Tom’s Note: This 630-page book tells the story of the third district of Sarawak. Unfortunately named “Anthropogenic Tropical Forests”, it is a compilation of research papers written by Japanese and Sarawak scholars. This magnificent and illustrated tome provides information not found elsewhere. From the people’s history to the fishes and the effects of oil plantations, this book is a significant addition to any library that deals with Southeast Asia’s history, especially Sarawak. I have only placed a small dent in summarizing some of the chapters.
The Third District
Chapter Two: Geology
Borneo is located on several collided plates and is seated on the southernmost edge of a landmass called the Eurasian plate. The east-west plates push up and squeeze up the north-south mountain range. The uplift of the mountains is fast but is countered by weathering. Most of Borneo has mud stock bedrock. Hardly any of the rivers have gravel. The land around the rivers does not change. The plants that live along the river are mainly the same. Because of the sameness, Borneo is easy to travel around. The above was taken from Geomorphological Landscapes of Borneo…by Kuniyasu Mokundai, Ryoji Soda and Takuma Watakabe.
Chapter Three: Land in use in the Bintulu area
Rapid cutting down of the forest has turned the land into oil palm and tree farms. Logging has been the main economic activity in this region. The continuation of this policy suggests there will be more land converted to oil palm and temuda.
The above was taken from Land -Use Types along the Kemena River-Tubau-Lower Jelalong Region Sarawak by Jason Hon and Hiromitsu Samejima.
Chapter Four: Rain
Boy does it rain. Rain in the third division receives about 2500 mm (98 inches) per year and 200 mm (8 inches) in most months. There is no substantial dry season, and the short dry season does not affect the plants and animals that live here. (Tom’s note: These figures seem low. I have read from the Malaysia Meteorological people that Sarawak receives over 3800 mm (150 inches) per year.) The amount of rain is dependent on the distance from the coastline. At the beaches, there is much less rainfall than in and near the mountains. It is widely known that drought and dry weather can have severe impacts on forest fires, crop failure, and other events during the El Nino years.
The above was taken from Trend Analysis of Rainfall Characteristics in the Kemena and Tatau River Basins, Sarawak by Osamu Kozan.
Chapter Five: People living in Central Sarawak
Vaie Segan or Bintulu, Melayu Bintulu, Melanau Vaie. Also written as Vaee, Baee or Sageen
These were settlers in the coastal areas of the lower Kemena River before the arrival of the Penan. Oral history states they lived near the Bukit Lumut area, 15 km north of the current Belaga bazaar and in the watershed of the Kakus and Pandan rivers. They then moved south. They made their living by hunting and gathering and sago production. They continued relocating to the Binyo river. Over time, they continued moving down the Kemena river until they arrived at their present location.
A Melanu oral legend states they were descendants of Tugau. He was a well known Melanu chief. Historically, they lived in various river valleys and engaged in trade with nakodas (traders) from Brunei in the mid-nineteenth century. They were frequently raided, slaughtered and captured to be sold as slaves by the pirates from the southern Philippines. The Malay traders and Arab missionaries caused their conversion to Islam during the 1930s.
Tatau
Historically, the Tatau were scattered along the Takan (Tatau ?) River. They also lived along the upper Anap river, the Penyarai River and the upper Kakus river. They began moving southward much earlier than other groups. Burial poles have traced their migrations south and east. Smallpox caused the population to depopulate, and there was intermarriage into other communities.
The Penan
The migration of the Penan started in the Usun Apau and are assumed to move along the Seping River. They then split, with some migrating to the Tinjar River while others sought the Jelalong River. Some Penan along the Jelalong river believe their ancestors lived in the caves of Bukit Seakalap and gradually moved down the Kebulu River.
In contrast, others recognize the Suai river as their original settlements. The Penan in Rumah Julaihi believes the confluence of the Jelalong and Kemena rivers as their early settlements. The Penan along the Labang river are called Labang. They were also called Levang because of their intermarriage with the Vaie Segan (see above).
