Ибаны: История и культура народа Борнео

Ethnic group from Borneo

The Ibans or Sea Dayaks are an Austronesian ethnic group indigenous to northwestern Borneo. The Ibans are also known as Sea Dayaks and the title Dayak was given by the British and the Dutch to various ethnic groups in Borneo island. Ibans were renowned for practicing headhunting and territorial migration, and had a fearsome reputation as a strong and successfully warring tribe. Since the arrival for
Europeans and the subsequent colonisation of the area, headhunting gradually faded out of practice, although many other tribal customs and practices as well as the Iban language continue to thrive. The Iban population is concentrated in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia, Brunei, and the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. They traditionally live in longhouses called rumah panjai or betang (trunk) in West Kalimantan.

Iban, It is believed that the term "Iban" was originally an exonym used by the Kayans, who – when they initially came into contact with them – referred to the Sea Dayaks in the upper Rajang river region as the "Hivan". Sea Dayak, Despite the fact being referred as Sea Dayaks due to their maritime skills, the Ibans are originally an interior ethnic group from the Kapuas Lake region before the period of mass migration from 1750s.

The Iban people of Borneo possess an indigenous account of their history, mostly in oral literature, partly in writing in papan turai (wooden records), and partly in common cultural customary practices. According to native myths and legends, they historically came from Kapuas river in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). They slowly moved to Sarawak due to tribal issues. The ancient Iban legend is also being supported by several modern day linguistic studies by Asmah Haji Omar (1981), Rahim Aman (1997), Chong Shin and James T. Collins (2019) and material cultures by M. Heppell (2020) that traces the Iban language and culture originated from the upper Kapuas.

The colonial accounts and reports of Dayak activity in Borneo detail carefully cultivated economic and political relationships with other communities as well as an ample body of research and study concerning the history of Dayak migrations. In particular, the Iban or the Sea Dayak exploits in the South China Seas are documented, owing to their ferocity and aggressive culture of war against sea dwelling groups and emerging Western trade interests in the 18th and 19th centuries. Brooke became embroiled in controversy in 1851 when accusations against him of excessive usage of force against the Dayaks, under the guise of anti piracy operations, ultimately led to the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry in Singapore in 1854. After an investigation, the Commission dismissed the charges. Brooke employed his Dayak troops during other military expeditions, such as those against the Chinese Sarawakian insurgent Liu Shan Bang and Malay Sarawakian Sharif Masahor.

During the Second World War, Japanese forces occupied Borneo and treated all of the indigenous peoples poorly – massacres of the Malay and Dayak peoples were common, especially among the Dayaks of the Kapit Division. In response, the Dayaks formed a special force to assist the Allied forces. Eleven US airmen and a few dozen Australian special operatives trained a thousand Dayaks from the Kapit Division in guerrilla warfare. This army of tribesmen killed or captured some 1,500 Japanese soldiers and provided the Allies with vital intelligence about Japanese held oil fields. During the Malayan Emergency, the British Army employed Iban headhunters against the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA). Typically two would be attached to each infantry patrol as trackers and general assistants, acting as the platoon commander's eyes and ears in this deeply alien environment. News of this was exposed to the public 1952 when the British communist newspaper called The Daily Worker published multiple photographs of Ibans and British soldiers posing with the severed heads of suspected MNLA members. Initially, the British government denied allowing Iban troops to practise headhunting against the MNLA, until Colonial Secretary Oliver Lyttleton confirmed to Parliament that the Ibans were indeed granted such a right to do so. All Dayak troops were disbanded upon the end of the conflict.

The Iban language (jaku Iban) is spoken by the Iban, a branch of the Dayak ethnic group formerly known as "Sea Dayak". The language belongs to Malayic languages, which is a Malayo Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. It is thought that the homeland of the Malayic languages is in western Borneo, where the Ibanic languages remain. The Malayic branch represents a secondary dispersal, probably from central Sumatra but possibly also from Borneo.

