Adat Iban Jeman Dulo Kelia

The Origin of Iban Adat.
 “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” —Albert Einstein
Mythical Past and Social Setting: 

The Sky - Domain of God

Myth, by its nature, tells “how one state of affairs became another: how an unpeopled world became populated; how chaos became cosmos…” Victor Turner.

Through acts of creation, and out of the dissolution and reconstitution of society, myths reveal a sacred cosmos that both transcends, and at the same time sanctions the established moral and social order. Thus, myths are not only a guide to culture; we see how nature and human spirit shape a society.

The traditional Iban view believed that this world (dunya tu) is separated from, and yet influenced by events and by actions of “beings” in a series of inter-connected unseen realms. The gods or Petara and other beings, like the Orang Panggau, spirits and antu, inhibit this unseen realm. Very generally, the gods are associated with the sky (langit). A small number, such as Raja Niram and Dara Rambai Garuda, make their domain in the world of the dead (menoa Sebayan) where they lead the spirits of the dead. The term Petara refers to all supernatural beings that have benevolent intentions toward humankind. They are considered anthropomorphic supernatural, having all the physical and psychological characteristics of human beings. Like humankind, they live in longhouse communities, farm and engage in migrations and warfare. Unlike human being, they possess supernatural powers that permit them to perform miraculous deeds and have the ability to metamorphose themselves into other forms at will.

Humankind (mensia) share “this world” with other “living things” (utai idup) – with plants (utai tumboh or “growing things”) and animals (jelu) – but also with the spirits or antu, who, like the Petara, are ordinarily unseen and possess supernatural power. In contrast to the petara, the antu are generally, although not always, said to be hostile to human purposes. The most dreaded spirit feeds on human souls, causing sickness and death, or consume the material wealth of humankind (antu rua). The antu domains are believed to be in an unseen dimension, entered into by human beings chiefly through dreams (mimpi). Dream are said to be the direct experience of the human soul (samengat). In this dream world, the soul of human beings, physical object and other beings are similarly active giving this unseen world a waking reality.

Intermediate between humankind and the petara in the sky is a third major category of supernatural, the Orang Panggau. These are the heroes and heroines of the mythic Panggau-Gellong world. Their domain is said to lie between the visible world and the sky. Thus in myth and ritual liturgy, those who journey to visit the gods and goddesses frequently pass through the Panggau-Gellong world to make their way to the homes of the petara. Like the gods, these heroes and heroines possess supernatural powers and are believe to be capable of metamorphosis. Being great mythical heroes, they are credited with exemplary physical ability, beauty, creativity, skills in craftsmanship and other attributes of humankind. They are, for example, the patrons of women weavers and male warriors. Their prowess is the subject of vast oral epic literature among the Iban society. Like the gods and goddesses, the Orang Panggau are beneficent and acts in ways that further human purposes and this makes them the invisible intermediaries. During major Gawai festivals, they represent the gawai sponsor in inviting, welcoming and entertain the gods and goddesses whom the human bards have called down from the sky to bless and participate, unseen, in the ritual work of the Gawai.

Domain Of Bunsu Bintang Banyak

Professor Clifford Sather wrote in his introduction on Iban Adat and Augury, 1980:
The Iban or Sea Dayak of Sarawak are the single most populous indigenous group in Malaysia aside from the Malays. By tradition the Iban are a riverine people, dwelling in longhouse communities located along the main rivers and smaller streams of the interior of Sarawak. A vigorous, mobile people, the Iban have spread during the last two hundred years from the Batang Lupar and Saribas river systems of Sarawak, and from the adjoining Kapuas region of western Kalimantan, through the central Rejang valley, north and eastward, until today they are present in every district and division of Sarawak, in both urban areas and in the rural country side. In the course of their expansion the Iban evolved a highly successful social system that stressed individual resourcefulness, egalitarianism and personal mobility. Greatest honour accrued to those who pushed forward known frontiers by opening new land for settlement, through success in warfare, or by pioneering new economic ventures. Such persons were respected in their lifetime and were remembered after death in ritual invocations and their exploits commemorated in oral genealogies.
At the heart of the traditional social system was, and still remains, the longhouse community. Here the individualism so highly valued by the Iban is tempered by mutual economic and ritual interdependencies buttressed by a complex code of social rules, or adat. To the Iban the term adat covers all of the various customary norms, jural rules, ritual interdictions and injunctions that guide an individual’s conduct, and the sanctions and forms of redress by which these norms and rules are upheld. In the first part of the study that follows the main elements of traditional Iban adat are described as they apply to the individual in his dealings with others, to marriage and family life, economic undertakings, major life crises events, and significant ritual and ceremonial occasions.
Iban augury is essentially a system of divination in which divine guidance is sought in natural events, particularly the behaviour of birds and other natural species. As a rule, augury is of special importance to the Iban in those areas of life in which the outcome of an individual’s action is uncertain or cannot be fully foreseen. In traditional Iban society the practice of augury was closely related to a view of the social world as governed by the rules of adat. It is therefore useful to consider adat and augury together.
The longhouse community is essentially a microcosm of the total society. The prime function of adat is to assure harmonious relations among community members. At the same time, conduct in accordance with adat was traditionally believed to maintain a community in a state of ritual well-being with respect to the gods and spirits. Any serious breach of adat threatens this relationship and is dealt with accordingly, not only by secular means, but, as we shall see presently, often by supernatural sanctions or forms of ritual propitiation as well. Thus the correctness of adat, when properly adhered to, is demonstrated by a continuing state of spiritual well-being expressed outwardly in terms of health and material prosperity.
Augury, as practiced by the Iban is based on a belief in the interpretation of divine revelation in the behavior of birds, reptiles and animals. Its observance complements the certainties of adat. It provides the individual with a more immediate means of ascertaining spiritual favor or condemnation of particular lines of intended action. Within the normative framework of adat, choices have constantly to be made in which success or failure cannot be entirely foreknown (predetermined). In such circumstances, augury is significant to the Iban as a source of direct guidance through which, it is thought, the gods make known to the individual their personal support or disapproval of his conduct within the permissible perimeters defined by adat.

