Lun Bawang Research Articles

Sounds of Lengilo based on the Swadesh List

The Lengilo is a small indigenous group who live in northern Sarawak and Malinau on Kalimantan Island of the Republic of Indonesia. They generally identify themselves as Lun Bawang in Sarawak and Lun Dayeh in Indonesia because of assimilation into these larger speech communities. This preliminary study examines phonetic aspects of the Lengilo language, focussing on vowels, consonants and diphthongs. To collect the data, a Swadesh list of 100 words was used. The informant interviewed was an 80-year-old native speaker of Lengilo. The results show that the Lengilo language has six types of consonants, three types of vowels and diphthongs. The six consonants are plosive, nasal, fricative, trill, lateral, and partial vowel. The Lengilo consonants do not occupy all the initial, middle and final positions of words. For example, velar plosive [g], alveolar fricative [s], glottal fricative [h], and lateral-alveolar [l]. The eight vowels in Lengilo are narrow front vowel [i], semi-narrow front vowels [e], semi-wide front vowels [ɛ], wide front vowels [a], semi-wide middle vowel [ə], narrow back vowel [u], semi-narrow back vowel [o], and semi-wide back vowel [ͻ]. The three types of diphthongs in Lengilo are [ai], [ui] and [oi]. The diphthong [ai] appears to be more productive than the diphthong [ui] and [oi] which are quite limited in number. The initial description of the Lengilo language is important for comparison with languages of indigenous groups in the Lun Bawang category.

Acoustics of the forgotten Tapi two-strings lute of Lun Bawang

The Tapi two-strings lute is typically made from Pulai (Alstonia spp.), a light hardwood in the Apocynaceae family. This study determines the tuning retrieval of the Tapi two strings lute instrument. This work investigated the string notes using a microphone for recording the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the signal to determine the fundamental and the partial frequency of Tapi two strings lute instrument. The Tapi was tuned to the E major key with F#, C#, G#, and D# note. The time frequency analysis (TFA) showed that each open string has its own timbre characteristics. The open string 1 showed only 3 important partials, whereas open string 2 showed 6 important partials. Frets 2, 4, 6, and 8 showed more partials than frets 1, 3, 5, and 7. Both fret 9 and 10 showed a similar number of partials. Frets 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 showed less partials and were evenly distributed, whereas fret 17 clearly showed only 4 partials.

VISUAL EXPERIENTIAL IN DIGITAL DOCUMENTATION FOR RURAL TOURISM PROMOTION OF BA’KELALAN, SARAWAK

This paper aims to share some research information based on the visual experiences during the field trip to Ba’Kelalan, Sarawak. Ba’Kelalan is a traditional village of the Lun Bawang community and is well-known as an eco-tourism area in Sarawak. All the experiences were documented using the digital documentation tools and have been recorded with reference to the formalistic artistic methods; in ensuring the visual effects have the best quality and high artistic value. The results will be discussed based on the implemented process and the impact of digital document preparation through experiential learning theory. Next, this article will provide new ideas and visual insights that can help data enhancement, especially in the promotion of the rural tourism sector.

Human Security and Development at the Border: the Case of Ba’kelalan, Sarawak, Malaysia

This study examines the causal relationship between development and human security at the border. In Malaysia, among the main goals in implementing development policies include ensuring prosperity as well as human security of its citizens. However, the effectiveness of these policies, particularly in the context of border communities living in the interior, is largely unknown. Accordingly, research has conducted interviews and observations at the border area of Ba’kelalan, Sarawak, Malaysia, to assess (1) the impact of Malaysian development policies on the socioeconomic status and international cross-border dimension and (2) the extent to which developmental issues have posed a threat to the human security at the border. Research found that although Malaysian development policies have succeeded to bring various development programs in Ba’kelalan, it has inadequately addressed some developmental issues in this area. The reality of development inequality, lack of development in the agricultural sector, and the ambiguous status of lands are found to have threatened human security of the Lun Bawang in Ba’kelalan. If the goal is promoting people-centered security and responding to the core objective of human security to prioritize risk prevention and early intervention of the human security threat, understanding the reality experienced by the people on the ground and considering views from the bottom in the national policy decision and formulation in the future are crucial.

