Book on ‘Adat Iban’ through the Christian view launched

KOTA SAMARAHAN (Sept 15): A book entitled “Adat Iban ditinjau ari Pengarap Kristian” (Iban customs viewed from the Christian perspective) has been launched on Friday which examines the Iban customs in the context of Christianity.

Launched at St Francis’ Church here, the book was written by Anglican priest Revd Canon Dennis Gimang.

“The book was a long overdue project,” he said.

“In fact, I started writing on it shortly after I retired two years ago. The progress was very slow as there were many other things that claimed my attention.

“I know many of you have been waiting for this book and have been praying for it.

“Finally, the good Lord answered your prayers. I also want to thank the Vicar, Parochial Church Council, and members of St Francis’s Church for giving their support in terms of prayers, words of encouragement, and finance without which this book would not have been published,” he said in a statement.

Dennis explained three reasons for writing the book.

“Firstly, this book is dedicated to all Iban Christians who have been baptised and called themselves Christians,” he said.

He said over the past many years, he had been invited as a speaker in various seminars, especially on the issues of Iban beliefs and customs.

The seminars, he explained, were necessary as many Christians were seen to be still confused to distinguish between the old beliefs and Christianity.

“The ‘hottest’ time is when it is near Gawai Dayak. It is about how to prepare the Iban Christians to celebrate Gawai Dayak in a Christian way, and ‘What are the dos and don’ts’.

“I remember someone called me from Miri at nearly midnight asking for my advice if she and her family should go back to celebrate Gawai Antu in their longhouse.

“They were being threatened, if they did not go back, they would be chased away from the longhouse.

“This book explains the origin of Gawai Antu and why Christians should not celebrate or participate in this Gawai – as the name of the Gawai is self-explanatory,” he said.

Dennis said he was also also told about a murder case due to a quarrel over the quantum for the ‘adat entebalu’ (widow’s custom), and that the book addresses issues as such.

For the second reason, Dennis said he had noticed over the past many years, the Iban community, who was amongst the first people to embrace Christianity in Sarawak, and was blessed with good education from the mission schools, whereby according to the recent statistic, the Ibans still made up of the biggest Christian population in Sarawak, many of which have sadly been seen no longer faithful to their baptism vows, but instead have renounced their faith in Christ either deliberately or ignorantly when they publicly performed the pagan rites and ceremonies.

“If participating in those ceremonies is out of their ignorance, this book helps to clear away all doubts and confusions from them.

“However, if they are doing it deliberately, this book helps to guide them to turn back to their Christian faith,” he said.

The third reason, Dennis said, was during the missionary era, a number of Dayak Conferences were organised to discuss issues that were related to the local customs.

He revealed that that the last Dayak Conference to discuss the local customs was held in Sabu on July 7-9 in 1921 as mentioned in the book “The Anglican Church in Borneo 1848-1962” by Brian Taylor (1983), where the decisions of the conference were printed and accepted as church law for the Anglican diocese.

After the missionaries had left, he said it seemed that no one cared to revisit the church law, which also could not be traced from the Borneo Mission archives in London.

Thus, it has been up to any individual to interpret for themselves when it comes to accept or to abandon the local customs, and this is where confusion arises, he added.

“I must admit that I was often caught in a dilemma in responding to questions on the church stand on issues involving pagan rituals performed by Christians.

“I usually resorted to offering them my personal views and convictions in line with God’s word. For them to play hide and seek with God is a dangerous thing to do. Christianity is not a religion. It is about our relationship with God.

“Jesus has clearly said, ‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other’ (Matthew 6:24-26). His strongest warning is this: ‘So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 10:32-33).”

“If you look at the title of the book, it is both catchy and sensitive. It is catchy because it is about ‘adat Iban’ and Christianity. It is sensitive because there are those who do not want the ‘adat’ to be re-examined, re-interpreted, re-defined, discarded, or tempered with. For anyone to touch on anything that is considered as ‘adat’ is tantamount to betraying our ethnic identity.

“Why? It is because there is no distinction between ‘adat’ and belief. The two always go together hand in hand. So, having to have the two being intertwined, many Christians are caught in a tragic dilemma. I can’t help but not help them. I can’t sit still and ignore them.

“This is why this book was written,” he said.

In doing so, Dennis said, he has taken a bold move in using the book, trying to filter ‘adat’ from belief while knowing well that there are those who would not be happy with it.

“But that is expected as no one can satisfy everybody.

“As a priest called by God, I am persuaded only to please God rather than to please men. However, if this issue is not addressed properly, and when the faith is being compromised, it inevitably will lead both to spiritual and moral decadent.

“The modern history of Sarawak began with the arrival of James Brooke and the Christian missionaries who built churches and schools. We cannot deny the fact that much of what Sarawak is today has been attributed to the European and Christian values sown during the time of the Brooke dynasty and later the British colony.”

“When people try to remove Christian values and replace it with something else, we Christians have to speak up because if we don’t, it will jeopardize our values and morality, especially the next generations to come. We are to be the light and salt of our society,” he said.

The book, he explained, was written using three approaches, namely commentary, comparative study, and apologetic.

“The book is never intended to belittle the traditional belief. It is mentioned a few times in my book that the old ‘adat’ has its significance and purpose before Christianity came.

“The old customs have been called ‘old’ because, as Christians consider, we have the new and the better ones that Christ offered through his sacrificial death,” he said.

The book contains 12 chapters featuring some very pertinent and urgent cultural issues (their origins and implications in life), and ends with the famous slogan of James Brooke “Dum Spiro Spero” (While I breathe, I hope).

The Latin word for “Spero” means “hope” which is a very biblical word that appears about 143 times in some of the English Bibles, Dennis said.

He said it was believed that before James Brooke came up with the slogan, he consulted Bishop McDougall.

The slogan was later translated to “Agi idup agi ngelaban” (fight till the final breath) by the Sarawak Fortmen and later the Sarawak Rangers, Dennis added.

“As Christ’s soldiers, Christians do not have physical enemies to fight against, but they are fighting daily against the desires of the world, the flesh and the devil.”