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…….