Blood Has Been Spilt

In the post “The Landlord Wants Us Out“,  I reported on the invasion and occupation of a small village in eastern part of the Malaysian state of Sabah by a group of armed men pressing a land claim from the 19th century on behalf of the Sultanate of Sulu.

Sadly, as feared, the three week old confrontation has turned tragic and fatal.  As of Monday the 4th of March, 8 policemen and 19 insurgents had died in exchange of fire.  Then yesterday, the Malaysian police and security forces launched an attack on the group supported by jet planes on bombing strafes and artillery shells.  There were thankfully no more casualties on the Malaysian side but more insurgents have probably been killed.  However there is concern that many of the insurgents managed to escape the attack and the security cordon and are hiding in the surrounding area masquerading as local villagers.  Security forces are carrying out door- to – door searches and “mopping up” operations to try to contain any remaining threat.

Our national anthem has a line in it that translates as “this is the land that I would dare to shed my blood for…..” and for those 8 policemen, they have made that ultimate sacrifice and their blood has been spilt so that others may continue to live in safety and peace.  There are no words that can bring comfort to their loved ones and families but nevertheless the country honors them for their sacrifices.  It just seems that all the death and sorrow was so unnecessary.   The price of this insanely, mad adventure of those armed intruders have been paid – a heavy price in blood and tears for both sides.

The Landlord Wants Us Out

Wow. It’s been another two weeks since I last posted. Yeah, I know that with such irregular postings, I will soon have no one dropping by this blog. But I do have a good excuse! Even better than the dog ate all my draft post excuse I was going to use earlier. No, this squirrel has been to busy defending his country to be writing mere posts or the excuse that I call ….. “Invasion or Eviction” (cue dramatic music chords for effect – da da da dum).

Yes, faithful readers, my country has been invaded. About three weeks ago, some 100 – 200 (depending on which news source you read) terrorists, patriots, rightful heirs (depending on which news source you read) showed up on the beautiful sandy beaches of Sabah (a Malaysian state on the rainforest island of Borneo). Well, anyway they were heavily armed tourists at the very least. They entered a small village near the coast and made themselves at home. Apparently, most of the villagers fled but a few stayed behind. Those that stayed behind were either innocent by-standers, hostages, sympathizers or accomplices (depending on which news source you read).

To understand what is going on, one has to go back a few centuries to learn the roots of the matter. In the 17th and 18th century, there were two regional powers that vied for control of Borneo and the islands of what is today, southern Philippines. These were the Sultanates of Brunei and Sulu. They were big players in the geopolitical scene of that time and European colonial powers like England, Portugal and Netherlands as well as the Asian Superpower, China, all established diplomatic relations with these two kingdoms.

In 1658, the Sultan of Brunei ceded over part of Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu as appreciation for his help in putting down an armed rebellion. So it would seem that part of Sabah was now legally part of the Sultanate of Sulu except that there were some local tribes who never really accepted that they belonged to Brunei and hence they were not for the Sultan of Brunei to give away but that’s another story. Now in the 19th century, both kingdoms were under a lot of pressure – Brunei faced internal unrest and pressure from “friendly” British powers who were willing to help the Sultan out for a price and Sulu who were at war with imperialistic Spanish forces.

Brunei again ceded parts of Sabah, this time to the British North Borneo Company in exchange for military and administrative assistance. The British then effectively took control of Sabah. The British then signed an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu for their part of Sabah on the 22nd of January 1878. Now however, there is a legal dispute as to what was actually agreed to. The British version is that the Sultan of Sulu agreed to “grant and cede” the land in exchange for an annual payment which in recent years amounted to about RM5,000 or USD 1,630. The descendents of the Sultan of Sulu say that the agreement was to “lease” or rent the land for that amount.

