The Chinese Ibans The Iban ethnic group in Borneo Sarawak is divided into seven major clans: Sebuyau, Remun, Balau, Saribas, Ulu Ai/Batang Ai, Undup, and Rajang Iban. The Chinese Hakka and Teochew ancestry from Southern China, and Hokien from Fujian (also called Min) or Hokien Province came in the 18th

Here is part two in the collision between the Islam, traditional beliefs and the sea among the Bajau Sama people. There are very few articles, if any, that discusses the clash. Efforts to contact the authors have been fruitless.  You can find part one on my website, BorneoHistory.net An example

Ceramics from a Sabah Shipwreck The ceramics from the Tanjung Simpang Mengayau Shipwreck off Sabah have been classified. The ship floundered during the northern Song dynasty(960-1127) off Kudat, Sabah. https://doi.org/10.26721/spafajournal.2l5br71rau Weather and South Kalimatan There have been significant changes in temperature over the past 40 years. The average temperature was

The Baju’s love of the sea, their pre-Islamic customs(adat) and Islam come together to form a belief system where they co-exist and, seemingly, are not in contradiction with each other. This is part one of two parts The Bajau or Bajo people are groups of nomadic people traditionally living on

For a change of pace, I present poetry from the kampongs along the Sarawak River. They are usually recited at gatherings of Malay people, where the men and women are seated separately. The ending of the first and third verse and the second and fourth verse must rhyme. The first

Headhunting Among these spectacles, I was arrested by the ghastly appearance of a once human head. In mere derision it had been boiled, stripped of the skin and hair, and put on a post with a raw kumara [sweet potato] placed in the mouth. (John Alexander, nineteenth century New Zealand