Iban people
Ethnic groupWikipedia
20
MENTIONS
7
EPISODES
6
PODCASTS
Search complete. 20 mentions across 7 episodes found for "Iban people".
Sep 24, 2026
Alexis Nikole NelsonHOST
They were way more familiar with these fruits, and to them, the fruits came from two completely different plants.
Alexis Nikole NelsonHOST
The Iban people knew this one as lumok, the cultivated tree that grew in people's gardens with sweeter fruit and bigger leaves.
Alexis Nikole NelsonHOST
The other one was known as pingon, which grew wild in the jungle and had smaller leaves and fruits.
Alexis Nikole NelsonHOST
The Dusun people agreed that these trees weren't the same and had their own names for them.
Alexis Nikole NelsonHOST
So after consulting indigenous people, a team of botanists, including Iban and Dusun researchers, decided to analyze the trees' DNA.
Alexis Nikole NelsonHOST
They confirmed what the indigenous folks had been saying all along.
Alexis Nikole NelsonHOST
These are two different trees! They're relatives, but they're genetically distinct.
Philip GibsonHOST
Okay.
Noby LeongHOST
So one example of this is in Brooke's fight against the Ibans-
Philip GibsonHOST
Okay
Noby LeongHOST
... who had rebelled and resisted Brooke's rule.
Noby LeongHOST
To quash this rebellion, Brooke labeled all Ibans as pirates, except the ones that liked him, and brought them down that way.
Noby LeongHOST
And in one campaign, Brooke summoned four naval ships to kill 800 Ibans and their Malay allies.
Philip GibsonHOST
Goodness.
Noby LeongHOST
So he was very, very ruthless and also very effective in this, and this is how he quashed piracy.
Ida Baizura BaharGUEST
But if we're talking about the bigger picture in Borneo, we also have the other indigenous groups who would have spoken their own native languages, Kadazan.
Ida Baizura BaharGUEST
the Iban, the Bidayo, and more than I would say more than 10 to 20 groups, the Melanau and whatnot.
Ida Baizura BaharGUEST
I'm not really familiar with their own mother tongue, but I know for a fact that apart from Malay, we have English as the official language of administration and communication.
Ida Baizura BaharGUEST
So most of the time, people would have been able to converse in Malay and English for obvious reasons because of the existence of the British.
Ooi Keat GinGUEST
Of course, in the literature from the Western point of view, they mentioned that the, the Brooke s- historians put it as the Chinese rebellion, which of course [laughs] theoretically it might be correct, but practical-wise, the Brooke regime could not control them.
Ooi Keat GinGUEST
So what the, the, they attacked, and, uh, what James Brooke did, he really ran for his life, and he jumped into the river and swam across the river to the Malay side.
Ooi Keat GinGUEST
And the Malays helped him, and at that time his, he called upon his nephew who was in present-day Bandar Sri Aman, which was Simanggang, the heart of the land- uh, what is it? The SeDaya, or what we call today the Ibans.
Ooi Keat GinGUEST
So Charles Brooke, his nephew, brought the Ibans over and counter the Chinese, and there are some stories of the Ibans getting the Chinese heads and, uh, drying them on the grounds of the Astana, which of course at that time was not, uh, really the Astana as today.
Ooi Keat GinGUEST
But James Brooke was very...
Ooi Keat GinGUEST
He almost died.
Ooi Keat GinGUEST
He almost died.
Ooi Keat GinGUEST
If not for the Malays and for the Ibans, he would have, uh, been defeated, et cetera, and the Chinese would probably have [laughs] taken his head.
Nadira IlanaGUEST
And then you need to read, you need to report on what Stevens letter to Lee Kuan Yew for when Singapore was ousted from Malaysia.
Nadira IlanaGUEST
You need to learn about the Sarawak constitutional crisis of 1966 and how Stephen Kaloninkan was removed as well for just defending the Iban language as their state language.
Nadira IlanaGUEST
Maybe it's possible for us to come to an understanding of Malaysia's history and how we got to this place without being emotional about it but instead being forgiving because we are such a young country actually we are such a young country really it's okay for our forefathers to make mistakes and if we do not understand that you know what they were just people I mean, you asked me the next morning, hey, Nadira, go and form your own country.
Nadira IlanaGUEST
I'm like, what? You're crazy.
Kate AdieHOST
Next, Sarawak on the island of Borneo is Malaysia's biggest state and the country's most diverse region with 34 indigenous groups.
Kate AdieHOST
The biggest of these is the Iban, who make up nearly a third of the population and are famed for their intricate traditional weaving.
Kate AdieHOST
But that too is now changing, as Simon Broughton discovered.
Simon BroughtonCORRESPONDENT
One thing you're sure to see in an Iban longhouse is a puakumbu, a traditional handmade weaving which is the pinnacle and pride of Iban craftsmanship.
Simon BroughtonCORRESPONDENT
Or I should say, craftswomanship, because this kind of cloth is exclusively made by women.
Simon BroughtonCORRESPONDENT
They're surrounded by a certain mystery.
Simon BroughtonCORRESPONDENT
One of the weavers in the longhouse I visited talked vividly about a pattern coming to her in a dream, adding that some patterns were too dangerous to weave unless the ancestors felt you had the necessary skills to make them.
Simon BroughtonCORRESPONDENT
In the Iban worldview, the puakumbu weavings were an interface between the community and the ancestors.
Livan LahGUEST
And in the Orang Ulu group itself, they have more than, if I'm not mistaken, but 26 smaller groups inside.
Livan LahGUEST
So we are the Orang Ulu, but it's also the Iban group.
Livan LahGUEST
the Bidayuh group, and then the Melanaus, you know.
Livan LahGUEST
So all these people, we are the native of Surau, the ethnic tribe.