Headhunter's parang among artefacts donated to Sarawak Museum

New Straits Times

27-05-2025

KUCHING: A century-old parang, reportedly snatched by a Tebakang man from headhunters, has been donated to the Sarawak Museum Department as a historical artefact.
Tebakang, a small town some 55km from here and close to the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, is of historical significance as one of the early settlement areas for the Bidayuh people. During the Brooke era, Tebakang served as a fortified outpost.
Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, in narrating the story of the ancient parang in the state legislative assembly today, said the donor, Mangu Bueng, claimed the blade had been with his family for almost 100 years.
He said Mangu claimed that the parang originally belonged to a group of headhunters who confronted a member of the family and his wife in the early 1900s. In the ensuing fight, he snatched the parang from his attackers.
He brought the parang back home to Kampung Tebakang Bidayuh, where it became a treasured family heirloom.
The parang has since remained with his family, being passed down through the generations, before it was donated to the Sarawak Museum. The museum is the guardian of Sarawak and Borneo's shared heritage.
The parang was one of five artefacts donated to the museum recently, Karim said. He said the museum also received two Lun Bawang sunhats from the Lavery family in the United Kingdom.
John Lavery, the son of Bill and Pam Lavery, who brought the sunhats to the UK, donated them to the Sarawak Museum for safekeeping.
The authentic sunhats were obtained during the formation of Malaysia in 1963, when Bill Lavery was posted to a school in Limbang that same year as a teacher.
He later served as headmaster in the school under the Colombo Plan of External Aid of the Canadian government to Sarawak. The Laverys left Sarawak in 1965, taking the sunhats as souvenirs.
Karim said the museum has also received donations of two unglazed ceramic vases that were fished from the sea off Santubong.
The donor, Mohd Rizal Bujang, claimed the pottery was discovered in the 1970s by his late father Bujang Abdullah together with his friends, Ibni Zen and Othman Zen, while fishing off the fishing village on the mouth of Sungai Sarawak, Karim told the state assembly.
Santubong was once an important trading port between the 7th and 13th centuries CE. This period corresponds to the time of early regional trade networks in Southeast Asia linking the Malay Archipelago, India and China.
Chinese ceramics from the Tang and Song dynasties were among the archaeological finds in Santubong.
Karim also told the assembly that the Sarawak Museum Department, exercising its powers under the Sarawak Heritage Ordinance (SHO) 2019, on Feb 12 had gazetted 14 historical sites, buildings, monuments and underwater heritage.
The gazetted sites, buildings, monuments and underwater heritage are: Rumah Panjang Melanau Kampong Sok in Matu; Rumah Sri Tanjung, a former government rest house at Tanjung Lobang in Miri; Sacred Heart Church at Sungai Bawan in Kanowit; Makam Dato Permaisuri in Miri; Pusara Ali Wallace, Kampung Jaie, Sadong Jaya; Kubur Shariff Skrang, Kampung Igan, Matu; Tapak Masjid Bandaraya Kuching; the Beting Maro battle ground; Lombong Arang Batu (coal quarry) Brooke at Gunung Ngeli in Simunjan; Batu Ritong in Pa' Lungan, Bario; the site of a skirmish between the army and communist terrorists at Kampung Jangkar, Lundu; Tuang Schist in Semeba, Kuching; Folded Schist Demak, Kuching; and a Japanese landing craft at Brighton Beach in Miri.