The Earth - Domain of Humankind, Spirits & Demons

ADAT
The Iban concept of adat, like cognate notions in other Malayo-Indonesian societies (cf. Hooker 1972, Ter Haar 1948), refers very broadly to rules, canons and sanctions held to be binding by the members of a community. For the Iban, these rules apply to virtually all spheres of human life, social, economic, religious and political.
At the beginning of this study it is important to stress that the author in the following chapters applies the concept of adat broadly, to cover the entire normative framework of traditional Iban life, in accordance with ordinary Iban usage. In contrast to the Malays, the Iban do not distinguish between adat and religious rules and practices; much of Iban adat is believed to be of religious origin or is concerned with ritual observances and other facets of religious life. Also adat for the Iban is not restricted to what is commonly known as “customary law” (Ter Haar 1948: 5). Some elements of Iban adat are enforced by constituted legal means, are sanctioned by fines, for example, imposed by longhouse or regional authorities, or by other accepted forms of redress, but others are not, and both are given equal treatment here. In short, the present study treats the rules of adat that govern various areas of Iban social life, including religion, and is not specifically, or even predominantly, a study of adat law, although attention is given to community sanctions and to the judicial procedures by which adat is, and was traditionally, upheld.
An Iban generally means by adat roughly what an English-speaker means by custom in its broadest sense. Thus adat describes essentially the various things people customarily do and the ways in which they customarily do them. For the Iban virtually every area of human activity has its own particular adat consisting of concrete rules and interdictions. Thus there is marriage adat, adat of mourning, adat concerned with the construction of a new longhouse, farming adat, adat for making sacrifice or propitiating the spirits, and adat for dividing game taken in a communal hunt or fish taken by communal netting. Some account is given here of each of these different bodies of adat. Adat also regulates interpersonal relationships and defines the respective rights and responsibilities of individuals standing in different relationships to one another. It also stipulates the rights persons may enjoy in land and other tangible property and the manner in which these rights may be inherited or otherwise transferred from one person or group to another.
Like the English notion of custom, adat also covers personal habits. In this sense the Iban frequently speak of an individual as having either good or bad adat. To have good adat implies not only that a person’s behavior is in accordance with the specific rules of adat accepted in his community, but also that it exemplifies more abstract ideals, such, for example, as generosity or personal courage. Thus the notion of adat is seen by the Iban as embracing more general values, moral norms and standards. Besides innumerable rules governing social and ritual behaviour, adat in addition, therefore provides an essential measure, or gauge, against which the conduct of individuals can be judged. Although the Iban are relatively homogeneous culturally, there are, nonetheless, notable local differences in adat, and in the case of ritual prohibitions (pemali) variations exist even between families. Most Iban recognize that what is right in one community may be judged differently in another. A basic principle evoked when strangers have dealings with one another is that each party should, as far as possible, respect the adat of another person.
From this it follows that the Iban generally view adat as something rather more binding, and less tangential to the existence of orderly social life, than is generally implied by the English notion of custom. In this sense, the Iban concept differs. Large areas of adat have a strongly normative character. Thus rules of adat tend to stipulate, in a normative sense, what an individual should or should not do in varying circumstances.
Adat defines correct behaviour and is seen as essential to the maintenance of moral order and the continued existence of society itself. A violation of adat is described as penyalah, a “wrongful act”. While specific rules of adat vary, all Iban share basically similar notions of what constitute penyalah. The Iban frequently argue that the fact that a particular rule of conduct is adat is reason in itself why it should be followed. In describing Iban judicial process, Heppell (1957: 303) observes that a statement by a respected elder that a particular rule is adat is sufficient to clarify the provisions of the rule, and when this is done and accepted, there is little necessity to seek precedent to establish its correctness. “The fact that the rule is adat precludes any necessity for further enquiry” (1975: 303).
Wrongful acts contrary to adat evoke disapproval and in many instances are punished. The Iban concept of adat also refers to the ways in which people customarily deal with such acts. When the Iban discuss adat they very often use the term to describe, in any given situation, both the rules of behavior that apply and also the correct punishment to be meted out should these rules be transgressed. The term adat applies to both. For many transgressions, punishment takes the form of fines, or reparations of value. The notion of fines (tunggu) is closely associated with adat and written codifications of adat are characteristically described as tusun tunggu, or “fine lists” (cf. Richards 1963).
Traditionally tunggu is reparation payable to the injured party and mutually agreed to by both disputants. This is distinguished from the more recent ukum, an imposed fine or penalty, retained all or in part by the government or presiding authority. After the arrival of the Brookes in 1841, Iban fines were systematized and assigned monetary equivalents. In the first chapter of this study the author describes the major scale of fines used today by Iban judicial authorities in the Second Division of Sarawak. Later, in listing specific rules of adat, he stipulates in each case the appropriate class of fines levied in the event of its violation. Generally these fines are stated as maxima and may be reduced depending on circumstances.
Many wrongful acts have also spiritual implications (ngasoh samengat siga or Liar Samengat) and so require ritual propitiation. Some are thought to disturb relations with the spiritual world and unless repaired by ritual means are believed to provoke supernatural retaliation. For serious offences, such as incest, supernatural danger may extend to the whole community to which the transgressor belongs. In such cases, ritual redress is aimed at preserving the group’s collective well being.
In addition, violations of adat that cause personal injury, or result in damage or loss of possessions, are perceived by the Iban as an attack upon the victim’s soul, or spiritual personality. Such acts therefore require ritual redress aimed at reviving the victim’s soul, either by itself or in addition to fines. Thus wrongful acts often have spiritual consequences, or are thought to invite supernatural punishment, and these notions further reinforce the moral authority of adat, and the application of fines and more diffuse social sanctions in maintaining compliance.
Ultimately every person is thus the member of an adat community, the continued existence of which is believed to depend upon his behaving in accordance with its accepted norms and sanctions. When a person is the victim of a transgression, he is expected to minta adat, “to ask for adat”, meaning, specifically, that he is expected to insist upon compensation in accordance with the stipulations of adat (cf. Heppell 1975: 318). The responsibility of the longhouse headman and other community elders is to see to it that correct fines and ritual sanctions are applied and every act of redress is looked upon as a triumph of adat that restores the social harmony and spiritual health of the adat community.