However, just six months later, on the 22nd of July 1878, the Sultan of Sulu was forced to sign an agreement with Spain in which he relinquished all his territories in what is now the Philippines to the Spanish Empire. Some like the British looked upon that as the effective end of the Sultanate of Sulu as an entity. Nevertheless, the payment of the annual fee for Sabah territories continued to the heirs of the Sultan – even until recently, the Malaysian Government made such payments. Later on, when the British gave independence to Malaysia, Sabah would become part of the new country with no one really giving any thought to the SUltanate of Sulu.

But despite not actually having any territory or real political power, there is still a lot of respect and support amongst the Sulu people for the heirs of the Sultan. To make the story even more convoluted, there are at least two serious contenders for the title of Sultan of Sulu and a few other claimants too. The current “Sultans” of Sulu have continued to claim that they hold the rights of the old Sultanate. In the past, they have given “Datukships” -honorary titles to Malaysians which are similar to being conferred a knighthood. In Malaysia, there are certain privileges to having a “Datukship” and it garners that person a fair bit of respect from the community. However, such titles are supposed to be given only by recognised Malaysian Sultans and as such the Sulu Datukships are not recognised by the government but this does not stop many Malaysians from seeking the title from the “Sultans” of Sulu.

Well, anyway, back to what is happening now. A group of 100 to 200 (depending on which news source you read) Sulu patriots led by the brother of one of the Sultans” of Solo have returned to their “lands” to evict the Malaysian “squatters”.

There is a certain sense of romantic adventurism to the whole thing if it wasn’t for the reality of the guns and explosives and the potential for a tragic end. So far, the Malaysian authorities are trying to play the whole incident down and are carrying out negotiations while wearing them down as their food supplies begin to run out. It’s now been about three weeks. Let’s pray for a peaceful end to all this. But isn’t life stranger than fiction sometimes?

 

Final Post From Borneo?

Last year I posted about my visit to the Borneo Rainforest Lodge in the Danum Valley Conservation Forest in Sabah which is in North Borneo (Pygmies of Darkest Borneo and Nocturnal Perambulations in Borneo).  Well, last week I had the good fortune to be  there again on work assignment but as the project is coming to an end, this may possibly be my last visit.

As before, there was lots to see.  On the night walk and night drive, we saw the rare and enchanting Western Tarsier again.  This creature can look very cute and yet at other times with its large eyes can look quite evil.  Some remark that it may have been the inspiration for Gollum from The Lord of the Rings movie.

Also seen on the night drive were a few Sambar deer, Angle-headed Lizard (Gonocephalus borneensis), a Tarantula spider and the Thomas’s Flying Squirrel.  The latter was a highlight for me as I had never seen one before.

One morning, I went for a walk and fighting my fear of heights, went onto a canopy walkway  with suspension bridges and platforms which are about 30 m off the forest floor.  While I was struggling across one of the bridges, suddenly a small flock of Scarlet Minivets flew in and started dancing in the tree foliage around me.  Temporarily forgetting my fears, I struggled to take pictures of the birds while trying to remain steady on the swaying bridge.

During the walk there, there was another surprise.  A colugo came flying out of the forest with its skin stretched out between its limbs, very much looking like Batman with his cape and landed on a tall tree next to the trail.  I have seen colugos before and have indeed posted on them (We Are Family) but this sighting was special.  The colugo was flying almost directly at us and from that vantage point, we could see his “flying skin” perfectly.

It takes me 2 seconds to register the sight of the colugo, one more second for my brain to decide that I should try to take a photograph, 3 seconds to switch on my camera, another 3 seconds to aim the camera and focus and one second to press the shutter.  That makes a total of 10 seconds.  Unfortunately, the colugo’s flight lasted just 5 minutes which explains why I have no photo of it.  Ah, well.  You’ll just have to believe me.

In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy these photos.

Rough Ride into the Forest

Western Tarsier or evil Gollum: "Precious....."

