Religious Conversion and the Cessation of Megalithic Practice in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak

Authors

  • Nicholas Gani Dr

Keywords:

Megalith, religious conversion, Kelabit, Sarawak, Borneo

Abstract

This paper explores the role of religious conversion in the cessation of megalith building among the Kelabit people of the Kelabit Highlands in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. The religious conversion and the cessation of megalith building that followed are contextualised within the wider changes that impacted the local or native communities in the interior of Sarawak during the colonial period (1946-1963). More specifically, this article considers the impacts of Christianity on the Kelabit society, and demonstrates the incompatibility of the rituals of megalith or monument building with the ‘newly’ adopted Christian religion, which ultimately contributed to the abandonment of practice. This article contributes not only a better understanding of the cessation of the megalithic practice in the Kelabit Highlands, but also provides a portrayal of a local culture undergoing change during the colonial period of Sarawak.

References

Adams, K. M. (1984). Come to Tana Toraja, “Land of the Heavenly Kings”: travel agents as brokers in ethnicity. Annals of Tourism Research, 11, 469–485.

Adams, R. L. (2007). The megalithic tradition of West Sumba, Indonesia: an ethnoarchaeological investigation of megalith construction (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada.

Amster, M. (1998). Community, ethnicity, and modes of association among the Kelabit of Sarawak, East Malaysia (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.

Amster, M. H. (1999). “Tradition”, ethnicity, and change: Kelabit practices of name changing. Sarawak Museum Journal, 54(75), 183–200.

Amster, M. (2009). Portable potency: Christianity, mobility and spiritual landscapes among the Kelabit. Anthropological Forum, 19(3), 307–322.

Appell, G. N. (1997). The ecological and social consequences of conversion to Christianity among the Rungus of Sabah, Malaysia. In C. B. Tan (Ed.), Social cultural change, development and indigenous peoples (pp. 61–99). Contributions to Southeast Asian Ethnography No. 11.

Arifin, K. & Sellato, B. (2003). Archaeological surveys and research in four subdistricts of interior Kalimantan. In C. Eghenter, B. Sellato, & G. S. Devung (Eds.), Social science research and conservation management in the interior of Borneo: unravelling past and present interactions of people and forests (pp. 199–240). Center for International Forestry Research.

Bala, P. (2009). An engagement with “modernity”? Becoming Christian in the Kelabit Highlands of Central Borneo. Borneo Research Bulletin, 40, 173–185.

Bala, P. (2016). Masyarakat Kelabit: tradisi dan perubahan sosial. Kuala Lumpur: Institut Terjemahan dan Buku Malaysia Berhad.

Bala, S. B. (2014). Kelabit’s story: the great transition. Partridge Publishing.

Banks, E. (1937). Some megalithic remains from the Kelabit country in Sarawak with some notes on the Kelabit themselves. Sarawak Museum Journal, 4(15), 411–437.

Bernstein, J. H. (1997). The deculturation of the Brunei Dusun. In R. L. Winzeler (Ed.), Indigenous peoples and the state: politics, land and ethnicity in the Malayan peninsula and Borneo (pp. 159–179). Yale University Southeast Asia Studies.

Blust, R. (2010). The Greater North Borneo hypothesis. Oceanic Linguistics, 49(1), 44–118.

Bodley, J. H. (1999). Victims of progress (4th ed.). Mayfield Publishing Company.

Bulan, R. (2003). Boundaries, territorial domains, and Kelabit customary practices: discovering the hidden landscape. Borneo Research Bulletin, 34, 18–61.

Bulan, S., & Bulan-Dorai, L. (2004). The Bario Revival. Home Matters Network.

Chia, S. (2003). Conservation of archaeological sites for ecotourism in Malaysia: issues and challenges. In N. W. Chan (Ed.), Introductory course on ecotourism (pp. 56–60). Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Chin, L. (1980). Cultural heritage of Sarawak. Sarawak Museum.

Chua, L. (2012). Conversion, continuity, and moral dilemmas among Christian Bidayuhs in Malaysian Borneo. American Ethnologist, 39(3), 511–526.

Cluny, W. & Chai, P. (2007). Cultural sites of the northern highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia. Project report for “Transboundary biodiversity and conservation area: The Pulong Tau National Park, Sarawak State, Malaysia, Serial Number PD 224/03 Rev. 1 (F)”. International Tropical Timber Organization and Forest Department Sarawak.

