Sarawak has more than 40 ethnic groups, each with their own distinct language, culture and lifestyle. Making up a population of about 2.5 million The majority of the population reside in a few large urban centres, but a significant percentage still live in longhouses and villages in the interior. Most of the ethnic groups originally came from Kalimantan
Cities and larger towns are populated predominantly by Malays, Melanaus, Chinese, and a smaller percentage of Ibans and Bidayuhs who have migrated from their home-villages for employment reasons. Sarawak distinct from the rest of Malaysia, only has a small community of Indians. Sarawak population is growing at a rate of 4-5% per year and has tighter immigration controls, even for Malaysians coming in from other states.
Sarawakians practice a variety of religions, including Islam, Christianity, Chinese folk religion (a fusion of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and ancestor worship) and animism. Many converts to Christianity among the Dayak peoples also continue to practice traditional ceremonies, particularly with dual marriage rites and during the important harvest and ancestral festivals such as Gawai Dayak, (harvest Festival) Gawai Kenyalang (Hornbill Festival) and Gawai Antu (Festival of the Dead).
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Ibans
The Ibans form the largest percentage of Sarawak's population, making up some 30%. Once known as the legendary headhunters of Borneo, the Ibans of today are a hospitable and placid people. The Ibans are originally from Kalimantan, and so their culture and traditions as observed in Sarawak are very similar to the Dayaks in Kalimantan.
Because of their history as pirates and fishermen, they were conventionally referred to as the "Sea Dayaks". The Ibans dwell in longhouses, a stilted structure comprising many rooms housing a whole community of families.
The Ibans are renowned for their Pua Kumbu (traditional Iban weavings), silver craftings, wooden carvings and beadwork. Iban tattoos which were originally symbols of bravery for the Iban warriors have become amongst the most distinctive in the world. The Ibans are also famous for their tuak, a sweet intoxicating rice wine which is served during big celebrations and festive occasions.
The majority of Ibans practice Christianity. However, like most other ethnic groups in Sarawak, they still hold strong to their many traditional rituals and beliefs.
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Chinese
Making up 29% of the population of Sarawak as elsewhere they are amongst Sarawak's most prosperous ethnic groups. Though predominantly Buddhists and Christians,tThe Chinese maintain their ethnic heritage and culture and celebrate all the major cultural festivals, most notably Chinese New Year and the Hungry Ghost Festival. The Sarawak Chinese are predominantly Buddhists and Christians.
The Sarawak Chinese belong to a wide range of dialect groups, with Hokkien, Hakka and Mandarin being the most widely spoken dialects.
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Malay
The ethnic Malay of Sarawak is pretty much similar to its counterpart in the Peninsula of Malaysia with the exception of some local dialects commonly associated in Sarawak. The Malays make up about one-fifth or about 21% of the total population in Sarawak.
Traditionally fishermen, these seafaring people chose to form settlements on the banks of the many rivers of Sarawak. Today, many Malays have migrated to the cities where they are heavily involved in the public and private sectors and taken up various professions. Malay villages (kampungs) - a cluster of wooden houses on stilts, many of which are still located by rivers on the outskirts of major towns and cities, play home to traditional cottage industries. The Malays are famed for their wood carvings, silver and brass craftings as well as traditional Malays textile weaving with silver and gold thread (kain songket). Malays are Muslim by religion.
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Melanau
One of the earliest settlers of Sarawak, the Melanaus can be divided into six different groups each with its own characteristic dialect. Traditionally, the Melanaus lived in tall houses and were fishermen and till today, they are reputed as some of the finest boat-builders and craftsmen. Though ethnically different from the Malays, they have adopted a Malay lifestyle, living in kampong-type settlements. The Melanaus were originally animist and worshipped the spirits. Today most of them are Muslims and some are Christians, though they still celebrate traditional animist festivals such as the annual Kaul Festival.
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Bidayuh
Bidayuh is the collective name for several indigenous groups found in southern Sarawak that are broadly similar in language and culture. The second largest Dayak ethnic group in Sarawak after the Iban, they are most numerous in the hill country of Bau and Serian, within an hour's drive from Kuching. Originally from West Kalimantan, the Bidayuhs speak a number of different but related dialects. Historically, as other tribes were migrating into Sarawak and forming settlements, the meek-natured Bidayuhs retreated further inland, hence earning them the name of "Land Dayaks". While some of them still practice traditional religions, most modern-day Bidayuhs have adopted the Christian faith. The traditional Bidayuh abode is the "baruk", a roundhouse that rises about 1.5 metres off the ground. Typical of the Sarawak indigenous groups, the Bidayuhs are well-known for their hospitality, and are reputed to be the best makers of tuak, or rice wine.