Anglehead Lizard

Thomas's Flying Squirrel (a distant cousin)

Tarantula

Scarlet Minivet in the Tree Canopy

Beautiful Hoya Flowers

Old Man of the Forest

The Orang Utan is one of the four species of great ape and the only one that is exclusively Asian.  In fact, it can only be found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.  It’s name actually means “man of the forest” but it has often been romanticised in older writings as the “Old Man of the Forest”.

Risking severe injury from airline food, the Lone Grey Squirrel flew to the town of Sandakan, Sabah and took a 50 minute hair-raising limb endangering  taxi ride to the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.  This Centre which is run by the Wildlife Department receives Orang Utans which have been orphaned or displaced by forest clearing.  They also received animals which were kept as pets cause they are so cute as babies but were then abandoned by their owners when they grew up and became too much to handle.

The centre tries to re-train them to survive by themselves in the jungle.  More than 100 orang utans have gone through this rehabilitation program.  Many have been successfully returned to the jungle, appearing occasionally to visit and to free load on fruits made available twice a day at a feeding platform.  Some though, never graduate to freedom and remain dependent on human feeding for their entire lives.

Armed only with my new Canon EOS 60D camera (Birthday/Christmas gift from the wife.  Thanks dear) which was making its very first field debut,  this intrepid squirrel risked being mistaken for a banana to bring you (dear readers), the following picture report.

Informing Both Tourist and Apes About the Feeding Times

The Trail into the Dark Heart of Borneo

Ooi! Where's the Grub? Don't Keep an Old Lady waiting....

Mother & Baby & Feeder Makes Three

Platform A - Feeding Time

The Other Great Apes seen in Sepilok

 

Young Training Recruit Showing What He Thinks About Lessons

Nocturnal Perambulations in Borneo

It had been a long day.  Trekking through the rainforest had been fun and we staved off fatigue for a long time, riding the adrenaline rush from sighting animals and plants of great interest.  However,  5 hours of exertion in the tropical heat and humidity eventually sapped our energy and enthusiasm and we were all glad to get back to the luxury of hot showers and a warm meal at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley, Sabah.

Darkness fell quickly as we sat round the table in the Lodge’s dining area.  Many of us were enjoying our soup starters while a few had raced on to the main meal.  It had been a great day and we were satisfied and sated.  It felt as if we sat in a cocoon of light while enjoying the sensation of warm food and pleasant conversation even if the latter was muted on account of tiredness.

Suddenly one of the Rainforest Lodge’s nature guides runs into the middle of the restaurant and shouts,”Attention! We have spotted the rare Western Tarsier.  If anyone wants to see it, come now.”

It was electrifying.  There was immediately the sound of cutlery being dropped and people rushing out after the guide.  There must have been thirty of us in the restaurant but almost all rushed out without hesitation.  Many of us were expecting to have our dinner and then retire for the night.  Like many others, I was not dressed nor equipped to go into the jungle at  night.

Until now, I had been very careful to avoid being bitten by leeches, snakes or any other stinging insect.  Yet, there I was rushing into the inky blackness and crashing through the undergrowth wearing sandals instead of shoes, in shorts rather than long pants, not wearing my leech-proof socks and not carrying any torchlight.

Indeed there were not more than 4 torchlights in the hands of the nature guides to shine the way for the whole group of about 30 and when often we had to walk in single file, many of us could see no light at all.  The only thing that was just barely visible was the dark shape of the person in front of you as you try to follow feeling your way along the uneven trail and trying to avoid thorns and hooks.

Nevertheless, we managed to cover about 300 metres when we were rewarded by the sight of the Western Tarsier.  This animal is rarely seen even in this wilderness area.  Some people have been there as many as ten times before but had never seen this unusual animal.

While it was truly a wonderful sight, in the darkness, some of us had ended up standing on a fire ant’s nest.  Before long, we were yelping in pain as the ants bit with ferocity.  I withstood the pain for about 3 minutes but was then forced to flee.  Fortunately, my colleague Azizul was made of tougher stuff (but he was also wearing boots) and captured this wonderful video below so that our tale would not be about the one that got away.

