IDNO

DG.102035.PAO

Description

A Polaroid photograph of the longhouse at Kampung Benuk from the upper floor of Paka anak Otor’s house on a hill overlooking it. The longhouse has a large bamboo slat tanju (open gallery) which appears to be partially dismantled or under construction. On the right are the individual apartments and awah (covered verandah), beneath a large sloping roof, consisting of both thatched attap and zinc. The longhouse curves slightly to the right and branches off into different batang (‘branches’). In the distance to the left can be seen the ?octagonal wood shingled roof of the panggah (meeting and ritual house).
In the background is thick jungle foliage and a few limestone mountains, including the peak of Dorod Rimau (Tiger Mountain).

Place

SE Asia Borneo; Malaysia; Sarawak; Penrissen; Kampung Benuk [Kampung Segu Bunuk]

Cultural Affliation

Bidayuh [historically Land Dayak]

Named Person

Photographer

?Regell, John

Collector / Expedition

Paka anak Otor

Date

6 August 1977

Collection Name

Paka anak Otor Collection

Source

Paka anak OtorChua, Liana

Format

Print Colour

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Source: A selection of 185 prints from Paka anak Otor’s larger collection of approximately 500 prints was made by Liana Chua during fieldwork in Kampung Benuk, Sarawak, Malaysia, in 2005. The purchase of non-exclusive reproduction rights [RM 1845, £250] by the Museum to the family of Paka anak Otor [82 Kampung Benuk, Jalan Puncak Borneo, Kuching 93250, Sarawak, Malaysia], and digital copy photographs of the collection [RM 869, £125] were paid for by the Museum Acquisition Fund [£250] and part of a Crowther-Beynon grant [£125] for the collecting of Sarawak objects. The digital scans were made by Fung Huang Colour Photo Centre [153 Padungan Road, Kuching, Sarawak] in 2005. [Liana Chua 2/8/2007]

Context: Kampung Benuk has been a small-scale tourist attraction since the 1960s, being particularly famous for its longhouse. Its first visitors were often members of the British, Australian and American armed forces stationed nearby during the Confrontation years between Indonesia and Malaysia (1963-1966); later visitors included civilian tourists, foreign dignitaries, UNESCO representatives, film crews, and government officials. Benuk’s visitor numbers appear to have peaked around the 1970s and 1980s, especially with increasing domestic and Asian tourism and the state government’s tourist promotion efforts. Otor anak Sunjam and his son Paka anak Otor often played host to these visitors, performing welcoming dances at their house on the hill overlooking the village, from which this photograph was taken. [Liana Chua 10/9/2007]

Place: The panggah was traditionally a meeting-hall, sleeping place for visitors and bachelors and men’s ritual space in various Bidayuh villages. It was also where the village’s collection of skulls was kept, hence its identification by 19th century European writers and administrators as the “head-house”. Benuk’s present panggah was constructed by a Malay army regiment in 1972, to replace the older attap-roof building. Local accounts of the origin of the ten skulls vary; but most seem to agree that they belong to enemies from Singai (another Bidayuh area) who carried out a severe raid on the village. In retaliation, the men of the village killed them and hung their heads in the panggah, at which point their spirits were inveighed to guard the village from misfortune. Every year (as of 2007), the skulls are ‘bathed’ with ritual substances and ‘fed’ with offerings in a ritual performed by the few remaining adat gawai (pre-Christian rituals) practitioners in the village. [Liana Chua 10/9/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Liana Chua 10/9/2007]