Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Peoples & Cultures
Borneo's indigenous peoples, known collect-
ively as Dayaks, belong to scores of different
tribal groups that speak about 140 languages
and dialects. Some live on the coast, others
along the remote upland tributaries of great
rivers. A few generations ago, some tribes still
practised headhunting; today, many Dayaks are
well integrated into 21st-century economic life, and it's not unusual to meet university pro-
fessors, lawyers, government officials and airline pilots who grew up in longhouses.
Among the ancestors of today's Dayaks were migrants from southern China who came
to Borneo about 3000 years ago, bringing with them elements of the Dongson culture, in-
cluding irrigated rice cultivation, buffalo-sacrifice rituals and
ikat
(fabric patterned by tie-
dying the yarn before weaving). These newcomers mixed with native groups - people like
the cave dwellers of Niah - and eventually developed into more than 200 distinct tribes.
Stranger in the Forest
tells the extraordinary tale of
Eric Hansen's solo trek across Borneo and his en-
counters with various Dayak groups, including the
Penan.
Who's a Dayak?
Not all of Borneo's indigenous tribes refer to themselves as Dayaks, but the term usefully
groups together peoples who have a great deal in common - and not just from an outsider's
point of view.
Traceable back to about 1840, the term
'Dayak' (or 'Dyak') gained currency thanks to
its use by colonial authorities. It appears to be
derived from the last two syllables of 'Bidayuh',
itself an exonym (a name originally used by out-
siders). As a result, while contemporary Iban in
Sarawak think of, and refer to, themselves as Iban (although this term is also an exonym),
when they talk about Dayaks they are likely to be referring to the Bidayuh. However,
shared cultural practices, values and political, economic and environmental interests - and
several generations of Christian faith and inter-group marriages - make it a no-brainer for
different groups to work together. The only term that embraces everyone is 'Dayak'.
None of Sabah's indigenous ethnicities are particularly keen on using the term 'Dayak',
preferring instead to see themselves as Kadazan, Dusun, Rungus, Murut etc. Not so in Kali-
Indigenous non-Malays, mainly Iban and Kelabit,
account for less than 10% of Brunei's population.