The Penan, number 500 (2011), once lived along the Sepadock River and moved around. They settled relatively earlier, and many of them turned to Islam. Many Penan had contact with Muslim Vaie Segan. Penan along the Kemena River and some along the Jelalong river converted to Islam in the 1940s and 1950s. Currently, only a few people hold to their old customs. Intermarriage between the Penan and Iban is common. Many people speak both Iban and Penan. Some Kejaman and Punan Bah groups also joined the Penan along the Jelalong river, which is why some Kajang style burial poles are found there.
Malay and Melanu
The Melanu and Malays are the third and fourth-largest ethnic groups in the third division. The Melanu are one of the oldest groups to live in the area, while the Malays arrived from Brunei. It must be remembered that anyone who became a Muslim also became a Malay and their lineage is very mixed. It is also believed that the Kajang and Melanau groups from central Kalimantan formed the Kajang empire, with the Melanau breaking away and migrating to the coastal areas. The Melanu were scattered along the Rejang River and arrived in Bintulu in the middle of the sixteenth century. The Melanau were fishermen and exported sago flour to Brunei and then Singapore. In 1861, after the conquest of the coastal area by James Brooke, the Chinese took control of the sago trade and were protected by the Brookes. The Melanau language is a mixture of Kajang, Vai Segan and Penan.
The Kayan
Kayan longhouses are found along the Kemena River and have strong ties with the Kayan along the Balui Rivers. Intermarriage between them and the Chinese, Iban and Malays are very common. The motherland of the Kayan is north Kalimatan in what is now Indonesia. They are assumed to have entered the Balui basin in 1780 and then moved to the Tubau river in the 1800s. According to oral tradition, the Kayan lived in Uma Juman before entering Tubau where they have longhouses. The Labang had lived along the Tubau river when the Kayan migrated there. There, the Kayan inherited the scattered remains of the Labang durian trees. The Kayan held a peace treaty with Labang after problems flared. After the ceremony, the Kayans could not live lower than the confluence of the Tubau and Kemena rivers, where the labang were confined to the lower reaches of the Labang river.
The Punan Bah
The Punan Bah, not to be confused with the Penan, have practised swidden agriculture for the past 300-400 years. They originated in the Mandai River valley in Indonesia. The Punan Bah, according to oral history, originated on the right bank tributary of the Bah river. A quarrel, many generations ago, saw two brothers, Kavu Oko and Kavu Oka, principal leaders of the Punan Bah, over a woman called Oro Saka. The two brothers separated and one group went to West Kalimatan and settled near the Madai river and refer to themselves as Punan Madai.
Today (2011) three groups remain along the Rejang River: Punan Bah at the confluence of the Rajang and Bah, Punan Biau at the confluence Rejang and Biau and the Punan Sama at the confluence of the Sama and Rejang. Two longhouses remain at the Kakus River in the Tatu basin.
The Punan Bah along the Kakus river migrated from the Bah river in the 1820’s. Their migration coincided with the arrival of the Kayan migration. Soon the ruling class of the Punan Bah intermarried with the ruling class of the Tatau people.
The Punan Bah along the Padan river also came from the Bah river around the same time. The Kemena basin housed mainly the Penan and the Vaie Segan. Penan Bah leaders married the aristocrats of the Vaie Segan. This encouraged the people to migrate to the Padan river following attacks by the Iban. There are many burial poles between Padan and Labang. The Punan Bah along the Jelalong river migrated much later. The Punan Bah lived in the bazaar at Belaga under the protection of the Brooke government.
Bekatan
There are eight longhouses along the Kemena and Tatau basins. Two of them are located in the middle part of the Anap river and one situated along the Penyarai river. The Bekatan lived in the Mandai river, where they entered Sarawak via Palin River upstream of the Kapuas river and settled along the Batang Ai River many years ago. When the headhunting Ibans came, they fled to the Katibas, Kanoit, Gaatan Baleh rivers. Some became allies of the Iban and married into the Iban communities, whereas others fought against the Iban and became their slaves.
The Bekatan of Sarwak are divied into four groups based on their migration routes into Sarawak. The Bekatan on the Kemena and Tatau rivers arrived by different routes. The Bekatan in Sangan migrated from Ssaribas, Oya,Mukah and Balingian.
The Bekatan along the Anap River are assumed to have migrated from the Rejang basin via the upper Merit Rivers and settled along the upper Takan Rivers in the middle of the nineteenth century. There are Bekatan cemeteries along the Dakat river near the confluence with the Takan River. The Tatu had lived in that location before the arrival of the Bekatan.
