Borneo Peoples | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

The island of Borneo, the world's third largest, falls under the administration of three modern nations, namely Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Territories under Malaysia are divided into Sabah and Sarawak, whereas those under Indonesia are known as Kalimantan. Borneo is home for many indigenous groups. Demographically the island is encircled by a ring of Muslim settlements of the Banjarese, Malay, Bugis, Melanau, Bajau, and other smaller language groupings. In almost all major settlements and towns the Chinese can be found as traders, service providers, and businesspeople. The Dayak, Dusun, and Penan and their respective language groupings or ethnic subdivisions predominate in the interior and along the major riverbanks.

The total population of Borneo is estimated around 12.6 million. The Dayak, Dusun, Iban, and Penan and their subgroupings total some 3.2 million or 25 percent of the total population of Borneo. The Land Dayak (Bidayuh), Iban, and Penan and their respective language groupings total around 44 percent of the total population in Sarawak. In central and west Kalimantan, the Dayak form a significant segment of the population. The Dusun in Sabah form some 30 percent of the total population in the state.

The Dusun or Kadazan and their language groupings are found largely near the coastal areas of north Borneo from Kudat to Beaufort and in the interior centering on Tambunan. They traditionally live in longhouses, each accommodating between 150 and 200 inhabitants in two rows of rooms. They form the largest language grouping in Sabah, apart from the Bajau, Malay, Murut, and Chinese. A sizable proportion of the Brunei population also consists of the Dusun, who generally live in the upper parts of the Tutong and Belait rivers.

The Dusun are traditionally known as dry-rice growers. In post-independence Malaysia, the Dusun, like many others, have enjoyed social and political ascendancy. Not only do they hold a national festival of Ka'amatan during the rice harvest season, but they also join diverse modern occupations in the public and private sectors. Most Dusun continue to maintain their traditional way of life and belief system. Several influential chief ministers of Sabah, such as Donald Stephen and Joseph Pairin Kitingan, came from among the Dusun.

The term "Dayak" in Borneo generally refers to inland or upriver inhabitants. In Kalimantan, the Dayak, known in earlier writings on Borneo as "headhunters," include the major groupings such as the Maloh, Jagoi/Sadong (Bidayuh), and Iban in the Kapuas basin; the Ngaju, Ma'nyan, and Ot Donum in Central Kalimantan; and the Kenyah, Kayan, Bahau, Long Dayeh, Long Bawang, and Modang in east Kalimantan. The Dayak in Kalimantan may be divided into four major groupings: those who live along the Kapuas in the west, along the Barito and other major rivers in the south, along the Mahakam and other major rivers in the east, and at river heads and beyond in the center. In Sarawak, the term "Dayak" has been used to refer to the Bidayuh (Land Dayak) and the Iban (Sea Dayak). The Bidayuh are generally more oriented to the land, whereas the Iban are increasingly found to spread along the rivers and even the seacoast of west Sarawak. By the end of the twentieth century, the Iban had become the most numerous and scattered language grouping in Sarawak. Both the Iban and the Bidayuh in Sarawak claim to have their origins in some part of Kalimantan.

The Dayak traditionally live in longhouses, although, like many other indigenous societies in Borneo, younger couples increasingly live in nuclear families. Dry-rice shifting cultivation continues to be the mainstay of the Dayak subsistence economy. It suits their communal lifestyle, as can be seen in rice harvesting and the annual celebrations of different kinds, including the Gawai Dayak in Sarawak and the Erau in Kalimantan. The Dayak have developed gender-based division of labor: women tend the rice fields and home, whereas men seek extra income outside the home. For example, the latter take up the cultivation of pepper, fishing, hunting, and collection of jungle products. The kinship of Bornean peoples cannot be generalized; however, it may be categorized as parental or dualistic, having elements of both patrilineal and matrilineal categories.

During the days of the Brooke rajas (1842–1946), the Iban were recruited in larger numbers as security forces. In independent Malaysia, the Iban and Dayak in Sarawak, like their counterparts in Sabah, founded their own political parties with some degree of success. Many prominent Dayak in Sarawak have emerged as respected state and national administrators; Jugah Anak Bariang is an example. Due to a particular political climate, the Dayak in Kalimantan never established a successful political party; however, several Dayak leaders such as Tjilik Riwut won national respect in Indonesia.

The Penan form an important segment among the Borneo peoples. First of all, the majority of the Penan maintain a relatively more autonomous jungle lifestyle than any other indigenous group, even though their number is insignificant. Due to their unique lifestyle, they are believed to be remnants of Borneo's oldest inhabitants. They subsist by gathering and hunting, not rarely maintaining surreptitious barter trading with the settled communities within their range of movement. Some of the Penan also participated in the various resettlement schemes launched by the governments. In recent years the Penan have won international attention from the media coverage of their plight. With the encroachment of modern plantation and logging concessions in their territories, the Penan have increasingly found less space for their traditional subsistence and lifeways.

If the coastal population of Borneo have become Muslims and the majority of the Chinese maintain their version of Buddhism or Taoism, the interior and upriver inhabitants, especially the Dusun and the Dayak in general, have opted to accept Christianity or, to a lesser degree, Islam, and many continue to uphold their traditional beliefs, such as Kaharingan in Kalimantan.

The indigenous peoples of Borneo have responded to rapid change in diverse fields. The introduction of modern education and diverse development plans, cash crops, logging concessions, timber, plywood, and mining industries have direct impact on local economies and social arrangements. Many of the youth join the workforce in the newly established factories, industries, offices, and services in bigger towns. Such urbanization has led to the decline, or at least stagnation, of the interior population and thus the decreasing numbers of longhouses in many communities. Politically, the peoples of Borneo have exercised a more assertive voice in the running of local affairs. As Indonesia and Malaysia hold regular general and local elections, the Borneans have increasingly won their wish to administer their own affairs and participated in running the government. More significantly, since movements across national borders in Borneo have been regularized, many language groupings formerly separated by modern national borders now have more opportunities to renew closer ties and establish cooperation.

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