Long time ago, there was a giant man named Temueng and his friend named Pengiran who first lived at Kemaloh in Kalimantan, Indonesia.
According to legends, these people were believed to be the ancestors of Lun Bawang people.
Benedict Sandin in his paper The Bisayah and Indigenous Peoples of Limbang, Sandin recorded the life journey of this Lun Bawang legendary hero.
“Temueng and Pengiran were much ashamed that they could not defeat in battle chief enemy named Yada. Therefore Temueng moved from Kemaloh to Punang Trusan, and Pengiran also moved and settled at Illot, now in Indonesian Borneo,” Sandin wrote.
The life of Temueng
Legend has it that owing to the extraordinary size of the body, Temueng could easily eat one whole pig per meal. He was also rumoured to be a very strong man.
Meanwhile, Abdul Karim Abdul Rahman in his paper History of the founding of Brunei Kingdom Based on Oral Tradition (2016) pointed out that Temueng was Upai Semaring’s son.
He is another giant who is a Lundayeh legend from the Krayan Highlands, Kalimantan.
When he lived in the Ulu Trusan, he carved a number of rocks and the posts of his house were all made of rocks which are still intact at that location to this day.
According to Sandin, while at Punang Trusan, Temueng lived at the present day Semado Nesab village.
His house there was surrounded by wide and deep drains for protection against invasion by his enemies.
While Temueng was living at Long Lopeng, hundreds of Kayan came to attack him. Also known as Luping, Long Lopeng is a settlement in the Lawas division.
When the enemy came, he was reportedly at ease smoking his pipe.
But when they came, he knocked each one of them on the head with his pipe and killed them all.
A giant bigger than Temueng?
Another story circles around Temueng; one day Temueng went out hunting animals in the forest.
He found a huge coil of rattan which could be used in a fish trap.
Thinking that the coiled rattan cane was a leg ornament, he put his leg into it.
But the coil was bigger than Temueng’s leg, and this frightened him. Temueng immediately thought there was a giant bigger than him living in the area.
While Temueng was not afraid of those who were smaller than him, he was afraid of people bigger than him.
Terrified, he fled from Long Lopeng and down the Trusan river to live at the foot of a mountain near Long Merarap. It is believed that is where he stayed until he died.
The Lun Bawang people after the death of Temueng
It is unsure how Temueng died but the Lun Bawang people still remember him even many years on after his death.
In memory of his settlements on the upper Trusan river, the Lun Bawang people from Kemaloh moved to the lands between the headwaters of Trusan and Limbang rivers.
They moved there in small groups, each group gradually followed by others.
Expanding their territory, they moved down the Trusan till they were attacked by the Kayans.
According to Sandin, the Lun Bawang successfully repulsed the Kayans, driving them away.
To this day, the Lun Bawang still settle in various areas of Lawas and Limbang regions.
