KOTA KINABALU, Dec 13 — “This is it, my bedroom for the night,” said 60-year-old Nantahan Mojihan as she scooted under a mosquito netting over her “bed” — a flattened-out box on the cold concrete floor in the middle of Donggongon square, Penampang.

She and four other women line up their makeshift beds for the night with their possessions close by, and giggle over an inside joke with each other in Rungus, their native tongue, before they lie down, adjust their sarongs and settle in for the night.

Nantahan, a native Rungus from the district of Matunggong, was tired from her day hawking local tobacco from about 5am to 5pm at the Penampang tamu. She had to endure a two and a half hour drive on bumpy roads to get there.

She may not look like it, but she and her gang of women are Sabah’s roving businesswomen, travelling through the state to hawk their local wares at the tamu, with tens of other traders, some of whom travel hours in order to get there too.

Tamu traders Nantahan Mojihan (left) from Matunggong and Nangkapas Sinam (right) from Sikuati prepare their bed for the night — a flattened-out box, small pillow, mosquito netting and a piece of tarp to keep out the wind on the grounds of the Donggongon tamu, in Penampang.

A tamu is Sabah’s own localised version of a farmer’s market, offering everything from local agricultural produce and handicraft, to pets and used clothing, which you can find in various towns and districts across the state.

The tamu dates back to the colonial era, when the British masters restricted convergence of groups except at the tamus where locals were finally allowed to meet and barter over goods, listen to the latest announcements and spread gossip to and from all corners of North Borneo.

Sabah’s indigenous tribes — the padi-planting Kadazans, sea-faring Bajau lauts, horse-riding Bajau samas, and bead-weaving Rungus and every tribe in between — met and mingled, swapped stories, made deals and “be in the know” at the tamu, a culture which still exists today.

While shopping centres, supermarkets and convenient stores are found in many towns, the rural majority of Sabahans still depend on the tamu to do their weekly shopping and trading.

Nangkapas Sinam (right), a local tobacco seller from Kampung Popot in Sikuati, sets up her 'bedroom' — a flattened-out box, small pillow, mosquito netting and a piece of tarp to keep out the wind.

The life of a roving tamu trader

Nantahan, who lives with her farmer and odd job worker husband, trades four out of the seven days a week.

On Saturdays, she sets up shop in her hometown of Matunggong but early Wednesday morning, she makes her way to Penampang in a chartered private car. It is here she meets her friends, and sleeps over on the tamu grounds for two nights.

Nantahan and her group of women traders — aged between 50 to 70 (they don’t know for sure themselves because they have late birth certificate registrations in this part of the country) —  make use of the public toilet and pay RM2 to take a shower before they have a simple dinner together.

Tobacco trader Nantahan Mojihan ties up a mosquito net aroud her "bed” for the night on the Donggongon tamu grounds where she sleeps two nights a week.

That night, dinner was grilled fish with pickled vegetables and rice, which they bought from a stall nearby. They sit on their flattened out boxes and eat with their hands, and later clean them in a plastic tub they filled up earlier with water.

“Does this sound hard? But kebiasaan sudah (used to it now). We get here about 10am, then sell the whole day. We shower in the evening, then have our dinner together. We go to sleep after 9pm and then wake up at about 4.30am because that’s when people start coming in,” she said of their weekly routine.

Other days of the week, she is back in her hometown of Matunggong. Her friend, Nagam Engan, returns to Kampung Gombizou, Kudat while Nangkapas Sinam and Iyang Temuan return to Kampung Popot, Sikuati where they also sell at their own local tamu.

The women sell local tobacco and its accompaniments like betel nuts and leaves, crushed up shells as chalk, dried palm leaves cut up to use for rolling the cigarettes, and Gambir leaves for chewing with areca and betel. Engan also sells handicraft as well as custom-ordered gongs which her village is famous for.

“Sudah tua bah, we don’t have the energy now. Many years ago, we could sell vegetables and fruits from our farms. Now we opt for the sigup, which is much lighter, doesn’t go bad and is easier to carry around,” said Nangkapas.

Sixty-year-old Nantahan Mojihan is a familiar face in Penampang’s Donggongon tamu.

“If we didn’t do this, we would be bored. As long as we can walk and move, we will continue to travel and go to tamus. What else would we do with ourselves in the kampung?,” said Nangkapas.