For hundreds of years, the Iban's ancestors practiced their own traditional custom and pagan religious system. European Christian colonial invaders, after the arrival of James Brooke, led to the influence of European missionaries and conversions to Christianity. Although the majority are now Christian; many continue to observe both Christian and traditional pagan ceremonies, particularly during marriages or festivals, although some ancestral practices such as 'Miring' are still prohibited by certain churches. After being Christianized, the majority of Iban people have changed their traditional name to a Hebrew based "Christian name" followed by the Ibanese name such as David Dunggau, Joseph Jelenggai, Mary Mayang, etc. For the majority of Ibans who are Christians, some Christian festivals such as Christmas, Good Friday, Easter are also celebrated. Some Ibans are devout Christians and follow the Christian faith strictly. Since conversion to Christianity, some Iban people celebrate their ancestors' pagan festivals using Christian ways and the majority still observe Gawai Dayak (the Dayak Festival), which is a generic celebration in nature unless a gawai proper is held and thereby preserves their ancestors' culture and tradition. In Brunei, 1,503 Ibans have converted to Islam from 2009 to 2019 according to official statistics. Many Bruneian Ibans intermarry with Malays and convert to Islam as a result. Nevertheless, most Iban in Brunei are devout Christians similar to the Iban in Malaysia. Bruneian Ibans also often intermarry with the Murut or Christian Chinese due to their shared faith. Despite the difference in faiths, Ibans of different faiths do live and help each other regardless of faith but some do split their longhouses due to different faiths or even political affiliations. The Ibans believe in helping and having fun together. Some elder Ibans are worried that among most of the younger Iban generation, their culture has faded since the conversion to Christianity and the adoption of a more modern life style. Nevertheless, most Iban embrace modern progress and development. Many Christian Dayaks have adopted European names, but some continue to maintain their ancestors' traditional names. Since the conversion of most Iban people to Christianity, some have generally abandoned their ancestors' beliefs such as 'Miring' or the celebration of 'Gawai Antu', and many celebrate only Christianized traditional festivals. Numerous local people and certain missionaries have sought to document and preserve traditional Dayak religious practices. For example, Reverend William Howell contributed numerous articles on the Iban language, lore, and culture between 1909 and 1910 to the Sarawak Gazette. The articles were later compiled in a book in 1963 entitled, The Sea Dayaks and Other Races of Sarawak.

Iban music is percussion oriented. The Iban have a musical heritage consisting of various types of agung ensembles – percussion ensembles composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongs which act as drums without any accompanying melodic instrument. The typical Iban agung ensemble will include a set of engkerumung (small gongs arranged together side by side and played like a xylophone), a tawak (the so called "bass gong"), a bebendai (which acts as a snare) and also a ketebung or bedup (a single sided drum/percussion instrument). One example of Iban traditional music is the taboh. There are various kinds of taboh (music), depending the purpose and types of ngajat, like alun lundai (slow tempo). The gendang can be played in some distinctive types corresponding to the purpose and type of each ceremony. The most popular ones are called gendang rayah (swinging blow) and gendang pampat (sweeping blow).

Woven products are known as betenun. Several types of woven blankets made by the Ibans are pua kumbu, pua ikat, kain karap and kain sungkit. Using weaving, the Iban make blankets, bird shirts (baju burong), kain kebat, kain betating and selampai. Weaving is the women's warpath while kayau (headhunting) is the men's warpath. The pua kumbu blanket do have conventional or ritual motives depending on the purpose of the woven item. Those who finish the weaving lessons are called tembu kayu (finish the wood). Among well known ritual motifs are Gajah Meram (Brooding Elephant), Tiang Sandong (Ritual Pole), Meligai (Shrine) and Tiang Ranyai. The Iban Dayaks love virgin forests for their dependency on forests but that is for migration, territorial expansion, and/or fleeing enemies. Once the Iban migrated into a riverine area, they will divide the area into three basic areas i. e. farming area, territorial domain (pemakai menoa) and forest reserve (pulau galau). The farming area is distributed accordingly to each family based on consensus. The chief and elders are responsible to settle any disputes and claims amicably. The territorial domain is a common area where the families of each longhouse are allowed to source for foods and confined themselves without encroachment into domains of other longhouses. The forest reserve is for common use, as a source of natural materials for building longhouse (ramu), boat making, plaiting, etc. The whole riverine region can consist of many longhouses and thus the entire region belongs to all of them and they shall defend it against encroachment and attack by outsiders. Those longhouses sharing and living in the same riverine region call themselves shared owners (sepemakai). Each track of virgin forest cleared by each family (rimba) will automatically belong to that family and inherited by its descendants as heirloom (pesaka) unless they migrate to other regions and relinquish their ownership of their land, which is symbolized by a token payment using a simple item in exchange for the land.

