Rungus people

The Rungus people, also known as the Momogun Rungus,^[1] are an Austronesian ethnic group indigenous to Sabah, Malaysia. They primarily live in the northern Kudat Division, especially in the districts of Kudat, Kota Marudu and Pitas, with small minorities also exists in the Beluran and Telupid districts on the east coast of the Sandakan Division. They have a distinct language, dress, architecture, customs and oral literature from other Dusunic sub-groups, with an estimate of around 74,000 Rungus people spread across the state aside from their native ranges.^[2]

Rungus people

Momogun Rungus[1]
Rungus people in their traditional costumes
Total population
≈74,000 (2024)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Malaysia (Sabah)
Languages
Rungus, Malaysian (Sabah Malay dialect) and Sabahan English
Religion
Christianity (Protestantism, Catholic) (70%), Islam (Sunni) and Animism (Traditional religion) (30%)
Related ethnic groups
Kadazan-Dusun, Murut

The Rungus are considered among Sabah's most traditional ethnic groups, and they are renowned for their rich cultural heritage. Originally pagan-animist, a majority of them had converted to Protestantism, while the remaining either adhere to other branch of Christianity, Islam or remain with their traditional religion. Their traditional dress is black in colour, and they are known for the unique pinakol beadwork, which distinguishes them from the other indigenous ethnic groups of Sabah.

Etymology

The Rungus ethnic group is one of Sabah's indigenous ethnic groups that are grouped into the larger Kadazan-Dusun indigenous group with unique native status, which is generally known as the "Momogun".^[3] Rungus ethnic scholars asserted that the word "Rungus" originated from the word "Rungsud", a Rungus ethnic forefather who migrated from the Nunuk Ragang area to the coast of the Kudat Peninsula, Marudu Bay, Pitas, Beluran, and as far as Telupid.^[4][5] These ethnic scholars also believe that "Rungsud" was a "Sea Momogun" figure who began to explore and subsequently inhabit the Kudat-Bandau area in ancient times, which partly became the origin for the Rungus to identify themselves as Momogun or Momogun Rungus, since the concept of Momogun itself refers to the name of the Rungus ethnic group.^[6]

Based on the research by Rungus ethnic scholar, the Rungus legend states that Rungsud or more well known as Aki Rungsud was the main figure who opened the Bandau-Kudat area as the largest barter trading area in the Berungus Cape and Bandau Bay region of Borneo in ancient times.^[7] Bandau Bay is known as the site of the ancient Rungus trading centre, where the usual goods traded in the bay are cassava, bananas, corn, pumpkins, forest products, Rungus woven cloth, and various other trade items.^[8] Oral sources also mention that the term "Rungus" for the ethnic group in Kudat comes from both the Bajau and Suluk languages, namely from the word "Ungus", which can be interpreted in the Malay language as "pasir" (sand).^[9]

History

The Rungus are Bornean indigenous people who lived around the hills of Kudat Division at the tip of Sabah, which is a sub-group of the largest indigenous of Kadazan-Dusun.^[1][10] The ethnic are among the most traditional ethnic group in Sabah,^[10] with their culture revolves around rice;^[11] however, coconut and banana groves provide cash income.^[10] Women weave cloth on backstrap looms, and make containers from vine or beadwork.^[11] Rungus modern society have now work in town, with many have abandoned the communal life of the longhouse.^[12]

Culture

Three Rungus women selling home-produced products in Sikuati Town of Sabah, Malaysia

As among the most traditional ethnic groups in Sabah, the Rungus are renowned for their rich cultural heritage, where they engage in traditional practices with traditional ceremonies, music, language, and medicinal knowledge, agricultural activities, and former communal living in longhouses.^[13]

Cuisine

See also: Sabahan cuisine

Rungus cuisine is mainly prepared using cooking methods like braising, grilling and baking. Being a community of fishermen and farmers, the staple foods of the Rungus people usually consists of rice and cassava, supplemented with green vegetables and fish.^[14] Tinunuvan soguntung is the Rungus term for a preparation of grilled or roasted eggplant.^[4] The cooked eggplant is peeled, and served with chillies, lime juice, toasted anchovies or salted fish, and sprigs of lompodos (a local variety of basil). Tinonggilan is a slightly sparkling alcoholic drink made from maize.^[15] Akin to the Latin American corn beer, Tinonggilan is a Rungus speciality and is usually served during festive occasions, or as refreshments for guests during the performance of a ritual dance called Mongigol Sumundai.^[16] The Rungus also prepare simple sweet foods for breakfast or as daily snacks such as flatbread made from sweetened grated cassava (tinopis runti) and bintanok dalai (mashed corn kuih),^[17] or mashed corn wrapped and steamed in corn husks as well as bintanok runti (mashed cassava kuih), and bintanok punti (mashed banana kuih).^[18]

Festival

Demonstration of fire-starting in the Rungus house at the Mari Mari Cultural Village in Kota Kinabalu District

Magahau is the main and largest festival of the Rungus ethnic group, which is associated with the celebration of the new year according to the traditional calendar of Rungus.^[19][20] Like the Kadazan-Dusuns, Rungus people also celebrate Kaamatan, which became part of Magahau Rungus festival, with the festive, is one of the many festive entities during the month celebrated on 31 May every year.^[21] Even though there are many similarities in the way these festivities are celebrated between the two indigenous races, there are also differences between them. Among the original purposes of the Magahau festival are mamapak/mamasi palad/mangaraha palad (ceremonies related to sustenance), mintutun (introducing oneself), monudung (to find a partner), gimpuhut (the most beautiful girl), bunjal (barter system/selling activities), gontira (sports), posikib dot konsapatan sid keluarga om kinoruhangan (sharing sustenance with family and friends), mongodim dot kovorisan (inviting relatives), and humigak (partying).^[22]