Cole, S. (2003). Appropriated meanings: megaliths and tourism in Eastern Indonesia. Indonesia and the Malay World, 31(89), 140–150.

Colonial Reports Sarawak. (1947). London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Colonial Reports Sarawak. (1948). London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Colonial Reports Sarawak. (1949). London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Colonial Reports Sarawak. (1958). London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Crain, J. B. & Pearson-Rounds, V. (2011). Place, persons and power: Lundayeh/Lun Bawang and post-Christian narratives. Sarawak Museum Journal, 69(90), 1–22.

Datan, I. (1989). A brief ethnography of the Lun Bawang of Sarawak. Sarawak Museum Journal, 40(61), 143–156.

Datan, I. (2011). Traditional earthen crocodile effigies of the Lun Bawang in Sarawak: functions, origin and significance. Sarawak Museum Journal, 69(90), 23–42.

Deegan, J. L. (1973). Change among the Lun Bawang, a Borneo people (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Douglas, R. S. (1909a). Visit to the Kalabits of Ulu Baram. Sarawak Gazette, 39, 29–30.

Douglas, R. S. (1909b). The “Pun Mein” or salt springs of the Upper Baram. Sarawak Gazette, 39(527), 52–53.

Douglas, R. S. (1912). An expedition to the Bah country of central Borneo. Sarawak Museum Journal, 1(2), 17–29.

Eder, J. F. (1977). Modernization, deculturation and social structural stress: the disappearance of the Umbay ceremony among the Batak of the Philippines. Mankind, 11, 144–149.

Egay, K. (2012). Salt economy in the Krayan highlands, East Kalimantan. Borneo Research Bulletin, 43, 205–215.

Ewart, I. J. (2009). The documented history of the Kelabits of northern Sarawak. Sarawak Museum Journal, 66(87), 229–258.

Ewart, I. J. (2012). Social and material influences on the Kelabit dwelt environment. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements, 23(2), 7–20.

Gani, N. (2012). Salt production in Long Midang, Krayan, East Kalimantan. Borneo Research Bulletin, 43, 216–224.

Gani, N. (2019). Megalithic sites in Punang Kelapang, Upper Baram, Sarawak: a preliminary survey. Jurnal Arkeologi Malaysia, 32(2), 13–30.

Gani, N. (2020). Changing meanings of megalithic monuments in the Upper Baram, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Harrisson, T. (Ed.). (1938). Borneo jungle: an account of the Oxford expedition to Sarawak. Lindsay Drummond, Ltd.

Harrisson, T. (1951). Excavations in Borneo. Antiquity, 25(99), 153–155.

Harrisson, T. (1958a). Megaliths of Central and West Borneo. Sarawak Museum Journal, 8(11), 394–401.

Harrisson, T. (1958b). A living megalithic in upland Borneo. Sarawak Museum Journal, 8(12), 694–702.

Harrisson, T. (1959). World within: a Borneo story. Cresset Press.

Harrisson, T. (1962). Megaliths of Central Borneo and Western Malaya, compared. Sarawak Museum Journal, 10(19–20), 376–382.

Harrisson, T. (1973). Megalithic evidences in East Malaysia: an introductory summary. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 46(1[223]), 123–139.

Harrisson, T. (1974). The megalithic in East Malaysia - II: stone urns from the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 47(1[225]), 105–109.

Harrisson, T., & Tweedie, M. W. F. (1951). Excavation of Gua Bungoh in South-West Sarawak. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 60, 164–186.

Heimann, J. M. (2002). The most offending soul alive: Tom Harrisson and his remarkable life. Aurum Press Ltd.

Hitchner, S. (2009). The living Kelabit landscape: cultural sites and landscape modifications in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia. Sarawak Museum Journal, 66(87), 1–79.

Hitchner, S. & Bala, P. (2020). Traversing sacred stones in the heart of Borneo: transboundary ecotourism through the megalithic landscapes of the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia and the Kerayan Highlands of Kalimantan, Indonesia. Journal of Borneo-Kalimantan, 6(2), 84–97.

