By Ling Hui
ONE intriguing theory about the ancestral origins of the Vaie community links them to Italy.
Word has it that the Vaie could be descendants of an Italian scholar and explorer Antonio Pigafetta, who once sought refuge in Bintulu after his captain was killed in Mindanao, Philippines.
It is believed that Antonio had stayed in Bintulu for a period of time before he was rescued and returned to Italy.
During his time in Bintulu, he might have integrated with the local community through marriage, and that is how the Vaie is said to have come about.
Some researchers even found that Vaie people have a penchant for consonants like ‘q’, ‘v’, and ‘z’, which bear a resemblance to Italian. Speaking the Vaie language also produces plenty of guttural sounds.
The plausible relationship between Vaie and Italian, however, has not been proven and remains just a fascinating theory.
According to President of the Anaq Vaie Bintulu Association Pandi Suhaili, there are also theories saying that the Vaie originally came from Bukit Segaan, somewhere further inland after Bakun.
“Another popular saying is that we came from Niah Caves before the tribe moved to the river of Jelalong and further up to the mouth of Bintulu River (now known as Kemena River),” he said.
The existence of the Vaie goes a long way back. Pandi mentioned a map that indicates the existence of the Vaie during the Ottoman Empire. Antonio, in his writing, also mentioned that the Vaie were already residing in Bintulu in the 1900s.
Vaie fishermen and warriors
For generations, the Vaie people have been primarily fishermen, and they take great pride in their unique expertise especially in the art of ‘panau’, a traditional way of catching fish such as the black pomfret.
The famous Bintulu ‘belacan’ that commands high market demand in Sarawak today is one of the local products produced by the Vaie.
Meanwhile, the historical connection to the sea also reveals the Vaie’s prowess as warriors, stemming from their time under the Brunei Sultanate’s daughter, Paduka Khadijah.
When pirates threatened their communities and kidnapped their people for slavery in the 1800s, the Vaie warriors rose to the task, attacked the pirates at Tanjung Kidurong and saved their captured kinsfolk.
‘We are original Vaie, not Melanau’
The Vaie people, who now mostly reside in Jepak, Bintulu, have etched their unique identity onto the canvas of Sarawak’s history. They deserve to be known as the Vaie, not Melanau.
“We are original Vaie. We are not Melanau,” Pandi told DayakDaily when met at a local coffeeshop recently.
He said the Vaie are fighting for recognition from the Sarawak government. They already have a Vaie language dictionary published and the publication of a second edition is underway.
The Anaq Vaie Bintulu Association was established since 2010 and today, it has over 4,000 registered members from around the area namely Sebauh, Kuala Tatau, Tatau and Niah. — DayakDaily