Traditionally, Iban agriculture was based on actual integrated indigenous farming system. Ibans plant hill rice paddies once a year in twenty seven stages as described by Freeman in his report on Iban Agriculture. Agricultural Land in this sense was used and defined primarily in terms of hill rice farming, ladang (garden), and hutan (forest). For cash, the Ibans find jungle produce to sell at the market or town. Later, they planted rubber, pepper and cocoa. Nowadays, many Ibans work in towns to seek better sources of income. Trading is not a natural activity for the Iban. They did trade paddy for jars or salted fish coming from the sea in the old days but paddy lost its economic value a long time ago. Not much yield can be produced from repetitively replanted areas anyway because their planting relies on the natural source of fertilizer from the forest itself and the source of water for irrigation is from the rain, hence the cycle of the weather season is important and need to be correctly followed. Trading of sundries, jungle produce or agricultural produce is normally performed by the Chinese who commuted between the town and the location of the shop.

The Sea Dayaks, as their name implies, are a maritime set of tribes, and fight chiefly in canoes and boats. One of their favorite tactics is to conceal some of their larger boats, and then to send some small and badly manned canoes forward to attack the enemy to lure them. The canoes then retreat, followed by the enemy, and as soon as they pass the spot where the larger boats are hidden, they are attacked by them in the rear, while the smaller canoes, which have acted as decoys, turn and join in the fight. The rivers bends are chosen for this kind of attack, the overhanging branches of trees and the dense foliage of the bank affording excellent hiding places for the boats. Many of the sea dayaks were also pirates. In the 19th century there was a great deal of piracy, and it was secretly encouraged by the native rulers, who obtained a share of the spoil, and also by the Malays who knew well how to handle a boat. The Malay fleet consisted of a large number of long war boats or prahu, each about 90 feet (27 m) long or more, and carrying a brass gun in the bow, the pirates being armed with swords, spears and muskets. Each boat was paddled by from 60 to 80 men. These boats skulked about in the sheltered coves waiting for their prey, and attacked merchant vessels making the passage between China and Singapore. The Malay pirates and their Dayak allies would wreck and destroy every trading vessel they came across, murder most of the crew who offered any resistance, and the rest were made as slaves. The Dayak would cut off the heads of those who were slain, smoke them over the fire to dry them, and then take them home to treasure as valued possessions.

A Dayak war party in proas and canoes fought a battle with Murray Maxwell following the wreck of HMS Alceste in 1817 at the Gaspar Strait. The Iban Dayak's first direct encounter with the Brooke and his men was in 1843, during the attack by Brooke's forces on the Batang Saribas region i. e. Padeh, Paku, and Rimbas respectively. The finale of this battle was the conference at Nagna Sebuloh to sign a peace Saribas treaty to end piracy and headhunting but the natives refused to sign it, rendering the treaty moot. In 1844, Brooke's force attacked Batang Lupar, Batang Undop, and Batang Skrang to defeat the Malay sharifs and Dayak living in these regions. The Malay sharifs were easily defeated at Patusin in Batang Lupar, without a major fight despite their famous reputation and power over the native inlanders. However, during the battle of Batang Undop, one of Brooke's men, British Navy officer Mr. Charles Wade was killed in action at the battle of Ulu Undop while chasing the Malay sheriffs upriver. Subsequently, Brooke's Malay force headed by Datu Patinggi Ali and Mr. Steward was totally defeated by the Skrang Iban force at the battle of Kerangan Peris in the Batang Skrang region. In 1849, at the Battle of Beting Maru, a convoy of Dayak boats that were returning from a sojourn at the River Rajan spotted Brooke's man of war, the Nemesis. They then landed on the Beting Maru sandbar and retreated to their villages, with two Dayak boats acting as a diversion by sailing towards the Nemesis and engaging her, with the two boats managing to retreat safely after a few shots were exchanged. The next day, the Dayak ambushed Brooke's pursuing force, killing two of Brooke's Iban entourage before pulling back. Layang, the son in law of Libau "Rentap" was known as the first Iban slayer of a white man in the person of Mr. Alan Lee "Ti Mati Rugi" (died in vain) at the Battle of Lintang Batang in 1853, above the Skrang fort built by Brooke in 1850. The Brooke government had to launch three successive punitive expeditions against Libau Rentap to conquer his fortress known as Sadok Mount. In total, the Brooke government conducted 52 punitive expeditions against the Iban including one against the Kayan. The Sarawak Rangers which were mostly Dayak participated in the anti communist insurgency during the Malayan Emergency between 1948 and 1960. The Sarawak Rangers were despatched by the British to fight during the Brunei Rebellion in 1962.