Waterworld - Domain of the Spirits of Water Creatures

Background to the study of adat
Prior to the arrival of the Brookes, the Iban present a picture of an exceedingly energetic people, warring among themselves and with others, and constantly expanding territorially, absorbing and displacing other groups of people in the process. This pattern of aggressive outward expansion continued into the 1850’s and, on a more peaceful basis, even later. Throughout this traditional period, social loyalties centered on major river systems. The watersheds dividing these rivers tended to delimit major regional groups, or “tribes”, and these groups, under the leadership of senior warriors and war leaders, the raja berani, tuai kayau or tuai serang, constituted the maximal units of traditional society organized for aggression and territorial defense. While regional leaders sought to minimize the dangers of fratricidal conflict among their followers, their formal powers were limited almost entirely to the context of warfare. Thus Iban society was traditionally “acephelous” and totally without a centralized, hierarchical political order. Political power was dispersed between basically sovereign local communities, longhouses and kindred. It was in this turbulent setting that traditional Iban adat evolved, as an intricate system of social rules and sanctions, in independent, highly egalitarian communities without centralized authority, which, yet, for reasons of survival, required effective means for resolving contention and preserving internal order.
A basic factor shaping traditional adat was thus the lack of a hierarchical political order and leaders having at their disposal the organized force to impose their decisions on others. Each regional group, or “tribe”, consisted of a set of autonomous longhouses linked to one another by cognatic kinship, as a generally endogamous collection of overlapping kindred. When disputes arose, they could only be settled by longhouse consensus, supported by the judgment of community elders, or through the workings of the kinship system.
When members of different longhouses within a region were in dispute, each side was represented by influential kinsmen, acting as arbiters and go-betweens. Both within and between longhouses the existence of an unwritten, but highly codified body of adat was of utmost importance in this regard, providing an established, locally accepted basis for composing differences. Moreover, the authority of adat was upheld by belief in its moral correctness and, in many instances, by forms of ritual redress and notions that supernatural punishment follows upon disturbance of the adat order. But ultimately settlements had to be accepted, and mutually acceded to. If differences could not be composed, either the parties involved had to accept the situation or one of them might resort to force, physical retaliation (bepalu) or forcible seizure of property (ngerampas). In such situations a grave danger always existed that internecine violence might result. Faced with this danger, longhouse and regional leaders sought to restrain the parties involved and press them to accept negotiation or submit to ritualized conventions such as diving ordeals (kelam ai) or contests with wooden clubs (batempoh). Between different tribes, no such mechanisms existed for settling disputes, and at this level a state of intermittent warfare prevailed.
The establishment of Brooke rule profoundly altered the structure of Iban society. Although the early policy of the Rajahs’ government was to interfere as little as possible with indigenous adat, the creation of a centralized government and the elimination of blood feud and the gradual suppression of intertribal warfare had far reaching effects on Iban political life and internal institutions of social control.
One of the first administrative acts of James Brooke was to accord official recognition to Malay written law, the Undang-Undang, shortly after establishing his government in 1842. For the other indigenous groups, including the Iban, both James Brooke and his successor, Charles Brooke, extended similar recognition to those areas of adat constituting an accepted body of customary law. The policy pursued was basically one of non-interference with adat, except in cases involving physical violence, capital offences, or where traditional punishments were considered to be too harsh. This policy was dictated by practical necessity. But it was also one to which the Rajahs were ideologically committed, as is well expressed by the Second Rajah, writing in the Sarawak Gazette of 1872 (quoted by Chater 1964: 225):
“A Government such as that of Sarawak may start from things as we find them, putting its veto on what is dangerous or unjust and supporting what is fair and equitable in the usages of the natives, and letting system and legislation wait upon occasion. When new wants are felt, it examines and provides for them by measures rather made on the spot than imported from abroad; and to ensure that these shall not be contrary to native customs, the consent of the people is gained for them before they are put in force.”
As Pringle (1970: 173-75) notes the first Rajahs as men of strongly conservative instinct, steadfastly resisted efforts to systematize adat. A comprehensive code of law, based on the Indian Penal Code and Indian Criminal Procedure Code, was instituted in Sarawak only in the time of the Third Rajah, and even then, its provisions were understood to apply only to offences not covered by customary rules of adat (Chater 1964:225).
Despite the cherished belief of the first two Rajahs that their government preserved indigenous adat very largely as they found it, the development of administrative institutions that took place during their rule inevitably brought in its train profound changes. Most importantly, the Brookes introduced courts to the Iban and elevated and ultimately backed the judicial role of indigenous leaders. At the level of the longhouse, the traditional longhouse forum (Baum) was restructed, as a court (bechara), as we shall see presently, and the longhouse headman was formally empowered through its use to settle disputes among his followers according to the principles of adat. In contrast to traditional society, the state, government magistrates and police thus sanctioned his legal authority, and the binding force of adat itself. Judicial decisions were enforceable and non-compliance or resort to force was strictly punishable. Indeed, many instances of such punishment occurred during the early years of Brooke rule. At the regional level, the status of regional leaders was similarly formalized in the creation of salaried Penghulus or native chiefs. These leaders assumed responsibility for their own bechara. Moreover, the Penghulu courts were not only granted special areas of jurisdiction, but were formally instituted as superior courts of appeal vis-à-vis the longhouse bechara. The basis on which adat operated as a mechanism of social control was thus profoundly altered.
