TUARAN: The Lotud community has been officially recognised as the 36th major ethnicity in Sabah after fulfilling the various criteria set by the Sabah Cultural Board.
Before this, the Lotud community, mostly residing in Tuaran district located 32.4km from Kota Kinabalu, was one of the Dusun sub-ethnicities, said founder-cum-director of Borneo Lotud Museum Pediman Jabau.
To qualify as a full ethnic community in Sabah, he said they are required to produce a complete inventory of the Lotud such as its traditional beliefs, culture, language, lifestyle, and cuisine, among others.
The inventory was handed over to the Sabah Cultural Board general manager Mackey Apison Lo after a memorandum of understanding was signed between him and Pediman.
The signing ceremony held at Borneo Lotud Museum was witnessed by Sabah Cultural Board chairman Titing Putang and both Pirin Berangin and Patrick Ondog Pilah Kisang from the Tuaran's Native Court.
"The Lotud Museum was tasked by the Sabah Cultural Board to gather and document all the information, history, artefacts, and anything related to the community to produce the inventory a few years ago," said Pediman.
"We (Lotud) are very proud to be recognised as a full ethnic community now. One of the most outstanding features of the Lotud are the women's traditional dresses.
"The skirt is knee length and this is where we believed the name Lotud derived from, which is probably from the Malay word 'lutut' (knee).
Another uniqueness of the Lotud is the motif of its traditional dress design known as linangkit where the idea was inspired from the surrounding environment such as plants, animals and nature, he said.
He said the United Tuaran Tourism Association is now promoting the district as "Tuaran Land of the Linangkit" where several of the town landmarks could be seen clad with the motifs.
On the traditional cuisine, he said the Lotud are famous for their hinata which is a raw fish spread with lemon and vinegar and its beverage called bahar made from coconut tree.
On its traditional dance, he said it is known as sumayau which moves in a gentle slow motion to reflect the politeness and tolerance of the community.
There are about 50 villages in Tuaran with the Lotud majority. It is estimated there are about 25,000 Lotud people around Sabah, mostly in Tuaran.