SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI. MINAL AIDZIN WAL FAIDZIN

Dalam kerendahan hati ada ketinggian budi. Dalam kemiskinan harta ada kekayaan jiwa. Dalam kelembutan lidah ada juga keterlanjuran kata. Dalam gurau dan senda ada khilaf dan dosa. MOHON AMPUN DAN MAAF DI ATAS SEGALANYA. EID MUBARAK.



Ikhlas dari,
ABD SAMAT BIN KASAH & KELUARGA
Subang Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan

SELAMAT MENUNAIKAN IBADAH PUASA

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Surah Al-Baqarah Ayat 185

شَہۡرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانُ هُدً۬ى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَـٰتٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡهُدَىٰ وَٱلۡفُرۡقَانِ‌ۚ فَمَن شَہِدَ مِنكُمُ ٱلشَّہۡرَ فَلۡيَصُمۡهُ‌ۖ وَمَن ڪَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوۡ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ۬ فَعِدَّةٌ۬ مِّنۡ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ‌ۗ يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ بِڪُمُ ٱلۡيُسۡرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِڪُمُ ٱلۡعُسۡرَ وَلِتُڪۡمِلُواْ ٱلۡعِدَّةَ وَلِتُڪَبِّرُواْ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَٮٰكُمۡ وَلَعَلَّڪُمۡ تَشۡكُرُونَ (١٨٥)

The month of Ramadân in which was revealed the Qur'ân, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong). So whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadân i.e. is present at his home), he must observe Saum (fasts) that month, and whoever is ill or on a journey, the same number [of days which one did not observe Saum (fasts) must be made up] from other days. Allâh intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. (He wants that you) must complete the same number (of days), and that you must magnify Allâh [i.e. to say Takbîr (Allâhu-Akbar; Allâh is the Most Great) for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him. – Surah Al-Baqarah Ayat 185

Selamat Menjalani Ibadah Puasa. Semoga Allah SWT menerima puasa dan amalan-amalan lain yang kita tunaikan serta amal kebajikan yang kita lakukan di bulan Al-Mubarak ini. Amin.


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LAUNCHING OF THE MYSTIC OF BORNEO – KADAYAN

Readers might recall that on November 10, 2007 last year, the above book was featured in Reaping the Benefits. 7 months later, on Thursday, June 26, 2008 the book was officially launched by Sabah's Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun in Kota Kinabalu. Congratulations to Sdr Amde Sidik on the launching of his book entitled The Mystic of Borneo – Kadayan.









The author busy obliging requests for his autogaph. From right are Mr Thanda (Amde's teacher), Sindumin Assemblyman Ahmad Bujang and former Senator Isli Siput. (Pix courtesy of http://sikmading.blogspot.com/)










The launching ceremony was held at Sabah Society and attended by prominent Sabah Kadayan leaders amongst them were Y.B. Tuan Hj Ahmad bin Hj Bujang, ADUN Sindumin and Y. Bhg Datuk Hj Isli Hj Siput, ex-Malaysian Senator and a businessman. The presence of Mr G. Thanda, Amde’s former teacher in Government Junior Secondary School (GJSS), Sipitang was a touching moment for Sdr Amde Sidik.

The book is now available at major book stores nationwide and my message to all the Kadayans / Kedayans out there please get a copy. It is about Kadayan / Kedayan and by having a copy in your possession may help our children and the future Kedayan / Kadayan generation to know their root.

Once again I would like to congratulate Sdr Amde Sidik on the launching of his book entitled The Mystic of Borneo – Kadayan. Well done!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

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SIPITANG IN NATIONAL NEWS

New Straits Times, Monday, April 28, 2008

'Unsafe camps will be closed'

GUA MUSANG: The National Service Training Department has warned that it would close any of the National Service (NS) camps found to be unsafe for trainees as had been done to the Kubena Camp in Sipitang, Sabah on Wednesday.

Its director-general, Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil, said the closing of the Kubena Camp was because of a danger of landslides; the 343 trainees there have been moved to other camps in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia.

He said the camp was ordered to close temporarily to give time to its management to prevent the landslides before the third batch of trainees were taken in.

"We will make inspections and after that, if safety is still unsatisfactory, we will maintain the closure," Abdul Hadi said while visiting NS trainees at the Etnobotani Camp here yesterday.

According to Abdul Hadi, 270 trainees from Sabah and Sarawak and 73 from Peninsular Malaysia were enrolled at the Kubena camp.

"We used a Royal Malaysian Air Force C130 aircraft to transport the 73 back. They were placed in three camps in Selangor." - Bernama

THE NET: TO CUT OR NOT TO CUT?

Stories by Rozana Sani


Ruby feels the moves taken to censor the Internet are doomed for failure.


Muhamad Akmal says objectionable info can be countered with feedback.


Chan cites learning to recognise what is right or wrong is important.


Abdul Samat thinks that self-censorship is the most practical method.


Internet censorship seems to be gaining momentum as there is growing concern that certain information on the Web could lead to various sensitivities related to religious, moral, social, financial and political issues. Is this a step in the right direction, or another pointless exercise?

Blocking bad vibes



THE online environment where there is a free flow of information contains both good and bad, depending on one’s point of view. Some believe the “bad” content need to be controlled or suppressed from being accessed by the general public to stem negative actions or reactions – hence, the measure to censor the Internet as in the case of Indonesia and France.

Others think censorship of information is futile due to the underlying distributed technology of the Internet. For example, residents of a country that bans certain Web sites can easily find the content on servers outside the country. Hence, the need for other types of measures.

Trained architect, businesswoman and self-confessed serial blogger Ruby Ahmad strongly feels the moves taken to censor the Internet are all doomed for failure.

“We live in a highly wired, interconnected world and I can only think of one way to prevent users from not using the Internet ‘correctly’, and that is by preventing them from buying or using computers,” she said, tongue-in-cheek.

“Unsavoury content is deemed disgusting and unacceptable to some, but is very acceptable to others. It’s like the durian. I heard a food critic described it as perhaps the most revolting thing on earth. But personally, I quite like the D22!

“Law enforcement as an effective way to filter content is only possible if there is a unified global law in place. This is not possible as all countries have their separate agendas, goals, aspirations and other differing reasons,” she continued.

Student Muhamad Akmal Mohammad said rather than rely on content censorship which has technology limitations and inadequacies, a piece of objectionable information can be countered with feedback. This should be done in an intelligent manner, like answering the issues which were expressed by videos in YouTube, by producing videos, or maybe research papers.

“When it comes to sensitive issues, it is normal to see people get angry. It is, in fact, necessary to get angry to show that we are concerned about the issue, but being angry alone won’t help much in dealing with such issues and situations. Speculations arouse because people want to talk about something, but they actually don’t know much about it. Or even if they do know, they only know about it on the surface.

“If we are to provide them with what’s what, how’s how and why’s why regarding the issues they are speculating, we are actually doing two things here: putting a full-stop on the speculation, and spreading the truth. Isn’t that good?” said Muhamad.

For Janet Chan, chief executive officer of interactive marketing specialist Tyraco Sdn Bhd, learning to recognise what is right and what is wrong is the only way to avoid the negative impact of the Internet.

“The Internet, in my opinion, should not be barred as a medium unless it is necessary to keep check and balance of the most precious things on earth – which is life itself,” she shared.

Chan said a person would only know if something is right or wrong when he or she is exposed to, told or learn through experiences. And there is experience in abundance on the Net.

“Sometimes right or wrong can be very subjective in many different cultures on different things. Things could be white for me and white means good and black is considered bad or evil for many. But in some cultures, black means good and brave and white is the other way round, etc. The Internet can provide that kind of exposure for us to learn from different opinions and point of views,” she said.

