Those who lift trophies of success are those who do what they do without stretching their necks to see “who else is doing what?”
– Israelmore Ayivor, youth leadership coach
Have you heard of an incident whereby the smoked head of an enemy was brought to be washed at a river?
This was what happened circa 1965 in Melupa River, a Krian tributary in Saratok. Chosen from about five or six head trophies belonging to my granduncle Mulok Baring (now deceased), the one head was meant to be given to Ahling Dundang (now deceased), my second cousin who was to present it to one US Peace Corp Volunteer, a teacher of his at Saratok Secondary School, I was told.
Mulok, nicknamed ‘Bandau Nulang Nanga Mepi’ (Nanga Mepi Bone Hero) for his exploits in the Delok Expedition against Bantin in 1902, who followed the government party led by Raja Muda Vyner Brooke and Kuching Resident FitzGibbon Deshon in the upper Batang Lupar willingly parted with one of the head out of love for Ahling, one of the children from the same longhouse Sungai Belong in upper Melupa.
So on that particular day, they held a special ritual to bring the head and to be cleaned (washed) in the river at the present site of Tanjung Sikup bathing place. Our residence at Bukit Tinggi was about 2km downriver from the place where the washing ritual was held.
Leading the ritual was my granduncle Jerampang Saat, a renowned war hero whose nickname ‘ensumbar’ was Pintu Batu Nanga Igan, Indu Ditemu Balu Tengah Malam (Nanga Igan Stone Door, Woman Widowed at Midnight). I was told later by dad who was also present at the event that the chanting to ask for peace was done by Ahling’s father Dundang Enchana, my father’s first cousin.
My other family members and I were not in Bukit Tinggi at that time but were downriver in our Kedap longhouse roughly about 90 minutes on foot. We only realised that in the late afternoon, our longhouse was flooded caused by heavy downpours that started around midday.
Obviously something went wrong as the ritual to wash the smoked enemy head had caused hailstorm and thunder, an item known as ‘kudi’ in Iban. So this led to heavy downpour and had caused the biggest flood ever known in the Melupa basin. At our downriver longhouse on stilts, I remember the flooding was about a foot below the floor. Outside the longhouse all our fowls and hogs were escaping to higher ground behind the longhouse.
I remember the head trophies belonging to Mulok very well as I was a regular visitor to Sungai Belong from 1962 to 1967 as one of the families there were close relatives. And just a short distance from the longhouse was our rubber garden where I used to do tapping in those days. I remember staying some distance from the head trophies which were hanged at their gallery for fear that these heads were said to spit on passers-by.
This reminded me of some head trophies belonging to Gun nicknamed ‘Mangku Bumi’ (Earth Conqueror) at Munggu Embawang longhouse, my dad birthplace further upriver the Melupa. Gun was the great-grandfather of my third cousin Datuk Amar Dunstan Endawi Enchana (now deceased) who was then Krian assemblyman and later Malaysian High Commissioner to New Zealand. I was always scared of the head trophies for fear they might spit.
Mulok and my great-grand uncle Tawi Bungin – after whom I was named at birth – were both in the Brooke’s party during the Cholera Expedition also known as Expedition against Bantin in 1902. Tawi, nicknamed Lanang Kasih Sayang Bedindang Madang Rutan, Tawi Berani Ati Pemudi Kayan (Hero Who Sings Among The Rotan Creepers, Tawi The Brave Who Scares His Enemies), was residential in Mindanao, the Philippines and never returned.
His two head trophies obtained during the Delok expedition were kept in my maternal grandfather Narang’s Tinting Bedega longhouse in Kedap, Saratok that was totally destroyed in a fire circa 1930. Those burned smoke heads were later buried.
Back to the 1965 head washing episode that caused the ‘kudi’, I consider it a costly lesson to learn but it was never repeated. Now those smoked heads are still kept in Munggu Embawang and Sungai Belong longhouses respectively.
Outside the Melupa, Rumah Mawan of Kawit longhouse at middle Krian also keeps three heads which are enclosed in a cage. Kept by the Sangkan family, I attended an appeasing event regarding the smoked skulls circa 2014. Officiating at the ritual was an elder who was also a well-known bard.
They said the event was meant to appease the three skulls that were said to be making some weird sounds at night. It was reported later there was no more such sounds after the appeasement.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
