Brass ring custom dying in Sarawak highland

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Women of Kampung Semban, Padawan showing off their ‘rasung’ (leg rings) and ‘ruyang’ (arm rings).

Kampung Semban, the "village above the clouds" nestled atop a mountain in Bengoh, Pandawan, is best known, not only as the remotest village in the Sarawak jungles but also for its women, who wear heavy brass rings on their arms and legs.

But the custom is slowly dying with only eight women in Sarawak, out of the 200-odd Bidayuh Biatah community, still wearing them.

The eldest is Pelu Apeh, 86, while the youngest is Jiwa Hapan, 63.

According to Jiwa, the decline started in the 1970s when the state education department ruled that the girls could not wear the rings in school.

The girls were also reluctant to wear the rings on their arms and legs after leaving school.

But there is some hope as younger Bidayuh women, in other villages, seemed to have taken an interest in the rings.

Putting on these brass rings, also known as rasung or ruyang, symbolised status and beauty, said Jiwa.

"In those days, a woman's status was marked by the number of coils she wore."

Jiwa recalled that many men would chose their wives based on the number of rings they had.

"If a woman had none, she could remain unwed."

Located 305m above sea level, Kampung Semban features less than 30 houses and a population of about 200 people.

Because of the extreme gradients surrounding the village, it has remained isolated and visitors have to walk through at least six bamboo bridges to get to the village.

Kampung Semban homestay operator Sagen Adan, 52, said villagers would build and repair the bridges whenever the need arose.

"The bridges are important because they provide access to the outside world.

"The villagers use it, as well, to get outside to buy and sell their produce."

The Bidayuh Biatah have been living in this mountainous region for generations and live a simple life, mainly growing padi bukit (upland rice).

In the evening, the ladies would string bead necklaces and weave rattan bracelets while the men would tune and play their bamboo xylophones.

On special occasions, the men would take out their percussion gongs and the women dressed in traditional garb, would perform the rejang -- a soaring eagle dance