Enter The Bidayuh

"The Bidayuh is a name of a tribe from Borneo island. They are a branch of the Borneo Dayak;Land Dayaks by the British (the former colonist in Sarawak). They are one of the main indigenous ethnic groups in Sarawak and now are settled in areas of southwest Borneo which is modern Kuching and Samarahan in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Bidayuhs can also be found adjacent areas of west Kalimantan. In Sarawak, most of the Bidayuh population are found within 40 km of the geographical area known as Greater Kuching, within the Kuching and Samarahan division. Today more and more Bidayuh have migrated, and live in Kuching, which is the capital city of Sarawak. They are the second largest Dayak ethnic group in Sarawak after the Iban."

~Excerpts from Wikipedia

Very little of that I know of my own culture. It is because we have a rather strange 'adat' or culture. Never talk about the dead. Never say your elders name. So when come to history, my family never talked about. Luckily this culture is slowly dying out.

With bits & pieces I picked during my years, I find out my own family had quite a colourful story. It was said that my great grandfather was abducted by the Iban & raised by them; given the name Barieng. When he was old enough he was sent back to his birth village to claim the lands which was rightfully his. My great grandpa came from the line of village heads & the his Iban family was hoping that he would claim the land on behalf of his Iban 'family'.

He came back to Bung Bratak, where he was born, married a Bidayuh girl & much to the chagrin of his adopted (abductee) family he remained in Bung Bratak; refusing to surrender what belong to the Bidayuh of Bung Bratak.

:-)

Nowadays, Iban & Bidayuh are very much on friendly term. Somehow the younger generations were not reminded that their ancestors have an 'enjoyable' bloody warfare for hundreds of years.

One thing that my ancestors did right.

I hope this would happen in some countries having civil war. Younger generations should not be raised in hatred. Some ghosts are better left buried.

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