Data Kakus or Apau Data

Malaysia / Sarawak / Bintulu /
Data Kakus is located in remote Ulu Kakus river in Tatau district. All of the people here are Kenyah Badeng tribe. There are two ways to reach Data Kakus, either by small boat or Land Cruiser(4WD vehicle). By boat, the journey will take more than 12 hours from Tatau Town whereby if we are using 4WD vehicle on the logging road, the journey will take us 5-6 hours from Bintulu town but this highly dependent on timber road condition at Ulu Kakus and most of the time this unused logging road is always in worst condition which need to be repaired from time to time. The logging road has become the main access to the social economy development of Data Kakus.

Kampung Kaum Kenyah Badeng Data Kakus Tatau Bintulu, SARAWAK, where more than 4000 ++ Kenyah Badeng lives in this isolated area (upstream Kakus river).

- Latest photos as of 2007; More interesting information coming up from this so incredible 'little' site so keep visiting this site; - 'Nai ne menuk lepo ilu Kenyah Badeng ke Lepo ilu Data Kakus ne '.
Bandar berdekatan:
Koordinat-koordinat:   2°39'29"N   113°36'28"E

Komen

  • Data Kakus - Lepo' Kenyah Badeng Population ~ 4000 ++
  • In the early 1986 we've moved from Long Dungan to the Kakus river in the neighbouring Fourth Division (Bintulu). Living in a more isolated area In Data Kakus (an isolated plateau also called 'Apau Data' ) has not dampened the entrepreneurial Kenyah Badeng spirit to achieve greater heights. The typical Kenyah village consists of only one longhouse (used to be) and the people are mainly farmers, planting rice in burnt jungle clearings.With the rapid economic development, especially in timber industry, many of us are currently working in timber camps.
  • hi, may i hv the info about data kakus? is the community mobilized instead of isolated? n is there any graduate frm the community itself? thanks :)
  • No they are not mobilized, the community is just isolated and the trunk road to reach this community is considered very BAD in shape. Yeah the are dozens of graduate from this tribe working all over in Peninsular M'sia as well as in East M'sia itself.
  • wow.. maju ale' ne apau ke g..
  • hello, this is gotzone, from Spain. I am interested in weather forecasting systems and was wondering: how do Kenyah Badeng rice cultivators from Data Kakus predict the weather in order to plant, burn and so on? listening the radio? checking the TV news? the newspaper? a local weather station? maybe online? maybe using a more traditional system? Terima Kasih!
  • Well for weather forecast we just based on the past experienced where normally the farmer will harvest end of Jan and start to clear the bushes and cut down the small trees to burn the area approximately in apr-may, during june - jul they will be a dry season. This is the right time to clear this mess is end of jul to early aug (natural fertilizer). Weather forecast is based traditional measurement by looking at the sun and the moon position or situation. We never rely on external weather forecast from radio, tv or paper or whatsoever channel even if we are able to receive the radio or tv signal at our village.
  • nice... thank you! and how many families do you think are currently farming in Data Kakus?
  • em thats a good question, I would say about 200-250 families. A small number of them started to work on started their own palm oil small estate and planting pepper(Borneo is the largest pepper (black and white pepper) producer in the world). So this may not be so accurate if i say all of them still practising this shifting cultivation technique for hill rice.
  • wow, interesting... but I have another question... how often (if so-ever) do farmers suffer of droughts or big fires around there? People call it "El Niño" phenomenon and it is quite popular in some parts of the tropics... is this ever happening there? is the concept of "El Niño" ever used in Data Kakus?? (...i hope you dont mind me asking all these questions....)
  • No problemo. We do not really suffer from El Nino in our country, for this side of the world specially for Borneo island it is pretty stable, no major natural disaster except flood due to heavy rain(La Nina - typically cause a wet period in this area), but that would not last longer than 2 weeks. There is no forest fire except the one that is set by the people who stay in that area but it is under control.
  • I can see that this web page is becoming culturally quite interesting, so if you dont mind I will keep asking questions... My next one is: what language do people speak in Data Kakus??
  • We speak our mother tongue which is 'Kenyah' language. FYI there are more than 80 tribes here in Bornoe and Kenyah is one of them and we speak different language but to communicate with other tribe we will speak Bahasa Malaysia or English language.
  • So everybody is Kenyah in Data Kakus? Do other tribes live around?
