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 century.
For generations, the Chinese lived along the Rejang, Belawai, and Ijan riverbanks in the coastal area and interior eastern Borneo in Saribas and Marup.
The author, Aloysius Yapp, is speaking here.
My great-grandfather came to Sarawak from Kalimantan in the 18th century. He settled down in Oya, Sibu (3rd division) and wedded my great-grandmother, a Chinese who left mainland China in the 18th century to strive for a better life. They are known as Oya Iban and gave birth to my grandmother, the first generation of Chinese Iban. My grandmother united with my grandfather, a Chinese Penang (Baba Nyonya descendant) and settled in Saribas and gave birth to my late father (second generation of Chinese-Iban) who then coupled with my mother, a Chinese Teochew from mainland China and brought me to this world as the third generation of Chinese-Iban Saribas, and I am zestfully married to a Baba-Nyonya descendant from Penang.
Chinese-Iban clings to the religious origin of ancestor worship but are intertwined with the language and culture of both Chinese and Iban. Interracial marriage cannot be blamed as the cause of polluting the Iban language. How we nurture the cultures and depending on our upbringing, either we follow Iban or Chinese custom solely, or we assimilate and integrate both. I was raised in a family that articulates both cultural traditions and am proud of my heritage.
Written records in the 19th and early 20th centuries indicated that Chinese Iban men chose their brides from within the local Chinese-Iban community. Several sources asserted that the early Chinese-Iban interracial marriage and racial integration with the local natives may have come during the exploration period in the interior of Borneo.
It was uncommon during the early days for the Chinese to take an Iban woman as their wife, but their presence was slowly accepted by the Iban.
The Chinese Ibans have been divided into two groups named Bornists and Mildist. The Bornists are Christians and hold some of the Iban customs. The Mildist are typical Chinese, and they uphold Chinese long-established customs and beliefs.
Our Chinese Iban Saribas dialect is a combo of Mandarin, Teochew, Hokkien, and Hakka. Learning Chinese dialects is as important as learning Iban, in order that we can converse with Chinese of other subgroups and understand and respect their culture.
The majority of Chinese-Iban Sarawak and western Kalimantan are Christians. Many Bornist Chinese-Iban are Catholic, while only a small number converted to Islam, Buddhist or Taoist. Some practice Iban or Chinese traditions, customs, and beliefs, or they blend the religion and beliefs of both sides of the Borneo settlements. (Sarawak and Kalimatan)
Despite being a Christian Catholic, I am also intrigued about the Iban customs and traditional rituals or our native belief systems such as Bejalai, (walk about) and celebrating the annual Iban traditions of Gawai (Rice Harvest Festival), Gawai Kenyalang (Hornbill Festival) and Gawai Antu (Festival of the Dead, akin with the Chinese Ghost Hungry Festival).
The term Bejalai means ‘to walk’ or ‘to go on a journey’, “and it is used by the Iban to describe the important institution of a journey undertaken for material profit and social prestige”. The Ibans are noted for their migratory practices and the reasons include moving from one place to another searching for food, water and grazing land. It is attributable to our ancestry’s way of life as head-hunters (ngayau), hunters, warriors, farmers, fishermen, gatherers, and settlers, in search of medicinal plants and forest products.
In the modern era, Bejalai is a must ritual for every Iban male between the age of 16–45 years to explore the world as much as possible with an unlimited period of time and the more you travel, the wider your knowledge and experience.
Bejalai also trains us on how to survive in the outside world and learn painstakingly the protocol of our Chinese culture, – music, language, customs, eating manners, the correct way to hold chopsticks, tea ceremony, and other rituals.
I have been to Southern China for the first time in 2001 when I was 26 years old, for a year to get to know my father’s relatives, and I was greeted with joy by the villagers.
At present, more and more of the younger generation are practising marriage outside the longhouses, with a preference for Chinese as their consort.
The early structure of the Iban longhouse was to build a fortress for protection and defensive purposes from the enemies during the warlord era before 1839. The natives were fighting among themselves through a series of wars and disputes over territories and to win over the Jalong or Warrior Wine title. They built a secret passage for camouflage in a longhouse to perplex the enemy.
By the end of the warlord era, the design and structure of a longhouse had been slowly improved to more spacious and fully constructed into a residential area that can accommodate 30-40 families or households with 30–40 flats or up to 50 flats with 300 people.
The living and working conditions changed our livelihood when some of us decided to move out from the longhouse, but we preserved an everlasting bond with the longhouse community. Each time when I go back to my hometown in Saribas, I will pay a visit to my friends, relatives, and my Moslem foster parents in the longhouse. If one decides to move out permanently, he has to go through a ritual called baum (meeting) to let go of his ownership which allows other Sino-Iban to stay in his apartment that will be decided by the tuai rumah (headman). My father had to go through this ritual to move into my mother’s house.
Pua means cloth (kain in Malay) and kumbu means design or motif (corak in Malay) is another cultural heritage of the Iban Sarawak. It is a textile weaving of the Iban, a ritual and sacred cloth that is closely related to the Iban lives, a colourful design traditionally hand-woven by Iban women, and it represents a deeply spiritual and socko-religious undertaking.
We as Sino-Iban bring this Pua Kumbu with us as a symbol that we live in our own culture, and we cultivate new knowledge through the journey.
Intercultural wedding ceremony of the Sino-Iban is a mixed Chinese tradition, Christian mass services, and Iban culture. The integration of these three cultures is one of the most colourful episodes in Borneo. The Lion Dance and ngajat, the Iban warrior dance, became the icons of entertainment. To enliven the wedding ceremony, a nimang (poem) will be recited by a group of people that is specially composed for the brides. The nimang is recited by one person and will be carried on by others. Each took the floor in turn as they moved in a line with a stick (tongkat) and knocked the floor following a certain rhythm.
From
Aloysius Yapp and Anita binti Morah Abas THE ETHNIC IDENTITY OF SINO-IBAN IN SARIBAS RIVER AND MARUP SINO-IBAN, BORNEO SARAWAK University of Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia and (Anita) Department of Mass Communication University of Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
This paper was presented at the International Conference of ISCCO8 (The International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas) on 18 August 2013, Palace of the Golden Horses, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tom McLaughlin for BorneoHistory.net