http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/07/20/tribute-to-a-kelabit-paramount-chief/
by Lucy Bulan. Posted on July 20, 2013, Saturday
DEEPLY ROOTED: A family portrait.
Ngimat Ayu
A
PIONEER, innovator and paramount chief of the Kelabits, Ngimat Ayu
passed away on July 18, 2013 at the age of 92, leaving a legacy of
immense love and kindness, outstanding leadership and tremendous wisdom.
Surrounded
by his wife, children and grandchildren as he breathed his last, Ngimat
Ayu was one Kelabit who had lived a full life and stood tall and strong
amongst all odds.
As news of his passing began to reach people,
especially Kelabits in Malaysia and those living in other parts of the
world, condolence messages began pouring in to his immediate family
members and relatives.
Many recalled fond memories of Ngimat Ayu and how much he will be missed.
Indeed,
this man whom his grandchildren call a legend had left a lasting
impression on everyone – young and old – who were fortunate to have met
him.
Family history
Born
on July 15, 1921 in Pa’ Main, Bario in the Kelabit highlands, Ngimat
Ayu, whose given name was Gerawat Aran, was one of four children of
Tagung Aran @ Ngemung Sakai and Sineh Tagung Aran.
His siblings
were Lu’ui, Muda and Dayang (Tepuh Luyuq dedtur). Because he was quite
sickly as a child, and according to Kelabit custom of meman anak,
Gerawat was adopted and brought up by his uncle (his father’s youngest
brother) Tekapen Raja and Edteh Kedieh Aran.
In 1955, he married
Martha Padan from Long Pupung, Kerayan. In those days, he was one of the
rare ones to get a bride from Kerayan, Kalimantan, a marriage arranged
by their relatives. And as is the Kerayan custom, he had to pay a huge
dowry for this beautiful, hardworking maiden of noble ancestry.
They
were blessed with seven children – Abel, Anne, Felicity Ruran, Linda,
Evelyn, Nancy Daun, and Scott Apoi. They became adoptive parents to
three children of Gerawat’s sister and brother-in-law Tepuh Luyuq, both
of whom had died early from sickness – Datin Sri Mariam Balan, Maria
Peter Lu’ui and the late Tony Ngimat Ayu.
Following the birth of
his eldest child, Abel Ngimat, Gerawat changed his name to Ngimat Ayu
according to Kelabit tradition. Then on the birth of his first
grandchild, Stephen Baya Peter (the son of Maria Peter Lu’ui), Ngimat
Ayu changed his name to Belaan Tauh.
Meantime, Ngimat Ayu had adopted five other children. Today, he has 31 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.
Before
going to school, young Ngimat Ayu (known then by his given name
Gerawat) worked with the Allied Forces in the Japanese Resistance Army.
He
remembered being in Ba’Kelalan and Belawit when the Japanese
surrendered, and helped the Allied Forces to escort the Japanese out of
Belawit.
He also fearlessly assisted Major Tom Harrison to fish
out the Penan and the Iban from Indonesia who were believed to have
murdered Hardin, the Resident of Marudi at the end of 1945.
Gerawat attended the first school set up by Major Tom Harrison in Pa’ Main Longhouse at the age of 24.
“Many parents were reluctant to allow their children to go to school,” he said.
“They insisted that they themselves had done very well without schooling —why waste time in school?”
But
young Gerawat’s father was one of the chiefs responsible for the
introduction of the first school in the community, so Gerawat became one
of the first of 19 students to attend school when the school first
opened in 1946.
The school Tom Harrison started had one teacher, Paul Kohuan from East Timor.
He
taught Gerawat until Primary Four in Pa’ Main School, after which Tom
Harrison brought Gerawat to Kuching to work in the Sarawak Museum.
His job was to collect and record artifacts for the Museum.
While working, he continued his Primary Five and Six education in Merpati Jepang through night studies.
Young
Gerawat and his peers went to school with one vision in mind: to return
to the Kelabit Highlands and serve the community (nuuh bawang), and to
uplift their living condition.
So on completion of his primary
school education, Tom Harrison told Gerawat he was to go into the
medical line as there were enough Kelabit teachers already.
He acquiesced without question.
The medical assistant-dresser
Gerawat
started his training as a medical assistant (then called dresser) in
Kuching in 1951, and was the first Orang Ulu to be trained as a dresser.
“When
I began my practical training in Kuching, I still had my Orang Ulu
haircut and elongated earlobes, and the patients always asked to see the
medical assistant, not knowing I was the one.
“I always told them
‘he is inside his room’ but treated them myself and only referred
complicated cases to the senior medical officer,” he said.
Gerawat’s
training was so comprehensive that he knew how to stitch wounds,
conduct simple surgery like cutting off elongated earlobes, treat
leprosy, pull out teeth, order and disburse medication and even deliver
babies.
On his initial return to the Kelabit Highlands, Gerawat
was accompanied and introduced as a dresser by SAO Kusil Tingang and Tom
Harrison.
He was based in Pa’ Main, but made regular monthly
trips to each outstation village in the highlands — from Long Banga in
the south to all the villages in the Kelapang and Debpur basin, and to
Kuba’an, Long Lellang and Seridan villages.
Even after being
joined by other dressers later, he continued to be the travelling
‘medicine man’ for years, organising groups of porters from each village
in making monthly trips to Lio Mattu to collect and carry medicine sent
from Marudi for him to disburse.
