Kadazandusun: the largest family of Sabah

A wooden hall at Penampang, in May. Women in black velvet blouses and long skirts, gongs sounding, children learning a step of the sumazau dance from their aunts.

The story

The Kadazandusun are the largest native people of Sabah, and for centuries most were rice farmers. On the plains of Papar and Penampang they grew wet rice. In the hills around Ranau, Keningau and Tuaran, other communities farmed in their own ways. Rice was more than food. It shaped the calendar, the prayers and the songs.

The names have their own story. Missionary records from the 1880s use "Kadazan". People on the west coast around Papar adopted that name and did not like "Dusun". Colonial records, however, often still said Dusun. In 1953 the Kadazan Society of Penampang helped to fix the name Kadazan. In 1989 the Kadazan and Dusun cultural bodies joined, and "Kadazandusun" became the shared name. Today the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) speaks for 48 indigenous communities, and it was still discussing a shared identity at a dialogue planned for 2026. Many families still say Kadazan or Dusun for themselves. All are right.

Many Penampang Kadazan tell of Nunuk Ragang, a place thought to lie east of Ranau, as where their ancestors once gathered. This is a tradition, not a dated event.

About 568,000 people were counted as Kadazan or Dusun in 2010, according to the estimate quoted by Wikipedia. Most are Christian today, mainly Roman Catholic. Others follow older ways or Islam. Their adat (customary law) is recognised by the Native Court of Sabah.

Where you can still see it today

• Hongkod Koisaan, the KDCA hall in Penampang, the main place for visitors to see Kaamatan.
• Dress: Penampang women wear a sleeveless black blouse and ankle-length skirt for festivals. The headdress called sigah do bobohizan is worn by priestesses.
• Dance and gong music: the sumazau is the best known Kadazandusun dance.
• Rice: the paddy spirit, Bambazon, is still honoured every harvest.
• Language: Coastal Kadazan and the Dusun languages are still spoken at home.

What DNA can tell, and what it cannot

DNA studies show that Sabah natives, including the Kadazandusun, are close relatives of native peoples of Taiwan and the Philippines. The best guess is that their ancestors travelled with Austronesian speakers thousands of years ago. A mother line such as B4 can carry that deep Austronesian story.

DNA cannot tell you whether someone is Kadazan or Dusun, which community they belong to, or what religion or legal status they hold. Those come from family, community and law.