Berawan People of Sarawak , East Malaysia

Berawan People of Sarawak ,East Malaysia.
1902 Photogravure Berawan Tribe Chief Aban Liah Portrait Guilty Conscience
Death

BERAWAN ORIGIN:

The Berawan are a subset of the Kelabit People up in the Bario lands. Berawan can be found from the highlands all the way down Mulu and into the Ulu Baram area. Although the longhouse at long Terawan is large with about 100 families or doors, many have left their family home for Mulu. There they find jobs as boatmen and open up plantations since the setting up of Gunung Mulu National Park has provided more opportunities for the people.

TALES OF BERAWAN ORIGIN:

Tales passed on has stated that the Berawan people who lived there is a combination of Berawan and Tring, another tribe from the Kelabit strain. The Tring apparently seeked asylum at the village after a fierce battle waged had forced them to flee their own village. 

Therefore, according to linguists, the Long Terawan peoples speak a distinct language which has influence from both Berawan and Tring tribes.

BERAWAN DIALECTS:

1)Lakiput

2) Narom

3)Lelak

4)Dali

5) Miri

6) Belait

7) Tutong

BARAM-TINJAR DIALECTS SPOKEN:

1) Batu Belah(Lower Tutoh)

2) Long Terawan(Middle Tutoh)

3) Long Teru(Lower Tinjar)

4) Long Jegan (Middle Tinjar)

5) Loagan Bunut National Park.

6) Long Pata

7) Long Palo

BERAWAN BELIEFS:

The Berawan, a group in Sarawak believe that death is a process that is linked with the decomposition of the body. A spirit is trapped in its body until the body is free of flesh.The Berawan practice secondary burial, as do many other people around the world.In secondary burial, the body is ritually treated twice: once shortly after what we (but not they) call the moment of death, and again when the soul is understood to have departed

the Berawan, think of death as a processthat may take years

LAND DISPUTE.

The Berawan people have had a conflict with  Sarawak State Government over land dispute. As they live close to the Gunung Mulu National Park, they were upset when a Japanese hotel chain constructed a luxurious hotel near their settlement. A conflict erupted when the resort made plans to construct a 200-acre golf course on what the Berawan tribe claim to be their ancestral land. The state government took the side of the hotel. According to the Berawan, it is because family members of the Sarawak Chief Minister's Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud  have significant stakes in the hotel.

The Dayak Berawan Costume:
TAMA JOK OF LONG TERU circa  1970s

PENGHULU LAWAI(Berawan Tribe chief from Long Teru ) entertains of the RAJ to Dinner..

Berawan People of Sarawak
Penghulu Lawai(Government Appointed - Chief from Long Teru for Baram River 1940s)

NOTABLE FIGURES

1) Penghulu Lawai(Government Appointed - Chief from Long Teru for Baram River 1940s)

2) Aban Liah(Berawan Tribe Chief:Peacemaking,apparently die on Guilty Conscience)
3) Orang Kaya Luwak (1890s)-Berawan Tribe Chief

I'm Half BERAWAN descent..
My BERAWAN GRANDFATHER from BATU BLAH BARAM