The Iban are famous for being fearsome warriors in the past in defence of homeland or for migration to virgin territories. Two highly decorated Iban Dayak soldiers from Sarawak in Malaysia are Temenggung Datuk and Kanang anak Langkau (awarded the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa or Grand Knight of Valour) and Awang anak Raweng of Skrang (awarded a George Cross). So far, only one Dayak has reached the rank of general in the military, Brigadier General Stephen Mundaw in the Malaysian Army, who was promoted on 1 November 2010. Malaysia's most decorated war hero is Kanang Anak Langkau for his military service helping to liberate Malaya (and later Malaysia) from the communists, being the only soldier awarded both Seri Pahlawan (The Star of the Commander of Valour) and Panglima Gagah Berani (The Star of Valour). Among all the heroes are 21 holders of the Panglima Gagah Berani (PGB) including 2 recipients of the Seri Pahlawan. Of this total, there are 14 Ibans, two Chinese army officers, one Bidayuh, one Kayan and one Malay. But the majority of the Armed Forces are Malays, according to a book – Crimson Tide over Borneo. The youngest of the PGB holders is ASP Wilfred Gomez of the police force. There were six holders of Sri Pahlawan (SP) and Panglima Gagah Perkasa from Sarawak, and with the death of Kanang Anak Langkau, there is one SP holder in the person of Sgt. Ngalinuh (an Orang Ulu).

The episode "Into the Jungle" from Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations included the appearance of Itam, a former Sarawak Ranger and one of the Iban people's last members with the entegulun (Iban traditional hand tattoos) signifying his taking of an enemy's head. The film The Sleeping Dictionary features Selima (Jessica Alba), an Anglo Iban girl who falls in love with John Truscott (Hugh Dancy). The movie was filmed primarily in Sarawak, Malaysia. Malaysian singer Noraniza Idris recorded "Ngajat Tampi" in 2000 and followed by "Tandang Bermadah" in 2002, which are based on traditional Iban music compositions. Both songs became popular in Malaysia and neighbouring countries. Chinta Gadis Rimba (or Love of a Forest Maiden), a 1958 film directed by L. Krishnan based on the novel of the same name by Harun Aminurrashid, tells about an Iban girl, Bintang, who goes against the wishes of her parents and runs off to her Malay lover. The film is the first time a full length feature film was shot in Sarawak and the first time an Iban woman played the lead character. Bejalai is a 1987 film directed by Stephen Teo, notable for being the first film to be made in the Iban language and also the first Malaysian film to be selected for the Berlin International Film Festival. The film is an experimental feature about the custom among the Iban young men to do a "bejalai" (go on a journey) before attaining maturity. In Farewell to the King, a 1969 novel by Pierre Schoendoerffer plus its subsequent 1989 film adaptation, American prisoner of war Learoyd escapes a Japanese firing squad by hiding in the wilds of Borneo, where he is adopted by an Iban community. In 2007, Malaysian company Maybank produced a wholly Iban language commercial commemorating Malaysia's 50th anniversary of independence. The advert, directed by Yasmin Ahmad with help of the Leo Burnett agency, was shot in Bau and Kapit and used an all Sarawakian cast. A conflict between a proa of "sea dyaks" and the shipwrecked Jack Aubrey and his crew forms much of the first part of The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991), Patrick O'Brian's fourteenth Aubrey Maturin novel. See American writer Terence Clarke’s story collection, The Day Nothing Happened and his novel The King of Rumah Nadai, both of which are placed in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Kanang anak Langkau, National hero of Malaysia. Awarded the medal of valour "Sri Pahlawan Gagah Berani" by the Malaysian Government. Rentap, Leader of a rebellion against the Brooke administration and used the title of Raja Ulu (king of the Interior).

Francisca Luhong James , Miss Universe Malaysia 2020; has an Orang Ulu father and Iban mother.

Jugah anak Barieng, second Paramount Chief of the Dayak people and the key signatory on behalf of Sarawak to the Malaysia Agreement. Stephen Kalong Ningkan, the first Chief Minister of Sarawak. Tawi Sli, the second Chief Minister of Sarawak.