The celebration during the festival includes mogunum (arrival of crowd), mangantag (traditional festive dance), mangatod (land clearing), mogontong (marriage), lumuvas (clearing away ritual ceremony),^[23] mongolosod (traditional ritual), mabbaris (an ethnic dance similar to Kadazan-Dusun sumazau), and manaradan (a sacred Rungus dance).^[24] Many of the original traditional practices of Magahau have shifted following the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 19th century throughout the administration of the North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC).^[22] With the successful improvement of the economy, education, and health of the Rungus ethnic group in North Borneo by the British, many of the original Magahau ritual practices were abandoned since the practices contradicted the current religious teachings of the major religion of either Christianity or Islam, despite a majority of the ethnic group being well known for their traditional lifestyle.^[25]

Dress, traditional crafts and beadwork

Black colours are synonyms among Rungus traditional clothing, as seen on this picture, worn by Rungus youth

The traditional Rungus dress is black in colour, often with hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of antique beads.^[26] Traditionally all of the Rungus women wore heavy brass coils around their arms, legs and necks with their brass arm coils are often accompanied by white and coral shell bracelets.^[11] Rings of brass may also be worn around the waist. The beadwork and its designs easily distinguish the Rungus from the other indigenous ethnic groups of Sabah, where the beadwork's origin is often told through a story of a Rungus man going spear-hunting for a riverine creature.^[27] The pinakol consists of a pair of flat beaded bandoleer-type belts worn crossed over the chest and back.^[28]

Rungus girls with pinakol beadwork

The sandang is a pair of long beaded strands, mostly with matching beads, which are worn crossed over the chest like the pinakol.^[29] The sulau is a flat beaded choker worn around the neck with two clamshell discs, one in front and one in back, with the small bells attached in the front. In the present day, the discs are made out of plastic. The tinggot is a short choker, either single-beaded or with narrow beadwork, which is worn by men.^[29] The togkul is a necklace some 26 inches (66 cm) long with beads similar to the sandang but smaller and worn around the neck.^[30] The sisingal is a narrow beaded band worn around the head.^[29] The rampai is made of cotton, flowers, and beads worked into the hair. The orot, which is a little brass ring and antique bead looped through thin strands of stripped bark (togung), becomes a wide and colourful hipband.^[29] To wear this, it is slowly and carefully coiled around the hip, with the orot specially handmade by the Rungus men, as the technique is known only to them.^[27] A last string of beads called Llobokon is hung loosely from the coil. There are also sad'ang, earrings that sometimes have beads attached. Many of the beads used by the Rungus are plastic and glass imitations of older heirloom beads. Materials such as plastic spoons were heated over a flame, and the hot plastic was then wound onto a metal rod to make yellow beads.^[30]

Language and traditional writing

The main spoken language are the Rungus language.^[31] The ethnic also known for their antique traditional writing which is one of the forms of writing hieroglyphs or called surip in the indigenous Rungus language.^[32]

Religion

Traditionally, Rungus ethnic practiced an indigenous belief system known as labus,^[33] although some writers referring to it as a type of animism, with priests or shamans called rampahan and the highest female priestesses called bobolizan.^[34] The Rungus bobolizan is an intermediary connector with spirit worlds.^[35] In the present days, most Rungus are now Christians belonging to the Protestant Church in Sabah (PCS) in the Lutheran tradition of Protestantism and although being an ethnic-based church,^[36] it consists mostly of Malaysian language-speaking congregations throughout Sabah as well as in West Malaysia with a mission church in the Federal Territory of Labuan, neighbouring Singapore and developed relationships with sister churches in Kalimantan of Indonesian Borneo.^[37] A smaller minorities of this tribe also adhere to other Christian denominations such as Roman Catholicism, Borneo Evangelical Church, Anglicanism, True Jesus Church and Seventh-day Adventism as well as a number of Muslim minority.^[38][39][40]

Traditional house

A large ceremonial bumbu ikan (fish trap) in a Rungus village in Kudat District of Borneo. A longhouse can be seen in the background, with distinct outward-sloped walls

Considered as one of the most traditional ethnic groups in Sabah, many ethnic Rungus once lived in longhouses, with each family having its own separate quarters off a common hall.^[41] At the edge of the communal hall, a well-ventilated platform of split bamboo with outward sloping walls provides a place for socialising and communal work where the longhouse is different from the types of Murut longhouse.^[10] The houses are not perched on high stilts, with only three to five feet above the ground. The longhouse roof is low, with the walls outward sloped. Among the older Rungus generation, longhouses of over 75 doors are common, while the current modern longhouse are rare to exceed 10 doors.^[10] Some modern two-story versions of the longhouse also exist, and single-family houses are sometimes built near the longhouse.^[42]

Notable people

• The late Mathius Majihi (1951–2021) – first Rungus became Assistant Minister in Sabah and United Sabah Party (PBS) State Legislative Member for Matunggong from 1985–1994.^[43]
• The late Markus Majihi [ms] (1960–2018) – the former Rungus Assistant Minister in Sabah and PBS State Legislative Member for Matunggong from 1994–1999.^[44]
• Wetrom Bahanda – former Sabah state minister and Kota Marudu MP.^[45]
• Verdon Bahanda – Kudat MP.^[46]
• Redonah Bahanda – Sabah state political secretary to the Chief Minister of Sabah.^[47]
• Julita Majungki – Sabah Assistant Minister of Finance and PBS State Legislative Member for Matunggong from 2018–present.^[48]