The Legend From PITAS

PITAS is a district in the North of Sabah and the Orang Sungei and Suluk Communities stay there as well as the other ethnic of Sabah. One Imam of Pitas, Mr Amin Bin Iji 2 Aminullah Bin Eji enumerated the story of Siperak who returned home to Pitas after a long journey that made him very wealthy did not recognize and accepted his mother who was elated to see him back home. Because of his ego Siperak was cursed by the mother who upon hitting her right body made Siperak ship to rock to the right and on hitting her left body the boat rocked to the left. However both turned into stones and both can be seen in Pitas Kg Malubang. Such legend is not uncommon in this part of the region. They had similar stories of Sitanggang that also turned into a stone and similar stories in Brunei. Whatever it is such legend are part of the historical and cultural heritage of many communities. Siperak could have been named after the word 'perak' which means silver and silver is the money of that time. He could have come from Perak in Peninsular Malaysia.

1888

No that was not the car number that you have wanted to have and bid more than RM1,000.00 and the number 8 is very much reverred by the Chinese and even the other races. Why is this figure so important then? 1888 was the year North Borneo became a protectorate of Great Britain so was Negara Brunei Darussalam. That was 21 years before North Borneo became an independent state in Malaysia on September 16,1963.

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'.