The beauty of the Lun Bawang beads society in Lawas, Sarawak

Kajian ini memfokuskan kepada keindahan seni manik etnik Lun Bawang di Lawas, Sarawak menerusi penghasilan kraf manik seramik dari segi olahan, penggunaan bahan, mereka corak dan proses penghasilannya. Cetusan idea kajian ini terhasil bertujuan untuk mengangkat seni manik etnik Lun Bawang ini ke peringkat lebih tinggi dan memberi pendedahan kepada etnik untuk memperlihatkan kearifan lokal etnik ini mampu mempengaruhi kreativiti seni manik di Sarawak. Keunikan kraf manik etnik Lun Bawang ini sebenarnya terletak pada reka corak motifnya yang digunakan, bahan serta cara penghasilannya. Motif-motif tradisional etnik ini digambarkan dan diinterpretasikan pada permukaan manik berfungsi untuk mencerminkan identiti dan kebudayaan etnik Lun Bawang dan memberi simbolik estetika yang tinggi serta keindahan pada manik tersebut. Kaedah kualitatif menerusi pendekatan historikal telah membuktikan bahawa masyarakat setempat bijak mengadaptasikan sumber alam dan identiti etnik mereka dalam penghasilan seni manik ini. Nilai keindahan apreasasi etnik Lun Bawang ini terhadap penghasilan seni manik dalam budaya mereka adalah satu refeleksi kearifan lokal terhadap ketelitian observasi tentang fungsi dan sifat bahan alam sebagai bahan utama bagi penghasilan objek seni terutama manik.

Dayak Lundayeh: A Report from The Border

In his paper "Dayak Lundayeh: A Report from the Border" Luqman H. Zainuri explores the vulnerabilities and potential of national disintegration coming from indigenous communities in Indonesia. In particular, the paper focuses on one of the communities which has been largely ignored, the Dayak people, who have played an important role in the border between Indonesia and Malaysia in Borneo Island. The Dayak indigenous people which inhabit this highland plateau are known as the Lun Bawang, on the Malaysian side, and the Lun Dayeh (or Lundayeh) in the Indonesian side. Both groups are linguistically and culturally the same. This paper provides information on the general condition of their lives, and on how they position themselves towards Indonesia, emphasizing the particularities of the Dayak Lun Dayeh among other Dayak ethnic groups who live in West and Central Kalimantan. Although separated by a national border, the Lun Bawang of the Kelalan Valley and the Lun Dayeh of the Bawan Valley have similar cultural patterns and kingship ties. The paper recognizes Indonesia as a multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural territory, much like Asia in general, and argues for socio-political integration and peace. The paper is part of report based on an exploratory research conducted in Krayan (also known as Kerayan) sub district, Nunukan North Kalimantan in September 2012, under the Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) program, aimed to promote an understanding of the socio-cultural life of the Dayak tribes and of the degree of autonomy of border communities between Indonesia and Malaysia. The paper also stresses the importance of preserving traditional cultures and their integration by means of education and the development of cultural and creative industries in marginalized ethnic areas.

Body Weight estimation from Footprint Anthropoetry in Lun Bawang ethnic of east Malaysia

Body Weight estimation from Footprint Anthropoetry in Lun Bawang ethnic of east Malaysia

Determination of Living Body Weight from Foot Outline Length Measurements among Lun Bawangs of East Malaysia

Person identification is the first and foremost aim to any crime scene investigator. Researchers have indicated that foot impression can provide more valuable information than fingerprints. Foot outline is the line tracing the outer margins of the fleshed foot and also represents the boundaries of the foot's impression in soft surfaces that produce a three-dimensional (3D) foot impression. Body weight is also an important parameter to obtain valuable information in crime investigation. It is shown that there is correlation between foot impression (3D) and human body weight. Literature review shows that very limited studies were conducted to determine body weight from foot outline measurements. The present study aimed to determine body weight from foot outline length measurements among Lun Bawang population in Malaysia. The result of the investigation provided regression equations to determine body weight from foot outline length anthropometry.