At the weekly Sunday Kota Belud tamu, perhaps one of the biggest and most well-known in the state, Norbert Juakim, known to the locals as Obot, sells a wide range of tobacco produced in four Sabahan districts – Kota Marudu, Ranau, Keningau and Tambunan.

They come in several varieties ranging in tastes, texture and moistness. Some sell by weight, others in small bundles, but all are noticeably cheaper than commercial cigarettes.

The Dusun native from Tamparuli arrived at the Kota Belud tamu grounds in pitch darkness at 3am. But it is already humming with activity when he unloads his pickup truck of over 10 types of tobacco with the help of his wife, Stella Alfred.

Obot, 40, pays RM4 per day for his two lots in the tamu, which gives him an edge over the smaller traders around him, some of whom share one lot. HIs ability to speak Bahasa Malaysia, Dusun, Bajau and Kadazan native languages is also crucial to build rapport with his wide-ranging clientele.

Third-generation tamu trader Norbert Juakim (left) runs a roaring business with his wife, Stella Alfred, selling many types of local tobacco at the Kota Belud, Tamparuli and Donggongon tamu.

Using flashlights to see the products, the local traders negotiate and buy in bulk from him, some even proceeding to set up shop just steps away. Between three to five am, it is all wholesale trade until the sun starts to come up and regular customers start to trickle in.

“The people in tamus in Penampang and Tamparuli look for cheaper tobacco while in Kota Belud, it is all about the taste,” he said, pointing out the samples customers would help themselves to while they idled the time away chatting at his stall.

It is quite a colourful scene; the sight of older Bajau men wearing fedoras and Western shirts while the women wear the sirung, the traditional woven conical hat, and sarongs, reaching into the piles of tobacco laid out, and testing it in handmade rollies before deciding which is the flavour of the week.

The scene is like a catch-up session between old friends  — they speak in several dialects about  their families, the latest development in town, and one even passes him a wedding invite during the morning trade.

A dying lifestyle?

Obot and Stella, sometimes joined by his mother, Helena, have run the family business of tamu trading for as long as they can remember. It was not always local tobacco, but it was always at the tamu.

According to tamu trader Norbert Juakim, Sabah’s local tobacco – 'kirai' – still has a huge customer base, especially among the natives who each have their preference.

“When I was a kid, my mum sold fruits and vegetables from our farm. When I started out, I sold homemade lihing among other things. But I have been doing tobacco for almost 20 years now. My mum has been doing it much longer than that,” said the second out of six siblings. (Lihing is a local rice wine.)

He estimates he averages about RM1,700 a month of income from the three tamus he goes to – Tamparuli, Penampang and Kota Belud. Nantahan, with a much smaller stock, estimates her income to be about a third of that.

“It is not the most lucrative because of the capital and the transportation expenses involved in going to the tamus and picking up stock from Ranau, but cukup-cukup la (it is enough) for me.

“I’m not sure why my other siblings don’t do this, and chose to take up office jobs instead. Maybe they don’t like the legwork,” said Obot.

Ida Paujim, a 33-year-old Bajau-Dusun from Tempasuk, near Kota Belud, is glad she decided to take after her mother and run the same business. She and her mother have a stall each alongside each other in the Kota Belud tamu, but on Wednesdays she goes to Kota Marudu, and Donggongon on Friday and Saturdays.

Third-generation tamu trader Norbert Juakim, better known as Obot, sells 'kirai' – Sabah’s local tobacco — in several tamu locations in Sabah.

“I like being able to have my own business, even though it’s small. I have some control over my own time, my own income, and it gives me time to socialise with family and friends,” she said.

Obot and Ida are among some of the younger traders on the tamu grounds but both feel that their family trade will end with them. Nantahan and Nangkapas, whose children have all got their own jobs in the city, are also sure that they will be the last in their family to be tamu traders.

“My children have never wanted to follow me with this. I don’t think the younger generation would enjoy the travelling and lifestyle, with not a lot of income,” said Nantahan, pointing out that her six children all chose to find work on their own.

“But I think the tamu will always be a part of the local culture. Although our families won’t continue it, I hope someone will. It would be a shame if this part of our heritage disappeared,” she said.

Ida Paujim, a 33-year-old Bajau-Dusun from Tempasuk, has a local tobacco stall in Kota Belud, next to her mother selling local tobacco on Sundays.