S4B4H INSIDe^ _ ^MACAM-macam ADA.: SABAH TRADITIONAL ETHNIC HOUSE

_History about Traditional House at Sabah_

Traveling around borneo was great fun and interesting to see other house styles in this tropical climate.

There are actually bit of a mix between timber stilt housing .New terraced and townhouse

developments and traditional and new community. "Longhouse"

The traditional "Longhouse"literally means a large wooden communal structure.In Northern Sabah there

still remains the traditional timber Longhouse.The rungus community and was originally 90 doors with

each dwealling being 3meters in witdth, making a 270 Longhouse.

A traditional timber longhouse

The timber and bamboo construction allows for shade all day long in the private family rooms and the communal covered area.

In the past, the Murut communities of the Interior Division of Sabah built their longhouses

on the tops of hills to provide defense against rival headhunters. The Murut longhouse

consists of several family apartments and is generally divided as the saloh (communal

verandah) in the front and the sulap (family apartments) towards the rear. Each sulap

contains an earthen fireplace called rapuan and a sleeping area for a couple and their

unmarried daughters.

The boys, bachelors and guests sleep outside on the saloh, for security and defensive

purposes as well as for social separation and privacy between genders, especially for

unmarried young people.

Construction-wise, the walls of a Murut longhouse are made from tree bark and lined with

narrow, rectangular openings called hihimpayon. The floors are made from bamboo lashed

with strips of rattan. Entrance into the longhouse was usually via a log stepladder with

deep grooves cut into it to form footrests.

A unique aspect of the Murut longhouse is the lansaran, a trampoline-like dance platform

in the middle of the longhouse. As far as we know, Sabah's Murut community are the only

Borneon native people who incorporate this lansaran feature into the architecture of their
longhouses. It is used for festive occasions and jumping competitons, where young men

compete for a prize attached to a roof beam above the bouncing platform.