KUCHING (Nov 5): A historic Kenyah Badeng bamboo sunhat, known as the Sa’ung, has been returned to Sarawak from the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, marking a significant cultural homecoming, revealed the Sarawak Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Ministry.

The ministry announced this in a Facebook post on Monday, calling the return a “restoration of history, dignity and identity” for the Kenyah-Badeng community.

“The repatriation today (Nov 4) represents more than the restoration of a cultural object — it symbolises the evolving role of museums in the 21st century,” it said.

According to the post, this is Sarawak’s second repatriation after the 2020 return of Niah bone fragments to the Sarawak Museum and reflects a growing global movement towards healing historical injustices by returning cultural heritage items to their communities of origin.

The handing over ceremony, held at the Oxford University, marked a first for the Pitts Rivers Museum, which had previously only repatriated ancestral remains.

Present during the ceremony were Sarawak Deputy Minister of Tourism Datuk Sebastian Ting; Gardens, Libraries and Museums (Glam) head Richard Ovenden; Pitt Rivers Museum director and Oxford University professor Prof Dr Laura Van Broekhoven; and other Sarawak and Oxford University officials.

Meanwhile, a report by the BBC said the cultural artefact was taken during the British-led war expeditions in 1895 and 1896 and was acquired by the museum in 1923 but had never been publicly displayed.

The Sa’ung, which is intricately crafted from Bamboo and adorned with human figure designs, served both practical and spiritual roles – offering protection to a mother and her child.

The report said the sunhat was seized as British colonial forces launched punitive raids against indigenous communities resisting foreign rule, with devastating impacts on the population.

These expeditions, ordered by the Brooke family or White Rajahs, often led to the looting of cultural artefacts, the burning of longhouses and the loss of life and land.

“The sunhat is among an estimated 3,000 items from Borneo currently in the museum’s collection, many of which originated from the Brooke family’s private holdings,” said the report.

Commenting on the repatriation, Van Broekhoven expressed deep satisfaction with the decision to return the Sa’ung and acknowledged the violent history of some of the museum’s collections.

“Given the history of parts of our collections and their entanglements in military violence and oppression, this work of redress is a crucial part of the work we want and need to do, as it helps to restore trust and understanding, and builds hope for a future of peace through partnership,” she was quoted as saying in the report.

According to the BBC report, the Sa’ung will be returned to the Kenyah Badeng Association and will later be displayed at the Borneo Cultures Museum here.