Lotud
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The Lotud are an indigenous ethnic group residing in Sabah, eastern Malaysia on the island of Borneo. They reside in the Tuaran District to as far as Kg. Sukoli, Telipok in the West Coast Division of Sabah. Their population was estimated at 5,000 in the year 1985 but now believed to be more than 10,000. They are a sub-ethnic group of the Dusunic group, now also known as Kadazandusun.
The Dusunic language family is a branch under the Malay group of Languages, which is a branck of the Austronesian stock of languages (ISO 639-3 dtr). About 20% of the population has been converted to mostly catholicism and some to evangelical Christianity, with a dwindling number are still animists. Less than 20 traditional priestesses are still alive, with no prospect of future replacement.
The Lotuds are welknown for their very colourful costumes, and their dance, called Sumayau or Mongigol Tuaran. All in traditional settings were originally meant for worship, and so is the case of the Lotud dances as well as the dances of the sub-ethnic groups of the Dusun people(s). The sumayau is most noticeable because of the 'slow-motion' in the way it is executed, which is in contrast to the other Dusunic dances (the sumazau of Penampang, the mongigol of Kudat, etc) which are executed with faster beats. Some say it is boring but on closer inspection, and under careful study of the best dances (especially those done by experts doing them solo during a religious five-day ceremony), one would see that sumayau is extremely artistic and a very beautiful dance. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the sumayau is actually the most sophisticated and beautiful traditional dance in Sabah. The subtle refined movements of the sumayau, which involve the arms, shoulers, palms, legs and feet combine into something truly sublime. One impressive movement of the sumayau which is not found in other Sabah traditional dances is the wonderful sideway movement without the up-and-down motion, making the dancer appear to slide magically to one side. One can say that this unique slide of the Lotud dance is the ancient precursor of the moonwalk!
The other Lotud dance, the Bakanjar, a war-like dance with a man holding a sword and a shield, originally performed to portray the sword fight and heoric exploits of the headhunting days. Bakanjar is normally performed solo, but can also be performed in a group. Nowadays it is performed in the evening of the Monumbui after dinner has started, for the purpose of celebrating and cheering up with the paddy (rice) spirit.
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[edit] Lotud Music
Lotud traditional music is expressed mainly through the Mojumbak a musical group performance with two gongs (Tawag-tawag), a set of small gongs (Kulintangan) (played by two persons), and two long drums or one short and bigger drum gandang. The mojumbak comes in various beats namely Ayas--the fastest beat, Kudidi--the medium beat, and the slowest but most sophisticated beat, the Kudidi'. Other that there are other musical instruments, i.e. the two-stringed guitar, the gagayan, the bamboo nose flute, the turali, the bamboo guitar like tongkungon which has several strings dug up grom the bamboo stem and stretched over the surface, and the uriding (mouth organ).
[edit] Lotud Songs
Lotuds songs or bandak (mimbandak—to sing), are many: the Moninjau, a very solemn song performed after a successful negotiation for the dowry in a betrothal ceremony or Monunui and during the ceremony to bless a new house, or Molukas; the mimbandak proper, and others. There are also nursery rhymes, riddles, lingo-lingo, and others—one of which resemble the Malay's pantun (with pembayang and maksud. In the old days the Lotuds sang when they harvest the paddy, when they gathered for feasts and even simple drinking sessions.
[edit] Lotud Literature
The community had folktales which took seven nights to complete, but unfortunately have all been forgotten. Shorter folktales are still told but very much less requently due to the presence of radio, the TV, and the Internet.
[edit] Lotud Architecture
The Lotud traditional longhouse is a remakable form of architecture. It is in fact the most sophisticated achievement in architecture in the whole of Sabah. This is because it is made of planks (in the old days) strenuously carved with the adze (Malay: beliung) without the facility of saws! The whole house uses not a single nail (as nails were almost impossible to obtain in the old days) but clever slip-in techniques of fitting beams, as well as tying up conenctions with rattans. A unit of the longhouse consists of a sleeping area (ko'odopo'), a kitchen (ropuhan), an attic (tilud), a corridor (olot-olot) separating the walled part of the house and the common varendah (soliw). The number of poles or stilts depends on the length or the number of living units. In the Tuaran district, there is a story of a former population of the village of Indai (the new Indai in existence)where the whole village lived in one longhouse, which was so long that if one died at one end of the house, those living at the other get the receive the news only the next day, and if a plant is plucked and brought from one end it would have withered by the time the carrier reaches the other end. And the population of the house were so many that if the wives come to the river to wash their cooking pots at the river in the late afternoon, the amount of crumbs from the rice pots thrown into the river would block the flow of the river!
[edit] The Lotuds as Sailors
Nowadays, no Lotud has anymore of the old expertise of sailing long distances, but a few hundred years ago, they actually went sailing (lumayag) as far as Abai (Brunei). The voyage, to and fro, probably including a short stay in the biggest city in Borneo then, was said to take two months. The main purpose of going there was to sell produce and buy iron implements, mainly the adze (beliung) which then was a status symbol then. The adze was a versatile tool because it is useful in carving logs into boats, and it could be used to make very sharp knives (pa'is)and matchets (dangol) from bamboo (poring—the hardest variety of bamboo), which then were useful for cutting grass and soft objects such as grass, meat and fruits. These bamboo instruments could easily be resharpened by cutting the edges with the adze. Nails were not important because houses were built without them.
