Dunging Script into the millennium

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Contemporaneous intellectual heritage of the Ibans crystallised in distinctive alphabet system

An inscription of ‘Urup Dunging’ remains on the pillar in front of Aki Dunging’s ‘bilek’.

MOST writing systems emerging through the ages have taken inspiration from other systems like the Arabs (Arabic), the Indians (Sanskrit), the Red Indians (Cherokee), and the Maoris (Maori language).

The details of the relationships between ancient writings and the alphabets have their inspirations and imitations – some have been lost in history, but there are some that have been retrieved and revived.

For the Iban community in Sarawak, the invention of the writings and the alphabet known as ‘Urup Dunging’ must be accredited to an inspiring Sea Dayak originating from Nanga Ulai.

His full name was Dunging Anak Gunggu, but he was more famously known as ‘Aki Dunging’.

Photo taken in Sibu in 1979 by the late Anthony Banyak, shows Aki Dunging (right) and his wife Danggai Busu.

Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Academy of Language Studies of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sarawak, Prof Dr Bromeley Philip, said the Iban alphabet had since been ‘found and salvaged’ by Aki Dunging’s descendants, who then wanted the alphabet to be preserved remembered by, and taught to, all Iban generations to come.

“For the Dunging alphabet to be recognised as part of an academic language within the education standard, it is proper to get them into the syllabus; maybe as a part of the Iban Language syllabus, at least one section, for the students to learn them,” said Bromeley.

Currently only one university in Malaysia, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) in Tanjung Malim, Perak that has a dedicated Iban Language programme.

Book launch and TULIS programme

Prof Dr Bromeley Philip

Bromeley conducted the first training programme for media reporters at UiTM Sarawak, organised by then-Ministry of Social Development and Urbanisation (under Tan Sri William Mawan) and Utusan Borneo. The month-long programme was named ‘TULIS’ – an acronym for ‘Training Unto Laser Iban System’. The first-batch TULIS trainees received their certificates in conjunction with the launch of the ‘Iban Alphabet Book’ at UiTM on June 18, 2012.

“I am indeed very fortunate to be part of the family that wanted the Dunging Alphabet to be recognised by all Dayaks, other races and the world; that we have the ancient writings by our grandfather, Aki Dunging.

“It is something that all Dayaks should appreciate – the ancient writings belonging to our forefathers should be preserved and practised; otherwise, they would be gone from our history,” he told thesundaypost in Kuching.

Photo taken at UiTM Samarahan Campus in 2012, shows the first batch of TULIS programme trainees comprising members of the media and government servants.

Bromeley is Aki Dunging’s grandnephew – his maternal grandfather was Aki Dunging’s elder brother.

The ‘bilek’ (household unit) of the professor’s family at their longhouse in Nanga Ulai in Saribas, is next to Aki Dunging’s.

Legend of the Great Flood

Bromeley later narrated a legend about the Ibans once having their own written script, but it had gone lost in a great flood that once hit the ancient world.

According to the legend, an Iban named Renggi attached the script on the end of his loincloth as he attempted to escape the rising floodwater by climbing a ‘tapang’ tree.

He managed to scale up to safety, but unfortunately, the script at the end of his loincloth got drenched, causing the seeds of writing inscribed onto the woodskin to be washed off and disappear.

Anguished, Renggi took the woodskin that contained the script, chewed it inside his mouth and later, swallowed it all down.

“So, the legend tells us that after having swallowed the script, it became ingrained in Renggi’s brain and blood – resulting in the next generations of Ibans from his lineage to become adept at memorising oral traditions, as if these invocations had been written in books.

“Renggi’s descendants are known for their superb ability of knowing and expressing their oral traditions purely from memory, as they have been meticulously memorising the information and verbally transferring them from one generation to the next,” said Bromeley.

It is said that Aki Dunging was Renggi’s direct descendant, 20th generation straight down.

Bromeley also said it was this legend that had strongly influenced Aki Dunging to believe that Ibans did have their own written script.

“Aki Dunging held the belief that should it be true that the Ibans once had this script but lost it to the ancient great flood, then it should be possible for the script to be discovered as anything that had been lost could still be found – provided that one would look for it hard enough,” he said.

Aki Dunging then took up the challenge of finding the lost Iban script, but the methodology was inventing the alphabet as though he was looking for the characters one by one.

He started off with a guiding principle that he expressed in a quatrain:

“Buah pu pai pa (Iban language is rich in sounds),
“Buah endu endai enda (Iban language is rich in words),
“Sapar tujuh segi tiga (Iban language is used widely),
“Bisi igi nadai leka (Iban language has no written script),
“Ditanam enggai tumboh (Iban language is not a strong language without a written script).”