In addition the Brookes moved gradually to eliminate some elements of adat that they considered bad, or in need of reform, and this process was continued by local officers through the years. Several aspects of Iban custom were ultimately proscribed, including the death penalty for incest; the right of an aggrieved husband to take the lives of an adulterous pair caught inflagrante delicto, rights of forcible seizure of property, and head hunting. In the case of adultery and forcible seizure, their proscription coincided with the efforts of Iban leaders themselves to avert recourse to these measures. Forced appropriation of property, called ngerampas, was an important element of traditional Iban law, and was only gradually suppressed through the substitution of effective means of judicial redress and the enforcement of monetary fines.
Head hunting was even more important and was the focus of a complex religious cult bearing importantly on political leadership. Its suppression was also gradual, and indeed, during the early days of the Raj its practice was sometimes fostered as a punitive measure in extending control over recalcitrant tribal groups (cf. Wagner 1972). Two other institutions, though officially disapproved, were only gradually eliminated: slavery and legal contests. Both are described in some detail later in this study. As Pringle (1970: 176) observes, the first two Rajahs liked to think of themselves as acting always within a traditional framework, even when they introduced changes in the customs of the country. But more than this, they often did, in fact, make use of traditional means in bringing about changes, one of the reasons why innovations made by the Brookes took such deep root in Sarawak. Resistance to the elimination of slavery came not so much from the Iban and other interior communities as from the Malay aristocracy. Although the Iban formerly kept slaves, whose status was theoretically heritable, slaves, in fact, usually enjoyed eventual emancipation. As a consequence, the Iban preserved their basic egalitarianism and there never developed a significant slave class in Iban society. The final elimination of slavery was brought about, as Mr. Sandin indicates here, by means of the traditional Iban procedure of manumission through adoption (batimbang) and the descendants of former slaves were protected from formal disability by Iban rules against personal defamation.
In suppressing slavery, the Brookes thus showed considerable insight, bringing it about largely through the inner workings of indigenous institutions. Similarly legal contests were only gradually eliminated, and not totally disallowed until alternative judicial procedures become generally accepted. Ordeals by fire and boiling water were disliked by the Iban themselves and were allowed to die a natural death. Legal contests involving the use of wooden weapons were seen as a dangerous convention by the Iban themselves and their suppression, again, coincided with the efforts of indigenous leaders to avert their use. For reasons that will become clear presently, diving contests proved to be more resilient and their gradual elimination took many years to achieve.
While the Brooke government and its court system recognized and enforced Iban adat, no attempt was made to embody it in a written code or to reduce, or eliminate, differences that existed from region to region until the reign of the Third Rajah. Partly this was due to a realistic fear that doing either of these things might destroy its flexible character (Pringle 1970: 174; Richards 1963: 5). However, the need for some systematic compilation of primary rules and for guidelines to be used in their application came increasingly to be felt by government magistrates and Iban Penghulu. In 1915 Mr. A.B. Ward, the Resident of the Second Division, compiled a list of Iban offences and fines intended as a guide for court use entitled “Notes on Fines and Customs Recognized in the Court at Simanggang.” This list was later published (Ward 1961). Subsequent government officers amended and annotated this original list and a heavily annotated version appeared in Richards (1963) Dayak Adat Law in the Second Division.
As the first step in arriving at an accepted codification of Iban adat, a major conference of Penghulus from the Third Division, together with the Tuan Muda, Bertram Brooke, was held in Sibu in 1932. A provisional list of offences and fines was compiled, issued the same year in Romanized Iban as the Tusun Tunggu Daya (Iban). A further conference was held in 1936, again at Sibu, and resulted in the first systematic code, Sea Dayak (Iban) Fines, Third Division (Sarawak, 1940). Both Sea Dayak Fines, and the earlier Tusun Tunggu, apply only to what was then the Third Division, which today includes, as well, the newly formed Sixth and Seventh Divisions. The Rejang area covered by these codes is not part of the Iban menoa lama, the original Sarawak heartland of Iban settlement, but was occupied in late historical times by Iban coming from a number of different adat traditions. Because of the differences in adat represented within the region, Sea Dayak Fines aimed at standardizing customary law so as to reduce the difficulties involved in settling disputes between persons adhering to different traditions. Although covering all major offences, it represents by no means a complete codification of Iban customary law (cf. Freeman 1970: 114fn). In 1952 a further conference of Penghulus was held at Sibu, as a result of which this fine list was again revised. More recently yet, a state council, the Majlis Adat Istiadat, has been created, under the direction of a prominent Iban leader, Tan Sri Dato Temenggong Jugah, as an advisory body to the government on matters relating to customary law.
Iban adat for the Second Division was not codified until 1961. In July a conference of Penghulus, bards and others, including the author of this study, was held at Simanggang. The results were published as Dayak Adat Law in the Second Division (Richards 1963). This work, in addition to its practical use as a legal guide, is also valuable for a more general understanding of traditional adat, since, unlike the earlier fine lists, it sought to go beyond providing a basic, abbreviated penal code, to giving a rather more comprehensive account of the various areas covered by adat and an explanation of some of its salient characteristics. It contains a brief, but insightful introductory discussion of the role of adat in traditional Iban society, the main Second Division fine list (tusun tunggu) in both Iban and English translation; a brief discussion of rules of inheritance, divorce and family custom; an annotated version of A.B. Ward’s “Notes on Fines and Customs”, and some discussion of land tenure taken from additional outside sources. Nevertheless, Dayak Adat Law suffers some of the same limitations as the Third Division fine lists. In its actual application, Iban adat represents a highly intricate, detailed body of rules and interdictions, showing considerable local variation, and is applied with due regard to the circumstances of each particular case. Although the participants were well aware of this, the main fine list inadequately reflects the actual intricacies of adat and is far from exhaustive.
Even before these efforts were made at codification, one of the first areas of adat to receive careful scrutiny, for pragmatic administrative reasons, was that concerned with the regulation of land use and tenure. The first Land Order in Sarawak was promulgated in 1863. A revised Land Order superseded it in 1920, and the provisions of this Order and later amendments were subsequently incorporated in the pr

