Thursday, May 5, 2011

Sorry + my race

Have not been writing for few days..... busy doing my data analyses to give to my supervisor after she came back from New Zealand.... Still haven't finished though.... Erm... in return.... I want to write something about my race - Melanau

I wonder if you guys have heard about this race before. Well there are 6 major groups of Melanau ppl, depending on the place - Mukah, Bintulu, Daro, Dalat, Balingian and Miri. I am a Melanau Mukah.

It is not a big race - we have around 500 k ppl. Erm, ppl keep on confusing Melanau ppl with Melayu Sarawak, it is different. Most melanau ppl are Muslim, followed by Christian and animist. I am Christian.

Few facts:
1. We never do headhunting before. It is practice by the d'yak people in the past.

2. We don't live in longhouse - we have our own house. In the past, intead of longhouse, we live in tallhouse.

3. Our staple food is not rice, it is sago pearl.

4. As we lived near the seaside, there are families which are good in fishery, making boats etc. Our famous dish is something we called "umai"

5. We don't celebrate Gawai, we celebrate Pesta Kaul.

6. Melanaus are given "bin" and "binti" in their name regardless of their religion.

7. We have our own caste system which is still being used by some melanau in certain occasion such as proposing, engagement, marriage and funeral.

8. Like the malay people, guys stay at wife's house - but today, most of us can buy our own house.

9. Our origin is very debate-able - some say we are from Philippine, Java or Southern China.

10. The dialect of every different group of melanau is very different that it can sound like a total different language to others.
Posted by at

19 comments:

  1. tulsMay 5, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    hello whiz bin kid! :) im tu bin ls! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mr.DMay 5, 2011 at 9:34 PM

    u have a beautiful culture.

    i knew about Melanau before but like many others, i falsely assumed they are same as Malays, glad you cleared this part~~ =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. DannyMay 5, 2011 at 9:49 PM

    philippines , java & southern china?
    class nyer... so 'international' ... jeles la ;p

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mr ETMay 5, 2011 at 10:08 PM

    @Tu bin ls: hello. :)

    @Mr.D: Thx. oh really? Well, we are pretty closed with the Malays and since most are Muslim, people tend to have this misconception.

    @Danny: sorry!! not & supposed to be "or" i go change it. Well, for now, we are not confirmed on where our ancestor are from.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMay 5, 2011 at 10:29 PM

    Yes, I've heard of the Melanau race but know very little about it. What an interesting post you have here in educating all of us a little it more about your race. So your name has a "bin"? Wow! Cool.

    ReplyDelete
  6. WilliamMay 5, 2011 at 11:08 PM

    Very informative.

    ReplyDelete
  7. J-boyMay 5, 2011 at 11:47 PM

    I learned something new today, thanks!
    And I like sago also.. is it like the one found in 'tong sui'? :P

    ReplyDelete
  8. Chen XingMay 6, 2011 at 12:31 AM

    Wow..and I always thought that you are a Chinese.

    So,Pinoy blood...ooo....

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Calvin CharlesMay 6, 2011 at 3:48 AM

    I love 'umai'.. I thought you were Chinese.. mixed?? And i thought I am the only bumis here... hahah... All the best!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. ooi2009May 6, 2011 at 7:49 PM

    how do melanau's rate is sex and penis size?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Mr ETMay 7, 2011 at 1:10 AM

    @calvin: my father try to drop the bin when I make IC guess what the counter said? "Drop the bin and ur son is anak luar nikah (illegitimate son)".....

    @William: thx!

    @J-boy: different, the sago pearl we ate are hard and not soft.

    @Chen Xing: no, I am not a Chinese, but I study Mandarin since primary school till secondary school. Erm, not really a pinoy XD

    @Calvin: ya, umai. No, I am not mixed. Thx, all the best to you.

    @ooi: I dunno how to answer u on this 1... but melanau ppl are quite shy and very conservative.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousMay 7, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    Hello fellow sarawakian! Hahahah glad to know there are bloggers from the same state as I am!

    ReplyDelete
  13. DeicidalMay 7, 2011 at 10:20 PM

    wah. i can imagine so much explanation needed when ppl ask if u're malay or cina....
    summore have to check the 'lainlain' box in most forms...

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mr ETMay 8, 2011 at 10:54 AM

    @Ryan: Hi!!! which part of Sarawak u are from?

    @Deicidal: lol, when fill up the form, i str8 go to "lain-lain"

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousMay 25, 2011 at 9:45 AM

    @whizkid: sibu! and super sorry for the 16days-late reply!

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousJune 2, 2011 at 9:07 AM

    Late comment... I always thot Melanaus are like Kadazans, that majority Melanaus are Christians, and like Kadazans, we tend to look more Chinese in appearance since most Kadazans would have Chinese blood.
    Anyways, nice blog.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Mr ETJune 16, 2011 at 2:23 PM

    @Ryan: lol, so now where are you based at? still sibu?

    @Anon: Thx ^^. Does tis mean u are of kadazan origin?

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousJune 30, 2011 at 11:47 AM

    Whizkid- yes, I am ^^

    ReplyDelete
  19. RaynaSeptember 18, 2012 at 11:20 PM

    hi! regards from Indonesia! :D
    I'm puurrrrr javanese, born in Bali, raised in Central Java :))
    if you happened to have java ancestors, well, we have the same blood ;)

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)