PENAMPANG: Glimpses of the Past

What is this place called "Penampang"? What was it called in the distant past? How did it look like long ago? Who were the first inhabitants of Penampang if they were not the people who live here today? How was the life of the people?

No one can be sure what was in Penampang a very long time ago. And there is no way it can be determined what it was called hundreds or thousands of years ago. We can guess that people in those days called this place 'sondot' because it was near the sea. 'sondot' is the place where people land when coming ashore or descend to from a higher ground or from a place which is a 'sokid'. 'sumondot' means to land. The interior areas are called 'sokid', referring to places which are very far from the sea coast.

The unfortunate result of this was that some of the people who lived in 'sondot' considered those living in the 'sokid' as somehow backward. This persisted until people became more rational in their thinking as the result of education. Now, many of the natives who live in the 'sokid' are highly educated. There is no reason for people who live in 'sondot' to continue thinking that they are much better. After all, it is believed that their ancestors came from the interior regions. It is said that native people migrated from the interior. Topin argued that these local migrations were from a particular place at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu. However, someone - I forgot who - counter-argued that excavations at that place did not unearth the presence of a big community of people.

Long ago, this place which will be named Penampang must have been covered with primary jungles while the lowlands were either marshes or overgrown with bushes and grass. The river, now called Moyog, was then at its young stage and was deep, used to overflow its banks and flood the plains. This made this land fertile for rice farming. And the buffaloes, numbering in the hundreds if not in the thousands, loved the water brought by the monsoon rain.

We can accept that there had been migrations but these must have been from various places in the interior, perhaps not far apart, to other places in North Borneo. We can also accept that there must have been waves of migrations over the years.

The story about Maragang could be a creative way of explaining these migrations. And even if a person called Maragang walked the land around Mount Kinabalu, and that his children and descendants had migrated to various places, it could have occurred over a long period, perhaps hundreds of years. On the other hand, the story could be true. The Kimaragang tribe of Kudat knows about Maragang and the name of at least two of his children, namely, Longguvai and Torumpak. Longguvai is Rongguvai and Torumpak may be Tomui, the youngest son of Maragang.

Ancient People of Penampang
People who inhabited this place in the past lived in longhouses for protection. They were hunters-gatherers. They were expert at making traps to catch fish and small animals. The rivers and streams of the lowlands and the forests offered them abundance of food.

They learned to make use of wooden materials to make longhouses. They looked up to chieftains who could lead them to victory against their enemies and offered protection while they went about their daily chores. How these men acquired great strength is open to the imagination. But it was not only the strong men who were looked up to as leaders. These people also depended on the help of priests and priestesses who seemed to know how to deal with the unknown realm of the spirits. They developed rituals and put together a list of taboos which bound the community closely together but also determined the direction of their way of life. 

Tribal Wars
By the 1800, the descendants of Maragang were found living in many parts of North Borneo. For example, the Subau clan controlled Tombovo while Gumbahon was under the leadership of the Bolukun clan. Both of these places are not far from present-day Putatan. The Gumbahon settlement was attacked by Bangkaakon tribe during the time of Bolukun. Gumbahon is found in present-day Duvanson or Papaason.

It is said that the Tangaah community in Sugud was one of the earliest native settlements at Penampang. It is said that Sugud and Papar had fought tribal wars. The Kadazan tribe lived at Papar. It is made clear in historical records that the tribal wars occurred before the British came and even continued for a while when the British colonialists were already in North Borneo.

Two other early native settlements were at present-day Pogunon and Kolopis. One Severinus Hinjiang was told by his mother that Pogunon and Kolopis fought against each other. As a child, he saw the remnant of the Pogunon fortress or tompinak in Kadazan. Other early native settlements were Tua-ui and Hungab. Mentri Babu of Tua-ui was appointed as an official by the Sultan of Brunei when the Penampang plains were under the Sultan's control. The people of Hungab and Bahang reputedly revolted and fought against the Brunei soldiers in protest against the rice tax imposed on the native population. Brunei never forgot about the rebellion and never appointed any official from these areas as representatives of the Sultan.

When officials of the British North Borneo Chartered Company (BNBC) arrived in North Borneo, they saw the people at war. They made sure that the wars and head-taking would stop otherwise they would not be free to carry out their commercial enterprise. Piracy had to be stamped out, too, for the same reason.