Hitchner, S. L., Apu, F. L., Tarawe, L., Aran, S. G. N. & Yesaya, E. (2009). Community-based transboundary ecotourism in the Heart of Borneo: a case study of the Kelabit Highlands of Malaysia and the Kerayan Highlands of Indonesia. Journal of Ecotourism, 8(2), 193–213.

Hoare, A. L. (2002). Cooking the wild: the role of the Lundayeh of the Ulu Padas (Sabah, Malaysia) in managing forest foods and shaping the landscape (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom

Hose, C. (1898a). The Kalabits of Baram. Sarawak Gazette, 28, 121–122.

Hose, C. (1898b). Baram monthly report. Sarawak Gazette, 28, 146–147.

Hudson, A. (1978). Linguistic relations among Borneo peoples with special reference to Sarawak: an interim report. In Sarawak linguistics and development problems, Number 3 in Studies in Third World Societies (pp. 1–43). Department of Anthropology, College of William and Mary.

Janowski, M. (1991). Rice, work and community among the Kelabit of Sarawak, East Malaysia. London School of Economics.

Janowski, M. (1995). The hearth-group, the conjugal couple and the symbolism of the rice meal among the Kelabit of Sarawak. In J. Carsten & S. Hugh-Jones (Eds.), About the house: Levi-Strauss and beyond. Cambridge University Press.

Janowski, M. (2003a). The forest, source of life: the Kelabit of Sarawak. British Museum.

Janowski, M. (2003b). Who’s in charge around here? Struggle for leadership in a changing world among the Kelabit of Sarawak. In S. Sparkes & S. Howell (Eds.), The house in Southeast Asia: a changing social and economic and political domain (pp. 95–113). Curzon-Routledge-NIAS.

Janowski, M. (2014). Tuked Rini, cosmic traveller: life and legend in the heart of Borneo. NIAS Press.

Janowski, M., & Barton, H. (2012). Reading human activity in the landscape. Indonesia and the Malay World. http://doi.org/10.1080/13639811.2012.709005

Kaur, A. (1998). Britain, Sabah and Sarawak, 1946-1963. In Economic change in East Malaysia. Studies in the economies of East and South-East Asia. Palgrave Macmillan.

Kelly, M. (2016). Public learning derived from institutional learning: the case study of the Kelabit Highlands Community Museum development. Journal of Public Pedagogies, 1, 7–17.

King, V. T. (1993). The peoples of Borneo. Blackwell.

Labang, L. (1958). An upland stone story. Sarawak Museum Journal, 8(11), 402–404.

Labang, L. (1962). “Married megaliths” in upland Kalimantan. Sarawak Museum Journal, 10(19–20), 383–385.

Lees, S. (1979). Drunk before dawn. Overseas Missionary Fellowship.

Lian-Saging, R. (1976/77). An ethno-history of the Kelabit tribe of Sarawak: a brief look at the Kelabit tribe before WWII and after (Unpublished Bachelor of Arts dissertation). Department of History, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

Lian-Saging, R., & Bulan, L. (1989). Kelabit ethnography: A brief report. Sarawak Museum Journal, 40(61), 89–118.

Lloyd-Smith, L. (2012). An early date from a stone mound (perupun) in the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak. Sarawak Museum Journal, 70(91), 117–126.

Lloyd-Smith, L., Gani, N., Mohd. Sherman, S. W., Appleby, J., Litah, S., Murphy, S., Nyiri, B., Paran, W. & White, N. (2017). Early Central Borneo Project: archaeological investigations in Pa’ Lungan, Kelabit Highlands (2013-2015). Sarawak Museum Journal, 78(99), 57–117.

Mashman, V. (2017). Stones and power in the Kelapang: Indigeneity and Kelabit and Ngurek narratives. In V. T. King, Z. Ibrahim & N. H. Hassan (Eds.), Borneo studies in history, society and culture (pp. 405–425). Springer Science + Business Media Singapore.

Mashman, V. (2018). A history of Lun Tauh “Our People” at the borders of the Kelabit Highlands: from warfare to the life of government and to the life of Christianity (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Malaysia.

Mognard, E., Tibère, L., Bala, P. & Poulain, J. (2021). Migrants as brokers of food heritage making: a case study of the Bario Food and Cultural Festival in Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia. Vivência: Revista de Antropologia, 1(57). http://doi.org/10.21680/2238-6009.2021v1n57ID27406

Molnar, A. K. (1997). Christianity and traditional religion among the Hoga Sara of West-Central Flores. Anthropos, 92, 393–408.

