Oral history of Sihan mobility and their relationship with neighboring ethnic groups

Abstract

The hunter-gatherers in Borneo have mainly been identified with Punan or Penan. In Sarawak, although the majorities of them are Punan and Penan, there are other minority communities such as Lisum, Ukit, Lugat and Sihan. Many studies have done about the Punan or Penan, however, there are only small number of study about the minorities as aforesaid. To understand the diversity of ethnic group in Borneo, it is necessary to record their history or their life. In this paper I will discuss about the oral history of Sihan who live near to Belaga town in the upper Rejang river in Sarawak. I will focus on their mobility from their original place and their relationships with neighboring ethnic groups, such as Sekapan, Kejaman, Kayan, and I ban. To understand their history of mobility, we can see there are tight relationships with their neighboring ethnic groups. In former studies about the Sihan, they have explained their origin, succession of their leader and their brief history by interviewing old people. These study contribute much, to understand their previous life. But there are still many things have not cleared yet. One of these is their mobility and the relationships with other ethnic groups in each place they lived. Referring to former studies, I interviewed their oral history to well known old people and I try to compare the result with the former studies.