in the Batang Lupar areas, did not join them in piracy in the Batang Lupar areas, but started to fight amongst themselves over all kinds of disputes, sometimes settled by a slave’s death.”

Iban slavery in the olden days

According to the Iban tradition, if a man incurred a debt which he could not pay when asked to do so, he also would be taken as a slave by his creditor.

If a trapper set a trap for wild animals (jerungkang) and it killed a person, the trapper would be required to pay compensation (pati nyawa) for the life lost.

Let’s say that he was unable to pay this fine, he then would have to become a slave to the deceased’s family. This rule also applied in any cases of accidental death.

If an unmarried woman became pregnant and did not name the father of her child by the fourth month and was unable to pay the required fine, she would be held responsible for anyone in the village who fell sick and died.

Generally, the Iban people did not treat their slaves (or “ulun”) cruelly. However, if necessary, the owner had the right to kill his slave if there was no fresh human heads for him to use at a ceremony to open the mourning period of a member of his family.

In weddings, if the son or daughter of a slave owner should marry, the father might present the child of one of his slaves for their own use.

Furthermore, many slaves were sold by the Ibans to Malay traders as the purchase price for old jars which they prized highly.

Benedict also pointed out, “Should a slave marry another slave in his or her master’s house, the offspring would automatically become the property of the master of the house but the slaves would have no claim on the master’s property.”

Slavery during the reign of Charles Brooke

When Sarawak came under the second White Rajah of Sarawak Charles Brooke, a proclamation was made to abolish slavery in the kingdom in 1886.

Following this decree, many slaves were freed by paying their masters a sum of $36 or its equivalent in the form of jars.

Surprisingly, not all of these slaves wished to be freed. Those who were well treated by their masters continued to live with them for the rest of their lives.

In those days, any slave owner who wished to adopt his slave as his own child was allowed to do so by holding a special ceremony called Gawai Betembang or adat betembang.

For this ceremony, the slave had to satisfy certain conditions such as brew a jar of tuak, produce a small pig (whose liver would be examined to judge its omens regarding the prosperity of the child’s future), produce a spear, buy eight yards of white calico and two yards of red calico with which to make a flag.

The feast of Gawai Betembang

Gawai Betembang was usually held during the night or after the end of other festivities. At this time, many influential chiefs and warriors in the area were invited as witnesses.

Benedict stated, “At the break of day, after the night feasting, a procession took place. In this, an influential chief carried the red flag. He was followed by another who carried the spear. Behind them walked the other chiefs, or their wives if the slave was a girl. Behind came others, members and relatives of the slave master’s family. The hands of those taking part in the procession must hold the length of white calico, called lalau.”

The procession then encircled the ruai (veranda) of the longhouse three times. On the third round, at each veranda, a speaker would ask them, “Chiefs and elders, you have walked three times encircling us. Now, may we be told the reason why you are carrying a flag and a spear and are followed by men and women?”

No longer a slave but a child

To this, the chief carrying the spear answered something like this, “Yes, it is right for you all to ask me this question. We have a special reason for holding this procession. This is to mark the day for (so and so) to adopt (so and so) who is former slave and is now to become his own child. This ceremony therefore, is a mark of approval that this child now becomes the rightful heir to his new parents’ property. His ranks is now in line with that of his former master and he is no longer a slave.”

The chief then warned the attendees, “In future, if anyone of us should still call him a slave or a person of low birth, with this spear he shall raid our houses and loot our property. Please remember this, as this is the reason why this feast is being held.”

Shortly after the procession, the newly adopted child would lead the young men to offer tuak to all the attendees in honour of the adoption ceremony.

Then one of the chiefs would kill the young pig, whose liver was carefully examined to find the indications regarding future well-being of the adopted child.

When the ceremony came to an end, the spear was placed in the hands of the newly adopted child and the guests returned to their respective longhouses.

According to Benedict, Gawai Betembung must not be confused with the ordinary Gawai Ngiru ceremony.

“Gawai Ngiru is a ceremony for a man of the same rank to adopt the child of another, and should be witnessed by at least three longhouse headmen,” he added.