Dusun

Dusun people

A Dusun man carrying Bongun, 1922.
Regions with significant populations
Malaysia: 568,575 (2010) (Sabah, Labuan)  Brunei (Tutong District and Belait District)
Languages
Dusun, Malaysian, English and Brunei Malay
Religion
Christianity, Islam, Animism
Related ethnic groups
Kadazandusun, Dayak, other Austronesian peoples

Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Due to similarities in culture and language with the Kadazan ethnic group, a new unified term called "Kadazan-Dusun" was created.

Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah. A small minority of Dusuns can also be found in Brunei where they are defined by the constitution to be one of the seven Bumiputera groups.

One interesting fact about the Dusuns is that they do not have the word 'dusun' in their vocabulary. It has been suggested that the term 'Dusun' was a term used by the Sultan of Brunei to refer to the ethnic groups of inland farmers in present-day Sabah. 'Dusun' means 'orchard' in the Malays or "simpleton" in Sunda language. Since most of the west coast of North Borneo were under the influence of the Sultan of Brunei, taxes called 'Duis' (also referred to as the 'River Tax' on the area of south east of North Borneo) were collected by the sultanate from the 'Orang Dusun', or 'Dusun people'. Hence, since 1881, after the establishment of the British North Borneo Company, the British administration categorized the linguistically-similar, 12 main and 33 sub tribes collectively as 'Dusun' though among themselves they are simply known in their own dialect as just "human" or in their Bobolian term "kadayan" or "kadazan" (in Tangaa version). The Tambanuo and Bagahak, who had converted to Islam for religious reason, had preferred to be called "Sungei" and "Idaan" respectively although they come from the same sub tribes. The arrival of the Christian Missionaries in the 1880s had brought to the Dayaks and the Kadazans/Dusuns of Borneo the ability to read write and converse in English. This had open their minds and began to get involved in community Development. The tribes who were first exposed to this modernisation was the Tangaa or Tangara who dwelt in the Papar and Penampang coastal plains who were responsible to spread the passion of nationalism to the other tribes. The first attempt to translate the Bible was in Kadazan (Tangaa), also referred to as the "z" dialect. This was followed by a Kadazan (Tangaa) Dictionary. The first registered Native friendly Society was the Kadazan Society and the political party registered in North Borneo was the United National Kadazan Organization under the leadership of Donald Stevens aka Tun Fuad who was made the first Huguan Siou of the Kadazan aka Dusun Nation of 12 main and 33 sub tribes. On becoming self independent on 31/8/1963, Donald Stevens became the Prime/Chief Minister and on 16/9/1963, together with Sarawak, Singapore and Malaysia, formed a Federation of Nations called Malaysia.