While scouring the Internet, I came across an interesting study which compares the susceptibility of head lice, taken from the United States and Sabah, to permethrin.

Permethrin is a chemical substance used to threat lice infection or “peduculosis” in the US. Below is a photo of head lice, courtesy of Wikipedia.

The conclusion? The Sabah lice are more susceptible to permethrin than the US lice do. In other words, Sabah’s lice are lousy Here is a link to the study.

A group of vigilantes is threatening to invade Malaysia by “air, sea and land”, with the Malaysian states on Borneo island — Sabah and Sarawak — being the main targets.

The invasion was supposed to take place yesterday, involving 1,500 men with sharpened bamboo poles, bows and arrows, but had been postponed to today, according to the Malaysian Insider.

They should instead go to Padang and help the earthquake victims there.

[Update: According to Elsa, whom I assume has more information about the troupe than me, “Thumbuakar”, is coined by its choreographer back in 2005, meaning “growing roots”. “Akar” is of course “root”. I guess the words comes from the word “tumbuh akar” which mean “growing roots”)

Original entry, with some changes in the paragraph about Thumbuakar:

Singapore’s Night Safari has suspended the crowd pleaser, fire-eating tribal dance performance by a group called the Thumbuakar Tribe comprising dancers from Borneo.

The reason? Ten of the group’s members were suspected to be involved in drugs.

A notice at the Night Safari website says that the show has been suspended until further notice “due to unforeseen circumstances”.

In the meantime, what tribe?

According to Singapore’s The Electric New Paper, the Thumbuakar Tribe group was introduced four years ago to add a cultural dimension to the Night Safari experience.

“It is marketed as tribal dancers hailing from the rainforests of Borneo,” it added. Hmm… as far as I know, there are no fire-eating tribes in Borneo.

Anyone knows the meaning of Thumbuakar?

Well, it is actually seems to be the “Westernised and glamourised” spelling of the humble word “tombuakar”, which is also spelled as “tambuakar”, the name of Sabah’s very own swamp ghost.

Fire and ice

I guess, after eating fire, some of the ghosts decided that they needed “ice” to cool down.

According to newsreports, three members of the tribe who were returning from Malaysia’s southernmost city of Johor Baharu, were arrested in a routine check at the Woodland Checkpoints on Sunday.

Narcotics team found in them 50g of “Ice”, 50g of compressed cannabis and 10g of ketamine.

Their arrests led to the arrests of seven other members of the group as well as three Singaporeans.

Troupe leader Rudolph Mindot said he was disappointed with the incident. “This should not have happened. They have put my innocent colleagues through a very difficult time.”

It seems that Sarawak, the other Malaysian state on Borneo Island, is home to a host of mythical creatures.

From the legendary centurion crocodile, Bujang Senang, to Bigfoot and giant snake, the biggest state in Malaysia is abound with myths and legends.

The whole of Sarawak was abuzzed last year following discovery of two giant footprints believed to those of the mythical creature Bigfoot. It turned out to be a hoax.

Now another sighting of no less gigantic proportion is reported, this time a 30-metre long snake swimming along the Baleh River.

Of course, the sighting is no different from the discovery of Bigfoot’s footprints last year — a hoax.

So, is Borneo part of Malaysia or Malaysia part of Borneo?

In some of the reports I read lately in relation to the launching of the globally anticipated Blackberry Bold (picture, left), it seems that Malaysia is part of Borneo.

Heh heh! Gee… How I wish this was the case.

One of the reports, for instance, stated that:

“Canadians can get the BlackBerry Bold through Rogers Wireless, but AT&T subscribers in the United States are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of the hotly anticipated smartphone. To further add insult to injury, it seems that the good people of Borneo are getting the BlackBerry Bold before Americans.”

“I think most people would agree that Borneo isn’t the biggest of worldwide markets, but Research in Motion knows that there is money to be made there.

“As such, it has been announced that the Bold will launch through Maxis of Borneo (Malaysia) on September 26th.

“Furthermore, 30 lucky individuals in Borneo already received their Bold smartphones last Friday! They had preorders. The sans contract price is RM2,199 ($643).” [Source]

Actually the 30 units of Blackberry Bold were collected from Maxis Centre in Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) at a special event on Friday.

Hey, it’s okay. I don’t mind the geographical mix-up. It goes to show how popular Borneo is!

By the way, the Blackberry Bold is beautiful don’t you think so?

Having solved the mystery behind The Crystal Skull, word has it that the bullwhip-lashing archaeologist, Dr Indiana Jones, was to be flown to Borneo to resolve once-and-for-all the mysteries behind the discovery of two large footprints in Sarawak, rumoured to be those of the mythical Bigfoot.

Dr Jones all set for Borneo

He was already fully-geared for the Borneo adventure — the fedora perched on his head, shoulder bag strapped sideways over the tanned safari shirt, his war-time navy officer’s pants all buckled up, with handgun holster — often with the handgun missing — strapped to the hip, not to mention three days’ worth of unshaved beard for good measure.

He was grinning from ear to ear in anticipation of the adventure when he received the news that the footprints were fake. Alas, his grin disappeared (see picture). There goes the greatest Dr Jones adventure, he thought.

“It’s man-made and a hoax,” Sarawak Museum anthropologist Dr Charles Leh said, and promptly text-messaged Spielberg, Lucas and Dr Jones not to waste their time chasing after a non-existent primate in Borneo.

Sorry 4 d trouble

“Guys, so sori 4 d trouble d nws hav caused. The ftprints were fake. I rpt, d ftprints were fake. To make up 4 d disappoinmt, why dont d 3 of u go 2 d cinema n watch incredble hulk instead. Adios, Dr Leh,” said the text message.

