By: Shella Rimang

This article was written in conjunction with the Lake Sentarum Festival 2018 Pre-event

Selanjung suang nak mudit

Turus pakau turus lalau

Wasir, a man who can no longer guess how old he is, continues to menimang (sing poetry) in Selimbau Malay. At his home in Semangit Hamlet, Leboyan Village, Selimbau Subdistrict, the man whose hair has been eaten away by age, remembers the order of the timang. Occasionally, at the end of the timang section, he claps his hands. That's because that's how they do it. "That's the timang for climbing (lalau)," he said in a thick Malay dialect, last Wednesday (9/26).

Wasir admitted that he learned timang by himself from his grandmother. Since childhood, he often followed people harvesting honey, both in lalau and in tikung. When harvesting honey on a lalau, he always heard his grandmother weighing it from a sack. Back then, Wasir said, there were no nets like now. So, the only way to avoid bee stings was to get into a sack. "Wanting to see people harvesting tikung, I entered the sack," he said while looking at his eyes and chuckling.

There are several timang sequences that Wasir still remembers. Besides the timang for climbing the lalau, there is also the timang when the honey harvester is already on the branch of the lalau. Furthermore, there is a timang to ask permission (to the lalau's keeper) to open the door. Just like coming to someone's house, as a guest, you must ask permission first. If the door is not opened, you will not be able to enter. There is also a timang to avoid being stung by bees. In fact, if you go down the lalau there is also a timang. Each timang has its own purpose.

The man who chose to stay in the village even though some of his children already live in the city also admitted that until now he was the only one who could do timang in his village. Indeed, the timang-timang that he has memorized has been written down by his children. The problem is, her children don't want to cry. "I've taught my son too, but he doesn't want to," said Wasir in a low tone.

According to the man who likes to smile when interacting with interlocutors, at least the factors that refer to the word "unwilling". First, it is indeed people who do not learn to hold. Second, there are those who can feed, but the bees "don't want to listen"; they don't want to come. Whether the bees listen depends on the sound. If it's not good, it won't work. Because, the purpose of the hornet itself is to encourage the harvester and make the queen bee smile.

Wasir said, he was new to lifting. This skill has been applied since 2006. During this time, there have been quite a lot of people who have learned to swim with him. Only, once again, no one has been able to attract the attention of bees. In his fish-scented house, Wasir, who is accompanied by his wife, children and grandchildren, says that he has taught his grandchildren to lift. Will his grandchildren preserve the threatened tradition? I don't know, Wasir, who is still guessing in his old age, certainly cannot guess the answer to the time written on his grandson's hand.