I’m from the Kimaragang indigenous community in Sabah, a small tribe of not more than 10,000 of Sabah’s 2.5 million population.
Found mostly in areas around Tandek, we are now losing one of our greatest assets which make us Kimaragang, Kimaragang — our language.
I guess by now half of the little population have already embraced the Kimaragangised Malay as their official language.
Sabah is one place in the world — perhaps the only place in the world, come to think of it — where one can find a huge number of ethnic groups in one state. Some say it’s 32, but the number could reach up to 40 ethnic groups.
The state government now wants to undertake a study to find out the exact number.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjum said the number of ethnic communities had been put at 28, 32 and 33 in the past, reports The Star newspaper today.
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Dear Sir ,
Are you aware of any people who have facial tattoos in Sabah. ?
My Father was born in Sandakan when it was British North Borneo.
I was there in the 1980′s and met a tribal man [ I am not sure which group he was from ] His face was tattooed. He had tracked and killed a crocodile which took a little boy from a kampong on the Sungai Kinabatangan.
He was a pretty amazing man and although he got the crocodile , He was very upset by it. I have always wondered about him since and which tribe he belonged to.
Please let me know of any people that used to practice this type of Tattooing. Yours————- Rob Pinnock.
Hi Rob,
Sorry for the late reply, this blog has been dormant for quite sometime. I hope to write more often here.
The Orang Sungai, or literally, the River Men Tribe, is the biggest tribe in Sungai Kinabatangan; there are other smaller tribes there. I am not aware of any particular tribe of which face tattoo is a prevalent part of their culture in the area. Tattoo is synonymous with the Iban of Sarawak, a state which neighbours Sabah. Maybe he is from there.
Regards,
Jaxon
Jaxon, there are over 70 groups listed on a map at the museum in kk. This doesn’t even include all people from the philippines, or bugis and Javanese . . .
A lot of people live here. Including me, and I’m from America! Haha
Jason
Sabah is indeed very “tribal”