Society II + Regional Studies
08:45-10:15, June 16, 2013 (Amazon room)
Session Chair: Dr. Neilson Ilan Mersat
ISMSS 14
Withering Indigenous Knowledge : The Iban of Tawau, Malaysia.
Neilson Ilan Mersat & Spencer Empading Sanggin
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
(E-mail : mnilan@fss.unimas.my)
Keywords : Iban, Indigenous knowledge, Sabah, modernisation, migration
I. Introduction
Indigenous knowledge (IK) is defined as the local knowledge that is unique to a given
culture or society. It contrasts with the knowledge system generated by universities,
research institutions and private firms. It is the basis for local-level decision making in
agriculture, health care, food preparation, education, natural-resource management, and a
host of other activities in rural communities (Warren, 1991). Indigenous knowledge
encompasses the wisdom, knowledge, and teachings of these communities. In many cases,
traditional knowledge has been orally passed for generations from person to person. Some
forms of traditional knowledge are expressed through stories, legends, folklore, rituals,
songs, and even laws. However, in most cases there is a tendency for the indigenous
knowledge (IK) of the local community to be igniored though some 80 percent of the
word’s population depend on IK to meet their medicinal needs and at least half rely on IK
and crops for food supplies. Essentially, IK affects the well-being of the majority of people
in developing countries (Patrick Ngulube, 1995). The rapid change in the way of life of
local communities has largely accounted for the loss of IK. This paper examines how
“modernsiation” impacted the preservation and the sustainability of indigenous
knowledge of the Iban community in the district of Tawau.
II. Indigenous Knowledge and development
The basic component of any country’s knowledge system is its indigenous knowledge
(World Bank, 1997). It encompasses the skills, experiences and insights of people, applied
to maintain or improve their livelihood. Indigenous knowledge is developed and adapted
continuously to gradually changing environments and passed down from generation to
generation. It closely interwovens with people’s cultural values. Most indigenous people
have traditional songs, stories, legends, dreams, methods and practices as means of
transmitting specific human elements of traditional knowledge. Sometimes it is preserved
in artifacts handed from father to son or mother to daughter. Knowledge is transmitted
directly from individual to individual.
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Today, many indigenous knowledge systems are at risk of becoming extinct because of
rapidly changing natural environments and fast pacing economic, political, and cultural
changes on a global scale. Practices vanish, as they become inappropriate for new
challenges or because they adapt too slowly. However, many practices disappear only
because of the intrusion of foreign technologies or development concepts that promise
short-term gains or solutions to problems without being capable of sustaining them. The
disappearance of indigenous knowledge impacted those who have developed it and make
a living through it. But the implication for others can be detrimental as well, when skills,
technologies, artifacts, problem solving strategies and expertise are lost (World Bank,
1997).
One thing for sure is that the development process interacts with indigenous knowledge.
Brokensha (1980 : 7-8), argues that to ignore people’s knowledge is almost to ensure failure
in development. Schoenhoff (1993 : 11), also argues that IK is the key to local-level
development. However, the development strategy either relies entirely or substantially on
indigenous knowledge, overrides indigenous knowledge or, incorporates indigenous
knowledge. Planners and implementers need to decide which path to follow. Rational
conclusions are based on determining whether indigenous knowledge would contribute to
solve existing problems and achieving the intended objectives. In most cases, a careful
amalgamation of indigenous and foreign knowledge would be most promising, leaving the
choice, the rate and the degree of adoption and adaptation to the clients (World Bank,
1997).
This paper is based on a series of fieldworks conducted in the district of Tawau in Sabah
from August 2009 until September 2011. It is part of a bigger study on Iban diaspora in
Sabah. We interviewed the community leaders (Ketua Kampung) and some individuals
who are very knowledgeable on IK. Secondary data for this paper were gathered from
sources such as newspapers, books and the internet. A total of 89 sets of questionnaires
were distributed in both settlements and one aspect covered in that questionaire is
pertaining IK preservation and sustainability.
III. Indigenous knowlege of the Iban community
Like other communities, the IK of the Iban community is based on teachings and
experiences passed on from generation to generation. It covers knowledge of the
environment such as weather, resources and the relationships between things. It is holistic
because it cannot be separated from the people who hold it. It is rooted in the spiritual
health, culture and language of the people. It sets out the rules governing the use of
resources. Indigenous knowledge is a way of life.
