Written by Amde sidik
The usual way
I have not been back to Sipitang for the last six months. My friends asked where have I been for not calling them for a long time.
(Read Amde's biography HERE)
My answer was because I have been elsewhere most of the time.
However, to be honest, my real answer to this question is, I just don’t see any good reason why must I be rushing frequently to a place of more than 130 kilometres away from my home? It makes no economics sense when I get nothing in return from my doing.
The recent petrol hike in the country is only making my wallet near empty, that is, if I have to drive my 2-litre or so engine to Sipitang very often.
My only valid reason, for the past few years were, to visit my mother. Because she refused to come to Kota Kinabalu, she is living alone. She is old.
I no longer grumble with this crisis, once I insisted that she must come to stay with us. She stayed for three nights. She fell sick. From that day onwards, she never wants to stay in Kota Kinabalu for more than what is necessary.
I asked a few friends if they ever experienced the same fate as me.
They said it was normal. Town or city is not a place for an old generation like my mother but kampong is. She doesn’t like doing nothing at home; she doesn’t understand watching most of Astro programme except for RTM 1 and 2. The channels seldom switched on in my house.
No, not really the reason, she has an Astro at her house installed by my younger sister to help her accompany. To be fair, he doesn’t watch TV very much.
As usual in my overnight visit like this, I would call a few friends for tea tarik. It’s no short of people to join me; usually our rendezvous would last until a wee hour.
My old friends waited for me in town, Joe for Jumaat (not his real name), Bob for Baharuddin (not his real name) and Mat for Matripin (not his real name) were among them.
I didn’t intend to talk anything serious. Not politics, I have abandoned the topic for nearly one and half year. I wouldn’t mind listening to Sipitang politics, just keep my self-updated by these people.
First, question was from Joe, he wanted to know what was I doing in Sipitang. I said I was just inspecting my late father's land near Bukit Jabeh, if the place was good enough for rearing kambing -goats.
All eyes at me, I could read, they didn’t quite believe, because I wasn’t the type.
That’s must be Kabar, said Joe, all of them familiar with the place.
Bob said he and his father used to rear some kambing some years ago. The problem was with the inventory he said.
I like this; Bob was a person who could talk endlessly about mystical things. Typical Kadayan!
Bob continued, “ every morning we normally count how many kambing come out from the hut say twenty, but you see, when they arrive in the evening the number seldom tally. One or two must be missing, it happened three or four times a week, we just couldn’t figure out how and why it happened”
Mat said your kambing must have escaped because your fences were lousy or your neighbours slaughtered them.
Bob insisted that his neighbours didn’t steal them; they were good people if it happened everyone in the neighbourhood would know eventually.
His kambing never escaped because they were watched thoroughly.
Now I knew what Bob was after, he brought up the story of kambing because he knew about the land I mentioned. Bob said, “That place has an ajaa giin –jinn’s king -residential area-in fact the jinn still live there. You have to see someone who knows about jinn before you can bring your kambing”
For those who have been reading about Orang Bunian in Kadayan Universe, this is another façade of Bunian people.
What Bob was saying, the missing kambing was taken by the unseen being-the Orang Bunian-in Malay Orang Halus.
Bob said I have to negotiate and compromise with them; otherwise, they would forever disturb my kambing.
How could I negotiate with this unseen Bunian? When I don’t even know they exist. Of course, some of my friends would say, don’t be funny Bunian does exist.
There are so many stories about Bunian. I remember when I was a kid we had a relative who married to a Bunian. That’s what my mother and my aunt said. He was small, only about three in half feet of height, with heavy black moustache and curl hairs. He usually passed by our house stalking at great speed to see other relative at the end of the kampong.
He was good at healing sickness especially for kids. One day one of my younger brothers fell ill. My parent decided to give my younger brother to him-just by pronouncing “I give my son so and so to you and you look after him” It was normal in our old community. The adopted father normally pay a visit once a while to a family who had given him a son or daughter.
The Bunian wife and kids always fascinated me. It must be fun when I can see people but people can’t see me. I always wanted to see my unseen relatives and experience life with them. My mother said to me, once you were in their world you wouldn’t be able to come back as normal person.
Why do they want to harm me after all I am their relative?
Now I see, this was the reason why our relative no longer normal?
This small man usually lived alone by himself; he talked and laughed aloud to himself. Some villagers said he was gila - insane, my mother and aunt never mentioned to me that this man was insane; in fact, that’s how he communicated with Bunian.
