Rungus people

The Momogun Rungus are an Austronesian ethnic group indigenous to Sabah, Malaysia. They primarily live in northern Sabah especially in Kudat Peninsula, Kota Marudu, Pitas and Beluran. A sub-group of the Kadazan-Dusun, they have a distinct language, dress, architecture, customs, and oral literature from other Dusunic sub-groups. There are around 74,000 Rungus people in the state. As with most indigenous ethnic groups in Borneo, culture revolves around rice; however, coconut and banana groves provide cash income. Women weave cloth on backstrap looms, and make containers from vine or beadwork. Many Rungus now work in town, and have abandoned the communal life of the longhouse for modern Malaysian society. Momogun Rungus has a very antique traditional writing which is one of the forms of writing hieroglyphs or called Surip in the Rungus language. Traditionally having a belief called the agama Labus or Labus religion, although some writers label it aninism, with male priests called Rampahan and female priestess called Bobolizan, most Rungus are now Christian. Most Rungus attended the Protestant Church of Sabah (PCS) and is mainly in the Bahasa Malaysia congregation. Considered one of the most traditional ethnic groups in Sabah, many Momogun Rungus live in longhouses, with each family having its own separate quarters off a common hall. At the edge of the communal hall, a well-ventilated platform of split bamboo with outward sloping walls provides a place for socialising and communal work. The Rungus longhouse is quite different from the Murut longhouse. The houses are not perched on high stilts, but are usually only three to five feet above ground. The roof is low, and the walls are outward sloped. In olden times, longhouses of over 75 doors are said to have been common. Now, they rarely exceed 10 doors. Usually single story, more modern two-story versions of the longhouse also exist. Single-family houses are sometimes built near the longhouse – these take the same form, but are curiously short, looking like a slice from a cake.