Antanum

Statue of Ontoros Antanom in Tenom.

Antanum or Antanom (full name Ontoros Antanom) (1885-1915) was a famous and influential Murut warrior from North Borneo (now Sabah), Malaysia who according to local oral history claimed to have supernatural powers. Because of this he was able to receive support from the chiefs and villagers from around the villages of Keningau, Tenom, Pensiangan and Rundum and led the Rundum uprising against the British North Borneo Company but was killed during fighting with the company army in Sungai Selangit near Pensiangan.^[1]

Rundum revolt

Under the administration of British Chartered North Borneo Company (BCNBC), besides imposing many taxes which the locals never heard of, British also forced every Murut couple who had two children to give up one of them as forced labor.

Running out of tolerance, Ontoros Antonom gathered nearly a thousand of Murut warriors from Tenom, Keningau dan Pensiangan to fight the British empire in 1915. The British officers were totally shocked to see hundreds of Murut flooded their administration building and attacked them. Ontoros Antonom built a few strongholds with underground tunnels and houses.

In April 1915, British sent 400 soldiers equipped with firearm to counter attack. Though Murut were only using primitive weapons such as blowpipes, swords and spears, British army failed to take them down. Therefore, they set a trap by offering a peace talk at Rundum. When Ontoros Antonom and his followers were on their way to the venue, hundreds of British surrounded them and arrested them. Later Ontoros Antonom was executed.^[2]

References

This Malaysia-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e