Me?? River People?

 

For the past 2 weeks I’ve been communicating with them, a big group of ‘Orang Sungai’ (River People). That's how they were referred to by the 19th century European writers, and the name remains until now.

My non-Orang Sungai Facebook friend added me to this group, which  I thought it was a mistake.

When I first clicked to their FB wall, I was like being in another planet. I didn't know what language they were using and I was totally lost. I wanted to pull myself away from the group, somehow there was this feeling of belonging that kept me locked within this particular group.

I kept on checking and reading those comments every now and then. Little that I knew, there are so many sub-ethnics and many languages/dialects used within them. Some similar but some are totally out phonetically.

I was reading the languages foreign to my hearing, and within a couple of days, I was able to identify certain words. I started to link the phonetic rhymes to the language that I am familiar with, Idahan, which is spoken by a small community living along the Sepagaya River, Lahad Datu. Within a week I was able to catch the meaning of their sentences, although not all. The feeling of belonging grew even closer, within.

Idahan is a language used by my ancestors from my mother’s side. I’ve never spoken them, but I knew how it sounded, as I’ve been spoken to with that special language when I was a little girl, in Lahad Datu, then. That was more than 30 years ago.

30 years being apart from the Idahan speaking community didn't chunk this feeling of belonging towards them.

The big question is, am I qualified to be called an Orang Sungai? I would be happy to know if I am.

I started to have interest on the history of the River People. Last week, I made an effort to visit the library of The National Museum Malaysia, to search for some information about ‘Orang Sungai’. I found a couple of articles written by the early European writers, but still, I could not find a clear answer of the facts.

Is Idahan Orang Sungai? or are  all groups of Orang Sungai called Idahan?…still remains a question to me.