Sempama Jako Iban..

Enggau pengaga ati serta basa besai, aku Ronnie ngelalu ka bala kitai Iban ka deka nguji mantai ka jako sempama tau ka rambai jako ti tau di kunsi ka kitai enggau pangan diri.
“Kelala buah ari langgu, Kelala bansa ari jaku, Kelala basa ari penyiru”….. Bechuan ka jako sempama tu, aku arap ka bala pemacha maioh sama-sama ngulur ka penemu diri enggau manah awak ka tau dikena anembiak kitai Iban dudi hari ila. Terima Kasih.
Definition of some ritual terms used in Adat Iban 1993:
Note: A.J.N. Richards’ 1981 Iban-English Dictionary has been used as a guide in the definitions of these ritual terms.
[A]
“Abi Besi” means the first token of cutting a virgin jungle to establish the right of ownership on the land for the first time (panggul berumpang kampung) and secondly it means the first token of cutting of the under-growth on the first day of the beginning of the farming season (panggul bumai temuda). It also means the mutually agreed boundary between two farms. The offence of “Abi Besi” is also committed when an attempt is made to usurp someone’s land when his ‘panggul’ has been established, or to interfere with the mutually agreed boundary.
“Adat Basu Kaki” literally means cleansing of the feet. When a Ketua Masyarakat or Tuai rumah or any elder is invited by a family to sub-divide a padi farm or distribute family heir-looms including padi grains, sacred properties such as charms, engkenyang it is in accord with customs to provide such a person with genselan in the form of a fowl, a knife for kering samengat and a jar for kurung samengat. It is also customary to provide karung kerubung or sangkar of one panding or alas or money equivalent to RM2 or RM4. In this Adat Iban “Mungkul” is used.
“Anembiak” means a person or group of persons who are subjected to the ‘rule’ of a Tuai Rumah or Ketua Masyarakat and who generally respect the authority of these community leaders.
“Asi Pana” means balls of black rice placed on a parang and eaten by the chief mourner or any person appointed to perform the task. The period of taking “Asi Pana” depends on the duration of “Tungkun Api” (mourning fire) which lasts for 3 or 5 or 7 nights according to the social standing of the deceased.
[B]
“Baiya” means the various personal effects, any articles or materials provided, for the deceased.
“Balu” means widow or widower or widowed.
“Bayar Pengerusak Tubuh” means a compensation paid by a person responsible for causing bodily injury to another, whether the injury is caused by an accident or negligence.
“Bebanchak Babi” literally means spearing a pig. It is a form-of peace-making ceremony. It also performed to honor a very important guest to a festival.
“Bebiau (melaki-bini)” literally means “waving” but in this context it is understood to mean an act of waving of fowl to declare a man and a woman as husband and wife with a prayer or invocation to shower blessing upon them for a life long happiness and a prosperous union. This simple ritual can be done before a Tuai Rumah and few relatives without the pomp, the gaiety and merriment that befit the “Melah Pinang”.
“Bebuting ka Menua” means cleansing of an area. It is a ritual ceremony to cleanse a territorial area to eradicate evil forces, which were thought to have caused failure to crops, or brought epidemic and other forms of calamities to the community.
“Bedara” means performing ritual offering to ward off or appease the spirit.
“Beduruk” means practicing a system of reciprocal labor.
“Bekalih” literally means turning over. It is a ritual ceremony to permit the prohibited degree of marriage taking place between the third and fourth cousins.
“Belega” means temporary divorce within a reasonable period of time for a newly-wed couple on the ground of a bad dream or omen.
“Benda” means articles of value, articles of fines or valuable jars.
“Besapat” literally means having a partition. It is a ritual ceremony to permit the prohibited degree of marriage taking place between the second and third cousins.
“Bilik-family” means a family consisting of the parents, their children and grandparents who live in the family section of a longhouse.
“Burung” means not only omen birds but also animals, reptiles, insects and tree whose noises, behaviour or actions can be regarded as an augury. In an abstract term, it refers to augury or omenology.
[G]
“Geliga” means a special announcement made by the host or his agent during a festival or a gathering to the effect that peace and harmony must be observed during the functions. Certain Tunggu are fixed if there is a breach of what has been laid down. The offender shall also be subject to an appropriate provision of the Adat Than depending on the gravity of the offence committed.
“Genselan” means a kind of ritual propitiation provided by the offender for breach or infringement of a custom or taboo. In other words, it is a ritual offering to appease gods for any disturbances caused and to restore harmonious relation among members of the community.
[I]
“Iban” means Dayak (Sea) as defined in the Interpretation Ordinance, Cap. 1, Vol. I of the Laws of Sarawak, 1958.
“Indu Padi” is a plant called engkenyang normally of the genus of herbs of a species of crinum of the amaryllideoe and is considered sacred by each farming family. It is planted out each year on the first day before dibbling starts. It is supposed to contain the life force of the padi and the farm.
“Iya” – the pronoun “he” and its derivatives are used for any person or animal, whether male or female.
[K]
“Kampar” means an outsider or stranger who lodges temporarily as a member in a family room.
