Teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.
– Patrick Lencioni, American author
‘Beduruk’ perhaps has no English or BM exact equivalent. This is probably because it is a unique working culture and practice of the Dayak community, especially the Iban and to some extent the Bidayuh.
Even some of the Orang Ulu farming tribes such as the Kelabit, Kayan, Kenyah, Sekapan and other minor groups do practise ‘beduruk’ but may have other term or terms for it. May be the closest term is ‘mutual assistance’.
In ‘beduruk’ practice for the Iban farming sorority, each household takes turn to be ‘host’ for the farming duties. For example for a ‘beduruk’ in the hill paddy shifting cultivation, it may start with the ‘nebas’ (clearing the land of minor undergrowth) and ‘nebang’ (felling of trees), to be followed by other seasonal farming duties such as ‘nunu’ (burning) – this is done once if the farming area of the various households is inter-connected – and then followed by ‘nugal’ (dribbling season), ‘mantun’ (weeding), ‘ngetau’ (harvesting), ‘ngindik’ (paddy threshing) and lastly ‘berangkut’ (transporting/transferring) which means getting all the harvested and threshed paddy to the longhouse or its final storage.
A revered custom and tradition of the longhouse and community dwelling, ‘beduruk’ is usually initiated, discussed and agreed upon during a meeting held weeks before the start of each farming season usually in May or early June. This is when the farming leader, usually the longhouse chief Tuai Rumah, would be calling for a meeting of all the farming families in the longhouse – there are cases whereby families from other longhouses would join in the ‘beduruk’ if condition permits.
One of the items of discussion is whether they would practise the ‘beduruk’ (verb) or ‘duruk’ (noun). If agreed then they would decide on the details which would include the turn of each household to be ‘host’ and what seasons are included in the ‘duruk’? Does it commence with the starting of the season ‘nebas’ and to be followed by all the other seasons? Usually the ‘beduruk’ is practised for ‘nebas’, ‘nebang’ and ‘nugal’ which are considered the toughest of all the hill paddy farming acts.
From my own limited experience on the paddy shifting cultivation, I take pride in sharing with readers that the ‘duruk nugal’ (dribbling) that I took part in 1972 was the most interesting and embarrassing as far I was concerned. Hosted by another family during the second school term holidays of that year – I was studying in Form Five at Saratok Secondary School in Saratok – the ‘duruk nugal’ comprised no less that 13 families from our Kedap longhouse in Saratok. The family’s large farm at Meragasing was about an hour on foot from our longhouse.
It was interesting because the family’s three pretty girls who studied in schools outside Saratok and other girls were present. However, the embarrassing part of the day was when I ‘mabuk’ coffee. This happened during the 10 am coffee or tea break as always the case with ‘beduruk’ where compliance to proper meal time was strictly observed and adhered to.
This hot coffee drinking contest was part of the fun though not usually practised. On that ‘historic’ moment I happened to be the youngest of the contestants. I won on the volume and speed of the hot coffee drinking contest but became badly ‘intoxicated’ by the caffeine causing me to be indisposed for further action for the morning but ‘earning’ a close proximity to one of the three pretty sisters as she had to attend to me during my embarrassing moment of caffeine intoxication. So, what people have said about ‘mabuk’ coffee was true and rightfully applicable in my case 51 years ago.
I needed two hours of good rest and was able to get up to join lunch of steamed rice with chicken mixed with ‘daun ubi’ (tapioca leaves) cooked in Iban longhouse style, and regarded as the tastiest dish on Earth. Of course there were more ‘daun ubi’ than the chicken meat. Again, the pretty one reserved for me a special bowl of ‘less daun ubi but more chicken’ upon the instruction of her caring mother who was a cousin of my mom.
This ‘beduruk’ is a good thing to keep the longhouse unity and harmony intact. It, therefore, not only lightens the burden of farming duties but also acts as a promoter of close rapport, goodwill, mutual tolerance apart from further uniting longhouse folks in general and the farming families in particular.
Apart from ‘beduruk’, longhouse residents do a lot of community projects together which also aims at lightening the burden as well as enhancing goodwill and rapport among fellow longhouse residents.
Clearing the surrounding of the longhouse of tall grasses and other items is one of such community projects. Others may include clearing of rivers, clearing of jungle paths and scores of other projects required to make the community dwelling a more comfortable and healthy habitat.
During fruit seasons, longhouse residents usually take turn to share with their immediate neighbours and relatives whereas they will also share their games caught during hunting and fishing trips. To some extent, this may not always be the case, especially when it comes to individual hunting and fishing trips.
This practice of sharing has played a pivotal role in enhancing and promoting goodwill as well as rapport among the longhouse residents who are usually relatives. For that matter various fruit trees such as durian, mangosteen, langsat, mangoes, dabai, jack fruits and many more are communal properties as these were planted by our great-great grandparents many generations ago. In this case, all the descendants have claims to the fruits. So, the easiest and fairest way to share would be to pluck the fruits and divide them equally among the claimants. The term ‘niki buah rian’ is used to imply plucking the durians and then dividing (or its Iban equivalent ‘bedua’) the king of fruits – raw or unripe ones included – equally. This ‘niki’ term applies to the other aforesaid fruits and is usually a much-awaited item more for the fun rather than the fruits.
‘Beduruk’ and ‘bedua’ will always play their pivotal roles in keeping longhouse residents together harmoniously, making longhouse community dwelling everlastingly relevant and an interesting, comfortable abode for all.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
