Replica of the Looted Badeng Sunhat handed over to the Sarawak Museum

KUCHING, Feb 8 2026: The replica of the “Looted Badeng Sunhat” of the Kenyah Badeng Community was handed over to the Sarawak Museum by the Kenyah Badeng Association of Sarawak (KEBANA) in  simple, but historic ceremony, today. It was received by a representative of the museum.

Caption: The committee members of the Kenyah Badeng Association of Sarawak with the replica of the Looted Badeng Sunhat - Photo courtesy of Senator Abun Sui Anyit 

According to Senator Abun Sui Anyit, the ceremony not only expressed respect for the cultural heritage of the Kenyah Badeng community, but also demonstrated a shared commitment to preserving and documenting the history of the origins of the Sarawak Indigenous People in a factual and authoritative manner.

“The Sunhat, or in the Kenyah Badeng language known as Saung Selling, is a traditional hat that has been produced for generations by the Kenyah Badeng community and has become a symbol of the identity, culture and history of this community,” Abun, who was among those present at the handing over ceremony, said.

He said the handover of the replica of the Saung Selling is an important effort to ensure that this heritage can be preserved, exhibited and appreciated by present and future generations.

“History has recorded that the original Saung Selling was confiscated over 130 years ago by the authorities under the  Brooke government, in 1895, at the Kenyah Badeng settlement in Usun Apau, Sarawak.

“This historical fact is clear and undeniable evidence that the Kenyah Badeng community is the original people of Sarawak, and not foreign immigrants as is often misinterpreted or denied by certain parties.

“In this regard, the handover of this replica is not just a cultural symbol, but also a significant historical document to correct misunderstandings, confusion and inaccurate narratives regarding the origins of the Kenyah Badeng community,” he explained.

Abun said as a member of the Senate, he has personally witnessed an important event that deserves to be recorded as part of the history and cultural heritage of Sarawak and the country, in line with the spirit of the Federal Constitution which upholds justice, historical recognition and the rights of the original people.

“I hope that this ceremony and the handover of the replica will be a starting point for a fairer recognition, based on historical facts, of the identity, dignity and rights of the Kenyah Badeng community in Sarawak in particular and Malaysia in general,” he said.

The Saung Selling / bamboo sunhat from the Kenyah Badeng people was held at the Pitt Rivers Museum, which is part of Oxford University in England.

It had been acquired by the museum in 1923 after earlier ownership by the Brooke family and was part of the museum’s ethnographic collections of objects from around the world.

The hat was never usually on public display, and its origins trace back to objects taken from indigenous communities in Borneo during Brooke-era punitive expeditions in the late 19th century.

In 2024, the Pitt Rivers Museum returned that historic Kenyah Badeng sunhat to Sarawak, marking one of the first major repatriations of an ethnographic item to the Kenyah community.