Indigenous Cultures in Borneo (Sabah)

Part of the Borneo (Sabah) travel guide — see every topic in All Borneo (Sabah) Guides.

Sabah has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in Asia, with more than thirty recognised indigenous groups speaking over fifty languages. The largest are the Kadazan-Dusun, traditionally rice farmers of the interior and west coast; the Bajau, coastal and seafaring, including the horse-riding Bajau of Kota Belud and the Bajau Laut sea nomads of the east; and the Murut, formerly headhunters, of the southern interior. Their festivals, longhouses and food are a substantial part of what makes Sabah distinct from peninsular Malaysia.

The main groups

The Kadazan-Dusun are the largest, historically wet-rice and hill-rice farmers with a rich animist tradition centred on bambaazon, the rice spirit, and the bobohizan priestesses who mediated with it — a role now held by very few women. The Bajau are coastal Muslims: the west-coast Bajau of Kota Belud are famous as horsemen, and the Bajau Laut of the east coast live largely on boats and in stilt villages, many of them stateless. The Murut of the interior were the last group to abandon headhunting and are known for the lansaran, a springboard dance platform.

Kaamatan

The Kadazan-Dusun harvest festival, celebrated through May and culminating on the 30th and 31st, which are state holidays. It gives thanks for the rice harvest and features the magavau ritual to honour the rice spirit, sumazau dancing with outstretched arms imitating birds, gong ensembles, tapai rice wine and the Unduk Ngadau beauty pageant, which is more culturally weighted than the name suggests. Celebrations run in villages across the state and at the Hongkod Koisaan cultural centre near KK. It is the best time of year to be in Sabah.

Longhouses and villages

Traditional longhouses — single structures on stilts housing many families along a common veranda — survive among the Rungus around Kudat and the Murut in the interior, and several offer homestays. The Rungus longhouses at Kampung Bavanggazo are the most accessible. Mari Mari Cultural Village near KK is a reconstruction rather than a living settlement, presenting five ethnic houses with demonstrations of fire-making, tattooing, blowpipes and cooking; it is well done and unashamedly a show. Monsopiad Cultural Village holds a house of ancestral skulls.

Food and drink

Sabahan indigenous food is genuinely distinct. Hinava is Kadazan-Dusun raw fish cured in lime with shallot, chilli, ginger and grated bitter-gourd seed. Bambangan is a pickled wild mango. Tuhau is a pungent wild ginger relish. Ambuyat, shared with Brunei, is a translucent sago starch eaten with a two-pronged bamboo fork and dipped in sour sauces. Tapai is fermented rice wine, and lihing the stronger version, used in cooking as well as drunk. Almost none of this is available in peninsular Malaysia.

Indigenous Cultures at a glance

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