The Kedayan are an ethnic group residing in Brunei, Federal Territory of Labuan, southwest of Sabah, and north of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. According to the Language and Literature Bureau of Brunei, the Kedayan language is spoken by about 30,000 people in Brunei, and it has been claimed that there are a further 46,500 speakers in Sabah and 37,000 in Sarawak. In Sabah, the Kedayan mainly live in the southern districts of Sipitang and Beaufort, where they are counted as a part of the local Malay populace. Whilst in Sarawak, the Kedayans mostly reside in the towns of Lawas, Limbang and Miri.
Kadayan women, 1908. Note the light tunic with rows of buttons.
A Kedayan man, standing underneath a rice barn.
Sipitang is the capital of the Sipitang District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 4,298 in 2010. It is the closest town in Sabah to the Sarawak border, and is 44 kilometres south of Beaufort and 144 kilometres south of Kota Kinabalu, the state capital and also is 123 kilometres north of Long Pasia, one of the famous attraction in Sabah.
Image: Sipitang Esplanade
Image: Sipitang Sabah Pusat Bandar 01
Image: Sipitang Sabah Majlis Daerah Sipitang 01
Image: Sipitang Sabah Haji Hassim Mosque 01