Stature Estimation from Foot Outline Measurements in Adult Lun Bawang Ethnics of East Malaysia by Regression Analysis

Stature estimation from foot impression plays a vital role in forensic investigation. The present study aimed to estimate stature from bilateral foot outlines collected from 230 consented Lun Bawangs ethnics (115 males, 115 females) residing in East Malaysia, Borneo Island and to generate population-specific regression equations. Ten outline length measurements were taken viz. five from left and five from right foot. The results show significant positive correlation between height and foot outline lengths. The correlation coefficient (R) in pooled sample (0.858–0.879) is found to be comparatively higher than those of individual male (0.693–0.754), and female foot outlines (0.712–0.792). Linear regression analysis presents smaller error of estimate. Thus, population specific regression equations were derived for stature estimation from foot outlines lengths among Lun Bawangs population of East Malaysia even when sex remains unknown.

Lun Bawang and Kelabit Potteries of Sarawak

In 2013, an ethnographic study of the Lun Bawang and Kelabit potteries in Sarawak was undertaken by the authors and staff of the Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang and the Sarawak Museum Department, Kuching in the district of Lawas and the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak (Fig. 1). The primary objective of the study is to locate the few remaining Lun Bawang and Kelabit potters in these regions in order to gather data and information on traditional pottery technology, types and functions. It is also hoped that the findings of the study can provide some useful insights into the connections between the past and present pottery-making traditions in Sarawak. The Lun Bawang and Kelabit potteries have been studied since the mid-1950s by a number of researchers such as Harrisson (1955), Morrison (1955) and Janowski (1991). Harrisson’s (1955: 301) work, however, was focussed mainly on the distribution and general characteristics of native pottery in Sarawak and Sabah. He made brief mentions of the possible links between the traditional and prehistoric pottery of Borneo. Morrison (1955) reported briefly on the Lun Bawang pottery-making in Ba’ Kelalan, Lawas. Between 1986 and 1988, Janowski (1991) studied and reported in detail about the Kelabit pottery-making at the village of Pa’ Dalih in the Kelabit Highlands. Although these previous studies have provided useful records of traditional pottery-making of the Lun Bawang and Kelabit, they are too brief and not comprehensive enough for understanding the traditional pottery-making of Sarawak. This study is therefore an attempt to fill the gaps in knowledge about the traditional pottery-making of the Lun Bawang and Kelabit which is now a dying tradition.

Spiritual Journey of Murut Tahol in Sabah and Its Effect to Their Headhunting Practice

Religion has a strong influence on the world view of a society. It also affects the actions and practices of everyday life. Therefore, changes in the religion also result in changes in religious practice. This paper tries to see the impact of religious change on headhunting (antaboh) in Tahol Murut community, Ulu Tomani, Sabah, Malaysia. This is because, originally, these people are holding on to faith-based ancestral spirits. Headhunting (antaboh) that they practiced for a long time, is based on traditional religion and belief which has existed for many generations. However, having come into contact with the Lun Bawang people who are Christians, they eventually were drawn to accept Christianity as their religion beganning around the 1950s. Thus, the effect of changes in religion in this community is interesting to be discussed. At least we can assess whether the view that religious change gives impact on the culture of a community also applies to this community. The Methodology used in this study is qualitative in nature involving library research and interview key informants. The researcher also had the opportunity to be with this community on a regular basis from 2003 until today. The result of this study revealed that religious change of Murut Tahol community give significant effect to their headhunting practice.

A paradigm shift: Lun Bawang musical styles - A case study in Lawas District, Limbang Division, Malaysia

Lun Bawang literally means “people of the land” or “people of this place” by which the Lun Bawang of Sarawak preferred to be called. They are found in four political entities in the island of Borneo with an approximate total population around 42,000. They are distributed as follows: in East Kalimantan (Kabupaten Bulongan) - 25,000, Brunei (Temburong District) - 300, Sabah (Sipitang District) - 2,000 (Crain: 1978) and approximately 15,154 in Sarawak (Department of Statistics, Malaysia, 2000). In the state of Sarawak, ninety per cent of the total population of the Lun Bawang lived in the Lawas District of Limbang Division. Presently, most of them can be found in Trusan Valley, the Lawas Damit Valley and the Merapok area in Lawas District. The rest are found in mid Limbang and Medamit areas in Limbang District,located at the north-west of the island of Borneo. (Fig.1: Map of Sarawak).