The usual way
I have not been back to Sipitang for the last six months. My friends asked where have I been for not calling them for a long time.
(Read Amde's biography HERE)
My answer was because I have been elsewhere most of the time.
However, to be honest, my real answer to this question is, I just don’t see any good reason why must I be rushing frequently to a place of more than 130 kilometres away from my home? It makes no economics sense when I get nothing in return from my doing.
The recent petrol hike in the country is only making my wallet near empty, that is, if I have to drive my 2-litre or so engine to Sipitang very often.
My only valid reason, for the past few years were, to visit my mother. Because she refused to come to Kota Kinabalu, she is living alone. She is old.
I no longer grumble with this crisis, once I insisted that she must come to stay with us. She stayed for three nights. She fell sick. From that day onwards, she never wants to stay in Kota Kinabalu for more than what is necessary.
I asked a few friends if they ever experienced the same fate as me.
They said it was normal. Town or city is not a place for an old generation like my mother but kampong is. She doesn’t like doing nothing at home; she doesn’t understand watching most of Astro programme except for RTM 1 and 2. The channels seldom switched on in my house.
No, not really the reason, she has an Astro at her house installed by my younger sister to help her accompany. To be fair, he doesn’t watch TV very much.
As usual in my overnight visit like this, I would call a few friends for tea tarik. It’s no short of people to join me; usually our rendezvous would last until a wee hour.
My old friends waited for me in town, Joe for Jumaat (not his real name), Bob for Baharuddin (not his real name) and Mat for Matripin (not his real name) were among them.
I didn’t intend to talk anything serious. Not politics, I have abandoned the topic for nearly one and half year. I wouldn’t mind listening to Sipitang politics, just keep my self-updated by these people.
First, question was from Joe, he wanted to know what was I doing in Sipitang. I said I was just inspecting my late father's land near Bukit Jabeh, if the place was good enough for rearing kambing -goats.
All eyes at me, I could read, they didn’t quite believe, because I wasn’t the type.
That’s must be Kabar, said Joe, all of them familiar with the place.
Bob said he and his father used to rear some kambing some years ago. The problem was with the inventory he said.
I like this; Bob was a person who could talk endlessly about mystical things. Typical Kadayan!
Bob continued, “ every morning we normally count how many kambing come out from the hut say twenty, but you see, when they arrive in the evening the number seldom tally. One or two must be missing, it happened three or four times a week, we just couldn’t figure out how and why it happened”
Mat said your kambing must have escaped because your fences were lousy or your neighbours slaughtered them.
Bob insisted that his neighbours didn’t steal them; they were good people if it happened everyone in the neighbourhood would know eventually.
His kambing never escaped because they were watched thoroughly.
Now I knew what Bob was after, he brought up the story of kambing because he knew about the land I mentioned. Bob said, “That place has an ajaa giin –jinn’s king -residential area-in fact the jinn still live there. You have to see someone who knows about jinn before you can bring your kambing”
For those who have been reading about Orang Bunian in Kadayan Universe, this is another façade of Bunian people.
What Bob was saying, the missing kambing was taken by the unseen being-the Orang Bunian-in Malay Orang Halus.
Bob said I have to negotiate and compromise with them; otherwise, they would forever disturb my kambing.
How could I negotiate with this unseen Bunian? When I don’t even know they exist. Of course, some of my friends would say, don’t be funny Bunian does exist.
There are so many stories about Bunian. I remember when I was a kid we had a relative who married to a Bunian. That’s what my mother and my aunt said. He was small, only about three in half feet of height, with heavy black moustache and curl hairs. He usually passed by our house stalking at great speed to see other relative at the end of the kampong.
He was good at healing sickness especially for kids. One day one of my younger brothers fell ill. My parent decided to give my younger brother to him-just by pronouncing “I give my son so and so to you and you look after him” It was normal in our old community. The adopted father normally pay a visit once a while to a family who had given him a son or daughter.
The Bunian wife and kids always fascinated me. It must be fun when I can see people but people can’t see me. I always wanted to see my unseen relatives and experience life with them. My mother said to me, once you were in their world you wouldn’t be able to come back as normal person.
Why do they want to harm me after all I am their relative?
Now I see, this was the reason why our relative no longer normal?
This small man usually lived alone by himself; he talked and laughed aloud to himself. Some villagers said he was gila - insane, my mother and aunt never mentioned to me that this man was insane; in fact, that’s how he communicated with Bunian.
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