Anya and his eldest son, Bungin, were on their way to their planned farming site, and they had just entered the third day of their ‘nebas’ (clearing of undergrowth and smaller trees) at Ulu Kedap, a tributary of the Melupa Basin in Krian, Saratok. This was during the early days, long before the Brooke rule.
However, when they arrived at the site where their sharpening stones were, they noticed signs that someone else had used them. Anya, nicknamed ‘Lebur Menua,’ and Bungin looked around but couldn’t see anyone. Anya even called out, just in case people were still nearby, but no one answered.
“This is rather awkward since nobody seems to be around, and we’re in the middle of nowhere, knowing that we’re the only ones with a farm site around here. We need to continue clearing the jungle,” Anya told his teenage son. So they proceeded to do just that.
That evening, back at their longhouse, which was about two hours away on foot from the farm site, Anya felt sleepy and went to bed early.
In his dream, he met three men at their farm site, using their sharpening stones. All of them were good-looking and muscular, dressed in Iban warrior costumes and headdresses made of hornbill and pheasants’ feathers.
Their leader introduced himself as Keling, the folklore hero from ‘Panggau Libau’ (Raised World), and he thanked Anya for allowing him and his friends from Panggau Libau to use his (Anya’s) sharpening stones.
Keling praised Anya for his initiatives in leading the Kedap folk in clearing the land in the Kedap and Burui basins.
He told Anya that all his male descendants would become leaders, while their female counterparts would marry leaders of the community.
The next day, Anya brought a few people from his Kedap longhouse to perform the ‘miring’ ceremony at the site of the sharpening stones as an appeasement to the Panggau Libau warriors who had used his sharpening stones and to show appreciation to Keling for his promises.
Anya and his wife, Empiang, were former immigrants from Suri of the Rimbas basin in Debak. It was said that they brought four young kids with them around the 1790s and settled in Kedap.
Their children included Bungin, the eldest; Jatan and Bran, both males; and the only girl, Gulang.
Anya pioneered the clearing of the Kedap and Burui basins, which were both Melupa tributaries and therefore sub-tributaries of the Krian River, Saratok’s main river.
Fast forward to the present, all the Kedap folk are mostly descendants of Anya. The present longhouse chief, Robert Lin Malina, is one of Anya’s kinsmen. He is from his grandma, who was the daughter of Subung, the eldest son of Jatan Anya.
Lin took over from Michael Abunawas, the husband of Duri, who was Bungin’s great-granddaughter. The two chieftains before Abunawas were both descendants of Anya, thus proving his dream coming true.
There have been instances where the male descendants of Anya assumed vital positions of power. As far as his grandchildren were concerned, a few were known to lead warriors and took part in various battles on the Brooke’s side.
For example, in the Delok Expedition, also known as the Cholera Expedition against Bantin at Delok, upper Batang Lupar, a few of Anya’s grandchildren took part, siding with the Brooke Rule led by Raja Muda Charles Vyner Brooke in 1902.
My namesake, Tawi Bungin, nicknamed Lanang Kasih Sayang Bedindang Madang Rutan (Lover Boy Who Sings Among The Rotan Creepers), obtained two head trophies. Naing Bungin, nicknamed Naing Pengerambing Kuta, Berinau Panggau Dara (Naing Who Climbs The Fortress, Berinau the heartthrob of maidens), also obtained one head trophy.
Mulok Baring, son of Dinggu Bungin, nicknamed Bandau Nulang Nanga Mepi (Keen Fighter at Nanga Mepi), obtained six head trophies. Subung Jatan, nicknamed Kala Nyepit Enda Anchi Pemisa-misa, Bunga Parapenit Ka Dujung Indu Dara (Terribly Poisonous Scorpion with Scented Flowers Adorning Heads of Maidens), also obtained one head trophy in the same battle in 1902.
A longhouse fire that burned their longhouse in Tinting Bedega, Kedap, circa 1930 destroyed all the head trophies (later buried), except for Muiok’s as he was from another longhouse. His are the only ones remaining as gruesome reminders and are kept by his descendants at Sungai Belung longhouse at upriver Melupa.
On the female side, my late sister Dinggu also got married to Kandau, who later became a penghulu in 1966 when the position was elected. Dinggu died at the age of 46 in 1982, while Kandau died at the age of 54 in 1987.
In the police department, Gilberd Philip Layang, another descendant of Anya via Bungin, accomplished his duty as Deputy Director of Administration at Bukit Aman and was recently appointed as Deputy Police Commissioner (DCP). Current Betong Resident Richard Michael Abunawas, a cousin of Gilberd, is another example.
Their uncle, Dato Musa Giri, is a successful businessman and was highly rated as an accomplished government servant, serving his last post as Chairman of the Housing Development Commission. Musa’s cousin, the late Dunstan Meling Undau, was also an accomplished leader.
He led the scouting movement as Chief Scout Commissioner until his death on May 28, 2012. Before this, he was the Malaysian Information Attache to India after serving as Divisional Information Officer for some time.
In the Housing and Development Commission, another mate from the Kedap longhouse, Joel Berinau Banyin, has accomplished a senior appointment after graduating with an honours degree in Housing and Planning from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang in the early 80s. Berinau is descended from Anya’s second son, Bran.
This writer also served well in the Education Department of Sarawak as a college lecturer and school principal for five secondary schools in the state. Additionally, I served as the Publicity Commissioner of the Sarawak Scout Movement for several years.
There are many other examples, but due to space constraints, it is not possible to include many more. I am the direct descendant of Penghulu Bungin Anya via my maternal grandma, Kejuang Meling, who was the daughter of Laie Bungin.
My family is directly responsible for taking care of the ‘Lumbung Bungin’ (the raised coffin of Bungin) on my plot of land overlooking the crocodile-infested Lubuk Gagam (Gagam Pool) along the mighty Krian, just about 1.5km above the Krian Bridge of the Pan Borneo Highway. It was recently renovated to give it a better environment and outlook.