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The Iban community has many types of indigenous knowledge covering various aspects of
their life. For example, in traditional healing and medicine the community has a medicine
man or woman called manang or shaman. He or she used to be very influential man in the
Iban community. Manang exorcises evil spirits, which are supposed to be the cause of
illness among the Ibans. They generally possesses some knowledge of the medicinal
effects of certain roots and herbs. They also know what type of plants can be used for
curing certain sickness.
The community also has indigenous knowledge in prepaing food, drinks and wild
vegetables. Cooking in bamboo is a form of indigenous knowledge that the community
learnt from their elders. It is called pansuh. Pansuh chicken is a dish prepared by cooking
chicken meat in a bamboo and stuffed with water (which later will be the soup),
seasonings and covered with tapioca leaves (later could be eaten together with the cooked
chicken. Another type of indigenous knowledge which is still very much practiced by the
community is the preparation of alcoholic beverage called Tuak. It is made of fermented
rice, yeast and sugar. The beverage is a popular drink among the Iban festivals, weddings,
hosting of guests and other special occasions. The community also has good knowledge
on the types of wild vegetables in the jungle that can be eaten and also how to prepare
those vegetables.
The Iban community also has skills in weaving and thus they are capable of producing
handicrafts. For example, an Iban girl is being taught by her mother and grandmother to
weave from a very early age. She is trained to weave a sarong, basket and mats starting with
simple patterns. She is taught how to select the raw materials used and how to process them
into quality materials they used for their weaving work. It is the aim of every Iban woman to
be known as a gifted woman in the arts of weaving. Most families also keep their traditional
pua kumbu. Pua kumbu is a traditional tribal textile woven in longhouses by the Iban
women.
Iban tattooing is another form of indigenous knowledge. Iban tattoos are specific to
particular parts of the body. For instance, images of jar appear on the neck, the brinjal
flower on the forepart of shoulders; scorpion on the hands and other images appear
regularly on the backs and legs. Images depicting features of nature, such as bamboo. These
designs denoted spiritual assistance, protection, prestige, and tribal identity among other
things.
In the cultural aspect, the Iban also have many types of indigenous knowledge related to
dance and traditional music, oral tradition, costume and rituals. The oral history of the Iban
has traditionally been committed to memory and some are recorded in a system of writing
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on boards called papan turai. This includes elaborate genealogical records, which go back
about fifteen generations. These genealogies (tusuts) are essentially records of who married
and begat whom. Some of the songs of the Iban people's oral history (such as the ritual
pengap chant, sung during festivals) are mythological or historical accounts.
In the field of performing art, ngajat dance is very popular. Ngajat dance is believed to have
been performed by warriors on their return from battles. This dance is now performed to
celebrate the most important harvest festival called ‘Gawai’, to welcome important guests
to the longhouses and so on. The male dancers wear large feathers as part of their headgear,
hold an ornate and long shield in their hand with chains, beads and a loincloth called the
‘cawat’. The female dancers have an elaborate headdress, chains, beads and a ‘dress’ that
reaches to below their knees with intricate weaving. Gongs and other ethnic percussion
instruments such as the ‘enkeromong’, ‘bendai’, ‘canang’ and ‘dumbak or ketebong’
provide the music. While performing ngajat and attending other ritual ceremonies Iban man
dressed in Baju Burung or vest while Iban woman wears the ceremonial dress consisting of
the bidang cloth, marek empang which is a chest adornment, the sugu tinggi headdress and
other silver ornaments such as coin belt and bangles. The knowledge on how to make
traditional costume such as baju burung and kain kebat is a form of indigenous knowledge
that they have inherited from their ancestors.
The community also has many ritual practices which are central to their indigenous
knowledge. There are alot of ritual ceremonies that a person need to undergo in his life.
For example, the first ritual ceremony for a child is done when giving name to a child and
later followed by giving him bath (meri mandi) to the stream. More rituals will be
conducted as a person grow older and they are mostly related to health, prosperity,
marriage and agricultural activities. When someone dies a ritual called guiding the soul
to the new world is conducted by a professional wailer (tukang sabak). Formal mourning
or ngulit is also held for the dead. The mourning period varies from a few weeks to a few
months. It depends on the age of the dead person and also the region as it varies from one
region to another.
The above forms of indigenous knowledge are examples of the indigenous knowledge
that the Iban community inherited from their ancestors. As mentioned earlier, indigenous
knowledge is a way life and it encompasses various aspects of life of the Iban people. But
one thing for sure is that all those various forms of indigenous knowledge are
withering.This paper uses the two villages, Merotai and Kuala Nansang as a case study to
examine the challenges faced by the Iban who migrated from Sarawak to Sabah since
the late 19th century to preserve and sustain their indigenous knowledge.