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Orang Ulu
The phrase Orang Ulu means "remote or upriver people” is an ethnic designation politically coined to group together roughly 27 very small but ethnically diverse tribal groups that live upriver in Sarawak's vast interior. With a population ranging from less than 300 persons to over 25,000 persons, such groups include the major Kayan and Kenyah tribes, and the smaller neighbouring groups of the Kajang, Kejaman, Punan, Ukit, and Penan. Nowadays, the definition also includes the down-river tribes of the Lun Bawang, Lun Dayeh(mean upriver/far upstream), Murut, Berawan, Saban as well as the plateau-dwelling Kelabits.
The various Orang Ulu groups together make up roughly 5.5% of Sarawak's population. The Orang Ulu are artistic people with longhouses elaborately decorated with murals and woodcarvings. They are also well-known for their intricate beadwork detailed tattoos. The Orang Ulu tribe can also be identified by their unique music - distinctive sounds from their sape, a stringed instrument not unlike the mandolin. A vast majority of the Orang Ulu tribes are Christians but old traditional religions are still practiced in some areas.
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Some of the major tribes making up Sarawak's Orang Ulu group include :
Kayan
There are abour 27,000 Kayans in Sarawak and are mainly found in the northern interiors of Sarawak midway on the Baram River, the upper Rejang River and the lower Tubau River. Categorized as a part of the Dayak people, they are known for being fierce warriors, former headhunters, adept in dry-rice cultivation, and having extensive tattoos and stretched earlobes amongst both sexes. Their basic culture is similar to the other Dayak people of Borneo. Traditionally they live in long houses on river banks. Their agriculture was based upon shifting cultivation techniques and the cultivation of dryland rice. They also cultivate sago, and go hunting and fishing. Their society knows aristocrats. They are known for good carvings and metalwork. Their language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family and although many Kayan have become Christians, some still practise the old paganistic beliefs.
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Kelabit
One of the smallest tribes in Sarawak and, now, a branch of the Orang Ulu, the total Kelabit population of about 6000 people. First "discovered" around the turn of the 20th Century, the Kelabits, a tribe of fierce warriors and headhunters who saw off anyone entering their territory, were generally given a wide berth by neighbouring tribes. Under broad conical hats, they wore their hair long at the back or done up in a bun held in place by pins of metal or horn. Around the waist hung a long sword-parang with a curved staghorn hilt and wooden scabbard. The men had two holes on each ear, pierced during infancy. The bottom hole was adorned with heavy brass ear rings which greatly extended the ear lobes so that they often hung down to the shoulders. In the upper hole, kept open by wooden plugs, the warriors wore leopard's fangs.
Their homeland, now called the Kelabit Highlands, a remote plateau in the Sarawak Highlands, slightly over 1,200 meters above sea-level, is pretty ringed by a series of jungle-covered mountain peaks. All roads on the plateau lead to Bario, a settlement of about 1,000 persons
The Kelabits, predominantly Christian are a tight-knit community that live in inherited longhouses and practice a generations-old form of agriculture. Famous for their rice-farming, they also cultivate a variety of other crops which are suited to the cooler climate of the Highlands of Bario. Domesticated buffalo are valued highly, seven of which are traditionally required for the dowry for an upper class bride.
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Kenyah
The Kenyah tribe, with a population of about 25,000, their culture is very similar to that of the Kayan tribe with whom they live in close association. Their heartland however,
is Long San, along the Baram River.
The typical Kenyah village consists of only one longhouse and each long house is like a family where they have to choose their own leader. Before they become Christian they believe in 'Bungan Malan Peselong Luan' ( traditional religion was a form animist) which is like their God for protection and healing. The people are mainly farmers, planting rice in burnt jungle clearings. With the rapid economic development, especially in timber industry, many of them work in timber camps.
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Penan
The Penan are the only true nomadic people in Sarawak and amongst the last of the world's hunter-gatherers. The Penan make their home under the rainforest canopy, deep within the vast expanse of Sarawak's virgin jungle. Even today, the Penan continue to roam the rainforest hunting wild boar and deer with blowpipes.
They eat plants, which are also used as medicines, and animals and use the hides, skin, fur, and other parts for clothing and shelter. Everything that is caught is shared as the Penan have a highly tolerant, generous and egalitarian society, so much so that it is said that the nomadic Penan have no word for 'thank you' because help is assumed and therefore doesn't require a 'thank you'. The Penan are skilled weavers and make high-quality rattan baskets and mats. The traditional Penan religion worships a supreme god called Bungan.
However, an increasing number have abandoned the nomadic lifestyle for settlement in longhouses and have converted to Christians. Today the Penan number around 10,000; of which around 350-500 are nomadic They have settled into small settlements, usually based around a village 'longhouse', typical of other tribes of Sarawak's interior. Some, typically the younger generations, now cultivate rice and garden vegetables.
Since both the settled, semi-nomadic and nomadic Penan communities were and are reliant on forest produce, they were hit hard by the large scale logging operations that encroached on their traditionally inhabited territories.
The confrontation between the Penan and Sarawak State Government has continued to the present day.
The best way to view the culture and traditions of Sarawak's multi ethnic population is to visit the Sarawak Cultural Village which is located at the foot of the legendary Mt Santubong, 32 kms from Kuching City