Meanwhile, blogger Abdul Samat Kasah feels that Net censorship is not a long-term solution pertaining to issues like religion sensitivities, hate speech, pornography, excessive violence, bomb-making instructions, and information about crime, violence and drug use. Self-censorship, he feels, is the most practical method to overcome the woes of restricting or regulating Internet access.

“People would know what is on a particular site if they already knew how to get there. It is their responsibility to make their own decisions as to whether or not this material is appropriate for them. If they feel there is a possibility they might be appalled by this material, they can choose not to view it.

“If people are not sure about this material, or if they are in favour of it, then they take an acceptable risk when they choose to view it. Undoubtedly, this material should not be censored merely because some people cannot make rational decisions for themselves,” he said.

In conclusion, where restricting or regulating Internet access is concerned, Malaysia has to strike a balance where in one hand, we would like to narrow the digital divide and on the other hand, we want to take back what is given, he added.

SELF-REGULATION SHOULD BEGIN AT HOME

IN Malaysia, matters involving objectionable online content is governed by the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA ‘98) that covers the main areas for electronic content issues. There is also the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Content Code (Content Code), enforced by the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia (CMCF), covering the do’s and don’t’s that is to be adhered to by the communications and multimedia industry.

According to CMCF’s executive director Mohd Mustaffa Fazil Mohd Abdan, the body had received several complaints on issues over Internet content that took various forms in the past.

Where complaints were of a seditious nature, inciting racial disharmony or in any other form that contravenes the provisions of the Act that is further expanded by the Content Code, the CMCF will take the necessary action via its Complaints Bureau.

“Through the bureau, appropriate actions may be taken by either the CMCF itself or the case may be referred to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), or even the complainant may be advised to lodge a police report if need be. We may also liaise with our members who are specialists in the industry to advise and implement any action to be taken,” he said.

“As the public may be unaware of our role, the number of complaints received have not been immense. However, we hope to change this through future awareness programmes,” he added.

Mohd Mustaffa said the CMCF is a strong proponent of having “self-regulation” in place for the industry.

“As we are the designated body for industry self-regulation, we continuously urge the industry and members of the public to exercise it. The key to self-regulation is that it begins at home,” he stressed.

As for the content, whether it may be “savoury” or “unsavoury”, it may be accessed with considerable ease nowadays. The responsibility to ensure that only desirable content is consumed lies with the individual. An individual should be his or her own moral guardian and to those under their respective care (for instance, children, students, etc).

“This is where the Content Code exists to provide a platform of guidance for the public and industry to determine what kind of content is considered desirable and acceptable,” said Mohd Mustaffa.

Individuals can play his or her part in dealing with “unsavoury” content via self-regulation or by lodging a complaint with the CMCF Complaints Bureau in writing, e-mail to secretariat@cmcf.org.my or filling out the online complaints form available on www.cmcf.org.my.

“In the global sphere, should there be any offences that may be committed abroad and having its effect locally, the CMCF will work with the MCMC as the appropriate body to deal with such issues,” he added.

THE NET: TO CUT OR NOT TO CUT?

Tech&U Channel of New Straits Times today's edition (Monday, April 28,2008)is featuring an article (cover story) entitled "THE NET: TO CUT OR NOT TO CUT". Several comments by the general public, including my comments are featured inside the article.

The article is written by Tech&U editorial, Rozana Sani. To know more about the contents of the article please get a copy of today's edition of NST newspaper. The full article will be published in this blog tomorrow (Tuesday, April 29, 2008). - Blog Administrator

Comments from Sdr Arkin Hj Garai on SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO LAKUTAN RIVER (MESAPOL RIVER)

Sdr Arkin Hj Garai









Here is an interesting comment from a friend of mine (pic) which he emailed to me this morning. Thank you so much for his kind attention on my articles published in the blogs. Thank you so much. - Blog Administrator

QUOTE - "Yang kau caaita dalam artikal "Tambuakaa Sungai Mesapol" - ku fikir lebeh sesuai ikan tu di damaii KASILI. Ai ku damit biani kami bajaul di limbauuh sungai di kg Pantai pun sepupu ku luih lauk yg macam uja mu atu cuma damit dikit (macam lamak batis), lauk tu kami galar kasili. Mun tambuakaa ani sandi dikit - ia lebeh merupakan hidupan "jadi-jadian".
Coba kau tanya2 dangan lain.

Nice article. TQ
Arkin" - UNQUOTE

Keeping Kedayan Heritage Alive

As promised, depicted below is the full article entitled Keeping Kedayan Heritage Alive as featured in Tech&U Channel of New Straits Times on Monday, March 24, 2008. The Blog Administrator wish to express his sincere gratitude to Cik Rozana Sani, Tech&U Editorial for her effort featuring this article in the country's most esteem print media. Thank you. - Blog Administrator



by Rozana Sani

MANY Malaysians would probably draw a blank look if asked whether they know of the Kedayan, even if they have Kedayan blood in their heritage. This is where freelance consultant Abdul Samat Kasah wants to play a role.

A Kedayan by birth, the 54-year-old who resides in Subang Jaya has made it his cause to share and impart what he knows about his cultural heritage through his blog, Fast Forward.

“I come from a minority ethnic group called Kedayan (pronounced as Kadayan in local dialect). The Borneo Island is the ancestral land of the Kedayan,” he shares.

The Kedayan are largely found in Brunei, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan. The majority of the Kedayan in Sabah are found in Sipitang, Labuan, Beaufort and Papar, whereas in Sarawak they are mostly in Lawas, Limbang, Miri (Sibuti and Bekenu) and a small number in Bintulu.

“There is very little information and resources about the Kedayan people in cyberspace. My blog is one of the few resources available specifically designed to focus on the Kedayan cultural heritage written in a different manner and style. It is narrated in such a way shifts the paradigm from the traditional way of writing articles about cultures and traditions as found in most books,” Abdul Samat tells Tech&U.

Biodata

Abdul Samat Kasah is a true-blooded Kedayan of Sabah origin. He was born in Kampung Mesapol in Sipitang district.

His early education started in 1960 where he attended GPS (Government Primary School) Mesapol. After completing his primary education, he proceeded his secondary education at GJSS (Government Junior Secondary School) Sipitang up to Form 3 and subsequently did Forms 4 and 5 at Sabah College in Kota Kinabalu.

Abdul Samat is an electronic engineering graduate from Brighton Polytechnic (now University of Brighton) in the United Kingdom in 1981. Prior to that, he obtained his Diploma in Communication Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

He served Jabatan Telekom Malaysia and Telekom Malaysia Berhad as technical assistant and engineer in various fields, including transmission, switching and civil aviation.

He also served in non-engineering fields such as training, human resource and security management.

Abdul Samat is an associate member of Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia.

He can be contacted at askasah@gmail.com.

A story to tell

AS Kedayan readers navigate through the articles written in the blog, Abdul Samat says they would probably realise that the contents of the blog are reminiscence of their life story and experience, from their childhood days to wherever they are now.

“For the new Kedayan generation who have not undergone the tough and challenging childhood days experienced by my generation, the articles found in the blog would provide them with interesting reading materials that can be verified through their living parents and elders. In this manner, their parents and elders, particularly those who do not have the opportunity to narrate their life story to their grown-up children would be saved from doing so just by reading the articles in the blog.”

The articles depicted in the blog are written in English. Abdul Samat says this is done so as to encourage the new Kedayan generation in particular and other readers in general to appreciate English as their second language.

Getting hits

ABDUL Samat started Fast Forward on Nov 6 last year, which to-date has recorded over 2,700 hits.

“Inviting traffic to the blog is not a simple task, particularly reaching out to the Kedayan communities or individuals in Sabah, Sarawak, Peninsular Malaysia, Brunei and Kedayans living overseas. I used all the available resources and platforms in cyberspace to reach my target audience – community portals, groups, forums, blogs, Web sites, e-mail, etc,” he says.

