Bundu Tuhan folk conserve their forest

Having lost access to the forests of Mount Kinabalu when it became a national park, the people of Bundu Tuhan now wield a firm grip on their remaining forest.

THE village of Bundu Tuhan is spotless. Save for the occasional cow pat left behind by grazing livestock, no litter is in sight when one strolls around the village nestled in the foothills of Mount Kinabalu in Ranau district, Sabah.

Most rural settlements, lacking proper waste collection, are usually marred by stinking refuse heaped by roadsides and behind homes, but not Bundu Tuhan. Its cleanliness is owed to strict rules – a fine of between RM50 and RM200 awaits anyone caught littering. And several people have been punished.

Ancestral lands: The primary forest that fringes the village of Bundu Tuhan
 in Ranau district, Sabah, exists because the community passionately protects it.
The red-roofed buildings are a new residential school under construction.

The anti-littering law is just one of many contained in the village management plan which the villagers themselves drew up and enforce. The rule-book governs almost everything about village life: from how and where to build homes and farms to bans on hunting, fishing and tree-felling and protected catchment forests.

It is an impressive case of self-governance by a community, and the result? A tranquil village fringed by verdant forest in mist-shrouded highlands which 3,200 people call home.

The idyllic settlement some 90km from Kota Kinabalu was the fruitful labour of past village leaders who had fought to protect their ancestral property beginning in the 1950s. They first applied to gazette their settlement as a native reserve in 1966 and succeeded in doing so, finally, under the Sabah Land Ordinance in 1983.

In the Dusun language, bundu is a fruit tree while tuhan is an abridgement of the word notuhan for “fall”, so the village name means “felled bundu tree”, and has nothing to do with God.

Highland vegetables such as onions and cabbage are grown in Bundu Tuhan.
Village rules restrict farming on steep, landslide-prone areas.

City folk cannot help but covert the village homes – some are perched on hill slopes, some scattered over the valley in the shadow of Mount Kinabalu.

To safeguard their picture-perfect environments, the community has wisely divided the 1,255ha native reserve: one-third is set aside as residential reserve for homes and grazing land, while two-thirds is a community forest. They have vowed to leave the forest out of their development plans, says village chief Sokuil Ladsau, 56.

Framed by verdant highlands, the village of Bundu Tuhan
is an idyllic settlement under the shadow of Mount Kinabalu.

“We’re preserving the forest for our future generations. This was initiated by past leaders and we want to continue their effort,” says Sokuil, who is the grandson of the legendary Gunting Lagadan, the first Dusun to reach the summit of Mount Kinabalu.


Leaders of Bundu Tuhan village: (from left) Radin Louis Madili (head of
Tawo Tawo settlement), Sokuil Ladsau (village head), Joseph Sangau Sariman
 (native chief) and Joseph Abbie Yundak (former native chief). They are passionate
about protecting their community forest to preserve their water source
and for future generations.

Historically, the forest was a vital part of the community. It was foraging ground for food, medicines as well as building materials such as wood, rattan and kobuh, leaves used for roofing. Though the community today no longer depend on the forest for sustenance, they still revere it as part of their heritage and for conservation.

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