“Kepit Bangkai” means a room bounded by rooms immediately to it on both sides in which death has occurred.
“Karesan” or “Tungkal” these two terms have the same meaning. Firstly, it means a form of Tunggu against any person who is in breach of certain customary law and if during the continuation of the breach someone in a longhouse suddenly falls ill or dies any member of the sick or the deceased may demand Karesan from that person. Secondly, it is an additional Tunggu against that person and if between the impositions of a fine and its payment, someone in the longhouse falls ill or dies, the offender shall be liable to provide Karesan or Tungkal.
“Ketua Masyarakat” means “Iban community chief” such as the Penghulu, Pemanca and Temenggong who holds the appointment with the approval of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri under the terms and conditions of service for the Ketua Masyarakat (Government Circular Ref: 36/CMO/1532/1) as amended from time to time.
[L]
“Lanting” means item or items of valuable property which may be chosen by the father and mother for their security before all the bilik property is divided to its members. It may be an old jar or gong or rubber garden or a piece of land, or any other valuable property of their choice. It is inherited by whoever cares for him or her at the end of life.
“Longhouse” means a permanent building structure of a dwelling house consisting of Iban bilik-families.
[M]
“Malam” or “night-time” means the interval between six o’clock at night and six o’clock in the morning.
“Melah Pinang” literally means splitting a ‘pinang’ or areca nut an act upon which the marriage ceremony derives its name. The areca nut is split into five or seven pieces accompanied by other chewing ingredients such as, five or seven pieces of sireh leaves, gambler or lime placed on a brass tray or any other container. All the friends, relatives and elders of the community gather round the tray discussing over the binding nature of the marriage contract and other relevant adat. This ceremony is celebrated in the bride’s house amidst the pomp and gaiety of merriment.
If both parties agree to the compact, the following morning the bride is taken away to the bridegroom’s house. Like most Iban ceremonies it is not complete without the ritual of waving a fowl over their heads (known as bebiau). The bride is conducted to the bridegroom’s room and made to sit beside him. An elderly man who is considered to carry luck with him is asked to wave a life fowl over their heads, pronouncing a benediction, in front of relatives and other guests. The final rite is an act of declaration that they are husband and wife.
“Pelasi Menua” means providing propitiatory offering to cleanse the territory of evil forces, epidemic and calamities that may befall the community as a result of the commission of certain offences such as incest or any other serious crimes in a particular area.
“Mungkul” means a small jar used in olden days for settling disputes. Sometimes it is known as ‘Mukul’ or ‘Menukul’ according to what is customary to a particular area. However, mungkul has been popularised and widely used. All Tunggu in this Adat Iban are stated in “Mungkul”. One Mungkul shall be equivalent to RM1 (one Malaysian ringgit).
[N]
“Ngambi Tebalu” means performing a ritual ceremony for the release of a widow or widower from the restriction or prohibition of widowhood or widower-hood. During the gathering the deceased’s relatives shall declare in public, the appropriate ritual fees for the purpose in accordance with the social standing of the deceased. The fee is not less than 4 Mungkul but not more than 60 Mungkul.
“Ngayap” means a custom of courtship in a form of night visit by an unmarried man to an unmarried woman in the latter’s room.
“Ngeragai” means to leave the house unroofed.
“Nujah Menua” or “Ngudi Menua” means to spoil the area by committing crime, like incest or gross indecency which will bring-calamity or disaster to the area.
“Nyadap” means extracting a bamboo shoot from its clump, or one or more pieces of banana from the bunch while the palm still stands.
“Nyakap” means to throw a challenge at someone by word or action to arouse ill-feeling.
“Nyelai” means lopping a bunch of banana while the palm still stands.
[P]
“Padi Patah” or “Padi Paut” means sacred padi plants comprising three separate clumps tied together and bundled with red cotton thread below the ears to form a tri-pod shape. From this bundle few ears, 7 or 9, shall be plucked tied together and brought home after the ritual offering has been performed.
“Padi Pun” means a specially selected variety of rice seeds which has been planted for generations by the family. In the padi field it forms its nucleus or centre.
“Pandang Bangkai” means two or more rooms bounded by rooms on both sides of these middle rooms in which deaths have occurred.
“Pati Nyawa” means compensation paid by a person responsible for the death of another to the parents, wife or husband, children or relatives of the deceased, whether the death is caused by negligence or carelessness, or accident or otherwise such as by gunshot, knife, spear, explosives, poisonous substances or any other dangerous weapons.
“Payung Rumah” means the precinct or compound surrounding the Iban longhouse at least 20 fathoms wide measured from the outside post of the main building.
“Pelasi Menua” means a kind of ritual offerings and articles which when provided were supposed to avert the evil forces that would have been brought upon a country through the commission of some offences, such as incest and other major crimes.