  • Yes you are right, yes they are other tribes(such as Punan, Iban) live around which is about 5-7 hours downstream by small boat or by 4WD will take you 2-4 hours.
  • hahaha... "5-7 hours downstream" doesnt sound very "around" to me... you need 2 days if you want to have a coffee with somebody down there! (is coffee popular there? maybe tea? maybe local herbs??)
  • yup, that will not tea break thats really a real coffee break. :). Yup coffee is popular as tea. no local herbs just plain clean refreshing water draw from river.
  • you know? your place sounds really cool... you said there are aprox. 4000 people living there, right? so who is in charge of the village? are there like neighbourhoods with different people as headman/women of each neighbourhood? or there is just only one person representing the whole village???
  • Well, for the past 20 years(1986-2006) only 1 man handle this village with his assistant but since last year they (the opposition headman) have appointed another 4 leaders so that they can focus on their followers. Meaning that now about 5 leaders representing this village. In fact this big community have been splitted due to this to political issue but they remain lived in their own longhouses at the same area. Most of the population iare still having faith with the first leader included myself.
  • Jamiedian, thanks a lot for all this info. I am working on a project that promotes traditional knowledge and traditional weather forecasting systems in southeast asia. The idea is that traditional weather forecasting systems work better than pure meteorological info at a local/regional level, and that traditional forecasts should be incorporated in (mixed with) the local weather news. There are two main reasons: First, news should not show just scientific meteorological data as the information might be coming from far away areas with different environmental characteristics (this is just one of the many problems scientific meteorology faces); and second, traditional knowledge should not be forgotten but transmitted, as traditional responses to weather events are normally faster, cheaper and more accurate. I was wondering if people of Data Kakus would be interested on taking part on this project... Here I give you (or to anybody interested) my email address: thedragonfish@aim.com Please, feel free to send me a note of consideration. I will be glad to introduce myself and the project there. In any case, thanks a lot for opening this web page and for the way you are managing it. Best wishes.
  • Yeah... it is good to know people from the other side of the world is interested on how our ancestors work on weather forecast based on the traditional knowledge. All these info are merely based on Sun position, Stars, Shooting star, winds direction, Moon position and the SHAPE. Looking at clouds movement, looking at the color of the sky during day time and at night, looking at the color of Sunset and what time is the Sun raise in the morning, listen to birds and animals sound and many more external contribution from the mother nature surrounds them. To be honest we do not know how accurate is the info but they really rely on it on yearly basis. Maybe it works for us because we are in tropical weather whereby not many things to consider compared with a region that is having 4 seasons weather. Normally all these factors are accurate for us in that area because the information that we have is based on what we see in our area. sow the seeds of paddy hill, wild , cucumber, corn, fruits, yam and etc when the moon SHAPE is right is working well for us. I truly believe these info are accurate because it helps us from generation to generation to forecast the best time to clear our land and when to scatter the plant seeds. Because if this is being predicted or forecasted wrongly after the scatter the seeds we need it to be raining season and the seeds can grow as intended otherwise if it is drought season we will be in trouble because we having nothing to harvest on Jan and can cause famine or food shortage. We are mainly depend on the rice to earn our living. Perhaps if you would like to work on this project I may be able to help you to gather some info but I can’t commit how fast am I able to gather the data since I am working far away in Kuala Lumpur (west malaysia). And the flight to my hometown is about 3 hours and to reach the village it takes 5-6 hours if the road condition good by 4WD. Another alternative way will be by a small board from Tatau town to upstream Tatau river with more adventures and that is need about 13 hours to reach the same place. It is a great experience but it’s painful for me as I can afford to seat on the board for too long and the weather is real hot !(As i shared this info with you earlier). Muchas gracias. Thank you.
