Today’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms will be presented in Bahasa Melayu, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

Peace be upon you. Welcome to Tasek Merimbun Heritage Park.

Halo, eco-conscious viewers, and welcome to A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television. On today’s episode, we are delighted to visit the gorgeous land of Brunei Darussalam.

Nestled on the northeastern shore of Borneo Island in Southeast Asia, it is home to some of the best preserved rainforests in all of Borneo. Her thriving ecosystems support not only a diverse array of wildlife but also flourishing indigenous human settlements with unique cultural traditions.

One of Brunei Darussalam’s national prides, the Merimbun Heritage Park, also known as Tasek Merimbun, will be the focus of our program today.

My name is Untong bin Madah. I am the former village chief. I’ve retired for three years. I’ve worked and lived here in Tasek Merimbun with my family. We’ve been here since the days of our ancestors. Tasek Merimbun is situated deep in a remote area, far away from town and other known places. There’s a lake here; it’s called the Merimbun Lake.

It is the largest lake in Brunei. We’ve seen the original scenic views, the more we see the more beautiful it is. The villagers like it.

A pair of twin freshwater lakes connected by a narrow channel form the central feature of the Tasek Merimbun. The surrounding wetland habitat is teeming with precious flora and fauna. Archeologically significant remnants of the Dusun ethnic group, still living in the area, have been found on some of the lakes’ islands that date back 500 years ago and longer.

In order to protect the natural and cultural heritages of this area, a national reserve was established here in 1984 and declared as one of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Heritage Parks. It is currently managed by the Brunei Museums Department of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

Our guide and officer of the Tasek Merimbun Museum, Mr. Shahdan, took us for a fascinating boat tour of the lakes and showed us the surrounding area.

We’re now in the area close to the lake and we shall use the boat to go around in the Merimbun Lake. We’re now in the Merimbun Lake area. There are two lakes here; the first one is about 100 hectares and the one over there has an area of 120 hectares. The water in this lake is naturally black because of the plants or withered leaves that fall into the lake.

We’re now crossing the river called Sungai Piasau. We’ll get to the second lake which has an area of 100 hectares. On our right side we have an island called Pulau Batu. And here on this side, we call this island Pulau Merah. We are now in the nature trail area; it is a trail system with a network of jungle paths. There are two Merimbun botanical trails. The second one is Banunih Trail.

Among the park’s research and tourist facilities, there is a central hilltop exhibition hall with a panoramic view of the lakes and the surrounding area.

We have this exhibition hall to give introductions. It displays the important researches in Merimbun Heritage Park. We have the Natural History section, Archeology and Ethnography sections. All three sections are closely related to each other in projecting the uniqueness of Merimbun Heritage Park.

The Natural History section is in the form of pictures from the wild. The Archeology section, this field emphasizes the historical background of the early settlements in the interior sites of Tutong District, mainly Pulau Jelundong and Pulau Labu-Labu. The Ethnography section, this field emphasizes on cultural and economic efforts of the villagers of Tasek Merimbun, whose livelihood traditionally depends on the food collected from the jungle.

With a maximum depth of 4 meters, the seasonally flooded Merimbun lakes and their surrounding marsh forests form the largest peat-swamp wildlife sanctuary in northern Borneo. In a survey of 4 of the 7,800 hectares of the park, no less than 800 varieties of plants were identified.

Although much of the park is yet to be fully studied, a rich diversity of fauna has already been reported, including 50 kinds of freshwater fish, 68 types of mammals, 148 varieties of birds, and hundreds of species of reptiles, amphibians and insects.

This exhibition also shows a type of red ape found in Tasek Merimbun, called Meragang. These Meragangs eat only young shoots, leaves and certain fruit. We display pictures of these Meragangs. They are so attractive in Tasek Merimbun, especially when you notice them in the morning, about 5:30 am; they are calling their group, making the sound “ko... ko... ko...” to invite other members of the group to collect food.

There are about 9, 10 or 13 members in a group. Here are examples of their pictures taken in Merimbun Heritage Park. has a variety of animals and it is also capable of sustaining the livelihood of these animals. We should be able to protect these animals and take care of them. Otherwise the animals would be growing lesser in number or even become extinct.

For conservation and research purposes, the park has been zoned into three distinct protected areas: a conservation area, a low-intensity visitor use area, and an intensive visitor use area. The first two categories are reserved only for education and research purposes. In addition, the national Wildlife Protection Act is in full effect along with a continuing public awareness campaign.

