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The tranquil life of the Dayak Iban
Hidden in the jungles of Kalimantan away from the hustle of urban life, in a betang (traditional long house) in Meliau hamlet, a community of the Dayak Iban ethnic group lives a tranquil life among nature.
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Community home: The betang (long house) of Meliau hamlet stands at the edge of Leboyan River, right beside Lake Sentarum National Park. (JP/Severianus Endi)
H
idden in the jungles of Kalimantan away from the hustle of urban life, in abetang (traditional long house) in Meliau hamlet, a community of the Dayak Iban ethnic group lives a tranquil life among nature.
The hamlet, located in Batang Lupar district, Kapuas Hulu regency, is one of the five regencies in West Kalimantan bordering Malaysia.
A pair of teliang (hornbill) flew high as it drizzled at dawn.
Now and again, the birds’ crows were heard not far from the betang.
Teliang and orangutans are two of the many wildlife species found around the Meliau hamlet.
The Leboyan River flows in front of the settlement, forming a border between Lake Sentarum National Park and a buffer zone.
Lake Sentarum covers a total area of 127,000 hectares, with its natural topography combining big and small lakes, hilly terrain, rivers and marshes. It is the habitat of orangutans, hornbills, crocodiles, thousands of fresh water fish species and diverse and exotic flowers such as orchids and pitcher plants, forming an ecosystem that has so far been properly preserved.
“When kenarin trees bear fruit in around April, we can see 4 to 5 orangutans behind our betang,” said 47-year-old local resident Jantan.
Residents of the long houses worked their fields early in the morning, near the end of the paddy planting season.
Others had left for Sarawak in the neighboring country to make a living for a while, with the remaining members of the community taking care of children and household chores, making various handicrafts and serving guests coming from faraway lands to observe the community’s traditional way of life.
“My father-in-law has spent two weeks in Miri as a construction worker. He has cultivated the land, leaving the paddy planting to local women,” said 20-year-old local Kipri.
Miri, a city between Sarawak and Brunei Darussalam, is a destination of part-time job seekers. Kipri worked there as a teenager and, being illiterate, he could only write his own name.
Kipri learned English through foreign employment, though he does not speak it fluently. This enables him to help foreign tourists who ask him to accompany them to the lake for angling on rowboats.
His 75-year-old father-in-law, Saweng, is the head of the community’s tuai rumah (customary long house).
If the head fails to return to the tuai rumah within three months, they are subjected to a customary sanction through which their status is annulled.
A more severe sanction, a Rp 15 million (US$1,109) fine and a swine, is imposed upon residents who leave the hamlet for one year.
“Our customs allow nobody to abandon their home for a year without lighting a fire in the kitchen,” Apai Inyang, the 94-year-old tuai adat (customary chief) of Meliau, said.
The betang in Meliau has 13 rooms. As a family moved to Malaysia and another relocated to a different village, 11 rooms are left with 19 families or around 50 people.
Combined with those occupying houses outside betang, the hamlet has a population of 300. The houses, standing on 2.8-meter stilts, line 80 meters of the edge of the Leboyan River.
The rooms measure 6 to 9 meters long in varying sizes, some reaching 25 meters to the rear. Solar panels are installed on the rooftops as an energy source.
Twelve rooms are reserved for tourist homestays. Bathrooms and toilets have cement floors with clean water running from hoses connected to water springs on Peninjau Hill, 4.6 kilometers from the betang.
“We’ve assisted in acting as hospitable hosts and local guides to welcome tourists. Over a dozen foreign tourists visit every month,” said 47-year-old Tamen, who frequently serves as a volunteer for non-governmental organizations and is now a field staffer at the Center for Betung Kerihun and Lake Sentarum National Parks, the supervisory authority of the zone.
A tourism management group has long existed by the name of Kaban Mayas, which literally means orangutans’ best friends.
Families in the settlement take turns making rooms available and cooking meals. The long house is accessible only by a two-hour speedboat ride over lake waters from Lanjak, the hub of Batang Lupar district.
A 40-HP-engine speedboat trip costs Rp 1.1 million when the lake’s water level is high. The rate increases to Rp 1.15 million when it ebbs. The most extreme condition occurs from July to September, when the lake is so dry that motorcycles can pass it at a cost of Rp 250,000 per trip.
Agustinus Gusti Nugroho, a pop singer popularly known as Nugie, enjoyed visiting the lake in early October 2012.
“I was curious as I couldn’t find such a unique lake on the internet. In December that year, I went back there to find the same exact lake, full of water,” Nugie told The Jakarta Post in Lanjak on Oct. 28.
Nugie has stayed in the Meliau long house four times. This year, he was in Lanjak as a special guest for the Betung Kerihun and Lake Sentarum Festival, held by the national park center to promote tourism in the area.
“The principle is, don’t expect too much but accept a lot. Let it be what it is and never change what has existed. Don’t expect air conditioning in betang, for instance,” said Nugie, who considers West Kalimantan his second home.
