The Murut people or simply the Muruts is the collective name of an Austronesian ethnic group indigenous to Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia as well as North Kalimantan in Indonesia and Temburong District in Brunei. Within Sabah, they primarily live in the Interior Division, primarily in the districts of Nabawan (formerly Pensiangan), Tenom, Keningau, Sipitang and Beaufort and some are also found in the Sandakan and Tawau divisions, namely in the Tongod, Kinabatangan as well as Tawau districts. Within Sarawak, the Muruts are found within Lawas district in Limbang division, as well as in the Federal Territory of Labuan. Within North Kalimantan, the Muruts reside within both the Nunukan and Malinau regencies.
The Murut ethnic term between both Sabah and Sarawak carries different meanings based on its respective administration classification, where different categorisations are also present in both Indonesia and Brunei. They constitute an indigenous ethnic community comprising 29 distinct sub-ethnic groups dwelling within the northern inland territories of Borneo. Originally pagan-animist, a majority of them have converted to Protestantism, while the remainder either adhere to other branches of Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholicism) or to Islam, or else remain with their traditional religion. The Muruts in Sabah are generally referred to as "Northern Muruts", while in Brunei, Sarawak, and North Kalimantan, the Muruts consist of "Southern Muruts".
Characterised by their rich cultural diversity, the Murutic languages form a linguistic family encompassing approximately half a dozen closely intertwined Austronesian languages. Murut populations exhibit dispersion in Malaysia's Sabah and the northern part of Sarawak as well as Labuan, in the country of Brunei and the Indonesian North Kalimantan province. Furthermore, the Murut people have close connections with the Tidung, who historically inhabited Borneo's east coast region that underwent processes of Islamisation and Malayisation.
Etymology
The term Murut originated from the Brunei Malay ethnic classification term throughout the thalassocracy of the Sultanate of Brunei administration on the western coasts. It is believed to have originated from the Old Malay word turut—ed, which carries the meaning of "to follow", "to move" or "to go" in the English language since the Murut tribe itself based on its origin history was driven from the interior upriver to land further down. Among the earliest translations is the Malay-English dictionary written by British colonial administrator, diplomat and writer John Crawfurd in 1852, where he described the Muruts as the name of a wild tribe in the north-eastern part of Borneo island. Murut is also another form originated from the Bajau word belud, meaning hill. English historian, novelist and travel writer Owen Rutter further described in his writings:
Throughout the British and Dutch period, the Muruts, especially those living on the side of the Raj of Sarawak and Dutch Borneo (Moeroet), are grouped into the larger Dayak umbrella classification through numerous writings, although they are distinct ethnic groups within the broader term. In Sabah, the Murut term is used to jointly describe the various Murut sub-ethnics, such as the Alumbis, Baucan (Bookan), Binta, Kolor (Kolod, Akolod, or Okolod), Nabai (Nabay), Paluan, Sumambuq (Semambu), Serudong (Serudung), Tagal, Tangara (Tenggara/Tangala), and Timugon. The Muruts of Sabah have been categorised as "Northern Muruts", while "Southern Muruts" is used by anthropologists to describe Muruts living within Sarawak, North Kalimantan of Indonesia, and Brunei. In Sarawak, the Lun Bawang (known as Lundayeh in Sabah) tribe are often described as Muruts, which is also sometimes extended to include the Kelabits. The Muruts are variously referred to with alternative spellings and writings such as Maroot, Marut, Meroot, Merut, Moeroet, Mooroot, Moorut, Morut, Mulut, Murat, and Murút with the literal translation of Murut is "hill people".
Background history and origin
The Murut are Bornean indigenous people who lived around the hills and plains of Interior Division at the southwestern part of Sabah, particularly in the administrative districts of Nabawan, Tenom, Keningau, Sipitang and its surrounding areas, which extending further south into Indonesian Borneo. There are also scattered populations within Beaufort along the Sapulut and Padas rivers, Tongod, Kinabatangan, and Tawau districts. The Muruts can also be found inhabiting the border areas of Sarawak, (especially around the Lawas and Limbang areas, where they are also referred to as Tagal people), North Kalimantan (traditionally concentrated in Malinau Regency and Nunukan Regency), and Brunei.
The Murut population in Brunei is mainly found in the sparsely populated Temburong District, but are actually consisting of Southern Murut which is more accurately termed "Lun Bawang". They interacted closely with the Sultanate and were known in the past for contributing to the military might of the latter, although their population within the sultanate has dwindled in recent years. They are defined as one of the seven indigenous groups that are considered to be Bumiputera in Brunei. The Murut in Brunei and Sarawak (Southern Murut) is ethnically and linguistically different from Murut in Sabah (Northern Murut). In Sarawak, the confusing term "Murut" is hence replaced with the term "Lun Bawang", while this has not taken place in Brunei. The Northern Murut are more commonly termed Tagol or Tagal in Brunei and Sarawak, where they are further divided between lowland (Timugon) and highland (Tagol) subgroups, with the Timugon language serving as the lingua franca for the lowland and the Tagol Murut language for the highland.