However, Aki Dunging later realised that as a language in itself, without any alphabet or written script, the Iban language would not be strong enough to stand the test of time.

“Urup sekalika tulis asal bansa diri empu beguna bendar dikena ngemisa ka jako diri empu,
“Lalu pia mega ia tau jadi ka lambang bansa.”

(For a language to have an impact, it needs to have its own writing system not only for documentation purposes, but also as a linguistic identity of a community).

The Script and its inventor

The Iban Script/Alphabet founded by Aki Dunging is not an ancient system of writing as the inventor lived well into his mid-80s. The alphabet seems to manifest characteristics of modern writing.

Basically, Aki Dunging’s alphabet is made up of syllabic writing and alphabetic writing – the former is a ‘syllabary’ that represents the syllables in the Iban language, while the latter comprises true alphabets that include consonants and vowels.

Aki Dunging was born in 1904 in Nanga Ulai longhouse, situated in the upper Rimbas River within Debak, a sub-district in Betong Division, 300km from Kuching. He was the fifth of seven siblings.
He passed away in the morning of June 20, 1985, at the longhouse after long years of suffering from a serious illness.

Aki Dunging never attended any form of formal education because back in his days, education was only available in town areas. However, he managed to teach himself to read and write using the Roman alphabet, and even learned a bit of ‘Jawi’ (Arabic letters).

Many people regarded Aki Dunging as ‘a great thinker, a philosopher and an inventor’. These same people would have also heard of his other innovative feats such as using hydropower to run a rice mill, making a toy plane that could fly as high as the treetops, and devising latex-flow bamboo piping.

The earliest recognition of the Dunging Alphabet could be found in a comprehensive Iban-English dictionary written by Anthony Richards (1981), which remains a key source of reference for the Iban language up till today.

However, the Dunging Script is perhaps the greatest of all Aki Dunging’s inventions, as stated on Page 465 of the ‘Encyclopaedia of Iban Studies’ published by the Tun Jugah Foundation in 2001: “A brilliant mind (who) conceived an alphabet which he succeeded in teaching to members of his family and a few friends.”

Dunging Alphabet remains the only known Iban system of writing to be in existence.

It has remained intact in its original form, maintained meticulously by Bagat Nunui – a retired school headmaster who was previously the ‘Tuai Rumah’ (chieftain) of the Nanga Ulai Longhouse.

Bagat (right) and his wife (left) at the ‘bilek’ of Aki Dunging. With the couple is one of Aki Dunging’s great-granddaughter, Cassandra Mary Dennis (centre).

It took Aki Dunging 15 years (1947-1962) to accomplish the completion of his alphabet.

Firstly, he invented 77 characters that symbolised the sounds found in Iban language, which he later revised and refined to 59 characters.

Each character possessed its own meaning and significance, but none was ever documented as Aki Dunging himself did not have the proper means to record or document them.

On his 15-year feat, Aki Dunging only had this one thing to say: “It was true that the Ibans had lost the Script because of our forefather Renggi, but it was found again by me.”

However, the long process of revising and fine-tuning the alphabet was not without its own trials and tribulations – to a point that nearly drove Aki Dunging to insanity.

He had once roamed naked in the deep jungle for two weeks, ‘lost in his own world out of deep-thinking over his cognitive invention’.

Aki Dunging’s final words regarding his creation were: “Sayau enti surat tu lenyau ke dua kali. Kada ulih giga agi.” (It would be a pity that if the alphabet were to be lost the second time around. It would be impossible to find it again.)

Progressing into practical usage

In 2006, Bromeley conducted a seminal study on the Dunging Alphabet. This undertaking was to refine the alphabet in terms of categorising the characters into two main groupings – the consonants cluster, and the vowel/diphthong cluster.

“By putting the characters according to such groupings, the system of writing becomes more systematic for inscriptional purposes. With a systematic set of alphabet, it helps to enable users more conveniently considering the fact that there are 59 characters to remember. In other words, a systematic system of writing enables its practical use with much ease.”

In 2009, Bromeley worked closely with Linguist Software, a US company based in Washington DC, in incorporating the characters onto the digital platform.

Subsequently, the Iban Alphabet invented by Aki Dunging could finally be developed into computer fonts, available for both Microsoft Words and Macintosh platforms.

Known as ‘LaserIban’, these Iban computer fonts were them made available in the form of software – ready for installation in computers.