Abdul Samat finds the response encouraging so far. Fast Forward, he says, must be read together with his other blog entitled

Reaping the Benefits (http://itsurday.blogspot.com). Some of the page elements available in Reaping the Benefits are not repeated in Fast Forward.

“Readers would be able to see that Reaping the Benefits is heavily populated with various features. Page elements such as video clips, Web links and friends’ blogs are not featured in Fast Forward. I have featured 19 page elements in Fast Forward all together, from contact form and playlists for Al-Quran, Kedayan songs and background music to Chatter Box and Counters to record hits, online visitors and live traffic feed,” he elaborates.

The reasons those features are displayed in the blog, he says, are simply to make it more interesting.

Readers can get those features and paste them in their blogs. In other words, the blog is a resource centre for all the needs and requirements of any blogger.

Readers can access the article online by clicking here.

KEEPING KEDAYAN HERITAGE ALIVE

Assalamualaikum wbt and Good Day,

Dear readers,

Tech&U Channel (page 17)of New Straits Times Newspaper today's edition is featuring an article entitled "KEEPING KEDAYAN HERITAGE ALIVE". The article is written by Rozana Sani of Tech&U editorial. If you would like to read the article and know more about "Keeping Kedayan Heritage Alive" kindly purchase a copy of NST newspaper (today's edition}.

The full article will be published in this blogsites tomorrow. Thank you for your support. - Blog Administrator

CHILDHOOD DAYS – ESSENTIAL SKILLS (Part 11)

The Transformation of Superstitions into Tradition

The Kadayan kids of my time were living in a unique environment where modernisation was not expected to arrive in the next twenty years or so then. We were surrounded by nature; our livelihoods, to certain extent were highly influenced by the environment we lived in. As mentioned several times in the previous articles the Kadayan people close relationship with nature from that of the forest, jungle, rivers, wild animals, birds, fishes and jungle produces (fruits, roots and shoots) were part of our upbringings.

Our elders taught us the skills on how to find food from mainly two sources; first from nature itself and secondly from traditional farming methodologies i.e. hill paddy, fruit trees, vegetables and roots. Food sources acquired from nature were considered as gift from Allah SWT to the Kadayan people. Such food sources were abundant and “free” and the only costs tied to them were our time and energy finding them.

The Olden Days Kadayan people were naturally superstitious, a common characteristic of the world’s tribal communities and great ancient civilisations. Superstitions amongst the Kadayan community are mostly linked to the belief that some form of rituals, choosing the right day, date, & time had to be performed or determined before performing or embarking on certain tasks to ensure safe, swift and successful implementation of the tasks. As time passed by, what used to be strong superstitions amongst the Kadayan people were transformed into merely a tradition without any significant influence to their faith as the professors of Islam religion. I have written some interesting articles related to the Olden Days Kadayan which may be of interest to the readers in my other blog entitled Reaping the Benefits. Please click here to find out more.





Long beans





When I was a small kid my late mother used to tell me not to plant leafy vegetables such as long beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, etc. on Saturday, the leaves would be swarmed and eaten by pests such as caterpillars (larva of a butterfly or moth) and grasshoppers. The other interesting situation as told by my late mother was to lick my palm and put it at the forehead by saying “Sia sia pun kaladina” when I have to leave the house before consuming any food that I was asked to do so. My late mother also used to ask me to touch the food such as rice, boiled tapioca, etc. before going out. Such action would ensure my safety while playing or performing any tasks outside the house. Our forefathers used to believe that by doing so it would neutralised the effect of “kapuhonan” believed to be the “invincible power” that caused accidents and injuries.

Other interesting examples with regard to the Kadayan people’s superstitions are as follows: -

1. Not to go out during “hujan panas” (raining with sunshine). Our forefathers used to believe that during “hujan panas” super natural beings would come out for a walk and to avoid stumbling with them, the kids were refrained from going out at the time. Breaching the code of conduct would cause the kids to suffer “kataguan”. “Kataguan” is a syndrome believes to be caused by invisible supernatural beings in contact with the humans. The common effects of “kataguan” are continuous crying, nightmares, high fever, and a more serious effect would be memory lapsed. If such symptoms persisted, our parents would call a spiritually competent person of the village to treat the effect of “kataguan”;

2. Not to play or perform any tasks at dusk. Our forefathers used to believe that such time is an accident prone time of the day and also the time when supernatural beings are roaming about to do their chores. My late mother used to give me the following advices (in Kadayan dialect): -




sunset





a. Jangan bamain aie malamaie (Don’t play at dusk)
b. Jangan tidoo aie malamaie (Don't sleep at dusk)
c. Jangan bakaaja aie malamaie (Don’t work at dusk)
d. Jangan basiul aie malamaie (Don’t whistle at dusk)
e. Jangan bagalap aie malamaie (Don’t crack jokes at dusk)

There were a lot of known Kadayan superstitions / traditions where some form of initiation rituals had to be performed prior to embarking or performing certain tasks the Kadayan people normally do. Depicted below are some of the situations: -

1. Opening of new settlement area or land for farming (Nataki). Click here to know more about Nataki.
2. Building New Houses (“Mahunjam”)
3. Planting paddy (especially “nugal & ngatam”}
4. Planting of cash crops
5. Marriages
6. Going hunting, fishing (Manuba).
7. Individual leaving the village for a long duration of time
8. Circumcision
9. etc.

Our forefathers used to believe that forest and jungle were the home of supernatural beings such as jin, iblis and shaitan. It was only appropriate before ones embark on a journey into the forest or jungle; some rituals had to be performed to ensure that the supernatural beings would recognise that the humans visiting their territories came in good faith not to make wars or create troubles.





kayu ara

The jin, iblis and shaitan, being supernatural beings would caused troubles to the humans regardless of the situations. It is their nature to trouble human beings anywhere. The kids of my time were well-informed of the dos and don’ts while in the forest or jungle. We were told to avoid places where supernatural beings love to stay such as in a gloomy places, large trees with buttress roots, a large parasite tree called “kayu aa” with hanging roots, large boulders, caves, etc. These are the places where supernatural beings are likely to be found and to avoid those places at all costs. Being small kids we complied 100% with our parents’ advice and never come close to those places. Another good advice from our elders pertaining to our forest or jungle adventures are as follows: -

a. Never mention to each other if we see extra ordinary “things” while in the forest or jungle;
b. Do not crack any jokes, talk loudly or whistling (basiul);
c. Never harm insects and small animals;
d. Never throw any food remnants (rice, fish bones, etc.) all over the places;
e. If we need to consume fish we caught while in the jungle in a simple barbeque style, the “stomach / belly” part had to be taken out. We were told that the supernatural beings would recognise the smell from the smoke whether the fish belly is taken out or other wise. The supernatural beings would be very angry if fishes were barbequed with its belly in and thus creating whirlpool of wind (twister) that disturbed the serenity and tranquillity of the jungle. If such situation persisted, we have only two options, firstly try to “persuade” the beings to stop the twister or secondly run away as fast as we could from the “disaster zone”. I would take the second option!

To be continued…

GOT NOTICED BY THE MEDIA AGAIN

Tech&U Channel of New Straits Times

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Cik Rozana Sani and her Tech&U Team for their excellent research work in tracking down my uniform resource locators (urls) and featuring them in their esteemed newspaper. Thank you.- Blog Administrator






By Tech&U Team







Depicted below is the full article entitled Rise of Silver Bloggers as featured in Tech&U Channel of the New Straits Times newspaper today's edition (Monday, February 25, 2008)- Blog Administrator

RISE OF SILVER BLOGGERS (Full article)

QUOTE - Forget coffee shops, gardening and crossword puzzles. Blogging, often considered the domain of the young, is gaining a foothold as a new leisurely option for the middle-aged and senior citizens alike.

Sharing wisdom and experience

THE Internet and its spin-offs such as social networking sites and blogs are not just for the younger generation as the middle-aged and senior citizens, although small in number, are also fast in adopting such modern communication tools for various reasons.

