History of Alutok Village, Ulu Tomani
The history of Alutok Village has its origins in stories from our
ancestors of a time long ago where only the Tomani River area was known
as a place for hunting and fishing. Anybody who went hunting or fishing
will surely have a bountiful harvest because at that time the river and
forest was still himbaan (virgin forest). At that time, many people came to
hunt or fish from all over the place such as Telokoson, Pangulobon,
Bakuku and Mahunsop.
One day, while fishing, a few people found a very deep pool which
had a stone in the middle. They found that the water that flowed from the
stone was always murky even though it had not rain. In our language,
murky water is known as alutok. They tried to find the source of the
murkiness but could not find anything. From that incident, the story of the
stone that produced alutok water spread and many people came to see
that stone.
Until one day, the community that always went hunting in that area
found that the area was very suitable for agriculture, especially paddy.
They made the decision to settle in that area and named it Alutok Village.
The population of Alutok Village came from Anampui Village, Ulu Padas,
Sipitang; Tolokoson Village; Kundai Village; Salalir Village; and Sungai
Tahol Village, Pensiangan. We started settling down in Alutok in the 1940s
and to this day, we have been here for three generations.
12 | PRACTICES OF THE MURUT TAHOL IN ALUTOK, ULU TOMANI