Disclaimer: like the footprint, the information above is part fiction, part real. The print is real, the foot is not. — Jaxon S.

A hoax. That has been the general reaction to the discovery of two large Borneo Bigfoot “footprints” in Daro, Mukah, Sarawak.

Apparently it got not only Malaysians talking but also other Bigfooters around the world as well. And they are skeptical that the footprints were that of the mythical giant primate, Bigfoot.

A village in Daro, in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo Island, is still in a state of shock following the discovery of two very large footprints — measuring 117cm long (47 inches) by 43cm sideways (17 inches) on Wednesday, the Borneo Post reported.

“The shocker has been spreading like wildfire in Daro district for the past few days and among those drawn to the phenomenon was local businessman Tan Soon Kuang,” the report said.

[All pictures are by Tan Soon Kuang, via The Borneo Post]

The paper, which is the biggest local newspaper in Borneo in terms of reach, reported today that:

Yesterday, Tan, 42, e-mailed the images of the mysterious creature’s footprints. He said he personally went to the village (which he refused to name out of respect for the wishes of the locals) to check on the truth of the story.

“The truth is in the photographs that I have taken with my camera,” he told The Borneo Post in a telephone interview yesterday.

According to him, each footprint measures 47 inches from heel to toe and 17 inches sideways “clearly too gigantic for any normal human being”.

Asked when and how he went to the village and took the photos, Tan answered: “I went there last Wednesday, June 11 after I heard about the news.

“I drove about five minutes from Daro town to the village. Then, I walked on foot along a footpath for quite a few minutes to the place where I met many villagers who were gathered there.

“Then some villagers pointed to the big footprints. I was shocked to see them and excited as I took those photographs.”

On his conversation with the villagers, he said: “When I asked the villagers the first time they discovered the two big footprints, they told me it was June 9.

“They also told me they now recall that before they came across the footprints, the villagers had, a few months ago felt uncomfortable and sick as if there was something ‘unclean’ in the air.

“They said they decided to look for a ‘bomoh’ (medicine man) who told them to go to an area, dig a small hole, then build a fence around it. The bomoh further told them to make offerings outside the area fenced.

“And then last Monday morning the villagers saw the two big footprints outside the fenced up area.”

Tan further said: “When I asked the villagers if they were afraid or not they told me some were afraid; other just curious. But all of them apparently believe that the place was ‘unclean’.

“The villagers are now clearing up the footpath leading to the large footprints in anticipation of more people coming to have a look at the footprints.

“The villagers also told me that it was not the first time that they saw such mysterious big footprints in their village. In fact, the first time they saw such big footprints was about 50 years ago.”

Asked if there is any possibility that the footprints were man-made, Tan said it would be a tough act for a person to create such a mark on the hard ground.

Jemoreng assemblyman Abu Seman Jahwie when contacted yesterday said he heard about such discovery somewhere in a village in Daro area.

Asked if thinks it is real, he replied: “Sorry, I can’t say. It could be just rumours. I have not been to the place. I am now in Matu.”

The story has spread to Sibu where Abdul Aziz Pung, who is very familiar with Daro, said he had heard about the footprints from friends and relatives.

“Yes, they said it is true. Initially I laughed it off, but then some of my friends who came down to Sibu town convinced me that they are real. I may be going there soon to see them for myself.”

Meanwhile, a Daro villager who spoke on anonymity, said the villagers stumbled upon the footprints not far from the village that was once attacked by monkeys. This episode was reported by The Borneo Post some months ago.

According to him, many villagers believe that the monkeys had run out of their jungle habitat to escape from ‘Bigfoot’.

But the title of a YouTube clip says it is, see the screenshot below.

The 18-minute video clip, which has been viewed 21,000 times, is about the plight of orang utans in the Indonesian part of Kalimantan and how the great apes are losing their habitat due to the destruction of forests for oil palm plantation.

The clip, shot in Palangkaraya, also mentioned about Pony, the female orang utan that was used as sex slave at a brothel there.

The owner of the video clip ought to correct the title and change it to “Borneo Apes – Indonesia”.

[Picture caption: Pony, before and after]

This can’t be true but strange things have happened in the world.

A group of villagers in an undisclosed location in the Indonesian part of Borneo, captured a female orang utan, shaved her all over and used her as sex slave.

According to a report purportedly quoting Michelle Desilets, the director of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, the female orang utan named Pony, was being kept at a prostitute village on Borneo.

“We found her chained to a wall, lying on a mattress. She had been shaved all over her body,” Desilets said. “I want to cry”.

According to her, if a man walked near Pony, she would turn herself around, present herself, and start gyrating and going through the motions.

“She was being used as a sex slave. She was probably about six or seven years old when we rescued her, but she had been held captive by a madam for a long time.

“The madam refused to give up the animal because everyone loved Pony and she was a big part of their income.

“They also thought Pony was lucky, as she would pick winning lottery numbers,” she said, adding that she was being guarded by villagers who were armed with guns, knives and poison darts.

She also said that clients came to the village especially for the orang utan. “You could choose a human if you preferred, but it was a novelty for many of the men to have sex with an orangutan.”

It took 35 policemen armed with AK-47s to rescue Pony. As they took away Pony, her keeper yelled, “They are taking my baby, you can’t do this!”

Desilets said that it was unlikely that the keepers would be taken action as there was “no law enforcement in Indonesia so these people didn’t face any sentence or anything for what they had done.” [Source]