Based on Tech&U’s Internet survey on Web sites and blogs, there are quite a number of blogs belonging to people in this age group. And the topics of the blogs are diverse and colourful, reflecting the wisdom, experience and many moods of these silver bloggers.

Some examples are Seeing Malaysia My Way, Bibliobibuli, Dari Dapur Makcik Kampung and Di Bawah Rang Ikang Kering.

“I enjoy writing and getting things off my chest,” said Tengku Mohd Ali Bustaman, the writer of Di Bawah Rang Ikang Kering (http://bustamann.blogspot.com/).

Pokku, as he is fondly known, is a 63-year-old pensioner from Kuala Lumpur. For him, blogging is one way to inform and entertain his children who are all abroad. He started blogging since August 2004 and has since attracted a string of followers.

“Others have come to appreciate my stories and occasionally my advice and voted my blog as the Best Malaysia Blog in 2004 (http://simonworld.mu.nu/archives/056981.php),” said Pokku, who writes mostly about his home State, Terengganu, and social commentaries.

Pokku’s love for blogging began with a comment on a post in one of his daughters’ blog.

While most senior citizens might find technology or computers a no-no, this is not the case with Pokku.

“I was computer literate even before the PC became a household item. I set up a national computer club, Commodore Users Exchange, in 1985,” he said.

For Penangite Peter Tan, his blog, The Digital Awakenin (http://www.petertan.com/blog/), is a reflection of his life as a wheelchair user trying to enjoy life to the fullest.

A blogger for the past five years, Tan is a peer counsellor for the Independent Living Programme for People with Disabilities in Malaysia and also for the Kuala Lumpur Independent Living Centre.

“In the beginning, it was just about myself. Then my mother who had leukaemia became severely ill. It became a place for me to express my fears, insufficiencies, desperation, helplessness and eventually grief when she passed away,” he said.

The next phase of Tan’s blog chronicles his involvement in the Independent Living Movement that took him on a journey to Tokyo, Bangkok and Seoul.

“Advocacy is part of the Independent Living Movement. It was an awakening and realisation of my place in society as a disabled person and the rights I have as a citizen of this country. It traces my work in advocacy and promoting equality of opportunities for disabled people in the areas of accessibility to public transport and built environment,” he said.

“In between those are stories of my life, issues related to spinal cord injury, my friends, the people I have met, the places I have been to, faith, thoughts, opinions and everything else that caught my fancy.”

For Tan, blogging is a powerful tool.

“Where once disabled people had little avenues to express the frustrations that we face in society, we now can do it openly at very little cost. Our reach has become so much wider. Where once we could only tell to people we meet, now we can tell it to everyone who has an Internet connection,” he said.

To date, Tan has posted slightly over 1,000 entries in his blog.

For Captain Yusof Ahmad, 60, from Kelana Jaya, his passion for blogging started in November 2006.

“I started blogging to record and share my thoughts, anecdotes, life experiences, etc. Lately, I got a bit ‘political’ in light of what’s happening in the country,” said the former pilot superintendent of the Klang Port Authority and pioneer general manager of West Port.

The owner of the blog The Ancient Mariner (http://cyusof.blogspot.com/) blogs as a means to express himself. “Perhaps this is much better than shooting the breeze with idle kopitiam talk,” he said.

Despite his age, technology is never an issue for Yusof as he has been quite computer savvy since his working days.

“I was quite active writing in a number of alumni and professional e-group Web sites and thought I might as well go ‘solo’ by blogging where I can command a wider international audience,” he said.

Freelance consultant Abdul Samat Kasah may only have some five months under his blogging belt, but he already has four blogs running. The 54-year-old, who hails from Subang Jaya, cites time as his major constraint in blogging, and not technology since he is an electronics engineer by training.

“What drives me to blog is my passion about Internet technology, my aim to document my life story, my ethnic cultural heritage and of course, to share my working experience with others. Depending on time availability, I update my blogs daily, weekly, fortnightly or even monthly. You can see the transaction from my blogs,” he said.

The uniform resource locators for Abdul Samat’s blogs are http://itsurday.blogspot.com/, which focuses on current affairs, cultural heritage, religion, etc; http://darahkedayan.blogspot.com/, which is essentially about his life story; http://wiratidakdisanjung.blogspot.com/, which focuses on his working experience; and http://simply-kedayan.weebly.com/, which is on his ethnic group done up in the Kedayan dialect.

The Kedayan reside in Brunei, Labuan, Sabah and parts of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

Convenient and cheap way to keep in touch

Ismail Omar seems to view the hype in blogging today as a natural progression from earlier tools made available on the Internet combined with convenience to communicate with friends and relatives.

“I started blogging since 1994 on the Geocities site. I am not a serious blogger as I really do not have much to tell the public, unlike some of our famous bloggers,” said the 68-year-old electrical engineer who has been residing in Kuala Lumpur since 1970.

His blog, Teh Tarek Kurang Manis (http://labokin.blogspot.com), mainly focuses on his family and friends and their golfing achievements.

He confesses that he seldom updates his personal blogs, but he updates two Blogspot pages regularly for two Toastmasters clubs where he is a member. He also runs a Yahoo group and a Google group for some of his friends.

“I like seeing my work published online even though I know no one else reads it. It is also a means of keeping in touch with friends and family. I think more people should take an interest in this aspect of keeping in touch. It is a very cheap method. You just need a PC and broadband connection, and the rest takes care of itself,” Ismail said.

For “bokjae”, a retiree and full-time home caregiver to his stroke-survivor wife, blogging is a means through which both of them can reconnect with others in the world.

In his early 60s, bokjae created a blog in late November 2006 at the encouragement and help from a good friend, Doris, a much younger work-at-home mum who hosts a couple of successful blogs.

Listening..Learning..Living (http://jangbokjae.blogspot.com/) is about living, and sharing bokjae and his wife’s life experiences as well as their journey through a stroke from a survivor’s angle and a caregiver’s viewpoint.

“As a full-time home caregiver to a stroke survivor, we are very much home-bound. Places that we used to go are no longer easily accessible. I am not saying that we have a lot of spare time. In fact, it’s the opposite – caregivers never have enough time.

“However, blogging provides an avenue where one can keep in touch with other people and learn from others who are going through similar experiences and of course, make new friends through social networks, all from the comfort of your home,” bokjae said.

Another enticement, according to him, is that through blogging one can make some pocket money.

“To me, it’s better than spending all the time on golf courses, mahjong tables, chatting at coffee shops, which I notice many retirees tend to do and this often leads to arguments. As I venture into blogging, I begin to realise that it is also a place for ongoing learning.”

Bokjae also pointed out that blogging does not need much technical know-how.

“It’s a matter of interest and desire to learn. Age is not an obstacle. Of course, English being the language on the Internet, it would be easier for those who know English. However, there are blogs in other languages, too!”

On how often he updates his blog, bokjae said he does not follow any hard and fast rules, but advice by top bloggers is to write every day, not blog every day.

“In the whole of 2007, I had done 393 posts, so it averages to one post a day. At times, I do a couple of posts in a day, but at times nothing for at least a week. Of course, if you neglect your blog for too long, then your readers would leave or think you have ‘closed shop’, so to say.” - UNQUOTE

Readers can access the article via http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/techNu/Monday/CoverStory/20080225123522/Article/index_html

GOT NOTICED BY THE MEDIA AGAIN

Tech&U Channel of New Straits Times

RISE OF SILVER BLOGGERS

If you care to read New Straits Times today’s edition (Monday, 25 February 2008) under Tech&U channel, you would be able to see a front page illustration of a silver blogger. Tech&U (Monday edition) is featuring blogging activities by middle-aged and senior citizens.

Once again, the writer of the four blogs namely Reaping the Benefits, Fast Forward, Simply Kedayan and Unsung Heroes got noticed by the media and is being featured in today’s edition of Tech&U channel of NST newspaper.

