PunanRights Blog

FIG. 1 - George Gueritz in this photo dated 1879. Courtesy of William Gueritz.   I never anticipate what I write would be read by anyone, let alone the descendant of the people mentioned. It was due to the sheer pleasure of simply writing it . But let's me share a story what happened recently. On the other side of the world, a few thousand kilometers away - to be exact some 11,291 km away as crow flies – someone stumbled upon this post. He was researching a family history on the internet and he chanced upon this ‘Tuan Goret and Tuan Kiput’.    Around 2.13 am (local time) he sent a message to my inbox. Yeah, everything is incredibly precise this day and could be tracked! It reads,  My name is William Gueritz, I have recently been doing some (Google) research into my family's history and I came across the Punan Rights BlogSpot and the post about 'Tuan Goret', George Gueritz. You can imagine that the post intrigued me as George Gueritz is/was a relative of mine - my gr...

Fig. 1 Sekapan's salong on the opposite bank of the Rejang from Belaga town. In Sarawak, this type of death monument is often attributed to Kayan, Kejaman, Sekapan, Kenyah, Berawan, and Punan people. But if you are reading the literature, it is stated as originated from the Usun Apau region, a custom of the Kayan and Kenyah.  There is a distinction between these various ethnics' salong -  a Kayan salong, for example, had its own uniqueness in styles and patterns to that of the Punan, Kejaman, Kenyah or Berawan. It is said brought to the northern part of the Borneo Island following Kayan and Kenyah migrations into the area. However, evidently, it has existed long before Kayan and Kenyah people in the Lemeting (Tinjar), Tatau and Upper Rejang areas, among the peoples within an area that Peter Metcalf called "the nulang arc" (see Metcalf 1974, 1976). Fig. 2 - Berawan salong at Long Miri dated to the late thirties according to Peter Metcalf (1976) in this und...

Fig.1 - This saluong contained the remains of first Kanyan Nyipa and later also include a few others including his half-brother Keseng Nyipa. The white structure, a modern, concrete form of 'saluong' on the foreground was the tomb of Bilong Keseng.  Photo: Google Images. A former Rejang Resident, Hugh Brooke Low, referring the many saluong or salong scattered on the Pila plain noted, "it Kayan institution foreign to the land" in his diary "Trip Up the Rejang in 1882" (see Low, 1882). This, subsequently taken as evidence to suggest that 'saluong' originates from the Apau Kayan areas.  There are two types of saluong built by Punan. The first type is called 'saluong' that oddly called ' burial hut ' although there is no burial involved. The deceased coffin instead of being buried was stored in a hut supported by a single or double post made of belian , a tropical hardwood scientifically known as " Eusideroxylon zwageri ".  Ano...

Fig.1 - The photos that the author personally took of Punan Ba village before and after the fire incident. Punan Bah village On May 5, 2008, 37-door section of a three block villages was razed down by fire. The villagers were still mourning the passing of a men ( mengok kovo ) died a few days earlier. Unbeknown to the mourners, from inside one of the rooms a flame had caught on something. When one of the villagers spotted the smoke, it had already turned into a raging inferno. " Putuong, putuong " or "fire fire" someone shouted from a corner. Mourners startled, ran helter-skelter, many fled towards the riverbank. In the chaos, they had forgotten the coffin. "Don't forget the coffin, don't leave the coffin" someone shouted back. Then several men risked the raging inferno rushed back inside the burning longhouse. There was a sigh of relieved when they emerged, pulling a coffin. It was dropped by the river shore, safely away f...

Punan National Association (PNA) committee inspected the remnant of an ancient settlement at Punan River in 2016. Punan confusion In Borneo the people called “Punan” could be categorized into two distinct groups: (1) Punan (or Punan Ba) historically sedentary agriculturalist and (2) historically hunters-gatherers called Punan by Kayan and Kenyah. The historically sedentary, agriculturalist Punan are distinct from the hunters-gatherers. In Sarawak the former hunters-gatherers are classified as PENAN in the laws (Sarawak Interpretation Ordinance and Malaysia Federal Constitution.  The classification Penan includes, Penan, Penan Aput and Penan Busang. In Kalimantan the Penan Aput and Busang called themselves “Punan”. Recently, Bernard Sellato and Peter Sercombe are proposing to call all the hunters-gatherers in Borneo as “PNAN”. Meanwhile, the historically sedentary, non-nomad Punan is often called “Punan Bah” or “Punan Ba” by anthropologists. It is a label they used to distinguis...

A beloved mother, grandmother Mary Dayang Nyuak, 1938 -2015 Mary Dayang Nyuak was born on February 2, 1938, at Telawan in Belaga District. She was a couple, Nyuak Kulleh and second wife Udei’s firstborn. Little is known about her mother Udei. She was the daughter of a Chinese man, a trader from Sibu nicknamed Kiam with a local Punan Tepeleang girl. In 1943, as the Japanese army was advancing towards Belaga, Kiam fled to Jelalong. It was the last time that Dayang saw her maternal grandfather from her mother side. Kiam died at Jelalong. Into the mid 20th century, series of unfortunate events caused Dayang and her four siblings to become orphaned. In the early 1950s, they tragically lost both of their parents mere weeks apart. First was their mother, Udei suspected to have died of cholera, an epidemic common in the Rejang until late 19th century. The unexpected death of his wife devastated Nyuak who died less than a week later. “He was so heartbroken, refused to eat nor drinking f...

Rev. Father John during a Sunday Mass at Belaga's St. Francis Xavier church. It a reminiscent of the old days of colonial Sarawak. Belaga is a remote, rural town, a place one would least expected to encounter a foreigner and certainly not a Scottish.  Reverend Father John McAulay it has been his home for nearly two years already. He is serving at Saint Francis Xavier Church, Belaga since the middle of 2018. Before that, he was serving at another remote place, Lapok Parish where he spent two years living with the Iban, Berawan and Kenyah people.  According to Fr. John, his first missionary work in Asia was at Pakistan, Sindh area. Asked what it was like in Pakistan, he remarked: "It is a much dangerous place compared to Belaga".   He then quipped, "they would not harm a priest, certainly not someone like me anyway".   Fr. John admitted he knew very little about Sarawak prior to this arrival here. In his mind, he said he was expecting to see a heavily fore...