The Origin of Burong Pingai

The early Bruneians used to live on the water and most Bruneians can trace their origins there. For instance, my great grandfather used to live in Kampung Saba but when he married my great grandmother, they stayed at her village in Kampung Pandai Besi. Ask many Bruneians and their story would be more or less the same. How did I get to dry land? In my case it was my grandfather who joined the Royal Brunei Police Force and was posted to Panaga in Seria where he was a Sergeant Major when the station defended itself against the rebellion. Our family had never returned to the waters ever since my grandfather made a living on dry land.

One kampung which kept their identity despite moving to dry land was Kampung Burong Pingai. I think this is the only Kampung which has both the water version Kampung Burong Pingai Ayer and the dryland version Kampung Burong Pingai Berakas. The migration took place around the mid 1950s when several families moved inland from the water village. Kampung Burong Pingai Berakas can be seen on the left hand side of the highway from the Airport. In the 1970s and 1980s, this low lying village used to suffer from frequent flash floods that the government had to build a flash control water storage. Now with the river widened, floods no longer occur.

Kampung Burong Pingai was originally named Kampung Ulu-Ulu. This is because of its location which is at the Hulu (the interior or the beginning) of the Brunei River. It became Kampung Burong Pingai when according to history, one villager (said to be a Pembalat - one who catches fish using a basket made from bamboo or makes fish traps made from bamboo) from Kampung Saba who made a living at Kampung Ulu-Ulu found a white bird making the sound 'pingai, pingai, pingai.' The man knew that the Sultan Muhammad's wife had lost the bird named Si Pingai. He caught the bird and presented it to the Sultan. Ever since then the kampung became known as Kampung Burong Pingai. Sultan Muhammad's wife was said to be a Johor Princess and this was said to be around 1368.

In 1956, the Brunei government offered to resettle Kampung Ayer villagers on dry land. The first group of villagers moved to Kampung Bunut and Kampung Burong Pingai was the second group. Each family was given one acre each to start their new life. Up to now, Kampung Burong Pingai Berakas more or less retained the families of the original settlers and numbered no more than 70 houses in total. In 2003, the Kampung celebrated its 50th Golden Jubilee to mark the 50th anniversary of Kampung Burong Pingai Berakas.

Comments

Anonymous said…
interesting. when you think about it, we all could've originated from the same village or same area a long time ago. don't you think? our great great great great great grandparents were probably related in one way or another before people moved inland as time passed by. forming the many different villages we have now.
Anonymous said…
Thank you Mr Br. My dad comes from Kg Burung Pingai and it is wonderful to know the origin of the kampong :)
Anonymous said…
Interesting Mr. BR. My dad came from Sg Kedayan and as a result of the fire, he moved to Lumut after he came back from England. Same goes to my grand mother, she moved to Kg Mata Mata on the top of the hill after if I'm not mistaken, the last fire on Sg Kedayan.
Anonymous said…
Interesting Mr. BR. My dad came from Sg Kedayan and as a result of the fire, he moved to Lumut after he came back from England. Same goes to my grand mother, she moved to Kg Mata Mata on the top of the hill after if I'm not mistaken, the last fire on Sg Kedayan.
Anonymous said…
So how how about Berakas? How did that name came about?
bulimic: i wrote about Berakas in June. Link to here
Anonymous said…
Thanks BR, one other thing, is there such place as a Kampung Bibit?
Vixennova said…
I'm from Burung Pingai..my grandma and (paternal) families still resides there..

Thank you for the lovely article Mr BR.

Allow me to share an article about my late great grandpa:
http://utusanrasul.tblog.com/post/1969872279

Once again, well done Mr.BR and bless you.
Anonymous said…
My origin is deeply-rooted from Kg Sungai Kedayan and my better half is of the Kg Burung Pingai family clan. You can just imagine how the family tree would go down to...
Anonymous said…
my grandmother Dayangku ganti binti pengeran Ahmad originates from kampung burung pingai as well.I wonder if you could help trace her other descendants from her fathers side or maybe other readers could help.please email me with this email said_basman@yahoo.com and dazerk2@yahoo.com please email both. thank you from mohd said haji basman
Assalamualaikum, the origins of my grandparents are also from Kampung Burong Pingai. perhaps our blog http://dayangkuganti.blogspot.com/ may interest you. I appreciate if your readers could help us with our search of any of our family members in your village. Thank you.
Anonymous said…
I know the said story of Burung Pingai from Awang Alak Betatar in 12th century. But I came across another story of Burung Pingai in the 18th century about a runaway Sultan of Johor-Malacca-Siak(Riau) how he came about to Brunei. They stripped their royal title when migrated to Brunei. One of his daughter called Daeng Pingai had a bird cockatoo or better known as parrot. The villages loves her bird and named that village under her name.
Anonymous said…
Funny, I know the ancestors of Rozan Yunos come from, Pakistan. So don't dream to be a genuine Bruneian sir.
Rozan Yunos said…
Hehe... That's the first time I heard I have Pakistan blood...

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