The full edition of the Rise of Silver Bloggers will be published in this blog as soon as possible. For early sneak preview of the article, quoted below are the paragraphs mentioning the writer and his four blogs for your reading pleasure.

QUOTE – Freelance consultant Abdul Samat Kasah may only have some five months under his blogging belt, but he already has four blogs running. The 54-year old, who hails from Subang Jaya, cites time as his major constraint in blogging, and not technology since he is an electronic engineer by training.

“What drives me to blog is my passion about internet technology, my aim is to document my life story, my ethnic cultural heritage and of course, to share my working experience with others. Depending on time availability, I update my blogs daily, weekly, fortnightly or even monthly. You can see the transactions on my blogs.” He said.

The uniform resource locators (url) for Abdul Samat’s blogs are http://itsurday.blogspot.com/ which focuses on current affairs, cultural heritage, religion, etc; http://darahkedayan.blogspot.com/ which is essentially about his life story; http://wiratidakdisanjung.blogspot.com/ which focuses on his working experience; and http://simply-kedayan.weebly.com/ , which is on his ethnic group done up in the Kedayan dialect.

The Kedayan reside in Brunei, Labuan, Sabah and parts of Sarawak on the Island of Borneo.-UNQUOTE

A caption of Fast Forward front page is also depicted in the article featuring Rise of Silver Bloggers (page 4 of Tech&U channel).

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Cik Rozana Sani and her Tech&U Team for their excellent research work in tracking down my uniform resource locators (urls) and featuring them in their esteemed newspaper. Thank you.

SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO LAKUTAN RIVER (MESAPOL RIVER)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
وَأَلۡقَىٰ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ رَوَٲسِىَ أَن تَمِيدَ بِڪُمۡ وَأَنۡہَـٰرً۬ا وَسُبُلاً۬ لَّعَلَّڪُمۡ تَہۡتَدُونَ

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Firman Allah SWT di dalam Surah An-Nahl Ayat 15 yang bermaksud,

Dan Dia mengadakan gunung-gunung di bumi supaya bumi itu tidak goncang bersama kamu, (dan Dia menciptakan) sungai-sungai dan jalan-jalan agar kamu mendapat petunjuk – Surah An-Nahl Ayat 15

(And He has set up on the earth, mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and rivers and roads; that ye may guide yourselves – Surah An-Nahl Ayat 15)




Polluted River




The Kadayan people in our village seldom called Lakutan River by its name; they simply called the river as “Sungai Basaa” literally translated as “Big River”. If my memory served me right there were a few well known “limbauh” along the river (mostly upstream) such as Limbauh Chandung, Buka, Paha, Kibit and Bangkala and many more.

Lakutan River or Sungai Basaa is synonym to the Kadayan people of Mesapol. The river “belongs” to the Kadayan people and no other ethnic group could claim that the river “belongs” to them. Its existence was meant for the Kadayan people, providing them with abundant food supply; it is their life line and I for one am greatly indebted to the river and proud to be associated with the river.





Quarry activities in action




A couple of years ago, my childhood friend told me that Sungai Basaa now has been badly polluted by the logging and quarry activities upstream, I was so annoyed by the disturbing news only to direct my anger to the people who are motivated by greed with absolute neglect of the environment and the “living” Lakutan River which has been so generous to the Kadayan people for generations. If the logging and quarry activities are not stopped immediately, I am afraid the Lakutan River and its famous limbauh Chandung, Buka, Paha, Kibit and Bangkala and many others would be history and only to be remembered by a few elderly village folks like me. This is the very reason why I am creating this blog, to create awareness and documenting memoirs of my childhood days for the new Kadayan generation to read, appreciate and understand the importance of paying respect for the environment and keeping records of our historical pasts.




Serene, Tranquil and Peaceful




The used to be serene, tranquil and peaceful Lakutan River populated by its natural habitat of variety of fishes, crustacean, reptiles and mammals is now doomed to oblivion. The serenity of Lakutan River was best described by its crystal clear water cascading through natural river rocks and pebbles (batu kaangan) and I can still remember very well that as the morning sun ray penetrated the heavy foliage covering some parts of the river, I could see the so natural water evaporation process by its misty appearance above the water surface. It was an awesome sight! Just amazing!

As I stepped into the water, the tiny prawns would congregate around my feet and tickled them with their minute claws as if they were telling me not to disturb their beautiful home. Even the tiny fry like “bantang” would come all around me biting softly almost every parts of my skinny body as if they were giving the same message as the tiny prawns just did. For those who understand, the message is clear. I am not an environmentalist BUT I value nature, its beauty, serenity, tranquillity and peacefulness that God has created for mankind. The Lakutan River and all rivers for that matter deserved to be treated with great care and respect.



The Lakutan River was once upon a time a home of Kadayan “legendary snakes” called “TAMBUAKAA” in Kadayan dialect. “Tambuakaa” is not a myth or a legend, it was REAL. I have seen it with my very own eyes sometime in 1960 or 1961. The reason I called it as “legendary snakes” is simply because the description of “tambuakaa” as told by our elders were over emphasised having fiery eyes, the scales are as big as a “cuik” (saucer) and its length and size is about the length and size of a coconut tree.

Ninik Nasir (pronounced as Nasee in Kadayan dialect) who was our immediate neighbour caught the “tambuakaa” single-handed from one of the “limbauh” in Sungai Lakutan which I am unable to recall the “limbauh” name. It was about 15 feet Long, dark brown in colour with grey spots all over its body (from head to tail). Ninik Nasee was one of the few remaining Kadayan elders of our village who was spiritually competent at the time. Not a single living soul in our village ever caught a “tambukaa” and when Ninik Nasee caught one, it was indeed a big surprise to everyone. All the village folks congregated to our neighbourhood to have a glimpse of the “tambuakaa” caught by Ninik Nasee. Beside my late father, I was one of the first few to have a glimpse of the legendary “beast”.





Kali Sungku (Mastacembelus Circumcinctus)





At first glance, I thought it was a python which is commonly found in our neighbourhood, but looking at the head and the tail and the dorsal fin, definitely it was not a python. Having a closed look at the animal, Ninik Nasee, my late father and a couple of village folks collectively agreed that the “tambuakaa” caught was actually an OVER-GROWN / OVER-SIZED KALI SUNGKU. Kali sungku is a common eel like fish with elongated / protruding mouth, thorny dorsal fin and a tail just like a cat fish tail. The standard size of a kali sungku (picture), scientifically known as mastacembelus circumcinctus is about one to one and a half foot in length.

According to Ninik Nasee, who was hardly 5 foot tall, it took him about four hours to land and over power the 15-foot legendary “beast”. Firstly, catching a 15-foot “tambuakaa” was indeed not an ordinary catch and the person who fished it out was indeed not an ordinary catcher. Secondly, the distance Ninik Nasee had to endure carrying / pulling the “animal” from the river to his house was definitely more than 2 miles. Where did that great energy come from! Just incredible!

It was just a pity that an imaging technology known as photography was not available to the Kadayan community at the time. Should a camera was available then; such an image would be priceless! Nevertheless, I am lucky to be still alive to tell the tale of the Kadayan’s legendary snake called “TAMBUAKAA”.

The legendary “tambuakaa” was not consumed but was buried respectfully by the village folks. That was the first and the last Kadayan’s legendary “tambuakaa” ever caught in the history of Mesapol’s Kadayan and with the river’s current dilapidated state, I doubt the “tambuakaa” ever survive again and I can safely declare that the species is forever extinct.



The continuous blatant disregard of the environment particularly by the logging and quarry activities had caused ecological imbalance, thus nature would take its cause to correct the imbalance by destructing the serenity, tranquillity and peacefulness of the environment. Greedy people could not care less about the environment because their object is to make as much money as possible at the expense of every thing including the most precious gift of all given by God to mankind i.e. the environment we live in.

