About Kadayan ... part 4

Written by Amde sidik

(Read Amde's biography HERE)

Facts about Kadayan¹

Kadayan ethnic is one among the 20 established ethnics found in the state of Sabah.

Kadayan is also found in all states² in Borneo Island.

Its main concentration is in Brunei and around Brunei Bay coastal region – the midwestern of Borneo



When I say coastal, it is not really on the seashore unlike the Suluk or even the Bruneis. Kadayan never really settled farther up in the mainland. They were, in olden days like a buffer zone between the Murutic and Kalabitc groups who live in the upper part of the mainland and the Bruneis on the very coastal part of the country.

Nonetheless, the Bruneis in Brunei called Kadayan as Orang Darat or Orang Bukit together with other indigenous.

According to one statistic (2001) about 39% of 350,000 Brunei population are Kadayan, which means around 136,500 are Kadayan.

Sabah has the second highest concentration of Kadayan around 30,000, followed by Labuan 13,000, Sarawak 14,000 and the rest of Malaysia has another 7,000.

Thus Malaysia has around 62,000. While the total Kadayan population in the world is around 200,500.

There has been no census on ethnics individually for a long time in Sabah. These figures were a rough estimate, painstakingly obtained and identified from the electoral rolls. The figure from Sarawak was an estimate given by one Kadayan elder from Lawas.

Similarly in Peninsula, this is a rough estimate obtained by the writer while conducting his recent study there. Kadayan here hardly know any Kadayan's vocabulary apart from the word ‘aau’ means yes.

In Sabah, majority of Kadayan are found in the districts of Sipitang. Kadayan makes up about 60% to 65% of the district population followed by the Lundayeh around 25%.

In Beaufort, most of them are found in the southern part of the district, the Lumadan constituency has of about 45% of the voters are of Kadayan by origin.

Other places, like Kuala Penyu and Papar districts have pockets of Kadayan communities but the actual number is no more than 3,000 respectively.

Where did Kadayan originally come from?

Kadayan that are now found all over Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia is thought to have come from Brunei. No indication that they came from elsewhere yet. The writer did not share the view given by some Kadayan elders that Kadayan originally came from Java. So far there is no hard evidence to suggest that.

In the recent discovery, they were Kadayan travelled to Peninsular Malaysia in as early as the 17th century; they travelled in groups as well as with families.

The earlier migration was dated back at the time when Captain Francis Light landed in Penang Island in 1718 but some claimed even earlier.

Records also shows the earlier group arrived in Penang settled in Bayan Lepas, some Kadayan burials are still to be found in this area. Some settled in Jelutong, Rawa, Melintang and Sungai Pinang while others went northward to Hulu Teluk Intan, Tebing Tinggi and Hujung Bukit- Kedah and Perlis. Some died on the way before reaching the destination.

Kadayan Penang

Among the landmarks of Kadayan existent is a place now called Permatang Tok Jaya Sebarang Prai, originally it was called Permatang Radin Jaya, and this Radin Jaya family was from Brunei.

Among the earliest Kadayan that had the connection with the Kingdom of Brunei was the group led by Haji Mohammad Salleh Ibni Raturati.


Footnote:

¹Excerpted from The Lost People of Borneo by Amde Sidik, Published by Universe Inc New York 2006

²The word state applies to cover the whole region of the island of Borneo, Sabah and Sarawak are states of Malaysia, Brunei is a nation and Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia.

Comments

ghazali ismail - Newspaper cutting-kerabat diraja Brunei ada kaitan |2008-11-25 23:14:10
Assalamualaaikum. Terserempak dengan artikel About Kedayan Part 4.diatas dan terlihat petikan keratan akhbar saperti tajuk.Tolong dapatkan saya sesalinan keratan tersebut untuk pengetahuan saya.Ribuan Terima Kasih.