Bukitan (also known as Baketan) are the indigenous people native to the Nanga Palin in Embaloh Hilir of

Kapuas Hulu Regency Kapuas Hulu Regency is a regency in West Kalimantan province of Indonesia. Located around Kapuas River, it has a total area of 29,842.03 square kilometres or around 20.26% of West Kalimantan province's area. The regency seat is located in town of ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Nowadays, the Bukitan diaspora can be found in the neighbouring Nanga Palin as well; including the district of

Bintulu Bintulu is a coastal town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. Bintulu is located 610 kilometres (380 mi) northeast of Kuching, 216 kilometres (134 mi) northeast of Sibu, and 200 kilometres (120 mi) ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

History

Origin

The origin of the Bukitan is from the Nanga Palin in Embaloh Hilir of

in West Kalimantan. Due to the tribal conflict with its neighbouring tribe ( Iban people), some of Bukitans have to migrate out of their homeland. However, significant population of Bukitan people can still be found in their ancestral territory.

Diaspora

Some of the Bukitan fled to

Saribas Saribas is an area made up of the three main rivers in the Betong Division of Sarawak, Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of M ...

which is what is now in the

Betong Division Betong Division, formed on 26 March 2002, is one of the twelve administrative divisions in Sarawak, Malaysia. Formerly part of Sri Aman Division, Betong is in the Saribas area. It has a total area of 4,180.8 square kilometres, and is the smalle ...

. There, they settled and built their community. During those years, they co-existed with another diaspora of Ibans there, after a peace sealed by the marriage of the daughter of their leader Entinggi to the son of the Iban chief Tindin. Some of them also moved into

via

Lubok Antu Lubok Antu District (Malay: ''Daerah Lubok Antu'') is a district in the Sri Aman Division of the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. It borders on Indonesia and a Malaysian border crossing checkpoint is located here. The checkpoint on the Indonesian si ...

and settled there in the 19th century. After many years, due to some misunderstandings, war broke out with the Ibans and they lost. They again fled to various places before settling in

Merit River Merit may refer to: Religion * Merit (Christianity) * Merit (Buddhism) * Punya (Hinduism) * Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity Companies and brands * Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes made by Altria * Merit Energy Company, a ...

, a tributary of Batang Tatau river in

division and its vicinity until today. Evidence of Bukitan existence can be found in areas such as the Saribas ( Paku,

Layar Layar was a Dutch company based in Amsterdam, founded in 2009 by Raimo van der Klein, Claire Boonstra and Maarten Lens-FitzGerald. They created a mobile browser app called Layar. The browser allowed users to find various items, using augmented r ...

and Rimbas) and

in the form of

burial grounds A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

, name of places and ancient orchards.

Notable people

* Jonathan Tinggang Ngabang, a high jumper Malaysian athlete.

References

{{Portal bar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Society Dayak people Ethnic groups in Indonesia Ethnic groups in Sarawak