So I am proud to present this video for your viewing pleasure although I still sport 5 very itchy ant bites on my feet.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

* “Nocturnal Perambulations” : I spent a year in my youth where I slept in a residential school dormitory with 20 others.  I always remember the dorm monitor saying before the lights are switched off, “On no account, are any of you to participate in nocturnal perambulations on pain of punishment.”   My nocturnal perambulations in the Bornean rainforest had a painful consequence but it was worth the prize of seeing the Tarsier.

Last Post From Borneo

This will be the last post on my recent trip to Sabah on the island of Borneo. For me personally, the highlight of my trip was the visit that the conference delegates paid to a remote interior village located within the Crocker Range Park.

It was the village of Ulu Senagang Keningau. The name approximately means the settlement in the upper reaches of the river named after the odd shaped rock which is inhabited by the Keningau clan of the Murut tribe. This village is about 4 hours from the city of Kota Kinabalu by car and maybe an hour from the nearest neighbouring settlement. It is not the most remote village by far as some villages require a few days walking to get to. The village though is however located within a community use zone of Crocker Range Park.

The Park was formed to protect a very important watershed area. However, the villagers were already there before the formation of the park and part of their farms and fruit orchards now lie within the Park boundary. Rather than forcing them to abandon their homes, the Park authorities are trying to develop a community management of the affected area that allows certain activities to continue as long as the Park’s objectives of conservation are not compromised.

Part of the welcome line. (LGS)

The villagers were told that a bunch of visitors from all over ASEAN were going to visit and they went out of their way to prepare for the visit. When we arrived, we could see a long line of villagers, from the old to the young, patiently waiting to greet us and shake our hands. It took quite a while for the 40 odd visitors to shake the over 100 waiting hands. This hand-shaking ceremony was delayed also because for many of the 40 visitors, arrival at the village meant the first chance of a toilet break in 3 hours.

Milling around outside the toilets (LGS)

Wewere then ushered into their school building and regaled with speeches and a dance. After that we were treated to tea and coffee and a selection of staples such as tapioca, sweet potato and sago that had been steamed in banana leaves. Very nice though starchy in consistancy. Later, we had an opportunity to look at and purchase some of their traditional handicrafts.

The people were wonderfully warm. They were not shy or self-conscious which is the experience I have had with the First Peoples in Peninsular Malaysia. Instead, they were very self assured and openly friendly. We had a good time interacting with the young to the old. The children were very happy to see themselves on the playback screen of digital cameras.

Spirits of the Dance (LGS)

The handicraft were in stunning colours with black, red and yellow predominating. On display were baskets, food covers, fish traps and also photo frames custom made for tourists.

I had one very interesting experience. At the entrance to the village was an old hand pump. It was part of a Canadian-University of Malaya project to install and test handpumps which could be easily repaired by local villagers. This project took place in the 1980’s and was in fact part of my very first job. I never came to Sabah to install any handpump but this was clearly part of the same project. The handpump has now been motorised but clearly the well shaft was still in use. It was interesting to see something from the start of my working career.

Handicrafts (LGS)

Blast from the Past (LGS)

 

Jungle Stream and Mahua Falls

Mahua Sub-station, Crocker Range Park (LGS)

During my recent trip to Borneo, I made a visit to the Crocker Range Park. The Crocker Range is a range runs parallel to the western coast of Sabah. It is located about 2.5 hours from the town of Kota Kinabalu. At the north end of Crocker lies Mount Kinabalu which is the tallest mountain in South East Asia. The entire mountain range consists of sedimentary rocks laid out in layers of sandstone and shale which have been uplifted.

The Crocker Range Park was formed to protect the pristine forest and many endangered plants and animals but its primary function is to protect important watersheds to ensure a continued supply of clean, fresh water.

One of the stops was made to the Mahua Sub-station. From here, a short trail leads to the 50 foot high Mahua Falls.