Endangered Languages in Borneo: A Survey among the Iban and Murut (Lun Bawang) in Temburong, Brunei

This paper presents the results of a survey carried out in 2008 on language use and attitudes among the Iban and Murut (Lun Bawang) living in the Temburong district of Brunei Darussalam. The article opens with a brief outline of the research conducted so far, a sociolinguistic sketch of Brunei, and an introduction to Temburong and the Iban and Murut peoples, followed by an analysis of the data gathered. The central part of the article compares the results obtained from the younger and the older age groups in the two communities in order to determine the degree of language shift that is taking place toward Malay, the national language. The article closes with some general considerations, including the possible reasons for the situations observed.

Voting Pattern and Issues in the 2006 Sarawak State Assembly Election in the Ba’ Kelalan Constituency

This article analyses the voting pattern of the Lun Bawang community—the majority ethnic group in the Ba’ Kelalan constituency—during the Sarawak State Elections held on May 20, 2006, and discusses some of the contentious issues that shaped the electoral outcomes. During the Ba’ Kelalan by-election in September 2004, it was argued that more than half of the Lun Bawang votes went to the then independent candidate Baru Bian. After almost one-and-a-half years later the Lun Bawang had the opportunity to once again exercise their democratic rights. The Ba’ Kelalan seat was won by the BN candidate, Balang Rining but Baru was still able to garner substantial support from the Lun Bawang after winning more than half of the Lun Bawang areas. In terms of popular votes it was still almost divided between Baru and Balang with the latter's winning margin of only 2%. This article argues that the Lun Bawang are divided between development, Native Customary Rights (NCR) land and religious outlook. While some Lun Bawang vote for Balang in the name of development, some vote for Baru because they are convinced of his NCR land arguments and are sympathetic to his religious outlook.

The 2004 Ba´ Kelalan By‑ election in Sarawak, East Malaysia: The Lun Bawang Factor and Whither Representative Democracy in Malaysia

In Malaysia, democracy is generally interpreted in electoral terms. Arguably, the current electoral system in Malaysia denies ordinary people their rights to elect their preferred representatives and contributes to the erosion of democracy. The 2004 Ba' Kelalan by-election is a demonstration of the above predicament. This article argues that irregularities in the conduct of the by-election demonstrate how democratic rights had once again been denied. The article also shows how the Lun Bawang community plays a pivotal political role in determining the balance of power among the ethnic groups in Sarawak.

The Rhetoric of the State: Dependency and Control in a Malaysian–Indonesian Borderland Key Words:

This article examines dependency on cross-border labor and marriage along the international frontier in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia (Borneo) and some local efforts to restrict outsiders. The international border in this remote region of Borneo is highly permeable, and border-crossing activities, including seasonal migrant wage labor and cross-border marriage, are crucial both to the local political economy and to the reproduction of the Kelabit family and farm. This article explores the unique position of the Kelabit as they attempt to appropriate aspects of state power or use the rhetoric of state power in their efforts to maintain a status quo with regard to neighboring, and closely related, migrant workers from across the border. I wish to gratefully acknowledge a Faculty Development Grant from Gettysburg College for support of research during the summer of 2003. Johan Lindquist, Donna Perry, and Melinda Wilson offered helpful comments and I am deeply indebted to the editors and the anonymous reviewers of Identities. I thank the Sarawak State Government (State Planning Unit, Sarawak Museum, Majlis Adat Istiadat) and many individuals in the Kelabit community—Poline Bala, Esther Bala, Michael Giak, Jerome Giak, Henry Lian, Robert Lian-Saging, and others. Finally, I owe much to the late Dr. Judson Tagal, who will be remembered for his passion and commitment in helping people in the Kelabit and Lun Bawang communities.