The Lugat
The Lugat are the smallest ethnic group of this region. Several Lugat families in Tatau old town are mixed with the Chinese, while others are scattered throughout the area. Oral history states they were hunter-gathers along the Gaat river. By the late 19th century, they lived in the central part of the Rejang river together with the Sihan, Bekatan and other ethnic groups. Their language is predominantly used in interfamily relationships.
Chinese
The Chinese are the second largest ethnic group and are divided into various groups like Hakka, Fuzhou (sp?) and Teo Chew. They are sectioned into where they came from in China. When the Brooke formed a sovereign state in 1861, the Chinese came. They were active traders and dealt with forest products such as dammer resin, hard latex from Jelutong and rattan from the bazaars throughout the region. The Fuzhow(sp?) came in the early twentieth century and started trade in belian wood. In the upriver areas, there is much intermarriage between the Chinese and the indigenous groups.
Iban
The Iban are the largest ethnic group in the third district. They swept up from the Kapuas River valley in the 1500s and using headhunting techniques and managed to overcome the smaller tribes living in the area. They are new settlers in the upper Kemena and Tatu basins. They then settled along the Lupar, Skrang, Layar and Rejang rivers and gradually into all areas of Sarawak. Numerous Ibans then migrated into the Seratok, Sarikei, Sarikei, Sibu, Engkilili, Saribas rivers after the area was ceded to the Brooks in 1861. They then used ships to migrate to the various river basins.
The Ibans repeatedly split and gradually migrated to the upper river valleys except for the Jelalong, Tubau and Kakus rivers. Some families migrated to the Jelalong river after the formation of Malaysia in 1963. They also settled along the Supati River, via the Meruong River; eight families remained on the Meruong River, four groups lived with the Penan in Memulau along the Kebulu river and the remaining three families moved to the Kemena River on the upper Sauh River. Therefore, many Penan in the Jelalong basin lives alongside the Iban.
Kenyah
The Kenyah are comparatively new settlers in the Kemena and Tatau basins. Four longhouses are located along the Tubau river and another six are located on the upper Kakus river. The Kenyah originally came from the Iwan river of north Kalimatan and moved into Sarawak several centuries ago. Along with their peselai (trading journey customs) they spread throughout Borneo. The first migration into the Tubau is estimated in 1965. They migrated from Long Bawan along the Belaga River. The Kenyah in Long Tebilia, mostly upriver of the Tubau migrated from Long Bawan from Belaga.
The migration of the Kenyah to the Kakus river was much later, in 1985. Originally from Indonesia, they moved into LongBusang along the upper Baluiriver in the 1960s and to LongDungan in the lowerBelaga bazaar in 1976. From there, some migrated to Datu Kakas along the upper Kakus river seeking a better economic and social situation.
Migration of the above tribes
Most Iban migration was caused by the need for more land and forest products. The Kenyah migration into the basins during the 1960s was also caused by the desire for more land. The Malays from Brunei, the Chinese and the Melanau moved inwards to trade.
The migration of the Iban and Kayan into the Rajang river valley caused other groups to move to the Tatu and Kemena River valleys. The Kayan also migrated into the Tubau area because of conflict with other groups. A group of Punan Bau migrated to the Kakus river to avoid fights with the Kayan. Groups of Pekan Bau and Bekatan fled to avoid the headhunting Ibans. Smaller ethnic groups were edged toward the Kemena and Tatu basins.
Besides the headhunting activities of the Iban, the Tatau moved because of a smallpox outbreak. The Penan of the Kubulu area moved downriver because of malaria.
Through marriage, the Punan Bah increased their population with union with the Vaie Sagan and Tatau people. The intermarriage and migrations among these people would result in villages.
More later…
The above was taken from Multiethnic Society of Central Sarawak: An Ethnographic Analysis by Yumi Kato, Jayl Langub, Abdul Rashid Abdullah, Hiromitsu Samejina, Ryaoji Soda, Motomitsu Uchibort, Katsumi Okuno and Noboru Ishikawa.
The above papers may be found in Ishikawa, Noboru and Soda, Ryoji Anthropogenic Tropical Forests Singapore: Springer, 2021
