Posted by Ma Erik in Ja Ata Britong on July 20, 2000 Hiya frens, I’m glad to be back!
The non-BIDAT members would find it hard to mix up with us, the BIDAT members, in the cyber space. Of course, they would think that it is a fussy thing (remeh-temeh or mun jereh) to associate themselves with such clowns – they would rather set themselves in the “observation mode” – except Semba-i Bai Pujo, lah!
So, are we really the “pests” in this Britong, as I may ask you, my e-friends? Some might say “yes, it is” and some might say “No, go ahead as you like” or “Err, I’ve no further comment at this moment”. To me, it might be “yes” or “no”. However, if we take a look at a big picture – bigpic.com – certainly we are not problematic pests! Puzzled? Please read the following stories – the analogies of BIDAT:
Story Line 1
The red ants or Soh or Kerengga (Oecophylla smaragdina Fabricius) can be considered as pests to cocoa trees (Sama Koko, pay attention, please! What’s the name of that red ant, again?). However, their presence is inevitably important, since they formed a symbiotic relationship with their host trees. It’s a kind of mutual understanding, though, where both sides provide mutual benefits to each other. The cocoa tree itself provides shelter to the red ants, and the red ants provide protection to the tree(s) – well, I’m not so sure if the red ants forced the cocoa trees to pay a huge sum of protection money, lah! That’s why, we can always find the red ants building up their nests on cocoa trees! The red ants act as natural predator to cocoa mealybugs (whitish scale insects on cocoa pod), known scientifically as Pseudococcus lilacinus, with other synonyms such as Pseudococcus tayabanus, Pseudococcus crotonis, and Dactylopius crotonis. The other natural preys for red ants include mango mealybugs (Ceroputo spinosus, synonym with Phaenacoccus spinosus) and large mango tip borers (Bombotelia jacosatrix). Besides the red ants, such cocoa trees also provide shelter to other natural predators, such as black cocoa ant – Dolichoderus thoracicus (Smith) – which tend to feed on another species of cocoa mealybugs, Cataenococcus hispidus – commonly found on the pod peduncle.
So far so good? No? If you find that it is hard to understand, then may I suggest that you should take your time to watch “A Bug’s Life” movie, lah… Kah!Kah!Kah!
Story Line 2
Another story that I heard from one of my Iban friends a few years ago is about a Mat Salleh priest and durian. It happened many years ago in one of the many Iban kampongs in the Serian Division. I’ve changed the “starrings” in this story, so as to “Bidayuhnized” it – the story line, however, still the same. The story goes like this:
One day (probably in the early 1900s), this Mat Salleh priest, together with his flock – led by the one Bai Maji, has embarked to a remote Bidayuh village, situated near the Sarawak-Kalimantan border (the name of that kampong is withheld, as to protect the life of the story teller… Kah!Kah!Kah!). They didn’t bring any food with them, as they had tapioca and kupi pekat saja (blank black coffee) for breakfast that morning.
Their destination is too far, and of course, they (walked on foot!) So, around noon, they took a rest for a while. Luckily, at that time, it was durian season, including other fruits. Thank God, what a bountiful harvest that they had that day – deep in the jungle, and in the middle of nowhere! So, Bai Maji and friends collected the fruits, most probably the durians because it does contain certain amount of calories – suffice enough for them to continue with their remaining journey to that kampong. Bai Maji did offered the Mat Salleh priest with durians, but the priest kindly turned down his offer. “No, thanks”, he said to Bai Maji. “I cannot eat durian. What a shitty smell!” he added, in his deep, Irish accent (it’s a direct translation, of course… Eh, Sama Bobo, are you an Irish? No hard feelings, OK?). But then, Bai Maji couldn’t understand English, and still he insists the priest to have some durians and the priest always gave him “five” and smiled. “Mbit ja, Pada, man…”, Bai Maji said. “Dien buah ati, dien! Para pesia-i buah man oh, ragi man nooh mboh ndai sambar bi-ing, goreng dingia puyak… Sehh!” he added, in his well-known Bidayuh dialect. At last, Bai Maji understood that the priest has kindly turned down his offer – mainly through the priest’s repeated body language. Bai Maji and friends were quite happy, though, because to them, there are less mouth to feed… Kah!Kah!Kah!
After the “durian eating session”, they continued with their journey. Not long after that… something had happened. Guess what? The priest could no longer stand the long journey. He’s hungry, though – but there’s no food to eat – except the 2 remaining Bak Peyu durians in Bai Maji’s tambok! He grabbed Bai Maji’s tambok to look for those durians! He asked Bai Maji to prepare the fruits for him. Bai Maji did. At last, the priest ate the durians! But before he eats it, he clipped his nose with his fingers! Once the durian flesh was in his mouth… Holy durians! “It’s tasty!” he said to them. Bai Maji only managed to smile. The other kadams (clowns) laughed! By that time, the priest took a deep breath… and he almost forgot about the shitty smell of the durians. Of course he ate it all. “I tolded* you, Pada…”, Bai Maji said to him, in his broken English, of course… “Durian goot-goot**”, he added. The priest smiled at him – you know, no such words could describes the tasty durians! Then, they continued with their journey. In the late evening, they’ve reached that kampong. The Tua Kapung greeted and welcomed them to his Penggau-X. The dinner was ready, though. Oh yes, as usual, they continued with their mission the next morning…
Since then, the priest never turned down the offer of eating durians again. It’s free, anyway! He would rather go to the kampong folks’ longhouse asking for durians, if any. The priest also learned how to eat sambal belachan and other native’s food stuff – mbud pu, mbud keroh, mbung-pekuh, kasom bidat, kasom kian, kasom daang, kasom tuun, etc. This includes local beverages such as tuak and langkau – but of course he took it in minimal quantity lah. In addition, he always encourage his flock to give thanks to God, though…
Kah!Kah!Kah!
Not so funny, uh? In that case, it’s your turn, then, Sama Koko and Kutieng…
So, my friends… do you consider the ants and durians as “pests”? Think about it again. Of course, sometimes we have been monkeying*** around, just like the monkeys in the cornfield of Teya Maju Jagung Ngrandang, Inc. These monkeys, however, never caused any harm to the proprietor(s) of that farm, lah – except kilos of corncobs always been missing, leaving only its bare plants on the ground!
Eh, talking about Singkawang/Engkawang/Kawang, Sama Koko… it is grouped
under the family of Dipterocarpaceae. There are three main producing species,
such as:
1. Shorea macrophylla (formerly known as Shorea gysbertsiana)
– Kawang Jantong
2. Shorea mecistopteryx – Kawang Burong
3. Shorea seminis – Selangan Batu Terendak (“Tengon Kayuh
Kuwan” shon nyamba Benok nang…)
Furthermore, the following factsheet of these Kawang species are given below:
1. The illipe nut contains fats used in the chocolate industry (it’s past time
tradition, anyway!)
2. The common habitat for these Kawang trees is along riverbanks, known and
preserved by the Dayak natives.
Well, I think that’s all for now. Sorry for being late… Kah!Kah!Kah! O BTW, I should acknowledge the following sources, of course!
* Kutieng’s Bidlish
** Sama Patrick’s Bidlish
*** BQuop’s Bidlish – nice nick that you have, BQuop!
As usual, BRB.
^Au oh^… err, it’s another BiBenok greetings! I don’t understand French that much, coz my tutors are still on leave!
G’day, mate!