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IV. Iban in Tawau
The Iban who migrated to Tawau district in Sabah settled in two areas namely Merotai
Besar and Kuala Nansang. Below is a brief description of the two settlements.
Kampung Iban Merotai was established in the 1940s. There are 160 families at Merotai
with a total population of 1100 people. The settlement was equipped with basic needs
such as water and electricity. Other basic facilities such clinic (Klinik Desa Kesihatan
Merotai), Merotai Secondary School (SMK Merotai), Merotai Primary School (SK
Merotai Besar), kindergartens and churches of various denomination (Anglican, Baptist
and Roman Catholic) are located within the vicinity of Kampung Iban Bersatu. The first
group of Iban settlers came to Kuala Nansang in 1964. Kampung Iban Nansang has 64
families and a total population of 425 people (235 male and 190 female). Like their
counterparts in Merotai, Kampung Iban Nansang is supplied with basic facilities such as
schools, kindergartens, clinics, water supply, electricity, telephones and good road. A
primary school is located about 4.5 km away from the village.
V. The withering of indigenous knowledge
Other than studying the migration pattern and how the Iban in Tawau adapted to their new
place this study also examine their challenges in preserving and sustaining their
indigenous knowlege. Based on our observations, interviews and responses through the
questionnaires the Iban in Tawau attributed the erosion of their indigenous knowledge to
various factors.
Firstly, the respondents attributed the erosion of their indigenous knowledge to modern
education where the younger generation are taught new and different knowledge in school.
Kids started to go school at a very early age and most of the time they are in school.
When they are back from school they do not have enough time to acquire and practise
indigenous knowledge. Also, since there is no more forest they may not have the
opportunity to learn skills such as how to survive in a forest like their parents did before.
Besides, the new knowledge taught in school may not necessarily related to their
indigenous knowledge at all. With that “new knowledge” taught in school they will
definitely move out from the village and work outside. Thus IK is getting less and less
relevant to them. Like in Sarawak, the only people left in the village are the elderly and
when they are gone all their indigenous knowledge will go with them too.
Secondly, the respondents in both villages also pointed out that the practicing of modern
religion as one of the factors that contributes to the withering of their indigenous
knowledge. The Iban in both areas are mostly Christians though there are some who
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become Muslim through marriage. In the case of Kuala Nansgang mixed-marriages is
more common between the Iban and the Muslim community. According to one respondent
they had to discard the old practices because it is against their new religion to do so. An
elderly respondent said, “I was once a bard (lemambang) but i simply could not practice
the profession anymore because it is not relevant today. But if you ask me to “sing them” i
still can remember the verses very well.” (Interview at Merotai, 4 September 2009).
Similarly there are alot of rituals which are no longer relevant today after they adopted the
new religion. As a result all forms of oral tradition such as jampi, chant related to those
rituals are gone. Our observations in both villages suggest that the Iban in both areas are
quite comfortable with their modern religion. When we interviewed the older generation
they seem to be quite nostalgic about the old beliefs and ritual practices and that they still
practice them until today. However, most of the younger generation see those practices as
not relevant anymore and to a certain extend they regard some components of their
indigenous knowledge as hinderances. When we asked them about certain rituals most
of them only have heard of those rituals and practices but no knowledge of it.
Thirdly, as a result of modernisation new and more sophisticated farming techniques
being introduced. Thus they have to discard the old ways of farming. Iban people at one
time was purely an agrarian community. They practised shifting cultivation intensively
and extensively. In the past the traditional farming involved alot of rituals. Other than
conducting rituals, it was essential for the traditional farmers to have good knowledge on
astronomy and augury. For example, before they started their farming activities a festival
called Gawai Batu was held. This will be followed by many other rituals until the padi is
ripe and ready for harvesting. Today such practices are not relevant. The people in the two
villages do not grow rice as their main activity but they plant oil palm. One respondent
said that he need not grow rice anymore in order to survive. “I planted large area of my
land with oil palm.The money that i earned from planting oil palm will be used for buying
rice.” (Interview at Kuala Nansang, 4 November 2009). In both villages the people are
very active in planting oil palm and they use modern farming techniques.