Morrison, A. (1988). Development in Sarawak in the colonial period: a personal memoir. In R. A. Cramb & R. H. W. Reece (Eds.), Development in Sarawak (pp. 35–47). Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University.

Murang, O. (1995). Kelabit salt: salt-making and its significance. In Gawai Dayak Celebrations 1995 (pp. 44–45). Dewan Suarah Souvenir Programme.

Nyiri, B. (2016). Chasing dragons through time and space: Martabani dragon jars in the Kelabit highlands, Sarawak, East Malaysia (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Leicester, United Kingdom.

Ooi, K. G. (1990). Education in Sarawak during the period of colonial administration. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 63(2), 35–68.

Porritt, V. L. (1997). British colonial rule in Sarawak, 1946-1963. Oxford University Press.

Rafee, Y. M., Awang Arshad, A. H., Siri, H., Jussem, S. W., Bala, P., Maying, D. & Aman Leong, S. N. (2019). Batuh Narit Arur Bilit of Pa’ Umor: a visual analysis onto a carved stone from the megalithic monuments of the Kelabit Highlands. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 7(6S5), 912–917.

Robbins, J. (2004). Becoming sinners: Christianity and moral torment in a Papua New Guinea society. University of California Press.

Rousseau, J. (1990). Central Borneo: ethnic identity and social life in a stratified society. Clarendon Press.

Runciman, S. (1960). The White Rajah: a history of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946. Cambridge University Press.

Schneeberger, W. F. (1979). Contributions to the ethnology of Central Northeast Borneo (Parts of Kalimantan, Sarawak and Sabah). Institute of Ethnology, University of Berne.

Schroter, S. (2010). The indigenization of Catholicism on Flores. In S. Schroter (Ed.), Christianity in Indonesia: perspectives of power (pp. 137–158). Lit.

Sellato, B. (2016). The Ngorek of the central highlands and “megalithic” activity in Borneo. In C. Jeunesse, P. Le Roux, & B. Boulestin (Eds.), Living and past megalithisms: interwoven approaches (pp. 117–150). Archaeopress.

Smith, A. D. (2015). On the classification of Kenyah and Kayanic languages. Oceanic Linguistics, 54(2), 333–357.

Southwell, C. H. (1999). Uncharted waters. Astana Publishing.

Sweet, J., & Horman, T. (2012). Museum development and cross-cultural learning in the Kelabit Highlands, Borneo. Museums Australia Magazine, 21(1), 23–26.

Sweet, J., & Kelly, M. (2013). Consultation unlocks interdisciplinary resources: a community museum evolving in the Kelabit Highlands, Malaysian Borneo. Museums Australia Magazine, 22(2), 27–29.

Sweet, J. & Kelly, M. (2014). Dynamics of cultural heritage development in Sarawak. In IIAS 2014: Proceedings of the Conference on State Policy and the Cultural Politics of Heritage-Making in East and Southeast Asia (pp. 1–16). Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Talla, Y. (1979). The Kelabit of the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak. Sarawak Report No. 9. C. Sather (Ed.), Sarawak Report No. 9. Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Tan, J. H. (2012). Brookes, the British, and Christianity: Christian missions and the State in Sarawak, 1841-1963. Genesis Books.

Toynbee, W. M. (1965). Educational progress in the Kelabit Highlands. Sarawak Gazette, 91(1289), 218–219.

Volkman, T. A. (1990). Visions and revisions: Toraja culture and the tourist gaze. American Ethnologist, 17(1), 91–110.

Yeo, A. W., Masli, A. B., Ong, S. C., Songan, P., Gnaniah, J., Hamid, K. A. & Bala, P. (2006). Lesson learnt in the development of applications for remote communities. Localisation Focus - The International Journal of Localisation, 5(1), 7–11.

Downloads

Published

2021-12-30

How to Cite

Gani, N. (2021). Religious Conversion and the Cessation of Megalithic Practice in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak. Journal of Borneo-Kalimantan, 7(2), 40–59. Retrieved from https://publisher.unimas.my/ojs/index.php/BJK/article/view/4401