He came up with the idea of using used cooking oil tins as storage containers for his medicine.
He stored them at each village so that he could reduce the number of porters to go around with him.
“I
worked alone as the only dresser in the highlands for years. I never
ran out of medicine. I made sure there was regular supply all the time
even though transportation was very difficult.
“Everything had to
be transported by boat from Marudi to Lio Mattu, and by land from thence
to Bario. Today, you people have aeroplanes and helicopters to carry
medicine to Bario, and you still have not enough stock of medicine! I
cannot understand this,” he lamented.
Gerawat @ Ngimat Ayu served as ulu dresser altogether for 15 years (1951-65).
The
effectiveness of his service, assisted afterwards by other health
assistants, can be seen from the rapid disappearance of leprosy, skin
diseases, malaria and fatal epidemics (kedta in Kelabit) that had
plagued the Kelabits for generations and almost wiped out the tribe at
one point.
One of his achievements had been to inculcate clean habits among the people.
“I
got people to drink only boiled water and remove their livestock from
under their longhouses and to disallow dogs from living together in the
longhouses. I faced a great deal of opposition especially in this but
with support from Tom Harrison and the missionaries, we succeeded in
changing peoples’ lifestyles,” he said.
The paramount chief
In 1965, Tom Harrison arranged for an election of a new Penghulu to replace the then Penghulu Lawai Besara.
Four contestants stood for the post (Inan Mulun, Ulit Mattu, Galih Balang, and Ngimat Ayu) and Ngimat Ayu was elected.
He had to quit his post as medical assistant and thence began his long history as the paramount chief of the Kelabit.
Ngimat Ayu served as the only Kelabit Penghulu from 1966-1997.
And then in 1998, the government decided to appoint a Pemanca as the new paramount chief of the Kelabit.
Penghulu
Ngimat Ayu was appointed and he served as Pemanca until 2005 with three
new Penghulus as his assistants: Henry Jalla of Bario, Tulu Ayu of Long
Seridan, and Gan Tuloi of Long Peluan. Ngimat Ayu was a visionary and
an innovator.
During his tenure as the paramount chief, he
witnessed the opening up of Bario Lem Baaq to rapid development,
including the Codification of the Kelabit Customary Laws (the Adet
Kelabit 2008), the building of an all-weather-airport, the introduction
of ICT through e-Bario, the building of the inter village road within
Bario and the road connecting Bario to the outside world, to name a few.
He
strongly supported the idea of Bario Ceria and the provision of power
supply through the solar farm in Bario, especially after the failed
hydro-hybrid project.
His magnificent art of negotiation,
extraordinary hospitality to guests and locals alike and his tremendous
leadership skills have enabled him to gain much favour from people in
authority on behalf of the Kelabit community.
His special ability
to identify with young and old, educated and uneducated, strangers and
family alike has endeared him to a multitude of people, making him
easily approachable and loveable.
As far as he was able and
available, he visited every sick person he knew, went to every funeral,
attended every wedding he was invited to and was able to laugh and cry
with people he knew.
In a nutshell, Ngimat Ayu made time for everyone.
Straddling two worlds
Ngimat Ayu has straddled many eras and was a pioneer in many fields.
He
served as the first Orang Ulu medical assistant (ulu dresser) from
1951-65 and left his job to become the first elected Penghulu of the
Kelabit from 1966-97.
He was then promoted to become the first Kelabit Pemanca from 1998-2005.
Ngimat
Ayu was born (in 1921) before the Japanese Occupation and before the
impact of the rule of the White Rajah had been fully felt by the
Kelabit.
He had personally experienced the hardship under the old
way of life but understood the value systems, the customs and traditions
that gave the Kelabit their identity.
He lived through and fought
during the Japanese Occupation and helped bridge the gap between our
Indonesian neighbours and our people after the Indonesian-Malaysian
Confrontation in the 1960’s.
He embraced Christianity as a first
generation Christian in the highlands and witnessed the extraordinary
impact their faith had on the Kelabit community.
He participated
in the resettlement exercise whereby the neighbouring villages were
relocated to Bario Lem Baaq during the Confrontation.
Thus, he
experienced the hard work and excitement of opening up new horizons and
fresh boundaries as well as the pain and loss of leaving the familiar.
As Penghulu, he was instrumental in settling many legal issues related to this relocation exercise in a peaceful manner.
Ngimat
Ayu was a student pioneer of the first school in the Kelabit Highlands,
and lived to see even his grandchildren finish university education.
He saw the schools in the Kelabit Highlands grow from the first primary school to lower secondary school level.
Before
he died, he said: “My dream and vision is to see the secondary school
in Bario reaching Form 5 level so that more students can reach Form 5
level instead of dropping out of school. Please don’t give up on the
vision.”
Ngimat Ayu is one Kelabit man who has lived a full life,
faced countless challenges and still stood tall and strong against all
odds.
Clothed with God’s full armour, he was able, having done everything, to stand (Eph 6:13).
He leaves behind a legacy of immense love and kindness, outstanding leadership, and tremendous wisdom.
He is greatly missed by family, friends, the whole Kelabit community and all who knew him.
Farewell our father, cousin, uncle, grandfather. Rest in Peace. Until we meet again.