Fourthly, the presence of modern facilities such clincs and hospitals had caused the usage
of traditional healing and traditional medicine to decline. The Iban used to have good
knowledge on the use of certain plants for medicinal purposes. But in order to learn such
knowledge and skills one need to be familiar with the environment in the forest. As for the
two villgers they no longer surrounded by forest as large areas have been cleared to give
way for agricultural activities. As a result the younger generation do not have the
opportunity to learn the use of plants which are available in the forest. As the old ones
could not transfer their knowledge to the younger generation it is just a matter of time
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before such indigenous knowledge will disappear. Also, the presence of clinic and the use
of modern medicine making such knowledge getting less and less relevant. One
respondent said, “In the past when we got sick we used to go to the forest to look for
plants to cure any type of sickness and this will be followed by some ritual activities.
Today there is no need to do that with clinic and hospital which are located not far from
the villages.” (Interview at Merotai, 8 February 2011). For example, at Merotai the clinic
is located at the middle of the village and if there are emergency cases the patient will be
sent to Tawau hospital which is only 45 minutes away. When asked as to how they can
preserve the indigenous knowledge with regard to traditional healing most of the
respondents said that the “old way” is not relevant anymore.
Fifthly, there are not many resources avalibale in the forest for making handicrafts. As
discussed earlier forest has been cleared to give way for cash crop such as oil palm. The
lack of resources coupled with the declining interests among the younger generation make
it difficult for this type of indigenous knowledge to be preserved and sustained. There are
three reasons that can be attributed to this. Firstly, as most of the younger generation need
to go school they have little time to learn those skills from their parents at home. Thus
they do not have the knowledge and skills to perpetuate this type of indigenous
knowledge. Secondly, as discussed earlier there are not many resources left for making
handicrafts as the forest has been cleared to give way for agricultural development.
Thirdly, today they can have and buy what they need from the supermarket. For
example, there is no need for them to learn how to weave in order to make a basket since
there are alot of plastic baskets in the supermarket. The skills of producing handicrafts in
the two villages only left with the elder generation. An old lady from Merotai confided to
us that the younger generation are not interested in making handicrafts at all. According to
another respondent from Kuala Nansang, the sad thing is that even if the younger
generation are interested they could not find materials in the forest anymore for producing
those handicrafts. Unlike in the past i even could not get big leaves from the forest to
weave for making a hat (Interview at Merotai, 2 December 2011).
VI. Discussion and conclusion
In the past one could not survive if she or he lacked indigenous knowledge. For
example, a person is required to have certain skills while looking for food in the
jungle otherwise his hunting trip would fail. He or she must know what type of
vegetables, mushrooms or fruits which are edible. Before they could start their
agricultural activities they must observed certain rituals. As for the dead, they used
their indigenous knowledge to guide the soul of the dead to the new world.
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Obviously their indigenous knowledge is indeed a way of life.
It is quite different today as people adopt modern living and place their
indigenous knowledge at the back burner. The study in the two Iban villages in
Tawau shows that modernisation has superseded their indigenous knowledge. For
example, the younger generation are less interested in acquiring indigenous
knowledge as they are more interested in modern living. At the same time the elder
generation could not pass the knowledge to the younger generation because they
feel that with modern facilities available around them their IK is not relevant
anymore. Also, when the villagers adopted new religion such as Christianity their
indigenous knowledge is getting less relevant and ritual ceremonies which
contradict their religion will be discarded.
But why indigenous knowledge should be preserved? As argued by Brokennsha,
indigenous knowledge is vital for the success of development projects. Meaning if a the
project is to offer sustainable solution to local problem then local knowledge must be
incorporated. Thus there is a need for indigenous to be preserved and integrated into the
existing knowledge for the benefit of the society. One thing for sure is that their
indigenous knowledge once played a very important role in their life and to replace it with
totally new and modern knowledge will not benefit the people and not sustainable
especially among those who are still familiar with their own old way of doing things. For
that reason their IK must be embedded in the development projects.
The experience of the Iban community is Sabah also suggest that their indigenous
knowledge tend to wither faster as they try to adpat to the new environment. The fact is
that they have the tendency to follow how other people do things. They discard their
“old way” which is indeed their community’s indigenous knowledge. For example, by
adopting modern religion the community will detach themselves from numerous
cultural and ritual practices. Also, as they live in a “non-forest” environment and no
longer pratcising traditional farming all their indigenous knowledge related to forest and
traditional farming will eventually disappear.
Since their indigenous knowledge is closely linked to their way of life therefore it is likely
that their identity might be affected. This is simply to a certain extend the indigenous
knowledge of a particular community will diffrentiate that community from others. Thus
the identity of the Iban community in Tawau also hinges on the preservation of their
indigenous knowledge.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak for
providing the funding and facilities for this project (DRC/01/2009(01).
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