Observing the slow and agonising death of the most resourceful river of the Kadayan people is indeed a gruesome, intimidating, shameful and ugly episode in Kadayan history. The logging and quarry companies are controlled only at the most by five Board of Directors respectively, against army of people from the law enforcement agencies, Kadayan community leaders, the whole Kadayan population within the vicinity and two prominent Kadayan leaders, the ADUN and MP respectively yet we succumb ourselves at the mercy of a few people by only helplessly watching the Lakutan River to suffer the slow and agonising death.

With the general election just around the corner, I just hope the new democratically elected representatives of the rakyat both at the State and Federal level to spend a few minutes of their “precious” time to care for the environment particularly the logging and quarry activities that had caused unimaginable suffering to our most resourceful river i.e. the Lakutan River.

CHILDHOOD DAYS – ESSENTIAL SKILLS (Part 10)

Tuba (cont….)



Traditionally, the Kadayan village head would determine the frequency of “manuba”. Under normal circumstances the “manuba” festival is an annual affair or depending on the fish population in the river. The Kadayan people are expert in determining the fish population and their sizes and the types of fish residing in the “limbauh”. The methods used to determine such situation were crude yet effective. Some of the methods used were through observation in which the village folks were asked to go to the selected “limbauh” to see if there were any indications that the “limbauh” was heavily populated such as movements created by the fish at the water surface. Such movement is called “tunggap” in Kadayan dialect. “Tunggap” is an action by the fish gasping for air at the water surface or fish trying to capture its prey such as large insects and small animals or falling / floating fruits and nuts at the water surface. If the “limbauh” is populated by lots of fish, then the frequency of “tunggap” would be very regular. Bigger fish normally produced more dramatic “tunggap” where the splashing would be stronger and there were occasions that larger fish would jump out from the water as well.





Tapioca Plant



The other common method used by the village folks was simply to fish at the “limbauh” using “hamboo” instead of normal fishing rods. “Hamboo” is used to catch bigger fish, whereas rods and lines are for smaller fish. Logically speaking when the “limbauh” is heavily populated with fish, then the catch would be bountiful. Another common method used by the village folks to determine the fish population was by throwing tapioca leaves into the “limbauh”. Larger fish such as “tuyan” and “pulihan” love to eat the tapioca leaves where the fish upon noticing the impact of the leaves at the water surface would instantaneously grasp the leaves with dramatic splash.

Satisfied with the results of their site survey, the village folks would return to the village to give a SITREP (situation report) to the village head, The village head would convene a meeting attended by senior village folks to determine the date of the “manuba” festival and the necessary preparations to be undertaken prior to the festival,

“Tuyan” and “pulihan” were highly sought river fish by the Kadayan people. Both types of fish were considered as delicacy even until today, where a kilogram of “pulihan” may fetch up to RM85.00 and sometime even more. In my childhood days, the “tuyan” and “pulihan” population were still abundance in Lakutan River or sometime called Mesapol River.

To be continued....

CHILDHOOD DAYS – ESSENTIAL SKILLS (Part 9)

In this series of my life story, I would like to share a few more must-have skills of Kadayan kids of my time.

As mentioned several times in the previous series of this article, river is the food supply chain particularly for fish, prawns, crabs, etc. which is the main source of protein for everyone in my village especially growing up kids of my time. There were several ways as taught by our elders how to catch fresh water fish, prawns and crabs from nearby rivers. The most common and simple methods are as follows:-

1.Fishing lines

We did not have the luxury of expensive fishing rods to use during our childhood days. Our fishing rods were made of dried palm tree known as “sungsum”. “Sungsum” is a species of palm tree with lots of thorns covering its trunk. “Sungsum” fruits are edible and very sour in taste.


Our fishing lines were simple just by tying nylon fishing line at the end of the “sungsum” rod about 8 – 10 feet in length. At the other end of the line is the fishing hook, a small lead and a float. That is it; we are ready to go fishing.

Earth worms were our favourite bait. Beside that we used “dadak” as bait as well to catch smaller fish like bantang, putihan, and limbungau. “Dadak” is made from rice flour mixed with a little bit of prawn paste (balacan) and water. The smell from the prawn paste attracts the fish to the bait.

Cat fish (keli & haruan), putingkang, daun buluh, kaok and prawns (udang galah, cancudik and bangkutut) were attracted to earth worms rather than “dadak”. Other baits used were crickets, maggots (hambataa), and sometimes little grasshoppers. Fishing fresh water fish was usually done in late afternoon and it constituted as part of our daily routine except for during pigeons’ season where we spent most of our time trapping the birds in the nearby forest.

In most cases we did not catch much fish but the catch was enough for our dinner and the next day lunch.

2.Bubu




Bubu



Bubu is a fish trap made of bamboo and rattan where once the fish and prawns were inside the “bubu” they would not be able to escape. The fish, prawns and crabs were lured into the “bubu” by special baits. The favourite baits for prawns and crabs were medium burnt tapioca and rubber seeds. The baits also attracted some fish like bantang, putihan, limbungau, putingkang and daun buluh.

Cat fish (kali) were caught by special bait known as “pangalaban” fruits. “Pangalaban” tree is native to Borneo Island and can not be found in Peninsular Malaysia.

There are two types of “pangalaban” fruits. The ripe fruits are being distinguished by their pink and green colours. The green ripe “pangalaban” fruits are known as “tamuda” and the pink ones are simply called “pangalaban.” Both fruits are edible, succulent and very tasty. “Pangalaban” fruits must be “cooked” prior to consuming them. The fruits contain some kind of toxin commonly known as “pahang” in Kadayan dialect. Never consume “pangalaban” fruits direct from trees; no doubt they are very tempting due to their attractive colours. The toxin could be very lethal that caused numbness in the tongue and mouth area and later attacks the nervous system. The “tamuda” is known to be containing less toxin.





Cat Fish





“Pangalaban” fruits are prepared for consumption by pouring boiling water into the fruits inside a container (normally a small basin) and the hot water needed to be drained out after about 5 minutes. Common salt is then added and mixed with the fruits. To ensure that the salts are properly mixed with the fruits, the fruits are turned and tossed by the action known as “tampi”.

“Pangalaban” fruits taste very much like avocado. The “pangalaban” seeds are very much similar to that of avocado as well in terms of colour (brownish) and shape except “pangalaban” seeds are smaller in size. Caution: Never consume “pangalaban” seeds, the toxin concentration in the seeds are extremely high. Even birds, squirrels and monkeys refrain themselves from consuming the seeds.

Only ripe “pangalaban” fruits are used as baits inside the “bubu”. The fruits are effective as baits for cat fish where within a few minutes the “bubu” is put inside the water, the cat fish start to enter the trap to consume the bait. The fruits are considered “magical” as far as its usage to catch cat fish is concerned. Personally, I used to catch full load of cat fish inside the trap. More often than not, eels are also attracted to the “pangalaban” fruits where I used to catch a few eels together with the cat fish. The Kadayan community in my village, I would say, seldom / do not consume the eels although it is permissible to do so in Islam. The reason, I think is its shape which resembles the snake. Most of the eels caught by the trap were let go into the river only to be caught again next time. In Japan eels are considered as delicacy. There are several eel’s farms in Malaysia, particularly in the State of Pahang where matured eels are exported to Japan as well as for local consumption.






River Eels





In Kadayan tradition, eels are used as “salusuh” to facilitate easy child birth. Eels are kept inside a container called “tajau” and the water from the container is drunk by the expecting mother on daily basis particularly upon reaching the ninth month of pregnancy. The Kadayan people believe that the water from the “slippery” eels would make child birth easier.

