SININGGAZANAK : A short story of the famous female wooden
figure from Kampung Tampasak, Kinarut, Papar
Female wooden figure in Kampung Tampasak is closely
associated with property inheritance, in this case a widow with no children.
The female wooden figure stood on a land at Kampung
Tampasak, about half a mile from Kinarut on the Kota Kinabalu side along the
Papar Road was recovered in 1965. The female wooden figure stood in a beautiful
irrigated valley with slightly tilted over on top of a Bund.
The figure was carved from a fairly hard wood locally known
as "Tembusu", scientifically "Fagraca Cochinchinensis" .
The local view is that this wood would not last more than 50 years in the open.
The female wooden figure stood on a land belonging to a
Kadazan, "Kemuje Bin Lajumin" and was erected approximately 50 years
ago (1915) in favour of a widow with no children. The wooden women 6 feet 6
inches high, wear a conical hat of the sort in common use, otherwise no
clothing is shown. The sex indicated by a small pair of breasts.
The treatment of the face and particularly the hollowing of
the eye is unusual in Borneo wood carving. Quite usual are the bands of
geometric parallel lines or cross lines below the block on which she seated.
"Zinzanji" was the name of the widow commemorated
by the female wooden figure. She dedicated the land to Lajumin's father. When
she died he arranged for a special MINAGANG ceremony for the heir less, killing
three buffaloes and providing much feasting.
"Minagang" or The Art Distribution of Property by
the Heirless "Status Maker" for the giver in itself a form of
memorialising and being remembered after death. With these Kadazan, land
normally belong to the family as a form of pusaka. A childless man's land goes
to brother or nephews, not his wife. If it is the wife's land by direct
inheritance it will not revert to the husband on death but to her own kin. The
threat or fear of his side acquiring the property by precedent and possession
has certainly made this wooden stature usage of special value to widows in
establishing rightful claim before their own death.
Lajumin's father commissioned a then famous craftsman,
Lajoman from Kampung Maan near Penampang to do the wood work for the
traditional fee, a bundle of padi, 10 gantang (60 lbs) of rice, a black sarong
cloth and a chicken. Additional payment over and above this would have been an
ill omen, damaging to Lajoman's craft and this is one reason why the craft has
now disappeared.
The female wooden figure was relocated to Sabah Museum.
Their removal was initiated when E. J. H. Berwick, was the first curator
(1963-1964) and involved considerable negotiations as the whole community felt
implicated while admitting Lajumin's personal property right. In the end the transfer
was agreed against payment of water buffalo, a pig and a chicken (together
worth M$230) and M$50 in cash, provided concrete replicas were put up to
replace the figures in exactly the same positions.
This offer was accepted and the wooden originals were taken
to Kota Kinabalu in 1965. The Public Work Department there, first made exact
wooden replicas, the concrete cast copies for erection back in the fields. The
results can be seen in the Sabah Museum and on Kemuje's rice fields, do great
credit to craftsman Charles Jonioh and foreman Ho Cheu Hwei, working under
mechanical engineer M. H. Leonard.
Edited by : Kumis Kumis
Source : The Prehistory of Sabah by Tom and Barbara
Harrisson, 1971
Photo Credit M Gore and Google Images
