Whatever happened to once coastal Kadazans?
Published on: Sunday, June 11, 2023
By: Avtar Singh
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The Kadazans were primarily found along the Kinarut River and Putatan River as well as the upper Moyog River going back to the 15th Century in what is today the Kadazan heartland of Penampang. - Pix for illustration purposes only by Pinterest
This interaction took place in the late 1800s and up to that point in time, there was no recordings or documents of any other native tribes along the West Coast of Sabah identifying themselves specifically as “Kadazan” as an ethnic group separate from the Dusuns.
But why was there a significant number of the Kadazan population living only in Papar whilst there is no mention of Kadazans in historical records of interaction with natives along the West Coast of Sabah, primarily along the coastline between Papar and Putatan?
The Kadazans were primarily found along the Kinarut River and Putatan River as well as the upper Moyog River going back to the 15th Century in what is today the Kadazan heartland of Penampang.
If there was indeed a significant Kadazan population presence along the west coast before the arrival of the Europeans, what happened to the to them and where did they go?
Prior to 1961 when Kadazans were formerly recognized as an ethnic group on their own, they had previously been identified as ‘Dusun’ in colonial records though they considered themselves different from the Dusun’s in the interior of North Borneo.
At times, they went to war with the inland Dusuns and against both the Bruneian’s and Bajau.
The hypothesis I would suggest is that the Kadazans were possibly not only present inland along rivers flowing down the Moyog and Putatan rivers but were also primarily a costal native ethnic group.
They may possibly have been an ‘offset’ of the inland Dusun’s and that they were not restricted to only being found in the vicinity of the Papar, Putatan or Kinarut areas of Sabah but that they were perhaps also present all along the West Coast of Sabah including areas south of Papar to Bongawan prior to the 17th Century.
I would suggest that their numbers and their presence along the coastline on the west coast declined dramatically over a short period of time as many were kidnapped by pirates from their primary areas of residence along the west coast and from their villages and sold into slavery.
I would also suggest that it is because of these persistent raids over time and the loss of members of their communities that they (the Kadazan) had no choice but to move further inland away from the coastline or up into the highlands to protect their communities and families from the raids by pirates.
If we look at the activities of the pirates in the Sulu archipelago for example from the 16th Century onwards, “the Moros conducted raids on the Spanish-held settlements…..these incursions reached a peak only in the decade of the 1750s (and) this phenomenon was spurred by the great market demand for slave labour for the Dutch East Indies.
Sometimes the slaves were not sold for money but were exchanged for arms and ammunition……these raids presented a source of power.
Further, slaves had a considerable role in the socio-political and economic life of the Moros, who used them for housework, fieldwork, and craftwork.” (1)
In the Tausug society, slave holding was the primary form of investment and slaves were used for production purposes and were essentially a currency for barter trading or exchange.
“The Lanun (Iranun) and Balinguingui tribes also conducted raids among the inhabitants of Borneo and Malaya” (2) including Badjaos.” (3).
The Moro raids against native settlements in the Northern Philippines (appears to have) started in June 1578 (4) and these raiding activities seems to have occurred all across the archipelago by organized fleets of pirates under the orders of various datu’s and vassals of the many Moro Sultans’.
It would appear that three centuries, the Moro pirates attacked almost every coastal village and town in the Philippines and Borneo and that these piratical expeditions were conducted by various Moro groups such as Magindanao, Malanao (Maranao), Lanun (Iranun), Sangil (Mindanao Island group), Tausug, Bajau Samal, and Balinguingui.
They all originated from the Sulu archipelago and formed the Moro groups. The introduction of the word “Moros” is a Spanish word derived from the Latin “Mauros,” the name given to inhabitants of northwest Africa, who were Muslims and who had conquered Spain previously.
Thus, “Moro” was used by the Spaniards for anyone who was Muslim (5) and became synonymous with pirates, raiders, and slave traders.
