Orang Kaya Pemancha Kalong Anak Jemat: 1910-2003.

With the passing of Orang Kaya Pemancha Kalong ak Jemat of Lundu, an era has come to a close. The last descendant of a hereditary line of local headmen, OKP Kalong passed away at his residence in Kpg. Sungai Lundu on the 30th May 2003, aged 93 years.

OKP Kalong's ancestry can be traced to the Danau Melayu or Lake District on the upper Kapuas, in Kalimantan Barat. From there, succeeding waves of migrants moved over the watershed into the headwaters of the Batang Lupar, downriver to Undup, and later to Lingga, Sebuyau and Sebangan.

In the eighteenth century, one of Kalong's ancestors, Nyambong, led a migration from Sebuyau into the lower Sarawak, remaining for some time at the mouth of Padungan Creek in Kuching, and then to Sg. Lundu on the Batang Kayan. The community settled and spread up and down along the main river, meeting opposition at times. Nyambong's son (or possibly grandson; current genealogical opinion is divided on this point) Jugah built the first longhouse at Stunggang, but later moved to Belungei and finally settled at Kedaong. The family's heirloom cannon, "Bujang Betutu" (a proportionately short fat fish), is first mentioned as the property of Jugah; "a well-wrought piece of ordnance that didn't vibrate when it was fired." It is said to have been used by Jugah and his followers to defend Belungei against Saribas attackers.

Nyambong was the first member of this family to be invested with the title Orang Kaya, reportedly by the Sultan of Brunei. The office was bestowed on the trusted headman of this staging point for the cross-border trade with Sambas, most likely by the hand of the Brunei Viceroy, Rajah Muda Hashim, who was stationed in Kuching in the early nineteenth century.

An Orang Kaya's duties were similar to those of a penghulu. He was responsible for the smooth functioning of his district's administration, called upon to settle disputes beyond the scope of individual longhouse elders, and instrumental in collecting government dues and taxes.

OK Temenggong Jugah, Nyamlong's successor, was the chief at "Loondoo" sometimes mentioned in travellers' tales. He figures in these books as a staunch friend of James Brooke; visitors were taken to his hospitable house, which was something of a tourist attraction in the rough-and-ready days of early Brooke rule. The Rajahs and government officers frequently took visitors or family members on "longhouse tours" to this accessible, peaceful area. The Orang Kaya's family was among the first to convert to Christianity when the SPG Mission set up work in Lundu in the 1850s; the Church Records that record their conversion, and subsequent baptisms, marriages, and funerals have survived raids, floods, fire and two world wars, and are still carefully preserved.

According to tradition, Lundu could muster as many as 400 fighting men to join the Bala Rajah in cases of emergency such as the gold miners' rebellion in 1857. Two of Jugah's own sons were lost in such "peacekeeping operations," while his younger son Kalong (often spelled Callon or Calloong) succeeded as Orang Kaya.

OK Kalong ak OK Jugah was succeeded by his brother OK Langi, who was in turn succeeded by OK Baja, and then OK Jemat.

Two Orang Kaya of Lundu were appointed to the Council Negri: OK Langi in 1889, and OK Baja in 1906.

Kalong ak OK Jemat was born in 1910 at Kampong Sungai Lundu. He attended the mission school at Kpg. Stunggang, a couple of miles upriver from Lundu. Rajah Charles Vyner, on one of his visits to Lundu, was impressed with the lad's confidence and abilities. He advised OK Jemat to send his son to St. Thomas' school in Kuching, but the fond parents were too distressed to let their only boy go so far away!

Young Kalong completed his primary education, and worked in the Land and Surveys department as a chain-man from 1930-1932. He became a rubber checker (1933-1934), and spent the war years farming on his parents' land. In 1945 he was recruited by the Australian Military Administration as a Special Police Constable. After the demise of his first wife, Puli Goh, he married Ngingit ak Apok.

After the demise of his father, Kalong's traditional succession as Orang Kaya was ratified by the government; he was promoted to Orang Kaya Pemanca (OKP) in 1956. At the same time he was a councilor of the Lundu District Council and a member of the Divisional Advisory Council from 1952-1954.

OKP Kalong received several honors from the government, including the Malaysia commemorative medal, the Sijil Kerhormatan Negeri and the Long Service Medal.

OK Kalong was a conscientious, humble man; everybody in town and the surrounding kampongs knew and respected their aged leader. He used to cycle to town every morning; when people greeted him as 'Orang Kaya' (i.e., rich man) he would retort: 'Orang Yang Kaya!' (somebody else is rich!) The family was not by any means poor, but neither were they rich in the modern meaning of the term.

A long line of mourners, the late Orang Kaya Kalong's relatives and friends, attended a Church service on Gawai Eve at St Francis Church, Lundu.

OKP Kalong ak Jemat leaves his widow Ngingit anak Apok and daughter Mermaid, son-in-law Philip Banyan Tingang and two grandchildren, Ezra Arkin and Brenda Jelia to mourn his loss.

(Sidi and Heidi Munan, 301 Golden Farm, 6th Mile, 93250 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia)