The Representation of Dayak People in Sarawakian Authors’ Novels

Abstract

Among the Sarawakian writers who use Chinese as their literary language, Taiwan-resident novelists Li Yong-ping (born in 1947) and Chan Kuei-hsing (born in 1956) have produced some novels that are set in their homeland of Borneo. We will examine their works and consider how the novelists redefine their identities as Sarawak-born Chinese, following a brief look at the relationship between the Dayak, the native people of Borneo, and the Chinese, and a short overview of the history of colonial Borneo, as described in Li and Chan’s novels. Chinese writers have described Dayak people as some kind of external threat, while at the same time portraying Dayak women as a symbol of the overrun land of Borneo. Dayak women have been assigned their roles as the wives of Chinese immigrants and the victims of sexual assault by the white colonizers. However, when the novels’ protagonists step out of their safe living sphere into the jungle in search of something, they always need the help of the Dayak people. Even when facing the memory of Communism, inevitable when examining the history of Sarawakian-Chinese, the Dayak people’s help is essential. The protagonists have inherited both the legacy of Anglo/Dutch-colonized Borneo and that of the Chinese, with the latter being mainly in terms of higher education through Taiwan. They trace the pioneering history of Borneo, while at the same time trying to avoid the situation of being Chinese: the people who have oppressed the Dayak people, abused the Dayak women, and have deprived them of the lands and resources. The young protagonists seem to be attempting to build a collaborative relationship with the Dayak people and are becoming the children of Borneo.