[edit] The Warring Lotuds
The Lotuds were known for their exceptional ferocity during the Tana' Burunai (Brunei rule), a period of anarchy, because it was a time when a lot of savage tribal wars were going on, and pirates roamed the sea as well as made incursions upland to attack, plunder, rape and took the people to be sold into slavery.
The Lotuds went on their warring and headhunting trips to as far the Kadamaian plains (in Kota Belud) and Kiau in Ranau. The land journey to Ranau involved jungle routes that needed one week to cover one way. The headhunting group were sent off with 'dumalu', a special ritual by traditional (animistic) priestesses, and this praying ritual would continue until the group return, whence the ritual would switch to 'dumali', the welcoming prayer ritual.
The people of nearby Kiulu were so fearful of the Lotud that they seldom went to Tuaran town to buy necessities until as late as the 60's. Instead they would rather traverse the jungle over many hills to Inanam to sell produces and buy their family provisions!
As late as the 1950s many dozens of skulls--precious prizes from the headhunting days--were hanging in the longhouses which were then still being built in Tuaran.
At one time a large group of Irranuns came to settle in Tuaran at a village called Termenung (which today is settled by the Bajau people). This village is only a few miles from the Lotud area, and much disturbances occurred when the Lotuds began to lose padi from their stores, their goats and buffaloes disappeared, and tauntings took place, as well as attacks on modesty of young females. This led to a decision by the Lotuds to attack the village at dawn. The Irranuns, battered, with their mostly wooden and attap (palm leaves) dwellings, were forced the survivors to leave settle in Kota Belud where there remain till today. The book, Irranun, by Datu Bandira Datu Alang (published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, year ?) confirms that the Irranuns did settle at Tuaran at one time, althoug it doesn't explain why they are no longer there.
During this period, the Lotuds were also targets of the Brunei Pengirans who sailed upriver from the mouth of Tuaran River to collect tax. When the Brunei boats sailed in the people would take their traditional two-string guitar (called gagayan) and played on it the special tune as they sang mockingly: "Sumulok di Pongiran, momorintad Tawaran" (The pengirans are selling upriver to rule over Tuaran). The poor people, having no cash, were forced to pay in kind, with the Pengirans helping themselves to padi stores, livestock and fowls. The people retaliated by with a revolt, resulting in a famous battle at Kampung Kinutaan (literally meaning, the village where a fort was built—Kampung means village). The battle ended up with all the Bruneian soldiers being killed and having their private parts being severed and pieced end-to-end on a string made from the skin of the li'as plant, which stretched across the river. It is said by the elders in Tuaran that the name for Kampung Tolibong, near Kinutaan, came from the phrase "toli do nokosoborong"--the penises that crossed the river!
Today the Lotuds are still known for their aggressiveness as reflected by the personalities of their political leaders.
[edit] Prominent Lotuds
The most distinguished Lotud is Tun Hamdan Abdullah (formerly OKK Indan Kari), being the former District Chief of Tuaran, a former assemblyman, and died in office as Sabah's Head of State. Others are Datuk Kimon Anad, Datuk Monggoh Orow (former Member of Parliament), Datuk Kalakau Untol (former Member of Parliament and Federal Deputy Minister and later Senator), Datin Danna Ontol (senior government servant as director of departments), Datin Rita Jaafar (formerly Rita Bagong, who became a state-level beauty queen, and later became senior education officer), Setiawan Ampuria (former assemblyman), Gabriel Tan or Gabriel Tanggar (the founding President of the United Sabah Dusun Association or USDA), M.A. Rahman or Ahmad I. Onggohon (the Secretary General of USDA), Sindih Angkati (cultural movement leader), Limbai Angkapon (a fiery leader with uncompromising honesty who died while contesting in an election), Bitti Okos (prominent and memorable for having died in battle in Brunei during the confrontation with Indonesia), Linda Ewit (lawyer), Balanting Erom (politician and businessman), OKK Imbun Orow (former policeman and District Chief), Fabian Mail (educator, politician and businessman), Fedelis Enson (cathechist), Enson Angkunau (local leader), OKK Ujin (native chief), Gilum Owid (cultural activist), Enjin Ujoh (educator, local leader), Jamit Elip and Francis Fahir(both radio and TV personalities), Monica Ongkosing (diva, entertainer), Patrick Jilan (politician and church activist), Hj. Indan Putong (educator), Sylvester Saraban Daniel (businessman), Francis Daniel (businessman), Jeffrey Ganie (administrator), Elias Augustine Lontou (body-building champion and movie star), Raymond Boin Tombung (social activist, writer, journalist, editor, businessman), Jemson Kundai Bakod (local leader), OKK Ongkilat (wellknown village head), John Unggai Jilan (church leader), Albert B. Polinoh (businessman, global investor), Florence Rubiah Ayid (politician, businesslady), Margaret Kimon (politician, businesslady), Attau Ossal (politician, businessman), Pediman Jabau (businessman, global investor), Eyas Ujoh (sportman)...
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