De Fontaine Memorial

If you drive just a few kilometers south towards Papar from Kota Kinabalu City you will reach a small town called Kawang and there lies the De Fontaine Memorial. De Fontaine was the Police Chief during the British Chartered Company of North Borneo who came with the Resident to catch the Murut Chief in Tenom. They stopped in Kawang to request for 20 additional people which was misunderstood as a form of slavery by the local Bajau Community. What transpired was the fighting between the British police force assisted by the Sikh policemen and the Bajau community and 7 of them were killed. This memorial marked the encounter De Fontaine and entourage with the local community at a site where there was a mango tree.

The Story About The Barunsai

There was also this story from PITAS about the Bajau community who does the Barunsai (a kind of local dance) and merry making. Barunsai is normally done at wedding or festivals or reception of important people. The merrymaking lasted for many hours with lots of laughter. The people were so happy that they had forgotten the time and they turned into stones. The stone can be sighted at PITAS at Kg Likapas, near Pualau Jambongan. Such stories are also quite common with the other ethnics especially the Dusun and there are many version. Some stories told was about some toad getting into the gravy and the audience laughed at it, while other stories was about a monkey that was dressed up and the audience laughed at it.This story was told by an Orang Sungai Iman and a Suluk.

You Could Count Them With Your Fingers

There are only about 3 old buildings left in Kota Kinabalu City; the old post office building, the sabah art gallery site and the old clock tower. The Japanese had bombed Kota Kinabalu during WW2 in the year 1945 that leave us with only 3 buildings, one of which was burnt.

Kota Kinabalu and Sabah for that matter is a story about piracy and rebellion coming mainly from the Bajau against the British East India Company. The story of Mat Salleh and Shariff Osman at Marudu were good example of such activities.

The British initially established a settlement at Gaya Island, off Kota Kinabalu, but they later shifted to Kota Kinabalu, known as Api Api then because of attacks from the pirates.

Kain Tenunan, Songket & Rattan

The Bajau in Kota Belud, a town north of Kota Kinabalu City are expert weavers, particularly the Iranun community from Kg Rampaian Laut. The Sumatran are also good weavers. We call the cloth they weave as 'Kain Tenunan' and the market had expanded to places like London that fetched a kain tenunan price of about RM1,600 per piece. Kota Belud even has a Handicraft Centre that teaches and markets weaving and their products, particularly songket and batik textiles.They also teaches people the making of baskets and other products from cane or rattan.

They Still Smoke 'Kirai' In Sabah

Kirai is the local cigarette popularly smoked by the Bajau and the Dusun community too. It is said to have been introduced by the Chinese when they came to BORNEO. The tobacco is wrapped inside the leaves of a kind of palm tree called nipah. This palm tree grows well along the river banks on a muddy soil.The history of the kirai is as old as the communities themselves and the fact that it still survives until today is a testimony that it has become part and parcel of the local communities and the kirai leaves and tobacco are sold at the weekly tamu or markets.It could be more popular now that the cost of the cigarettes have increased over the years.The kirai leaves are called bungkosan by the local Bajau community.

The Big Drum Called Sang Gendang

Its location is at the compound of Kg Darau Laut place of worship. It is believed to have been brought to Sabah some 300 years ago by the Arab traders and missionaries.It is believed to be the biggest drum or "beduk" and perhaps the oldest in Sabah,commonly used by the Muslim community for the call of prayers and the announcement of the new moon to celebrate Hari Raya.

Those Arab traders and missionaries had now been assimilated with the local natives particularly the Dusun tribe of Darau and they are now the Bajau ethnic.

The drum is now a masterpiece and the object of historical and cultural research by many parties.

Bajau Community At Kampong Darau Laut

It is interesting to note that there are many Bajau ethnic groups in Sabah, but one catches my attention, that of the Bajau Community at Kg Darau Laut, Inanam, Kota Kinabalu.

The village is now divided into two; one is the old village and the other the new settlement. It is most heartening to note that the river had been widened and strengthened with concrete.

This community came to the area now known as Kg Darau about some 300 years ago from Johor, southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia. When they first arrived they saw some Dusun rice farmers. The Dusun farmers soon moved fruther inland to the foot of the mountain which is now known as Mandau, in Menggatal, a town closeby to Inanam.

Darau got its name from the Dusun language which means 'slowly' or 'pelan pelan' in Bahasa Malaysia. Some people also said that Darau comes from the word Darul which is similar to Darul Salam which is the neighboring State of Negara Brunei Darul Salam.

The community which originally came from Saudi Arabia could have come to this part of the world to spread the religion of Islam at that time. There were 6 of them including the father which included 3 men and 2 ladies and the one that stayed in Sabah was the lady. This means that the Bajau Community in Darau is of the Arab decent or heritage. They still keep some of the things left by their forefathers including some old religious document, dress and of course an old drum which we call 'beduk'.