Buri' Lun Bawang 101

Learning new things is always a challenging thing, especially learning new language when you no longer have the inquisitiveness and tenacity of a small kid's mind. What more when the language that you would like to learn is you own mother tongue.

I'm taking up a 66-day challenge to learn Buri' Lun Bawang from the first ever written Lun Bawang literature, Lun Bawang Bible or as they called it, Bala Luk Do'.

The way it goes it, I will take the first chapter and first verse of each book in the Bible, and learn the vocab of it.

As below:-

Pudut 1:1 - Kareb  Allah  nengimun mudut     tana'   idi   amung-amung luk         bang langit,
                  (When) (God) (began)    (created) (earth)(and) (all)               (that is) (in)    (the heavens)

(Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth)
(Kejadian 1:1 - Pada mulanya, Allah menciptakan langit dan bumi)

As can be seen, it is not so easy as the grammar and syntax are not the same between Lun Bawang language and English. There was an online dictionary sometime ago however is no longer there. But what's good to know is that there is already an online Bala Luk Do' website. It's always great to know you don't have to carry a thick book here and there for reference..

http://www.bible.is/LNDBSM/Gen/1

And the journey hereby commences.

Journey to the Land of the Muruts (Lun Bawang) / Penjelajahan ke Tanah orang Lun Bawang ©

Spenser St. John merupakan Konsul British di Brunei di pertengahan kurun ke-19. Dia seorang penggemar mengembara dan pernah mengikuti ekspidisi mendaki Gunung Kinabalu bersama Hugh Low (pengembara orang putih pertama sampai ke puncak Kinabalu), malah puncak kedua tinggi di Gunung Kinabalu dinamakan sempenanya - Puncak St. John.

Semasa di Brunei pada tahun 1858, dia telah mengetuai satu ekspidisi merentasi Sungai Trusan sampai ke kawasan penempatan Lun Bawang di pergunungan Murud, bersama sekumpulan orang Melayu Brunei, Kedayan dan Lun Bawang (Murut), dan dengan seorang penolong dari Filipina bernama Musa. Semasa pengembarannya, dia telah menulis satu jurnal bernama Life in the Forests of the Far East, mengisahkan penjelajahan tersebut. Kepada yang rajin membaca, jurnal ini boleh dibaca dengan percuma melalui Google Book. Dalam penceritaan Spenser St. John, dia telah menulis pemerhatiannya yang sedikit sebanyak memberi suatu peluang untuk mengetahui budaya dah cara hidup orang Lun Bawang pada kurun ke-19. Sesetengah budaya ini masih diwarisi sampai ke harini.

Kepada yang malas membaca, di bawah adalah ringkasan beberapa pemerhatian penting tentang nenek moyang orang Lun Bawang.

1) Nama "Murut" hanyalah bermaksud orang-orang yang menempati kawasan pergunungan Murud, tetapi disalahertikan sebagai nama suatu kaum.

2) Terdapat segolongan Lun Bawang yang dinamakan "Main Murut", yang merupakan pembekal garam. Main atau "mein" adalah perkataan Lun Bawang yang bermaksud "garam" atau "sedap (cukup rasa)"

3) Lelaki Lun Bawang memakai baju daripada kulit kayu, dan cawat yang singkat. Baju kulit kayu, atau "kuyu talun" ini dihiasi dengan kulit kerang. Sesetengah lelaki dah perempuan memakai rantai manik tebal. Sebilangan perempuan memakai manik-manik atas kain/kayu sebagai baju.

4) Cara penguburan orang Lun Bawang, sama seperti orang Melanau, adalah dengan membiarkan tubuh yang meninggal di atas satu teratak dan ditaburkan pasir, di mana dibiarkan seberapa lama sehingga hanya tulang kering yang tinggal. Tulang yang kering ini kemudian dikumpul di dalam satu tajau, dan satu irau akan diadakan ketika itu.

