Are there Punan in Baram?
Long Jegan, Tinjar - a Berawan (Melawen) longhouse. ( Pix Diocese of Miri ) Are there Punan in Baram? Yes, there are many! And this is one of their stories. Punan people have been regularly in contact with people in the Lemeting (today Tinjar) for centuries - persisted until today. Intermarriages were common, among the widely remembered was that of Tongom (Oman Kudei - teknonym). He was the son of a Punan and a Melanau lady named Bilom, hailed from Mukah. Tongom had two other siblings, a sister Tusin and younger brother Medik. His younger brother, still in his early teen was taken away by their Melanau grandparents, purportedly in place of their mother who went to stay with the Punan. Medik, being raised by Melanau, subsequently married to Melanau was gradually faded from the memory of Punan people at Tatau. Meanwhile, Tusin and Tongom raised in Tatau, later in Kakus by their parents, also naturally married to local Punan. Tongom, in his early adulthood regula...