Something About Melanau

The Melanau are a people who live on the island of Borneo, primarily in Sarawak, Malaysia, but also in Kalimantan Indonesia. 
                     

The Melanau are considered among the earliest settlers in Sarawak. The name Melanau was not used by the Melanau to refer to themselves until recently. They call themselves a-likou meaning ‘people of the river’. 

The Melanaus can be divided into six different groups which are: Melanau Mukah, Melanau Dalat, Melanau Oya, Melanau Matu-Daro Melanau [Belawai-Rajang-Jerijih], Melanau Ba’ie (Bintulu),Melanau Balingian and Melanau Miri. Each group has its own characteristic dialect but they share the same cultural and lingual background (except for Melanau Bintulu dialect which can hardly be understood by the rest. 

The Melanau languages have been divided in the following eleven: Mukah, Balingian, Oya, Dalat, Daro-Matu, Rajang, Kanowit, Sibu, Bintulu, Seru and Tanjong.

CULTURES AND ECONOMY

The Melanau were traditionally fishermen as well as padi and sago farmers. Some were skilled boat builders. They used to live in tall stilted and long houses, but today  they live in kampung, in separated houses in a village communit style.

Melanau Tall House long time ago

All the Melanaus have a ‘Bin’ (son of) and ‘Binti’ (daughter of) in their names similar to the Malays and it is also likely that the Christian Melanaus too were designated as Malays in the census.

Religion

While originally animists, the majority of the Melanaus are now Muslim, although some of them, especially among the Melanau Mukah, Rajang and Dalat are Christian. However, many still celebrate traditional rites such as the annual Kaul Festival. 

Kaul Melanau Festival

                            

Despite their different beliefs and religions, the Melanaus, like the rest of East Malaysians (Sabah and Sarawak) are very tolerant of each other and they rightly feel proud of their tolerance. We would still come across a Melanau family with different child family members embracing Christianity and Islam while their parents still have strong animist belief.