5) Orang Lun Bawang kadangkala memiliki tajau arak yang kelihatan diperbuat daripada China, yang diwarisi zaman-berzaman. Tajau ini mempunyai ukiran-ukiran naga. Yang dilihat oleh Spenser merupakan satu tajau kebiru-biruan dengan ukiran naga. Satu contoh tajau ini juga terdapat di Muzium Sabah. Ini menunjukkan terdapatnya urusniaga atau hubungan antara orang Cina dengan orang Lun Bawang dari sejak berkurun lamanya. 

6) Orang Lun Bawang kadang kala bermain alat muzik yang diperbuat daripada buluh (bambu). Spenser menceritakan bahawa alat muzik ini diperbuat daripada dua buluh nipis berukuran kira-kira 12 inci yang diberkas. Satu buluh ditebuk 4 lubang seperti suling, manakala buluh yang satu lagi dimasukkan sehelai rumput yang panjang dihujung sebelah bawah. Melalui gambaran Spenser, saya tidak dapat menjejaki contoh alat muzik tersebut masa kini di google (mungkin sebilangan pembaca tahu), tetapi mungkin merupakan rekabentuk awal kepada Suling atau Bas orang Lun Bawang sekarang (?). 

Walaupun pengisahan Spenser tidaklah begitu menyeluruh dalam menggambarkan orang Lun Bawang pada kurun ke-19, tetapi mencukupi untuk memberikan sedikit bayangan cara hidup nenek moyang kita. Harap-harap saya dapat menjumpai lagi bahan bacaan bersejarah seperti jurnal ini di masa hadapan. © 2015. Andrew Lun Bawang. All rights reserved.

Persatuan Lun Bawang Sabah - Mesyuarat Tahunan 2014

Mesyuarat Tahunan Persatuan Lun Bawang Sabah tahun 2014 sudah berjaya dilangsungkan di rumah Yang Dipertua (YDP), En Lajim Buayie di Suruddo Villa, Batu 4, Sipitang hari ini.

Acara dimulakan dengan ucapan daripada YDP dan AJK-AJK tertinggi, termasuklah Penaung En. Musa Selutan.

Ini diteruskan dengan Acara Kelinang oleh ahli-ahli Persatuan Lun Bawang Sabah.

Acara diteruskan dengan mesyuarat untuk membincangkan minit-minit, ini termasuklah

• Perancangan Makan-makan Amal 
• Persediaan untuk Perwakilan ke Irau Aco Lun Bawang tahun ini yang akan diadakan di Trusan, Sarawak
• Penetapan baju tradisional lelaki Lun Bawang
• Penubuhan Biro Muda-mudi 

Setelah selesai mesyuarat, acara diakhiri dengan makan tengah hari.

Tracing the origins of the name "Lun Bawang"

Hey there, been away for a while now. Such a hectic month January is.

Anyway I would like to share on the origins of the name "Lun Bawang". Well, to be frank, searching that has been as hard as finding a needle in a haystack. For starters, there are not many literatures about Lun Bawang people in history and Lun Bawang people have no written language of their own (mainly just an oral tradition). *which is weird as to why we have the word "ngayud" which means "to write"

And to make it more complicated, the Lun Bawang people, was in the past called Murut by the outsiders, including the British colonist, who had lumped Lun Bawang people with another ethnic group which is culturally and linguistically different from the Lun Bawangs. That was unfortunate as there are relatively more historical readings (mainly writings from the British colonist) regarding the Murut people, and there is no way to tell whether they are referring to the Lun Bawang people or the Murut people (also known as Tagal people).

Anyhow, the earliest literature with the term "Lun Bawang" that I can find so far is from Sarawak Museum Journal Volume IV published in 1937. In which it says:

The author acknowledged that despite the Lun Bawang calling themselves by that name, yet they are still erroneously called "Murut" by other people. Unfortunately, Google Book does not give me full access to this literature, and the only option I have is to look for the hardcopy in libraries (wish me luck). I have tried to contact Mr. Ipoi Datan, who is the Sarawak Museum Director (coincidentally a Lun Bawang himself), to obtain this Journal for my reference; unfortunately to no avail. Will attempt again in the future. 

