NO one knows how long Bario, the plain of Lem Ba’a, has been inhabited. But it must have been very long ago. In these high uplands, where forest-clad mountains range forever into the horizon, Bario is the hidden footprint of the human race resting in a bewildering tangle of green wilderness full of mysteries.
Even the people who live here, the Kelabit, debate their origin. Their oral histories speak of mystical heroes who possess the power to traverse the cosmic universe. The more rational locals sketch a migration pattern from Kalimantan.
It was through a series of battles with other tribes that precipitated their movement uplands till they stumbled on a riverine plain encircled by mountains. Here, they settled and planted padi, clusters of giant bamboo and orange trees following the curve of Sungai Me’rario.
For a long time, the community comprised a single longhouse with seven main families. Other Kelabit communities, some larger, like Pa’Main and Pa’Lungan, and others, like Pa’Tik and Kuba’an, are one to three days’ walk away, each possessing their own warrior leaders and spheres for hunting and gathering.
There were seldom disputes between villages, but in the ebb and flow of time, some of the settlements would move and shift. So it was not unusual for a community to empty and become abandoned. The coming together of different Kelabit communities into a single settlement remained an idea for at least six decades until 1963.
In that fateful year, it was the unexpected consequence of Sarawak joining Sabah and Singapore to form the Federation of Malaysia.
Sheikh Azahari, leader of Brunei’s Parti Rakyat, led a rebellion with the hope of capturing Brunei, North Borneo and Sarawak and forming a state ruled by the sultan of Brunei with himself as prime minister.
The resulting “konfrontasi” led to armed conflict along the border between Kalimantan and Sarawak, where many Kelabit villages were clustered.
Sina Paran Matu, 93, remembers the momentous time. It had begun with her husband, Tayun Balang, accompanying the Kelabit chief, Penghulu Lawai Besara, to a commemoration ceremony to be presided over by then prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-haj, on Sept 16 in Kuala Lumpur.
She recounts how the district officer of Miri at the time, “Tuan Lees” and Tom Harrison had arranged for their passage to Kuala Lumpur and organised a grand send-off with the people.
“Tuan Mayur (Tom Harrison) led a meeting with the people, explaining the meaning of the creation of Malaysia and got everyone to support the idea, after which he threw a big feast,” she explained.
They became the first Kelabit to set foot in Kuala Lumpur.
The trip proved not only to be a revelation to them, but also led to significant changes to life in Bario.
Upon their return, they spoke about the cleanliness of the city, the kindness of people and the amount of food they had been served.
Henceforth, all pigs and chickens had to be penned, all cats and dogs banished from the longhouse and everyone had to wear proper clothing.
She said barkcloth was no longer the desired apparel, rather sarongs and “black cloth”.
But the most compelling change in Bario, by far, lay ahead in the following months.
Bomb attacks by the Indonesian military forces resulting in the destruction of several longhouses and loss of lives forced local chiefs and the government to consider bringing communities together in one place.
In this unprecedented shift, many people from Long Rabpun, Pa’Main, Pa’Mada, Pa’Bengar, Ku’baan, Pa’Tik, Ramadu, Pa’Lungan and Pa’Umur moved to Bario. Land was extended to the migrants by the local community. It is said that within two weeks, their temporary longhouses were ready.
The entire operation, although challenging, was achieved smoothly with support from the original Bario community and assistance from the government, which provided 30 Royal Australian Armed Forces helicopters to airlift personal items as well as building materials dismantled from padi huts and longhouses.
Today, 53 years after this tumultuous time, Bario remains the heartland of the Kelabit.
Its landscape is marked by 18 communities, two government schools, a clinic, a military camp, a tarred airstrip, a scattering of government offices and a marketplace.
Last year, solar power lit up most of these communities and a Kelabit museum is being built to document and safeguard the heritage of this remote people.
It is a far cry from the time when Penghulu Lawai and Tayun Balang first stepped off a plane into Kuala Lumpur as part of the Sarawak contingent for Malaysia Day in 1963.
After that, they travelled home, bringing with them ideas and hopes that one day, Bario, too, would grow wings and embrace this world of which they were now a part of.