The greatest warrior is the one who can defeat his enemies without using weapons and without resorting to any violence!
– Mehmet Murat ildan, Turkish playwright and novelist
IN a remote longhouse in Ulu Merakai, West Kalimantan, newly-married housewife Garong rued her fate when she set eyes on her first-born.
The infant had grotesquely twisted and deformed upper and lower limbs and it appeared as if he was a victim of a curse.
Placing her infant son in a mosquito net in the ‘Kujok’ baby cot at the back of the longhouse away, she asked the deities what wicked acts her ancestors had done for her to deserve this!
Days later, two maidens in traditional finery of a ‘Rawai’ corset covered with silver and brass rings and ‘Lampit’ belts entered their longhouse and headed straight for Garong’s kitchen.
She watched in awe and bewilderment as she knew the duo were the legendary deity Princesses Kumang and her sister Lulong.
The sisters gently lifted the infant and stroked the boy’s limbs, placed him back in the cot.
As they were leaving on a bright and sunny day, a light ‘hujan panas’ fell like a shower of blessing.
It was a miracle because after the ‘Orang Panggau’ or ancestral goddesses left, Garong discovered her child (later to be named as Koh) was perfect in form.
According to Temenggong Koh’s youngest son, the late Datuk Kenneth Kanyan, his father was born at Pulau Ensulit in the headwaters of the Batang Kanyau in West Kalimantan to Jubang Kutang.
Jubang was one of 24 brave warriors who defended the fortress of Rentap of Bukit Sadok against Charles Brooke’s army of several thousand soldiers in October 1861.
After they were defeated, Rentap retreated to Julau while Jubang fled across the border to West Kalimantan — the original home of the Iban.
Koh was born the same year that famous warrior Lintong whose ‘Ensumbar’ praise name was ‘Mua Ari’ (Face of the Sun) led 3,000 Kanowit Dayaks to attack the Brooke fort in Sibu on May 13, 1870.
As a teenager, Koh made a name for himself after joining some infamous warriors in small headhunting skirmishes to obtain heads to impress potential lovers.
Koh’s first major expedition was when he led a war party in upper Belaga to avenge the death of an uncle who was treacherously murdered by Orang Ulu dissidents in Plieran in Upper Belaga.
In ‘The Life story of Temenggong Koh’, Koh was 25 when he first dreamt of the ‘Remaung’ mythical flying tiger which instructed him to prepare for a great battle.
Days later, Koh received the news that his uncle Muling, a renowned Iban chief who was married to an aristocratic Badang princess, was killed and decapitated by the local community.
Gathering 70 of his bravest warriors in two ‘Bangkong’ war boats, Koh’s men visited the Badang village in Plieran near Usun Apau, to arrest the assassins and bring back his uncle’s skull.
Said Koh: “At 8am, I called out to the Badang chief and asked if he wanted to surrender the assassins, but the chief challenged me and my warriors to a fight instead.
“The battle commenced in an open field at 10am and many Badang were killed but none of my men were hurt because most of us wore ‘Pengaroh’ amulets.
At the end of the hours-long bloody battle, Koh’s men took 40 heads, captured 46 women and children before burning down all the eight Badang longhouses.
Koh and his men were on the wanted list, until he explained the circumstances and was forgiven and co-opted into Brooke’s army.
On March 30, 1904, Koh joined a government expedition against the Ulu Ai rebel chief Bantin.
“I was picked to be the ‘jaga luan’ in charge of the bow of the Resident HF Deshon boat — a dangerous task as I was first in line during any frontal attack.”
Koh’s second important dream was when he was instructed to meet the legendary Melanau warrior ‘Tugau’ at the Batang Igan river.
On this trip, he visited his Muslim Melanau relatives who were from the Tanjong community in lower Rajang where one of his aunts Rabiah had married a Tanjong aristocrat.
To appease ‘Tugau’, Koh was told to prepare ceremonial offerings of cigarettes in the form of tobacco wrapped in banana leaf, betel nut and tuak.
On reaching Pasai Siong in Sibu, Koh floated the offerings on the river and a ‘Nabau’ water dragon measuring 200 feet long emerged from the river.
Added Koh: “The reptile was as big as a tapang (Koompassia excelsa) tree and after it swam past our boat, I knew the ‘Nabau’ was ‘Tugau’, who had come in the form of a serpent.”
As the ‘Nabau’ drew near, Koh noticed a stone in its yawning mouth and immediately dived into the river to retrieve the ‘Batu Gemala’ magical stone as the dragon disappeared into the water.
From that day on, the magical stone helped change his life to one of fame and fortune.
Over the years, Koh also acquired other special charms and amulets such as the ‘Pengampol’ which made him invulnerable and ‘Engkrabun’ which rendered him invisible.
During expedition against Bantin, Koh became invisible and entered the enemy camp.
“When they noticed I was in their midst, some warriors tried to capture me but I suddenly disappeared. They panicked after seeing my apparition and not knowing where I was, they started slashing at each other in terror,” said Koh.
In 1913, Koh was promoted to a ‘Penghulu’ when the Rajah Muda Vyner Brooke — who was Resident of Kapit — relied on Koh for advice.
On May 24, 1917, a year after Charles died, Vyner become Sarawak’s third Rajah and asked Koh to persuade the Iban and the warring Orang Ulu to end the inter-trial wars and sue for peace.
On November 16, 1924, Koh organised the Great Kapit Peace Meeting, getting all the natives of upper Belaga and Apoh Kayan and Rajah Vyner to attend.
Koh was then promoted to Temenggong — the first Dayak paramount chief of Sarawak and was co-opted into the Council Negri state legislature.
During the Japanese occupation, the Kapit Iban cooperated with the invaders until the Allied invasion of 1945 and the community then took their revenge.
Koh was particularly incensed by the massacre of 23 of Brooke’s civil servants led by Sibu Resident Andrew McPherson who had taken refuge at Apo Kayan across the border in 1942.
McPherson, who had married Koh’s relative, had two children — Bibi and Bujang, whose children are federal minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri and prominent corporate figure Datuk Anthony Bujang.
Koh also saved the life of jailed Eurasian logger Harry Buxton hours before the Japanese planned to execute him.
After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Koh helped the Australian allied forces ‘Semut’ operatives who swept down Belaga, Kapit and Sibu to liberate Sarawak.
Koh flew in an Allied forces Catalina seaplane, guiding the crew on a bombing raid at Song, killing dozens of Japanese hiding in trenches.
AM Cooper in ‘Men of Sarawak (1968)’ wrote: “He (Koh) had decorated the back of his hands — from the back of his finger joints to the wrists and then to his fingernails — with a blue-black vegetable dye as a sign that he had taken many human heads.”
When the chieftain died in 1956 at the age of 86, the governor general of South East Asia, Sir Malcolm MacDonald, who was a close friend, described Koh in his book ‘Borneo People’ as a pre-eminent Iban of his time, the wisest, the best and the most honoured.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
