THE MURUTS

The Muruts in the interior practise 'slash and burn' cultivation. Hence after harvesting from one plot of land, they would move to another region, sometimes miles away. The whole family would move, lock-stock and barrel. Hence the children would be away for months at a time. Thus the school population would fluctuate from month to month. This of course affect the school exam results, but more importantly, the children education were sporadic.

The Muruts cultivate mostly hill rice and tapioca. This they would make tapai ( fermented drink). The tapioca is used to make 'sagu', a sticky concoction for their meals (in lieu of rice, which is mainly used for tapai- and drinking is a problem here). They do rear some chickens but their protein is mainly from the river fish. Most of the vegetable are sourced from the jungle - ferns and tapioca leaves. For more sophisticated fare, they would go to Keningau for the tamu.

Another practice is the early marriage - girls as young as 14 or 15 were already married. when I was in Babalitan, I noticed that many young girls were already mothers of 2 or more children.

Another 'unique' practice is the 'pemberian seumur hidup'. The life-long bride price. Normally the bride's family would demand for buffaloes and 'tagals' - kind of urns (used for storing tapai and also used for burrials, plus a host of other gifts. If the groom is unable to pay, he can pay the family by installments. The girl's family has the right to come to the man's house and take whatever they want - radio, cooking utensils, anything they fancy. this posed a financial burden to the young family. Some grandfathers are still paying the 'pemberian'!!

The churches have done a tremendous job to educate the community - SIB and BCCM are active here. Some of the more educated Muruts have done away with early marriages and the 'pemberian'. Drinking is still a problem, though.

When I was there, I was privileged to witness the preparation for an upcoming wedding. The men helped to set up tents and the tents decorate and the womenfolks were busy preparing the food. The 2nd day, a boat carrying the 'pemberian' arrived - to the beating of gongs. This was followed by boatloads of guests later in the evening. I guess that night would be a night of drinking and celebration. Unfortunately I had to leave for Keningau so did not stay to watch the proceedings.

The hanging bridge - the banner is put up by our institut. The interior region is rather hilly.

Here the children watching their mothers preparing the food.

The decorations for the upcoming wedding. The beading work is intricate.

Part of the land cleared for the construction of a BCCM church

The iron bridge constructed by the army - it leads to the Indonesian border