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Author: Norqhaiziq Maharuf

Circumcision

Circumcision We were riding a bus in the eighth month of pregnancy from Kuching to Sibu. The ride was uneventful and we arrived at our hotel ready for a shower and sleep. The next day we would go exploring. At about 8 p.m. my wife went into labour. I called

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September 15, 2024 No Comments

Portuguese Borneo

Durate Barbosa This small essay describes Borneo before 1518 from the point of view of the Portuguese. This was after the Brunei incursion into Santubong in ~1512. The Isles of Borneo “Further on towards China, from the Island of Solor (Sulu) there is another island as well furnished with victuals,

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September 2, 2024 No Comments

All Creatures Great and Small #61

Irrawaddy Dolphins Our results indicated that the Irrawaddy dolphin lineage split from the Australian Snubfin dolphin lineage (Orcaella heinsohni) in the Late Miocene ( 6.82 million years ago) The Australian Snubfin dolphin inhabits the coast of southern New Guinea and northern Australia and is separated from the Irrawaddy dolphin by

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August 25, 2024 No Comments

The Children of the Mission

Children of the Missions 1862 Polly Polly is the eldest and a Kanowit Dyak orphan. She is between 15 and 16 and has lived with us since she was a baby. She was brought to Sarawak by English sailors who were engaged in the Sanskrit and Sakarran pirates in 1849.

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August 18, 2024 No Comments

Borneo Ghost Story

People who have Died Have Ghosts Once there was a longhouse. There was someone who had just died in that longhouse. After four days a young man went out hunting. He called his dogs to follow him. They did not meet any wild pigs that day. Then he looked up

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August 14, 2024 No Comments

The Hakka of Borneo

This article was extracted from The Hakkas of Malaysia to 1970 by Phin-Keong Voon from Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies 2024 (13)137-59. © 2024 Reprinted with permission. The entire article may be found at http://doi.org/10.6993/MJCS.202406_13(1).0003 The Hakka of Borneo The ancestral homeland of the Hakkas was the uplands of the

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August 11, 2024 No Comments

All Creatures Great and Small # 60

New Species A new species of blind cave crab has been made known to science from Sarawak. 10.11646/ZOOTAXA.5476.1.13 New Species A new species of intertidal barnacle has been made known to science from the waters off of Sarawak. 10.11646/ZOOTAXA.5476.1.6 Orangutan Extinct orangutans of the Pleistocene(2.58 million years to 11,000 years

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August 7, 2024 No Comments

Brunei and the Spanish part two

Journal of Antonio Pigafetta as it relates to Borneo part 2 The following part of Pigafetta’s Journal relates to items and foods used in everyday life by the people of Brunei in the early 1500s. The term “moors” is used by the Spanish to refer to any people of the

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August 4, 2024 No Comments

Iban Land Inheritance

These land rights are considered a basis for inheritance by the people of the Bakong River in the Miri district of Sarawak. Iban Land Inheritance There are two types of land recognized in terms of inheritance or transfer. These are termed “old land” and “new land.” New land is considered

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July 21, 2024 No Comments

Iban Ghost Story

Ghost Story ONCE THERE WAS a longhouse. There was someone who had just died in that longhouse. After four days a young man went out hunting. He called his dogs to follow him. They did not meet any wild pigs that day. Then he looked up at the sun and

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July 6, 2024 No Comments
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