Peace may sound simple — one beautiful word — but it requires everything we have, every quality, every strength, every dream, every high ideal.
— Yehudi Menuhin, violinist
History buffs may be interested to know that Bario, Sarawak’s “Shangri-La”, is an ancient community that goes back as far as 3,000 years ago.
It would also enlighten Sarawakians to know that Bario — home of “leaping giant Kelabits” — was only discovered by Europeans 100 years ago.
Baram Resident Reginal Stair Douglas, a Scot, was the first person to step foot on Bario on Nov 7, 1908.
Bario was part of the Brunei Sultanate until the Baram District was ceded to the Sarawak government in 1883.
Ten years earlier, the Sultan of Brunei had told Rajah Charles Brooke that he intended to give up Baram — an area as big as Pahang, with two dozen tribes embroiled in inter-tribal wars, conflicts and family feuds — as it was too hot to handle.
Under Baram Resident Charles Hose, the district flourished and on April 7, 1899, organised the first peacemaking with all the tribes in the first Baram Regatta.
Hose thought that he had managed to bring all the tribes together, but underestimated the Kelabits, who lived in the remote highlands which no European had ever visited.
For the next 10 years, the Kelabits and the Kalimantan Muruts of Kerayan continued their bitter inter-tribal wars.
On Oct 25, 1908, Douglas, who succeeded Hose, headed for the Bario Highlands for the first time.
On Nov 7, his party of 500 warriors reached Pungga Pawan overlooking the fertile plains of “Lem ba”.
Within the confines of the surrounding mountains, Douglas commented, “It is strange that these Kelabits, the wildest and furthest from civilisation of all the tribes in Borneo, should be the one interior people to irrigate their fields, and therefore are able to obtain two crops of rice in the year.”
Descending to the first longhouse at Bario Asal longhouse, the group prepared for the march to Pa Main where chief Penghulu Ballang Maran was waiting to greet Douglas.
Among Douglas’ entourage were the two most powerful leaders, Kayan chief Taman Wan Bayer and Kenyah chief Jau Lawai, whose son Lawai Jau would rise to become “Temenggong” of Baram.
The Kerayan and Brian Muruts were represented by 1,000 warriors under Ballang Tawi and Pachu Pu’ung.
As the ceremony began, both groups were still suspicious of each other and so to ensure the Muruts were separated from their archenemies, Douglas gathered the Muruts at one end of the longhouse and 800 Kelabits at the other.
He placed the Kayans and Kenyahs in the centre as a “barrier” between the two in case some hot-headed warrior got carried away before the start of the “Borak” rice beer drinking session.
Douglas and his Kelabit warriors stayed sober just in case of trouble and for fear the rival groups would attempt to poison each other.
But all went well which led to a “bepirit” blood-letting ceremony, whereby each man would cut the upper arm of the other man, take a drop of blood, put it in a cigarette and smoke it and vice versa.
During his visit to Pa Main, Douglas was able to witness the process the Kelabit used to process Bario salt — a commodity which until today is an essential economic product.
After Pa Main, Douglas and his party visited Ramudu, the home of the Southern Kelabits under Penghulu Tamabu Tingang where a second peacemaking was held.
Douglas said the Kelabits of Ramudu were less exposed to the outside world and when they saw their first “white man” (Douglas) “bolted like rabbits into the house.”
On the last leg of the journey, he arranged for the establishment of a fort in Lio Mato, the furthermost in Sarawak where the Badeng community lived.
Before enjoying his trip back to Marudi while lying on a mattress in a Kayan longboat, Douglas remarked that Bario had the potential to become a famous resort.
“The climate up on the Mein (Pa Main) plateau was delightful. There was not too much rain apparently, and the temperature was delightfully cool. In fact, at night, quite cold, so that we all had to sleep near fires and were glad of a thicker blanket, whilst in the morning one tested the temperature of the water in the stream with one’s toes just like one tries a bath in England on one’s morning.”
The Bario “Great Peace” was historic because it paved the way for lasting peace among the two communities.
But more so, it planted the seed that opened the Kelabit mindset to the possibilities that Bario can offer to the world today.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
