Bukit Batu Lawi

Bukit Batu Lawi
Batu Lawi, seen from the peak of Mount Murud on 4 September 1998
Highest point
Elevation	2,046 m (6,713 ft)
Geography
Location	Sarawak, Borneo
Parent range	Kelabit Highlands

Batu Lawi is a twin-peaked mountain in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia (Borneo) that has played important roles in both ancient mythology and modern history. The taller 'male' peak is 2046 metres above sea level, while the female summit is at 1850 metres. It is one of the highest mountains in the state of Sarawak.

Batu Lawi is sacred to many of the people who live in the region, such as the Kelabit and the Penan. According to the Kelabit people the mountain's peaks are a husband and wife—a pair of protector gods that are the parents of all highland peoples. Kelabit legends tell of a time when a mountain of fire called Batu Apoi tried to burn all living things. Batu Lawi fought back to defeat it and Batu Apoi's flames died out of spite. Kelabit people would traditionally visit Batu Lawi on pilgrimages from settlements such as Bario or Ba Kelalan—about a two-day walk through forest that is now part of Pulong Tau National Park. According to their customs, from the moment they first set eyes on the mountain to the moment they stand at its base, they must not utter the mountain's name for fear of antagonising the spirits on the summits.

In World War Two, the twin peaks of Batu Lawi served as an important landmark to pilots in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), during Allied missions to help recapture northern Borneo from Japan, which had invaded and occupied the region in 1941. The Allied response was to send commandos behind the Japanese lines to train the indigenous communities as part of the Z Special Unit to resist the Japanese invasion. One of those to parachute in was Tom Harrisson, the British scientist, journalist and founder of Mass Observation, who was then a second lieutenant in the British Army.