Traditional Vs Modern

Nowadays traditional Iban Longhouses are becoming rare , especially along the Mighty Batang Rajang. Many factors contribute to this change; economic status being the major one.

The one like this are becoming more prominent.

Tattoo

In the good old days, the male members of the Iban community have tattoo carved on their skin. Usually those designs have their special meanings.


Modern days the tattoo are more like paintings. The designs shows the desire and fantasy of the owner.



Tattoo of the older generation are simple design . Mostly it shows the iban culture and to some extend it is about the environment where he lives.


The tattoo is done using the traditional method and done manually.

Long House: Tanjuk

Tanjuk is the space between the wall of the long house and the immediate compound. It is also the space that is being utilized for the drying of clothes, firewood, etc.

This is a view from a semi-traditional long house. Here you can see a lot of things kept and stacked under the veranda.

The sight of dogs and other domesticated animals roaming around the long house is getting rarer these days.




This is a semi-modern long house and the compound is well kept. Those sacks contains sand and pebbles that were collected from the river. These were the basic building materials for the manufacturing of cement-bricks.




Those blocks partly hidden under the orange plastic sheet were cement-bricks. Cement-bricks were widely used as the cost of transporting bricks from the factories were too expensive.




The partly completed wall of this long house is made from cement-brick, which were made by long house folks themselves. The process was simple and they only need to buy cement. Sand and pebbles could be obtained free from the river. A bag of 50kg cement could produce 150-160 pieces of cement-brick, the size of regular brick. It was said to be more durable than regular bricks.




What ever the status of the long house, satellite dish is a very common sight nowadays. These could be obtained cheaply and easy to install. Besides the coverage is very excellence and with little or no maintenance cost. Most important of all, the cost is one-off and no worries of late payment and termination of services.