The LaserIban fonts for Windows and Macintosh are completely cross-platform compatible as regular ‘Word’ files, in the same manner as regular English fonts.

“Besides documenting Iban texts in its authentic form orthographically, the alphabet symbolises a unique linguistic identity of the Iban community as a whole. The alphabet is practical in terms of usage as it can be used to spell Iban words accurately, unlike the Roman alphabet.

“There are several sounds in the Iban language that cannot be distinguished distinctively in terms of spelling using the Roman alphabet; for example, the word ‘mata’ (as in ‘eye’) and ‘mata’ (as in ‘raw’ for fruits/food).

“The Dunging Alphabet, however, can distinguish between the exact sounds of the syllables to represent each sound in accurate orthography (spelling),” said Bromeley.

Beyond Sarawak

The Dunging Script also caught the attention of the international research body when it got featured twice in ‘Asia Research News’ – in 2010 when the alphabet was first used in Microsoft word-processing, and later in 2015, where the publication highlighted its development over the years.

The Iban Script could also be found online, on Wikipedia and Omniglot, as well as in university repositories. It remains an entry in Tun Jugah Foundation’s ‘Encyclopaedia of Iban Studies (2001)’.

Dunging’s name became an entry in the latest Iban-English Dictionary, published by Dayak Cultural Foundation in 2018.

The Dunging Alphabet has been taught at workshops in UiTM Sarawak, involving not only Iban students but the non-Ibans.

More significantly, two teachers education institutes (IPGs) in Sarawak – IPG Rajang in Bintangor and IPG Miri – have degree programme on the ‘Teaching of Iban Language’ for prospective Iban Language teachers for schools all over Sarawak.

“It is my greatest hope that the Dunging Script would eventually be incorporated into the Iban Language Curriculum in schools, IPGs and universities, as well as into this generation and the future, because it uniquely represents the Iban community via the sounds of their voices,” said Bromeley.

Tun Jugah Foundation senior research officer, Janang Ensiring, has this to say: “I always see Dunging Script as an invaluable heritage for the Iban community. I fully agree that it should be taught to the younger Iban generation so that they can appreciate their true cultural heritage and linguistic identity, and it shall not vanish with time, but remain here to stay. It is a legacy left behind for our community by an indisputable Iban genius.”

Sarawak Dayak National Union Youth chief, Churchill Edward, said the Iban Alphabet should be an appropriate tool of identity of the Iban people in particular, and the Dayaks in general.

“It can also be a potential element towards establishing a good sense of belonging for Sarawakians, very much like the Chinese, the Thai, the Korean and the Japanese – each with its own alphabet and writing system. Nevertheless, if there’s no sense of urgency in teaching and learning it (Iban language) in Malaysian schools, I could not see any further development of the Iban alphabet system in the near future.”

For former teacher Margaret Bedus, the Dunging Alphabet could be incorporated in the syllabus for teachers being trained to teach the Iban Language subject, and in this regard, she hoped that Bromeley could push for it.

“I enjoyed learning them – they’re new and very interesting. We all should continue to promote it as our heritage, but sadly, not many people know about it yet!

“Urup Dunging is indeed an Iban pride,” she said.

Civil servant Simon Ingka Crown – another student of Bromeley and is also related to Aki Dunging – regarded the inventor of the Iban alphabet as ‘a legend’.

“It is now a part of history of the Ibans

“The older generation would have known the late Aki Dunging, who was regarded as the Iban genius for his creative inventions, especially his greatest legacy – the Iban alphabetic system,” he said.

Andrew Balang Koh, a civil servant from Kapit, said having to learn Urup Dunging marked ‘a new level of knowledge’ for him.

“There are many members of the younger Dayak generation who do not know what is Urup Dunging. I’m very fortunate to be one of Prof Bromeley’s first-batch students. I sincerely hope that our younger generation would take interest in this subject.”

An excerpt of a ‘pantun’ (poem) by Aki Dunging

Tesat nyau surat bansa kitai Iban,
Dibuai Aki Tuai Apai Lang Bulan,
Laban dunya kudi ujan tiga bulan,
Tasah laban bah dunya kudi garam,
Tulis lalu abis lela laban ujan,
Dipakai Aki Tuai disuap lalu telan,
Keretas abis ayas nadai agi ayan,
Dudi uchu nganti peturun bansa Iban…

*Loosely translated as: “Our alphabet is lost; swallowed by Aki Tuai Apai Lang Bulan; to avoid being washed away by the Great Flood; we hope the next generation would be able to find it…”