  • Jamiedian, thanks so much for willing to cooperate. You dont have to travel to your village to do so, though. The only thing: maybe you could provide me with a little bit more local information? Let me explain you... I very much like Sarawak, and I´ve done research there before (although I´ve never been up the Rejang river and never made contact with Kenyah people). I was there in 2004 and 2005. I wrote my masters thesis on Penan believes --you can find a copy of my thesis at the Sarawak Museum Library any time you stop by in Kuching. Now, I am willing to go back this summer. I am looking for communities interested in sharing their knowledge about how to plant padi bukit, how to predict weather variation, and how to respond to droughts and monsoons. This knowledge could help many people afected by the El Niño phenomenon around the world these days... I include part of the practical justification that you can read in the project: "Second, El Niño is a phenomenon of the tropics, and has had an enormous impact on foragers and farmers for at least 5000 years. Historically, populations have adapt to these variations but today there are millions more inhabitants of this tropical world than there were even half a century ago. Indeed, 75% of the worlds´ population live in the tropics and two-thirds of them depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Today, vulnerability has increased everywhere as the carrying capacities of tropical environments have come under increasing stress. As Fagan (1999) states, in an overpopulated world, where millions of people live on the edge of starvation, this knowledge is of priceless economic, political, and social value--if we have the will to make the right decisions to avert disaster." You can also read some of the benefits for the (your) community below: " At the local level, people interested in the research results will be those involved in the transmission of traditional knowledge, local agricultural management, and drought-crisis relief. The findings will be compiled in a Weather Identification Handbook, which could be used by local teachers or just viewed individually. Contents will include local weather knowledge and forecasting techniques, illustrated with pictures, videos and written descriptions, possibly including proverbs, songs and myths relating to weather. I will also include short films of local weather identification and prediction. A poster representing local weather knowledge will also be produced for schools and offices.[...]" As I said, I am expecting to be in Sarawak next May, and I would love if you could help me with some local information. I would need to meet with an English-Kenyah speaking person that could translate what I say and explain the project to the community. If this person would be interested in working for me as an assistant during the rest of the project, that would be great. I would ask to the community if I could live in Data Kakus for a maximun of 1 year. If they like the project and they like me as a person, we could start with interviews and other tasks in September. hmm... I guess this was a long "message"... Again thanks for your willingness. I am very happy to hear that even living far away from your area, you are still happy to invest time (cyber-time!) on it.
  • gorgeous! Thanks for your super fast reply on this matter, I would say this is not an issue the only thing is i just need to look for people in area nearby to help you. For local English speaking i don't thing this is a big problem because literally most of the poeple in my community able to speak English not but not too fluent accepting the fact that they are not use it in their everyday conversation. FYI, we do have someone who done a reasearch in our community more than 20 years ago but that is more to Anthropological study. You could find her research by the name of Amstrong, Rita University od Sydney, Australia. She wrote about this : Insufficiency and Lack: Between Production and Consumption in a Longhouse Economy 1909-1996 Rita Armstrong The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Sep., 1998), pp. 511-530 doi:10.2307/3034159 This article consists of 20 page(s). FYI, she used to stay in our village for more than a year to complete her research the return to Australia. Came back to pay us a visit a few years back. I think you can do the same, just let the someone know about your intention and they will allow you to stay there. Let me know if you would like to work with someone over there. If you need more info just let me know I would try my very best to help you out. You can email me at cheybot@streamyx.com any time you want. Thanks.
  • Hv replied your email but Your message cannot be delivered to your email address.
  • Really? I don´t know what the problem is... would you mind trying gg48@kent.ac.uk? Glad to know you got my email though...
  • ada x tantang ketua kampung?
  • Tunjuk semua komen
This article was last modified 17 tahun yang lalu