Juvenile Cicada (LGS)

Mahua Stream (LGS)

Sedimentary Rock Layers at base of Mahua Falls (LGS)

Mahua Falls (LGS)

 

Keeping Ahead in Borneo

 

“If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

……….You’ll be a man, my son.”

(adapted from Rudyard Kipling’s “If”)

Murut Women Dancing to Clapping Bamboo (LGS)

The equatorial island of Borneo is an exotic place – the third largest island in the world. There are over 100 ethnic groups on the island including the famous headhunter tribes. The largest of these are the Ibans of Sarawak. In Sabah, the most feared are the Muruts or the Hill People. In the 19th Century, the strange rule of the White Rajah’s had settled over much of Sarawak and the western part of Borneo. The central region was dominated by the Brunei Sultanate and the northern region was under the influence of the Sulu Sultanate located in what is now the southern Philippines. The state of Sabah was thus divided between the Brunei and the Sulu Sultanates. In reality though, the sultans’ influences and rivalries were mostly concentrated along the coast and the interior tribes were never directly under their rule. Later, Sabah came under the control of the British North Borneo Charted Company from 1881-1941. The Muruts were one of the last tribes to submit to British authority and probably the last to stop the practice of headhunting. Official history states that headhunting was outlawed in the 1920’s. However, there are tales of Japanese soldiers and Indonesian soldiers suffering from that fate during the Second World War and in the Confrontation of 1962-1966 respectively.

Fierce Murut Warriors Can Dance Too (LGS)

The Ibans believe when they take the head of an enemy, they absorb the life essence of that person. As such the head of a proven warrior is highly prized. The Muruts have a different belief. For them, it was simply necessary to have heads and it did not matter whether it was the head of a brave warrior or that of a frail grandmother. A Murut man would be required to give a head to the family of his chosen bride as proof of his manhood. If the crops fail, it would be necessary to bury a head in the field so that it would be fertile the following year. All the wise men would tell you that if you build a bridge across a river, you need to bury at least one head to ensure the bridge will last. So for the Murut, it was a daily necessity to have some heads handy!

Today, they smile and tell you that they almost never hear of this type of behavior anymore. They’d rather do some dances for the visiting tourist and scalp their wallets. The Murut dances are also exciting stuff but let me digress to tell you a bit about the traditional costumes. The men wear a red loincloth as well as a jacket and headdress made of tree bark from the tree Artocarpus tamaran. The headdress is decorated with the beautiful and long feathers of the argus pheasant.

The women are attired in a short, black, sleeveless blouse and long black skirt decorated with colorful beads. They may also wear bracelets made from the giant clam.

And so, the unwary tourist may find himself lulled into the belief that the Murut are now peace-loving and that he is safe in their company as they regale him with stories of the old days and entertain him with exciting tribal dances. Beware, invariably all the dances lead to the “clapping bamboo” dance. The Murut will bring long bamboo poles. In pairs, they will take two of these poles and lying them side by side will rhythmically knock the poles against the ground and then against each other. The Murut warriors and their maidens will then do intricate dances which involve sticking their feet between the clapping bamboo. Needless to say, this involves exquisite timing to avoid having squashed feet.

Tourists will see the dancers appear to do the impossible as the bamboo clapping goes faster and faster. So pacified, the tourist will think nothing of it when the dancers innocently invite the tourists to join them, assuring the tourists that they will guide them all the way. The dance starts almost in slow motion and the tourists are lulled into thinking that this is easy. However, the pace picks up and the tourists are still having fun. Finally though the rhythm reaches a crescendo when the bamboo clap like lightning. Invariably, there are many squashed feet, cries of pain and hobbled tourists…….. not a pretty sight! Alas, the pitiful end was obvious.

I wonder how many squashed tourist feet are needed for the young Murut warrior to earn the right to date the girl of his dreams.

Headhunters are known to bamboo chop tourist feet! (LGS)

Heads are intact but Feet are sore (LGS)