“Pemai Anak” means a movable or immovable inherited property or a sum of money payable by the offender to each of his children who is not under his custody.
“Pemalu” means a form of settlement for hurting someone’s feeling or causing embarrassment by speech or action.
“Pemali” means prohibition or taboo.
“Peti” means a specially built structure in the form of a spring trap equipped, first with the main post. Firmly strapped to the top of the main post is a spring post with the bottom end stretched to two short posts planted close to each other on the other side of the animal track by means of a string with a toggle at the end which is attached to a grommet. From this grommet, a trip cord is stretched across the track and tied to the main post. The grommet, the toggle and the trip cord constitute the trigger mechanism.
When an animal is passing through its track and springs at the trip cord, the toggle slips from the grommet, thus releasing the spring post which is armed with a sharp bamboo blade free to strike the game at the vital part with a ferocious force. In order to strike at the vital part of the animal, an implement called “tuntun” is used to set the trip cord at the proper height. Tuntun is a stick on which the height measurements are prescribed and marked for the various types of animals.
“Punas” means childless. A person of single status or a couple, who dies without an issue or without adopting a child. A bilik family may also be regarded as “Punas” if the parties to the marriage who owned that bilik are childless and have not adopted a child before they die.
[S]
“Selabat” means cursing or swearing against someone during the course of a quarrel and if the one cursed suddenly falls ill or dies within 7 days, that person who cursed or swore may be liable for an offence of “selabat”.
“Sungkup” means a miniature hut for the soul of the dead placed over its grave.
[T]
“Tangga Pulai” means a restitution provided by a party who asked for a return of a spouse to normalise their marriage after a separation or divorce.
“Tebalu” means ritual fees or articles of fine for the release of a widow or widower from the various prohibitions or restrictions of widowhood or widowerhood.
“Tebalu Mansau” means mature release from widowhood or widowerhood. It can be declared at the end of the mutually agreed period of widowhood or widowerhood or during the festival of the dead.
“Tebalu Mata” means premature release from widowhood or widowerhood. It can be declared at any time depending on the conduct or behaviour of the widow or widowerhood during the period of widowhood or widowerhood.
“Tegeran ai” or “Garis” means a stretch of water reserved for a certain longhouse.
“Tembawai” means a site where the past longhouse was built.
“Tembawai Dampa” means a site where the past temporary longhouse was built.
“Tembawai Langkau” means a site where the past hut was built.
“Temuda” means past farming land.
“Tinggang Bangkai” means the house where a visitor or lodger (kampar) dies.
“Tua” means tutelary spirit or guardian spirit.
“Tuai Rumah” means “Chief” or “Headman” of the Iban community.
“Tunggu” means a form of restitution. Restitution covers two important ingredients of the term “tunggu”: first, it covers the idea of providing a settlement between individuals; second it covers the idea of appeasement, atonement or restoration of the physical and spiritual wellbeing of the community. There is no element of punishment.
In terms of settlement, the offender shall provide “tunggu” in the form of “mungkul”, and in terms of appeasement, atonement or restoration, the offender shall provide “genselan”, “pelasi menus”, “pati nyawa”, or whatever the case may be.
Example:
To defecate in a person’s farm is a breach against taboo, (see section 100 of the Adat Iban). The offender shall provide restitution or tunggu of 4 Mungkul and a genselan of one chicken and kering samengat.
It means that 4 Mungkul is a form of settlement to pacify the feeling of the farm-owner.
A genselan of a chicken and a kering samengat (soul strengthener) are for the appeasement or atonement of the padi spirit and the farm. They are for the restoration of the state of the souls of both the offender and the farm-owner to their normal selves for the sake of their physical and spiritual wellbeing.
“Tunggu Luya” means a restitution payable to the wife in the case of a couple where their children were all dead.
“Tunggu Tinggal” means a restitution payable to the injured party in a divorce case.
“Tungkus Asi” literally means a pack lunch. It is a token gift in consideration for the transfer of the family land ownership to his relatives. It was the practice in the old days, when an Iban migrating from one place to another the transferee had to pay the “Tungkus Asi” to the transferor as compensation for the original clearing.
[U]
“Ukum” means secular fine, a term used for offences against the rules of social behaviours.
“Ulit” means (1) a period of mourning when restrictions and prohibitions related thereto are observed. (2) Small possession of the dead and articles of tunggu are packed usually into a brass container properly fastened and kept in a safe place and are to be opened by a person specially selected to declare the end of the mourning period at an appointed time.
“Utai Redak” means small articles of tunggu such as cups and plates or small jars.
[Y]
“Yang” or Iyang means tutelary spirit or guardian spirit of the Shaman (manang).