Besides this, we have to follow the rules per the instructions on the signboards that have been put up to protect the area. The data collected by researchers needs to be reported. And we’ll make this data as reference materials. These will be made available to people from overseas and those from within the country.

Conservation measures facilitate active scientific projects which generate important data about the ecosystem and its residential life forms.

This habitat, which has birds that fly around, is part of the research area. Research is currently being carried out by the Museum Department in Bang Dua area. The aggregate of our counting of the birds from 5:30 pm till 6:45 pm is about 1,000. We also have observations at about 6:45 pm on the Night Heron, also known as “uruk.”

Our research on the uruk is done in the area called Pulau Uruk over there. We will also do an observation on the Oriental Darter, also known as “nisan buaya.” Our count on the number of the birds in the research is about 70 plus. We carry out research on “banduk” too. The bird is known as the Purple Heron. Our research is carried out during the period when these birds lay eggs, starting from the month of October to February.

Before the official opening of Merimbun Heritage Park on May 27, 2000, the Museum Department had already started their research from 1982 to 1983. After the official opening, more and more researchers have shown their interest in Merimbun Heritage Park, such as those from overseas schools, and also people from within our country.

Studies on early human inhabitants in the Merimbun Lake area have also generated interesting findings.

We now see an island called Pulau Labi-Labi. And behind it we see Pulau Gayuh. In this area, we do archaeological research on the early inhabitants in this area and their influence. Among the findings here are pottery and some traces of wooden poles left in Tasek Merimbun.

The fertile land and abundant jungles have provided a source of livelihood to human inhabitants until the present day.

It’s said that a person called Imbun discovered this place that had plenty of food. He brought his family here and other people followed suit to build homes here. Over time, the lake and its surrounding areas were called Tasek Merimbun as a tribute to the founder, Imbun. It was later changed to Merimbun Heritage Park.

In the olden days, we worked on our own self-sufficiency; we didn’t have any other jobs, only planting paddy and tapioca. Every year, farm produce was used to feed ourselves.

We used to find all types of herbs from the jungle and brought them home. Children were left at home while adults went into the jungle to search for food. We followed the guidance left by our forefathers to find edible herbs, roots and other plants from the jungle while waiting for the ripening of the paddy. We tried to gather all the food from the jungle to last for about three months until the paddy ripened. Nowadays we have less need for this as our children are allowed to stay in town to continue their studies after six years of early studies here.

Whatever current farms that we have, we cultivate them for the residents who remain. Local villagers wish to cultivate the largest orchard that has white durians, yellow durians and so on. We’re used to the life by the Merimbun Lake. We still like the jungle in front of us which has been there since a long, long time ago until today.

For hundreds of years, villagers have lived in harmony with nature. Their creativity is reflected in the elegant handicrafts made with locally available materials.

We’re now in the ethnic research section, the Ethnography section, where heritages in Tasek Merimbun, such as handicrafts, are displayed. The handicrafts, like “takiding,” “saging Lembatung,” “saging Suangan,” “gandang sedaman” and baskets, are all found in Merimbun Heritage Park. These are handicraft products of the villagers in Tasek Merimbun.

The enchanting nature and rich cultural traditions make Tasek Merimbun an ideal destination of ecotourism. In fact, it has become one of the country’s main tourist attractions for wildlife watching and holidaying.

The view in Tasek Merimbun is changing. It’s now getting more beautiful with grass, a variety of flowers; even the lotus is now being grown. We like it, both young and old. We’ve lived here for generations and we’re grateful. Our hope is to be able to continue living here and to welcome the tourists who come to visit.

Hopefully Tasek Merimbun will have a bright future and be more prosperous with the increase in the number of tourists, not only people from Brunei but also those from other countries who come to see the natural beauty of Tasek Merimbun. We always wait for your visit because we’re proud to share with you our traditional heritage. Thank you.

Our sincere thanks, Mr. Untong bin Madah and Mr. Hj Ramlee Hj Shahdan, for your fascinating tour of the incredible Tasek Merimbun Heritage Park. May the Great Allah bless the gentle people of Brunei, your beautiful culture, and exquisite natural environment to continue to thrive evermore, immeasurably enriching our wondrous planet.

Gracious viewers, thank you for being with us today on Supreme Master Television’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms. Coming up next is Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living, after Noteworthy News. May your days be uplifted through your inner connection with the Divine.