Tattoo in Sabah..

Tattoo di Sabah?..kedai tattoo mmg ada esp skitar KK, tapi aku mo crita bout Sabah’s traditional Tattoo..apa ada persamaan ka ndak dgn yg d Sarawak..but im quite suprised jga bila aku google ni barang..rupa2nya seni tradisional Tattoo d Sabah smcm teda d sni..x spt d Sarawak, Seni Tattoo d Sarawak siap msuk National Geographic lgi..tapi apa suda jadi dgn Sabahan?apa suda jadi ni kio?..ni aku copy paste dari forum perbualan among Sabahan yg curious dan serious bout this matter..

The information you have sounds to me like the headhunting tattoo of the Murut, as described by Hatton in the 1880’s. He seems, with Rutter, the only person who has ever said anything about North Borneo tattoos, which is rather strange because there must have been an elaborate art just like in the rest of Borneo, or it would not make much sense.

I have talked to Rungus, and they believe that ‘rogon-rogon’ are tattooed. Thus, if you sport tattoos as well you will be recognised as a friend by them, but what type of tattoo remains elusive, not even the old people seem to remember.

I have talked to old Kadazan and Dusun folks and they can’t recall any tattoo patterns – not even their habitations (yeah, all live in dilapidated 70’s houses nowadays because they wanted to be modern then, sio kio!) sport any particular designs or patterns.

The Tahol Murut have this story: yes, there used to be tattoos but with the advent of the British and their preference for fierce warrior folks in the constabulary they recruited Muruts. However, they frowned upon tattoos and many fathers forbade their sons tattoos in order to get a job with the constabulary – and thus a better future. Even nowadays many Murut are in the Malaysian army or police and until recently tattoos were frowned upon (since in Islam it is forbidden anyway, I suppose). For many Murut families it has become a tradition that their sons enter the army or police and fathers continued not to allow their sons to have tattoos.

Others have abandoned their tattoos because of religion, either Islam or SIB and other Christian sects, they did not want any reminder of the ‘pagan and devil-worshiping past’…

Thus, the tattoos in Sabah have vanished from memory.

You can now still find some Rundum Murut sporting traditional tattoos; they look a bit like Penan tattoos, remotely reminiscent of Iban tattoos, and recently a study has been conducted by a certain Ayub something, I went to the talk at the museum. I think that was about a year ago but I can’t find the information right now. However, I found something else (which won’t help because it does not describe the patterns, I suppose they would not remember):

Dusun (near Mt. Kinabalu) Tambunan Valley: bordering chiefs (Muslim chiefs) used to reconcile the Dusun by giving the aggrieved community some slave to dispose of; this is done by tying the slave up and spearing him through the thorax, then the men of the village each take a cut at the quivering body (slowly bleeding them to death). Whomever does this has the right to tattoo himself. (Alman 1963)

Are Sabah tattoos lost forever, like so many traditional aspects of our many cultures will be in a couple of years for the sake of modernisation and integration into the consumer society? Don’t people realise how important it is to maintain one’s cultural roots – not practising them, but keeping them alive in books and records, and celebrate them – here in Sabah the Ka’amatan would be the time to celebrate one’s origins. After all, had it not been for our ancestors, we would not be here to-day!

ini lebih kurang mcm dlm iklan Berita Harian..”Zaman dah berubah, dunia dah maju”..lgi satu seni dan budaya yg hilang begitu shj..aku rasa inilaa bah masanya jabatan Muzium Sabah cuba menghidupkan balik seni Tattoo tradisional d Sabah b4 its too late[mcm terlambat suda ni]..

p/s: aku paling2 bule try henna tattoo jalaa..huhu