Nevertheless, all hope is not lost. There is a literature way back in 1860 written by an adventurer named Spencer St. John, who chronicled his boat trip upriver Trusan River into the land of the aborigines he called "Adang Muruts". How I know Adang Murut refers to Lun Bawang people, well fortunately he jotted down some words in "Adang Murut" and its translation in English, and lo and behold, most of the words are still the words used by Lun Bawang people today, as shown below.

As you can see, water is "pa" which is the same as today's "pa" or "apa"; whereas "mudan" is rain, as how we call it today. And in the midst of those translation, "bawang" is translated as "country", and hence there you go, Lun Bawang means "the people of the country".

Having established that Adang Murut are the Lun Bawangs, in this book itself, he chronicled his adventure and describe quite a good detail of the lives of the Lun Bawangs back in the olden days, giving me a short yet satisfying glimpse of the everyday lives of my ancestors. 

And as luck would have it, full copy is available in google books, in which you can refer here: Book

I have been meaning to spend one day reading this book in full since 2008, but until now, I have not accomplished that. Hope one day I will have the time to read the whole book. 

Anyway, that's it for this time around. Will write again, maybe next month :). 

"Do' malem". 

Lun Bawang Sabah

So who are the Lun Bawang? They are an indigenous tribe formerly known as Murut, Southern Murut, Adang Murut etc., but now identified themselves with the name "Lun Bawang". They are indigenous to northern Sarawak, southwestern Sabah, Kalimantan (Indonesia), and Temburong (Brunei). (For more information on Lun Bawang, please refer to Wikipedia article Lun Bawang which I have developed and consolidated since 2008)

Contrary to common misconception, Sabah also has Lun Bawang people, who trace their origins from Trusan. Lundayeh people are also related tribes which comes in much later wave of migration to Sabah. Lun Bawang people are distinct from Lundayehs because they originated from Trusan, which are considered as downstream (coastal), versus the Lundayeh people who originated from upriver in Kalimantan (hence the name Lun Dayeh which literally translated as Upriver people). In addition, Lun Bawang people in Sabah are keen on the unifying spirit of the Lun Bawang people in Sarawak, in order to unify under the same ethnic name in Malaysia.  

I have gathered the below article from Uncle Seid in Facebook, who succinctly described the origins of the Lun Bawang people in Sipitang, Sabah - near the area Mengalong

WHY WOULD LUN TRUSAN SETTLED DOWN IN SIPITANG?
The real motive behind the son of Trusan chieftain resettlement in Mengalong downriver in the near turn of 19th century perhaps can no longer be ascertained today. The written record is so scarce, while the oral tradition became garble as ever, as the story now can only be gathered mainly from the fourth generations of these pioneers.
According to oral tradition, he was then adopted by a Native Chief (N.C), and so happened married to a daughter of another Native Chief. Therefore, the migration is simply means of leading a new life in a new world, Mengalong.
But why in Mengalong, Sipitang? Here's why.
British North Borneo Company acquired the area from River Trusan to River Sipitang and the area of Mengalong and Marintaman in 1901. The area then became a new administrative entity known as "Province Clark", with the main station in Mesapol.
Being the N.C. adopted son, and N.C. son-in-law, and living within the newly created province, of course Mengalong soil looks greener than ever.
So he settled down in a supposedly promising Mengalong, which is near the new province's station. And when he eventually did it, the real father, the Trusan Chieftain, the Lun, instructed some of his people to accompany him and their descendents became Mengalong's proud Lun Bawang.

In this blog, I will add more stories regarding the origin of the Lun Bawang people in Sabah. Do wait for my next article!