The Muruts of Sabah are divided between lowland and highland Muruts, with further different classifications, the lowland comprising Binta, Bookan, Dalit, Nabai, Serudong, and Timugon, while the highland constitute the Alumbis, Kolor, Paluan, Salalir, Sapulut, Sumambu, and Tahol. Among the lowland Muruts, the Nabai mostly lived within the plains of Keningau, while the Timugon are within the plains of Tenom. Within Beaufort, the Binta (also known as Sandewad or Sambukid) lived around the Padas River; originally from Tenom, they had migrated to the area due to an epidemic in the past. Another sub-ethnic, the Serudong lived around the Serudong River within the East Coast of Tawau Division and Sibuko Bay.
Among the highland, the Paluan lived along the Padas River and spread to the east of the Dalit River of Sook of Keningau and west of Sipitang. The Dalit within both Dalit and Sook areas of Keningau and along the Pegalan River. In the north of the Rundum area and the Tagol River, another sub-ethnic of the Tahol, the Rundum, lived within the area. The main Tahol lived around the areas of Ulu Bole, Kemabong, Tenom, and Tomani, while the Kolor are within the Ulu Bole and Sipitang areas, the Sapulut are within south Sook and the Sapulut River, and the Pensiangan (also known as the Lagungan) are within Sapulut and spread across southeast Serudong and the Kalabakan River. Another highland Murut, the Tengara, are spread across the Ulu Kinabatangan River, to the western area of the Ulu Kuamut River. Within the federation of Malaysia, the Muruts are also considered as one of Sabah Bumiputeras.
Throughout the British administration, in 1915, a protracted drought caused widespread crops failure and subsequent lack of food production among the Murut community in North Borneo, where the situation constrained by the taxation system introduced by the British led the Murut spiritual leaders to claim the problem was caused by their ancestral spirits angered towards the systems. A Murut community leader named Ontoros Antanom (Antanum) received unwavering support from the chiefs and villagers from around Keningau, Tenom, Pensiangan (present-day Nabawan), and his stronghold of Rundum, where he further led the Rundum uprising against the North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC) but was killed during the fighting against the company forces in Selangit River near Pensiangan.
The Muruts are represented through their respective sub-ethnic associations, which are further jointly united through the primary Murut ethnic association. Prior to the formation of the federation of Malaysia, the Muruts together with the Dusuns stipulated various condition through the 20-point agreement for the North Borneo Crown to be part of the federation, constitute several terms from the indigenous Dusuns and Muruts for the federal government to guaranteed their rights within the federation for them to continuously living in peaceful and their rights be respected and honoured by the federal government by maintaining freedom of religion with no state religion for North Borneo, all lands in the territory should be under the North Borneo government, and the federal need to regard and respecting traditional indigenous values, to ensure continuous peace and loyalty from the indigenous community.
"Mainland Southeast Asia" origin theory Several theories suggested that the Murutic peoples arrived in the northern part of Borneo through a first-wave migration by a land bridge from mainland Southeast Asia when the island was connected within the Sundaland region before they were pushed further inland when the second-wave migration occurred by the Dusunic-speaking peoples. The present Murut, Kadazan, and Dusun peoples represent the direct descendants of those inhabitants, with early researchers also finding a closer relationship between the Murutic and Dusunic peoples of Sabah and some of the neighbouring indigenous ethnic groups in the Philippines, Taiwan, and mainland Southeast Asia. Based on genetic studies on the Bornean agriculturalist ethnic groups, the Murut are more closely related to the other agriculturalist ethnics of Dusun and Lundayeh, as well as to the Amis of Taiwan and the Kankanaey tribe in the Cordillera Administrative Region of the Philippines, including the Lebbo' Dayak in East Kalimantan of Indonesia, than to the indigenous nomadic hunter-gatherer ethnic groups of Punan Batu in East Kalimantan and Mlabri of Thailand and Laos.
Murut sub-ethnic groups by districts
Within Sabah, the Muruts are further classified into around ten to fourteen sub-ethnics, comprising the lowland Muruts of Binta, Bookan, Dalit, Nabai, Serudong, and Timugon, while the highland constitute the Alumbis, Kolor, Paluan, Salalir, Sapulut, Sumambu, Tahol, and Tangala (Tengara). The lowland Muruts are concentrated within the plains of the districts of Beaufort, Keningau, Tenom, and Tawau, while the highland Muruts are within the inner location around the districts of Kalabakan, Keningau, Nabawan, Sipitang, Tenom, and Tongod.