KUCHING, March 22: The Iban community of Rh Philip, Bintulu, has performed a traditional “miring” (offering ritual) ceremony to ward off the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.
A 2-minute 38 seconds video of the ceremony has circulated online and gone viral in WhatsApp and caught the attention of Sarawak deputy chief minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing.
The Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president commended the initiative taken by the longhouse folks, describing the longhouse dwellers as being informative and aware of the danger posed by the deadly virus, which has become pandemic.
“The traditional miring ceremony was held to prevent the Covid-19 from spreading to their longhouses. Thus the ‘piring’ (offering) is placed on the road to act as a barricade against the entry of Covid-19,” he said when describing the ceremony being carried out in the video.
Masing, a senior Iban leader and veteran politician, explained that the ceremony was held to “sent the virus back to where it come from”.
“This shows that the rural Iban communities are well informed of the current situation too,” he said. — DayakDaily