Pejalai Pengidup - Nemuai ngagai menua lama Lemanak- Part 2

Penemuai bala kami rebak tok nyelaie ari ke udah laban bisi bala ari semenanjung deka enggau meda serta ngasai ke idup rumah panjai

Tebing sungai iaka penuh enggau jerangku kayu

Mudik ai Lemanak

Berasai tetenguk ati deka nyelam lubuk mulai ke pengingat lama

Anang salah sadang..lubuk iaka sunyi serta lepong bakato endang meruan bisi "utai" nyaga

Benung nerang ke Pejalai ngagai Tuan Haji Khalis ianya siko ari pemesai perintah ari Putrajaya

Endu Monica Midi - DJ RTM Kapit..iaka selalu dinga kitai kuchah-kuchah dalam radio ngelamato

Ngetu mandi sebedau merarau enggau Endu Noreen Raman serta Unggal Devan Arup

Nyau tependal tapak jari di bai enda ngetu besuar ke ulu

Nguji ngerendam diri enda lama..udah bekau bepanas maia ngulu ai

Taja pen dalam puak kampung jerung tang Tn Haji Khalis enda kala enda ingat ke tanggungjawab ia sembiang

Manduk lauk enggau asi semina ngena buluh..penyamai ia..hermmm..semina aku aja nemu..

Penatai kami endang semampai dianti sida iaka duduk diruai...

Kami dua Tn Haji Khalis ampit ngemai tanda pengingat..Tanggui / Tanggi enggau Rangkang kayu

Begambar tanda pengingat enggau sida iaka ngempu menua

Ketegal suar salah ujak,ngujung ke aku semepak labuh ke ai..

Ketegal ati enda uleh ditagang,nguji berendam enda lama..dua ari sebedau nyak bisi kala udah nyadi sida iaka ngembuan menua nyak mati tangkap baya maia nyala...endang ba lubuk endur kami tiga berendam nyak..begulai enggau unggal Ngalang Kemarau enggau unggal Jimmy Jantan

Ngeluan ke perau

Benung ngetu merarau

Nama ulah anembiak to? Baka ka ngajat ukai ga..

Bala sida ke indu benung ngadu ke pemakai

Taja pen bisi mai Mineral Water..tang ai sungai to nyamai di irup..maia baru udah merarau

Penemuai kami sebuat,mayuh ngajar serta meri penemu,( Atas Kiba -Felicia Allow ,Devan Arup,Ngalang Kemarau,Alfred Rentap,Salsuria Selamat,Wan Roslan,Monica Midi, Kathy ,Ali,Hj Khalis,Ah Pok,Jimmy Jantan,Judith Ganing, Ronnie,Norren Raman )

Penemuai bala kami sebuat ikas iaka ke dua tok mega nemuai ngabas menua lama ianya Batang Lemanak,ngagai bala semua kita bala kaban,menyadi iaka kala nyempulang pejalai seretai singkang kejang..meri besai terima kasih serta tabi basa. Semina Petara aja uleh malas pemanah iaka kala digaga kita.

Pejalai Pengidup - Nemuai ngagai menua lama Skrang - Part 1

Berandau enggau ketuai dulo sebedau bejalai nujah ngerempah menua

Benung bejurai ke penemu

Tanju

Bala iaka ngasai diri enda nemu nyemerai sigi udah disedia ke "life jacket"..pengelikun semampai dijaga

Lama enda besuar..sepengudah begulai enggau niang akik suba..maia slalu di bai ngabas pukat

Nemuai ngagai menua lama kitai iban..Ulu Skrang ianya ikas ketiga jalai pemindah kitai iban sepengudah ngentap kediri ba Pulau Borneo.

Benung nyedia ke diri deka mudik ke ulu ngelaban ai pasang

Nganti Bah Tunggal udah mansa,perau kami ngetu dulu laban dipelaba ke mayuh batang / baya deka anyut ari ulu

Deka nguji kediri enggau bala sida ayak betaboh ngachuh ke ruai..

Ngetu ba kerangan maia ngetu makai tengahari

Benung ngetu belelak,nganti sida ke indu ngagau makai

Sepengudah merarau pejalai ke ulu bertampung baru sebedau ari nyau majak lemai

Nemuai ngagai ruai rumah lama....naka meh penyamai uleh mulai ke pengingat

Bala kami sebuat ba luan aku nyak Tuan Geofrey dibelakang aku endu Lina Inggang

Kerangan Murat Skrang

Kerangan Tabau Skrang

Maia nemuai ngagai menua iaka paling mayuh di wan baya..( buaya ) deka nguji ke pemerani diri

Benung ngetu belelak ba kerangan,kami dua unggal Ngalang Kemarau

Sinu amai meda ruai nyau sunyi..semina di wan sida iaka tuai

Kru "Menjejak Buaya"

Benung mudik ai Empelam Engkelili...ngarap ke uleh betemu enggau sida "Akik"..

Nguji merening sebelah tebing