Low-Vowel Fronting in Northern Sarawak

A number of the languages of northern Sarawak have fronted earlier *a under theoretically challenging conditions. In general, *a has been fronted following a voiced obstruent, subject to various qualifications that are noted in individual languages. This type of change bears a superficial resemblance to vowel raising following breathy voiced consonants in many of the Mon-Khmer languages of mainland Southeast Asia. However, caution should be observed in comparing the two situations because: (1) the evidence strongly suggests that although both fronting and raising are involved, raising is an incidental by-product of vowel fronting in the languages of northern Sarawak, (2) breathy voice is a prosody that spreads rightward until interrupted by certain consonants; in words of the form *CaCaC, however, fronting may skip the first low vowel and target the more distant one, (3) none of the languages in question has ever been reported as having breathy consonants. Finally, although all but one of the nine languages u sed to illustrate this phenomenon are members of a linguistic subgroup, Barain, differences of detail in the conditioning of vowel fronting suggest that the change was not present in their immediate common ancestor, but was acquired independently in some or all of the languages, a conclusion supported by the discovery of similar changes outside northern Sarawak. 1. THE LINGUISTIC SITUATION IN NORTHERN SARAWAK. The 15-20 languages of northern Samwak form a linguistic subgroup that is noteworthy for at least two reasons. First, the group is typologically transitional between the Philippine-type syntax common to the languages of Sabah and the Malay-type syntax typical of much of western Indonesia. Second, it has been defined primarily by a single sound change that left typologically unusual traces in the phonology of its members, including a set of true phonemic voiced aspirates (not murmured stops) bh, dh, gh in Bario Kelabit, corresponding implosive stops in Bintulu and various Lowland Kenyah dialects, and a synchronic alternation of b and s in Kiput, reflecting *bh (Blust 1974a, 1974b). [2] The internal subgrouping of the North Sarawak languages is shown in table 1. The Kelabit-Lun Dayeh group is generally divided into two languages, Lun Dayeh (People of the interior), also known as Lun Bawang (People of the Country), spoken in several dialect forms in the Fifth Division of Sarawak bordering Brunei and Sabah, and Kelabit, spoken in many dialect variants around the headwaters of the Baram River and further east into Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). A third language community, Sa'ban, is lexicostatistically a Kelabit dialect because it shares over 80 percent of its basic vocabulary with Bario Kelabit, but it has undergone such radical changes in its phonology, morphology, and constituent order that it might well be called a distinct language (Blust, to appear). The Berawan-Lower Baram group divides into Berawan, a collection of four dialects representing perhaps two languages spoken on the Tutoh and Tinjar tributaries of the middle Baram, and seven or eight languages spoken in the lower course of the Baram River of Sarawak, in the lower course of the neighboring Belait river of Brunei, or in coastal settlements such as the town of Miri in northern Sarawak. Several of the Lower Baram languages reported in Ray (1913), including Lemeting and possibly Dali' now appear to be extinct. The principal evidence for distinguishing the Miri group from the Kiput group is a striking difference in reflexes of PNS *bh, as f in the former group, but sin the latter. The Kenyah group is a loosely connected complex of dialects that may fall into three or four closely related languages. The primary distinction that I make is into Highland Kenyah dialects, in which Proto-North Sarawak *bh, *dh, *jh, *gh are reflected as voiceless obstruents p, t, c, and 14 and Lowland Kenyah dialects in which the corresponding segments are b, d, j, and g, with phonetic implosion at all four points of articulation (j is a palatalized alveolar implosive). …

Ethnic Self-Labelling of the Murut or Lun Bawang of Sarawak

Some groups of peoples in have been given names by outsiders, but these groups normally do not identify themselves with these names (Babcock 1974). The earliest and most glaring examples are terms Sea Dayak and Land Dayak for groups of peoples we know today as Iban and Bidayuh, respectively. The to give another example, did not traditionally use label Melanau to refer to themselves; more traditional term of reference was A Liko, of often followed by name of they resided along (Morris 1953, p. 6). Similarly, term was a mistake for Pa Labid, from pa, for and Labid, name of river, and hence, the people of Labid river (Harrisson 1959a, p. 58). Like term Melanau, term Kelabit stuck. Perhaps most confusing of ethnic labels scattered throughout literature on Borneo is term Murut. The label is externally applied as a term of reference to two completely dissimilar sets of peoples in Borneo. In Sabah, it is used to refer to such groups as Timungon, Nabay, Baukan, Paluan, Sumambuq, and Alumbis (Prentice 1972), and in people who call themselves Lun Bawang or sometimes Lun Dayeh are often labelled Muruts (Pollard 1933, 1935; Southwell 1949; Crain 1974, 1978; Deegan 1973). Indeed, term is sometimes extended to include Kelabit, with whom Lun Bawang or Lun Dayeh have affinities (LeBar 1972). Culturally and linguistically, however, Sabah Murut and Sarawak Murut are completely different from each other