3.Pasoo

“Pasoo” is the most practical way of catching larger fish such as “tuyan” and “pulihan”. There is a drawback of “pasoo”, which is, it catches only a single fish at one time. It is made of the thorny part of a rattan plant. The thorns of the rattan plant are curvy (upwards) in shape. The thorny plant is cut into pieces to be made into “pasoo”. The idea is to position the curvy thorns inwards the “pasoo” to facilitate the fish to go inside but are hindered by the thorns for backwards movement.

4.Tuba





Tuba Plant (Derris elliptica)





“Tuba” is a poison vine and is commonly grown by village folks around their houses. It is the roots of the “tuba” plant that are useful to the Kadayan people. The juice from the “tuba” roots is whitish in colour and very lethal, especially to the fish. The juice of the “tuba” roots contains some kind of toxin known as rotenone which is used by the Kadayan people to “weaken” the fish both for fresh and sea water fish.

The “tuba” roots are cut into pieces about a foot in length and its juice is extracted by pounding the roots with a wooden bat. The pounding action would soften the roots to facilitate the juice extraction by squeezing them.

In a Kadayan community, “manuba” (verb) can be a big affair and in most cases it turned out to be a “festival” involving all the village folks, men, women and children. “Manuba” is an annual affair involving rituals and some form of spiritual powers. The village head would nominate an experienced and spiritually competent person to lead the “manuba” ritual.



The spiritual leader with a few companions would conduct a site visit to the part of the river where the “manuba” is going to be performed. The basic requirement for “manuba” is to have at least one “limbauh” along the river to be included in the flow-path of the “tuba” juice. “Limbauh” is a Kadayan word for a deep section of the river where bigger fish reside. If there are other “limbauh” within the vicinity, then the spiritual leader would include them as well.

There were cases that I have known at least three “limbauh” were included by the spiritual leader in the “manuba” festival.

The “manuba” festival was held in the morning. The village folks would congregate at the site determined by the spiritual leader bringing with them the fishing gears such as “siut, pukat, baangai, sangkap and not to forget cooked rice wrapped in “upih” for their lunch.

Before the “manuba” ritual is performed by the spiritual leader, several layers of fish net were installed across the river near to the last “limbauh” (down stream). The fish net with larger space size would be installed nearer to the last “limbauh” followed by smaller space size net one after another. The idea is to catch the biggest fish first and letting the smaller ones to pass through only to be netted by the next net so on and so forth.

The spiritual leader would call and instruct everybody to congregate behind him and under no circumstances anyone should be in the river or at river banks in front of the spiritual leader (down stream) when the ritual is about to begin. When the spiritual leader is satisfied that everyone are behind him, then the “manuba” ritual begins. The spiritual leader would chant some spells / incantations and begins to squeeze the “tuba” roots. He would not require much “tuba” roots to cover a river distance of 1 – 2 kilometres. By the way, I forget to mention that “tuba” roots are counted by “bingkas”. One “bingkas” consisted about 3 – 5 pieces of cut “tuba” roots tied together depending on their sizes. In most cases the spiritual leader would require one or two “bingkas” for the initiation rituals.




River Wave or Benak in Sarawak River




The moment the spiritual leader completed the initiation ritual, everyone were asked to be quiet and there we saw the true power of the Kadayan spiritual leader. The water start to produce bubbles as if the river is boiling stretching across the river banks slowly moving down stream and to everyone’s astonishment the fish, large and small were jumping up and down from the water. What a spectacular sight! The spiritual leader would wash his hands to indicate that the initiation ritual is complete and then the frenzy of catching the semi-conscious fish began.

The men were given the task to look after the fish nets down river and the women and children were enjoying catching fish at shallow water with their “siut” and “sangkap”. The fish were kept inside a “baangai” tied onto their backs.

The irony of the “manuba” ritual is that, logically speaking there is no way that a small amount of “tuba” juice would be effective to cover huge volume of water for a river distance of about 1 KM. The dilution process would take place almost immediately in a fast flowing river and not to mention the distance it has to cover! The dynamics behind the whole ritual is not the toxin from the “tuba” roots, but what is more important is the power of the spiritual leader.

Traditionally, the idea of “manuba” festival was not to poison and kill the fish. The idea is to “weaken” the fish to a semi-conscious state to facilitate easy catching. Very seldom we see dead and floating fish during “manuba” festival, but what we could see were fish reaching the surface grasping for oxygen in their semi-conscious state. The term used by the Kadayan people to describe the semi-conscious state is “hayong”. The fish in “hayong” state would resume consciousness after a few hours and would swim normally again, that is if they are lucky enough to escape the “siut” of the hungry village folks.

The memories of attending “manuba” festival with my parents would last forever. The “manuba” festival is A LOST TRADITION of the Kadayan people and the today generations of Kadayan people would not be able to experience such festival anymore due to the fact that the authority had banned the festival to safeguard the fish population and the prevention of several species of fresh water fish from extinction.

To be continued…….

CHILDHOOD DAYS – Essential Skills (Part 8)

ِبِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

"And eat of the things which Allâh has provided for you, lawful and good, and fear Allâh in Whom you believe". – Surah Al-Maeda Ayat 88

[Makanlah daripada apa yang Allah merezekikan kamu, yang halal dan baik; dan takutilah Allah, yang kepada-Nya kamu orang-orang mukmin.] – Surah Al-Maeda Ayat 88

In this series of my life story, I would like to share a few more must-have skills of Kadayan kids of my time.

Trapping birds and small animals

There were many types of birds and small animals in the nearby forest / secondary jungle of our village. We were taught by our elders which birds and small animals are edible and inedible according to our religion, Islam. The most common bird and small animal we used to catch were wild pigeon (buung punai) and mouse deer (palanduk). There were other edible birds such as “puagam” and wild chicken (hayam hutan) but they were too difficult to catch by small kids. Normally “puagam” and wild chickens were caught by elders and similarly larger animals like deer (payau) and antelope (kijang} were caught only by elders using sophisticated traps.

There were three methods commonly used by Kadayan people to catch wild pigeons (buung punai) namely jaat, malagau and pukat (fishing net). Before I go any further to describe each of the methods, I just would like to give a general overview of the bird called wild pigeon. Wild pigeon is native bird of Borneo Island and are found in Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan. As kids we were told that there were two types of pigeons namely “punai tanah” (ground pigeon) and “punai dahan” (literally translated as branch pigeon). Unlike “punai tanah”, “punai dahan” does not go to the ground to look for seeds and fruits but remains on tree tops most of the time.

The unique characteristic of the “punai tanah” is that despite the abundance of other fruits and nuts in the jungle, their favourite picks are still the sadaman fruits / seeds and interestingly the birds do not pick the fruits from trees but they come down to the ground looking for fruits and seeds.

The Kadayan people must have observed such unique habits of the wild pigeons and eventually devised methods to catch them by using “jaat” and “malagau”. Both methods are ground-based whereas the other method using the fishing net is air-borne.

Sadaman tree is found almost every where in the forest and secondary jungle. The trees do not grow very tall where the average height is around 20 – 30 feet at the most and the fruiting season is one or twice a year. The wild pigeons were in abundance during the fruiting seasons of the sadaman trees. The sadaman fruits are small, yellowish green in colour, covered with sticky resin like substance. Beside durian tree, sadaman tree is considered as an iconic tree amongst the Kadayan community due to its contribution to the food supply chain i.e. the much needed protein source from the wild pigeons.. The song entitled “daun sadaman” by Ibrahim Hj Diman is a tribute to the iconic tree and the readers can listen to the song provided in this blog.






