KUCHING: A talk on ‘The Preservation for Generational Inheritance of Iban Traditional Tattoo’ was held in conjunction with the Heritage Talk programme at Sarawak Museum Department here, yesterday.
The talk aimed to create awareness on the meaning of traditional Iban tattoos using the concept of representations, objects and interpretations.
A post-graduate student of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) John Bosco Han Anderson Medan from the Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts presented the talk based on his research on the subject.
With a population of some 400,000 and comprising about 30 percent of the Sarawak population, the Iban ethnic group were formerly known as Sea Dayaks and in the past, notoriously known as headhunters. Today they are famed for being generous, hospitable and placid people.
John revealed in his findings that the younger Iban generation maintained their strong cultural identity and heritage but old customs and traditions are slowly being sidetracked as they tend to sway away from their rich cultural legacies.
Nevertheless, some of the cultural traits are maintained, especially those involving traditional artefacts and designs such as the making of headhunting sword Parang Ilang and Nyabur, weaving of mat (tikai bemban) out of local fibres, art of war dance (ngajat) as well as Iban traditional body paint/design or tattoo (pantang Iban)
In his presentation, John defined that ‘pantang Iban’ is a form of body modification where a design is made by inserting ink, dyes and pigments to a person’s body.
The main material used for blackening the tattoo is oil soot, manufactured Chinese ink (commonly known as ‘dawat tali sipat’ by the Iban) or Indian ink.
Tattoos are sometimes added with potions from various types of charms (puchau) and amulets (pengaruh) to give protection against evil, danger, or disease.
However, according to John, ‘pantang Iban’ is a dying tradition among the younger Iban generations.
“The younger generations mostly opt for newer and more contemporary tattoo designs such as Maori, Japanese and also
western designs. They prefer these motifs as compared to the Iban tattoo.
“This is due to the fact that they have very little knowledge of the significance or meaning of the Iban tattoo designs,” he stressed.
John further stated that one of his findings shows that every design has its own meaning.
John also stated that Iban tattoos can be divided into four categories namely fauna, flora, mythical beings and surrounding objects such as aeroplane, anchor and fishhook.
“Most Iban tattoos are abstract. Each has a visual symbol but behind it, there is an interpretation of another meaning,” he said.
John continued, “I hope the younger generations are aware of the value of Iban traditional tattoos and why it is so important for the Ibans to preserve such heritage.”