The pirates usually attacked coastal villages and towns by surprise and in a large force: villagers were often times caught by surprise by the arrival of the pirates and raiders and were unable to conduct a proper defence of their communities or to escape and were perhaps captured either in large numbers or that their population declined over time as more and more raids were conducted either by the same pirate groups or different groups on these villages and that eventually either the villages were subsequently destroyed, abandoned or burnt to the ground and abandoned.
It was not uncommon for the raiders to lay siege to a wooden fort or structure that the native villagers built to protect themselves from these raiders for days, if not weeks until they tired or felt it necessary to leave.
If the villagers in these small forts became tired from hunger or had a lack of drinking water and/or were fatigued, the pirates could possibly have stormed these forts and captured or killed the villagers.
These raids also included smaller, scattered raids against fishermen, traders and smaller settlements (6).
In the Visayan region of the Philippines in or around the period of 1589, pirates raided the town of Antique and captured many of the inhabitants for slavery.
The pirates returned the following year and raided the town again. For fear of further attack, the townspeople thus abandoned the town and fled to the mountains (7).
“In or around 1599, (these pirates) numbering 3,000 men in 50 boats, plundered with impunity the coastal towns of Panay and ther Visayan islands like Negros and Cebu” (8).
The communities along the coast of Sabah were dependent on protection from the Brunei Sultanate and the Bajau’s who formed the navy for the Bruneians.
Piracy and kidnapping may be possible considerations in that either native Kadazan villages along the coastline did exist prior to the arrival of James Brooke for example and before the British Royal Navy took decisive action against pirate bases in Sabah and were able to offer some protection from pirate attacks.
Those Kadazans, Bajau, Bruneian and Rungus native groups in Sabah living in villages along the coastline and along rivers who were subjected to acts of piracy, kidnapping and capture were probably sold as slaves either on ships to other merchants or at slave markets in the Sulu Archipelago or were killed. It is doubtful many, if any returned back to Sabah.
This may perhaps explain why the population of coastal Kadazan villages were diluted along the West Coast and only found in some areas along the coastline.
However, with the arrival of James Brooke and the British Royal Navy in 1849 who then subsequently at the request of the Sultan of Brunei took decisive action against pirate bases in Sabah and were able to offer protection from pirate attacks.
However, it may very well be that many of these Kadazan villages had already been raided and destroyed or abandoned long before the arrival of the British Navy in 1849.
However, it could also be argued that the Kadazan were never really a ‘coastal native ethnic group’ and lived primarily along rivers away from the coastline on the West Coast primarily because they depended on jungle products and hunting and farming and may have migrated to the coast in small groups but not in any large significant number.
It is very possible some Kadazans did migrate to the North and South of Putatan over time due to inter-marriages or tribal relocation to new settlements or disagreements or wars fought against other native tribes in the highlands surrounding modern day Penampang, Putatan and Inanam as well as Kinarut or looking for suitable land for agriculture.
It is also possible to suggest a third hypothesis that they, the Kadazan, were both an inland and coastal tribe but who evolved from the ‘Dusun’ of the interior and over time, the Kadazan language spoken evolved and changed with variations as did some aspects of their cultural practices and identity possibly because of inter-marriages with Chinese immigrants and farmers or traders who arrived in Sabah and settled on the West Coast well before the arrival of the Europeans.
Sources.
1-Loyre, Ghislaine. 1985-86-Slave raiding in Marano Economy from 16th to the 18th
Centuries: Pg 17-26
2-Warren, James. The Sulu Zone 1768-1898: Pg 239
3- Warren, James. The Sulu Zone 1768-1898: Pg 49
4-Reed, Robert R. Hispanic Urbanism in the Philippines: A study of the impact of Church & State; Pg.94
5-RasuI, Jainal D. The Philippine Muslims-Struggle for Identity: Pg. 3
6-Cruikshank, Bruce. Samar 1768-1898; Pg 90
7-Zuniga, Fr. Joaquin Martinez de. Status of the Philippines in 1800: Pg 460
8-Zaide, Gregorio F. Philippine Political and Cultural History. Volume 1. Pg: 309
- The views expressed here are the views of the writer Avtar Singh and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express.
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