It is stated that North Borneo was under Brunei rule from 1485 to 1524. There was minimal control especially after the people revolted. The interior of North Borneo remained untouched by Brunei. Thereafter, Brunei decided to exercise control through appointed officials. These were selected from among the people who were responsible for collecting taxes on behalf of the Sultan. They received a percentage of the amount collected apart from receiving a monthly allowance. These officials became rich while majority of the people struggled to make a living.

Brunei continued to weaken with a steep decline in the seventeenth century. Nevertheless, when the American and later the British came, the only power in the region with whom they could negotiate was Brunei. Since Brunei pangirans were still in control of the river valleys, the British had to purchase these from Brunei. Brunei had become so weak that it became a British protectorate in the 1880s.

Eruption of Krakatoa
Krakatoa is mentioned in this blog about Penampang for a reason.

Krakatoa is a volcanic island in Indonesia. Its eruption in 1883 caused huge tsunamis as high as 120 feet killing more than 36,000 people. It is reported that the explosion was heard up to 3,000 miles away. Shock waves circled the earth thirteen times.

Dr. Freddy Mojiun told the writer that his mother said the tsunami caused by Krakatoa reached Penampang. They lived at Kolopis, Penampang some 10 kilometre away from the coast. Dr. Freddy's mother said that people at Kolopis were able to catch salt water fish using hand-held fishing nets ecalled 'sizud'. Most probably, her grandparents witnessed the tsunami.

This occurred around the time the British came to North Borneo for the first time. This shows clearly that native communities existed in Penampang before the 1883 Krakatoa eruption.

These were some of the earliest native communities at Penampang:
a) It is believed that the community at Sugud is the earliest native settlement in the area. It is stated that they are of the Tangaah tribe.

b) The husband and wife pair of Subau and Suntoi lived at Tombovo, not far from Putatan. They may have been born in the 1830s. Most of the people staying at Tombovo are descended from them.

c) Kituau of Limbanak, Gumbahon in present-day Duvanson (Papaason) and Pogunon were among the early native settlements at Penampang.

There must have been people living in Penampang much earlier. It is written that Brunei controlled the whole area since the 1480s. If there were no people staying there, there was no point for the Brunei Sultan to have any interest since there was not much gain to be made.

The Coming of the Chinese
When the Tambunan plains became over-populated, many of the people moved to other parts of North Borneo. A couple of years ago (circa 2014), Ignatius Buji told the writer that the people of Tuavon were the descendants of migrants from Sunsuron, Tambunan. He said his ancestors originated from there. As written somewhere else, the people at Sugud who were of the Tangaah tribe must also have come from Tambunan based on this theory. Tuavon sounds like 'tuhau', a herb used to make pickles.

Zheng He, a Chinese mariner, recorded that between the 10th and 15th century, there were many Chinese in Borneo. But which part of Borneo? Borneo is a large island.

The following are to be noted:
i) In 1882, the Chinese who were brought by the British to North Borneo were given a grant of land of 40,000 acres for planting tobacco;
ii) First decade of the 20th century (1900-1910): Chinese immigration to North Borneo increased. (Javanese were the other group of people recruited as workers in the plantations);
iii) The Chinese were brought in to North Borneo not only to work in tobacco and rubber plantations but to develop wet-rice farming.

The native population later made improvements to the farming implements introduced by the Chinese.

Penampang was one of the places where rubber plantations were started. Some of the Chinese migrants stayed on after the end of their contract and became shopkeepers. Many of them married native wives and prospered in the land where they worked formerly as 'coolies' (unskilled labour). The descendants of Chinese migrants at Penampang are numerous. Many of them are proud of their Chinese ancestry.

Can it be concluded that the majority of the people at Penampang were the descendants of two groups of migrants, one from the interior of North Borneo and the other from China?

There were later Chinese emigration between 1927 and 1949 after the nationalists lost to the communists. Some of them came to North Borneo. A number of them may have come to Penampang. If so, they would have some impact on the demography there. 

Rubber Plantations
The British colonialists did not have much to do with the natives of Penampang with the exception of rice farming. They were too busy with making a success of their business enterprises. These included rubber plantations. The Lokawi Estate (said to have been named after one "Cowie" who was the estate manager at one time) was one of the largest rubber plantations at that time.

Workers included natives who came from Tambunan and Papar.


These are some glimpses of the past history of Penampang.


~ to be continued ~

Note: 
Some of what are mentioned here had been stated by others. The Krakatoa eruption, for example, was an event that placed the ancestors of the Kadazan at a certain place at a certain time.



Author: Pascalis Claudius Lotinggi
First created on: July 11, 2016
Copyright 2016 All Rights Reserved
Modified: July 24, 2016