Wild pigeon (buung punai)






Jaat

Jaat is a simple, yet effective trap to catch wild pigeons. The “jaat’ is constructed by using a strong thread, a stick / stem of a young tree (the size of adult male middle finger) of hard wood type as “bingkasan” and tiny tree branches as a holder of the thread tied from the “bingkasan”. The stick / stem of the young tree is pinned to the earth perpendicular to the ground level. The thread is tied at the top end of the stick / stem in which the other end of the thread is the adjustable knot or technically known as Adjustable Grip Hitch adjusted to about 2 feet in circumference. A tiny straight stem / branch of about one and a half inches in length is tied before the simple knot that would be fixed to the trap mechanism where the pigeon is expected to step onto it. When the pigeon steps on the trap, the “bingkasan” would be released immediately at high speed and snap the pigeon’s leg via the adjustable knot. Eureka!!! I just caught a pigeon.

Before “jaat” is installed, the ground under the sadaman tree is cleared of dried leaves, rotten tree trunks and small tree branches. The sadaman fruits are collected to be spread onto the cleared ground later as baits for the pigeons. Of course it is not sufficient to install only one “jaat”. On average we installed about 50 – 60 jaat that would guarantee good catch. Usually we came back to visit the jaat twice a day to harvest the catch and to do maintenance jobs like putting back the jaat to its normal position, clearing leaves and small branches and collecting sadaman fruits as baits.


The pigeon caught by the jaat is carefully untied from the trap to avoid dismembering its feathers from the body. Pigeon’s feathers unlike chickens are very soft and can be easily dismembered from its body. The pigeons are then carefully put inside a porous gunny sack for safe keeping. The gunny sack needs to be porous to prevent the pigeons from suffocation. The darkness inside the gunny sack keeps the pigeons calm. During the peak season, the average caught per day is around 20 – 30 birds. These birds are kept inside a special cage or rather a bird’s house and are fed with maize and sometime rice to be fattened before they are being slaughtered for consumption. When I was a small kid, I used to keep about 200 – 300 birds in a single bird’s cage. Such amount would be able to supply my family with enough protein for at least 3 – 4 months.

The birds are slaughtered according to Islamic rite, prepared and cooked. The pigeon’s can be cooked in variety of ways for example cook in curry, soup, deep fried, grilled and any way you like to suit your taste. The pigeon meat is very sweet and tasty.

Malagau

Literally speaking “malagau” means calling. It is derived from the word “lagau” (verb) and when applied to wild pigeons it means calling the birds. “Lagau” in Kadayan dialect is normally directed to human beings and a few “tame / domesticated” animals such as cats and chickens but seldom used to call wild birds and animals. So there is a catch here, malagau is not just imitating the chirping and singing of the wild pigeons to make them come to the caller, but it involves spiritual element here. Under normal circumstances, no matter how hard you try to imitate the chirping and singing of the wild pigeons, the birds would never come to you. I have tried this myself, where at the end of the day, not single birds came close to my location, not even a sign of them around me. As I have mentioned in http://itsurday.blogspot.com/ the spiritual and supernatural power are manifested in almost every aspect of Kadayan livelihood.

When I was a small kid, there were not many people in our village having the skill of malagau, may be just three or four people but there were elderly persons and all of them had passed away already. I used to follow and watch an elderly Kadayan man performing malagau when I was 10 or 11 years old. This is how it was done. A small hut is built or not even a hut, just a shack made of tree branches and leaves as hiding place for the caller. In Kadayan dialect we call the shack as “baumbun”. The most important device in performing malagau is a device called “suling” (flute). “Suling” is a musical instrument made from bamboo and strictly speaking, the sound of “suling” does not really mimic the chirping and singing of the wild pigeon. The other device used in "malagau" is a long stick attached with a simple knot thread at its end to catch the pigeon on its neck. The bird’s “landing area” is called “galanggang”, a small space in front of the shack cleared of dried leaves, tree branches and other objects that would hamper the process of catching the birds.




Fresh wild pigeon meat




An initiation ritual is done by the caller before the calling process is done. The ritual involves chanting of magical spells coupled with other physical things that last for a few minutes. When that is done the caller sits back inside the shack and starts to play his “suling”. It is hard to believe that all of a sudden the wild pigeons start to arrive, first the birds are perching on the tree branches and later they come down to the “galanggang” surrendering their necks to the caller to be caught and later ended up in a cooking pot.

Not every time the caller is lucky, there were occasions as told by the village elders where the sound of the caller’s “suling” attracted supernatural beings instead of the wild pigeons. We were told that the supernatural beings came in an impressive style by creating vortex of whirlwind / small scale twister around the vicinity where small trees were being uprooted and tree branches fell down due to the power of the whirlwind. The Kadayan elders who were skilful in performing “malagau” expected such predicament and their counter-measures were so effective that the whirlwind would stop immediately and within seconds everything would come back to normalcy.

“Malagau” is considered by Kadayan people as the most effective way of catching wild pigeons in large quantity. On a lucky day, a caller may catch a couple of hundreds birds and when they reach the figure, they’ll call it a day.

Fishing net

Kadayan people are very innovative in devising methods to catch birds, fish and wild animals. Fishing net, as the name suggests is used to catch fish in the river or at sea, but the Kadayan people used them to catch wild pigeons as well. The principle is the same, where in rivers and sea the target are fish whereas on air the target are birds such as wild pigeons.

The modus operandi (MO) of catching wild pigeons using this method is simple. The requirements are two very long wooden or bamboo poles and a stretch of fishing net of the right net space size attached to the poles. The net space size can be half an inch, one inch, so on and so forth. If the net space size is larger than the bird’s size, then the birds would be able to pass through.

In the evening, as darkness approaches, so are the wild pigeons rushing for home to their favourite trees. It is not difficult to exactly pin point the flight path taken by the birds because being birds they always follow the same route everyday. When the flight paths are identified, what is left is to erect the fishing net across the path and just wait.

The fishing net is made of clear, colourless nylon called “tangsi”. As darkness approaches, the birds’ eyesight would be very poor where the fishing nets are virtually invisible to the birds. Upon the arrival at the fishing nets, that would be the end of their flying session. Next would be the cooking pots.





Buung Taipas in the wild






Mundul Taipas

“Taipas” is a beautiful, small, green tropical bird of parrot family with red and blue patch under its neck and on its head respectively. “Taipas” is inedible, but they are caught as pets due to its natural beauty. In the 50s and 60s, almost every Kadayan households kept the birds as pet. “Taipas” are easy to maintain where their favourite food are ripe banana, papaya, sugar cane and surprisingly you wouldn’t like to hear this, its rice “mouth-digested” soften with lots and lots of saliva. The “taipas” loves it. Never feed the ‘taipas” with anything that contains salt. The birds will die in a matter of hours if they are being fed with salty food.

“Mundul taipas” is synonym to the Kadayan community in Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei Darussalam. My definition of “Mundul Taipas” is to catch birds called “taipas” by using similar bird placed inside a cage as the calling bird to attract the wild “taipas”, coupled with sticky glue like substance spread over a long stick placed on tree branches where the oncoming wild “taipas” would likely to perch.

There are a few rules to be observed when performing “mundul taipas”. Firstly, the knowledge of climbing trees. The wild “taipas” would never come to the ground or any height near to it. We have to climb until the tree tops to place the cage of the calling “taipas” and of course a stick with the glue spread all over it. Secondly the calling bird must possess special ability to chirp and sing that would attract other wild “taipas”. If you don’t have the climbing skill, don’t even think about “mundul taipas’.





Buung Taipas in a Cage




The glue like substance is actually derived from resin / latex of a “timbaan” tree. Timbaan tree can easily be found in the forest / secondary jungle of the Borneo Island. The resin / latex are collected and exposed to open air to coagulate. No hydrochloric acid (HCL) is required for coagulation. The glue is stored inside a small can (sardine or condensed milk can) and taken out as and when its usage is required.

When wild “taipas” is caught in a sticky situation, they are unable to escape until they are being taken out from their misery by someone. As cruel as it sounds but the birds actually are very safe and quite comfortable after the feathers and legs are massaged with coconut oil. It only takes one or two hours before the birds could fly normally again after they are being caught. The birds are kept inside a special cage ready to be sold or given as gift.

To be continued…….