1894 INDONESIA - One national ID card for every citizen

The Kartu Tanda Penduduk, commonly KTP, is an Indonesian identity card (literally: Resident Identity Card). Since 2011, the Indonesian government has implemented E-KTP or KTP elektronik which contains microchip on the card. Thus, the electronic ID card applied in Indonesia is a combination of e-ID UID PRC and India, because the electronics are equipped with a biometric ID cards and chips. The man shown in the postcard compares the two ID cards, the old one and the new one.

0061, 1510, 1666 MALAYSIA (Sarawak) - Iban people

0061 - Ibans performing ngajat dance in a longhouse

Posted on 05.12.2011, 04.04.2015, 14.06.2015
The population of Borneo (the third largest island in the world, divided between Indonesia,  Malaysia, and  Brunei), totaling 20 million, mainly consists of Dayak ethnic groups, Malay, Banjar, Orang Ulu, Chinese and Kadazan-Dusun. Dayak is actually a generic term that designate six native clusters subdivided into approximately 450 sub-clusters, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture. One of the most important branch of the Dayak are the Ibans, or Sea Dayak, located in Sarawak, Brunei, a small portion in Sabah and West Kalimantan.

1501 - An Iban with his grandson

In the past, the Dayak practiced the headhunting, and the Ibans were pioneers of this custom, but after conversion to Christianity the practice was banned and disappeared, only to resurface in WWII (against the Japanese) and in the late 90s, when Dayak attacked Madurese emigrants. The Ibans live in longhouses (rumah panjai), a massive communal structures usually located along a terraced river bank (there are over 4,500 longhouses only in Sarawak).

1666 - Iban people in tradition clothes

They might reach up to 12m in height and to hundreds of metres in lenght, at times bringing more than 100 families under one roof, and affording safety from attacks during times of warfare. A traditional longhouse is built of axe-hewn timber, tied with creeper fibre, roofed with leaf thatch. Inside, the families live in separate apartments arranged along a central corridor (ruai), which serves as a communal area. Lack of class distinction favors this way of life. Or maybe vice versa? Anyway, in nowadays many have abandoned this system in favour of individual houses.

1244, 1478 BRUNEI - Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque

1244 - Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque

Posted on 24.09.2014 and 07.03.2015
Built on an artificial lagoon on the banks of the river Brunei, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque dominates not only so-called village in the water, Kampong Ayer, but even the skyline of  Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the sultanat. The mosque initially seems more attraction than place of worship. However, this could not be farthest from the truth, and the grandiose mosque was in fact designed solely for prayer to Allah. Completed in 1958 and named after Omar Ali Saifuddien III, the 28th Sultan of Brunei who also initiated its construction, the mosque serves as a symbol of the Islamic faith in Brunei, the official religion of the state. Formally, the freedom of religion is guaranteed, but more recently the Sultan has announced strict penalties for those who leave Islam.

1478 - Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque

The mosque, the largest in the Far East, is an example of modern Islamic architecture, uniting Mughal architecture and Italian styles. The design was done by A.O.Coltman of the firm Booty and Edwards Chartered Architects, who were based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at that time. It has marble minarets and domes covered in pure gold, a courtyard and is surrounded by a large number of trees and floral gardens. A bridge reaches across the lagoon to Kampong Ayer in the middle of the river. Another marble bridge leads to a structure in the lagoon meant as a replica of a 16th Century Sultan Bolkiah Mahligai Barge. The barge itself was completed in 1967 to commemorate the 1,400th anniversary of Nuzul Al-Quran (coming down of the Quran) and was used to stage the Quran reading competitions.

0502 MALAYSIA (Sabah) - Kinabalu Park (UNESCO WHS)

A long time ago, a Chinese prince was cast away to Borneo when his ship sank, and was rescued by the natives. When he recovered, he become one of the people of the village and married a local woman. After some years, he started to feel homesick, so asked the permission from his newly family to visit his parents. In China he was very welcomed, but his parents told him that he was betrothed to a princess of a neighbouring kingdom. Having no choice, he obeyed with a heavy heart. Meanwhile, his wife waiting him with baited breath, and, because the village was situated far away from the coast, she climb to the highest mountain nearby at every sunrise, to see the ships sailing in the South China Sea. After a while, she fell ill and died waiting. The mountain's spirit, impressed by her loyalty, turned her into a stone which face the South China Sea, to could wait forever her husband's return. Also impressed, the people decided to name the mountain Kinabalu (Cina Balu means "A Chinese Widow").

0256 INDONESIA (Kalimantan) - "If has the short ears mean he’s a monkey"

About the Dayak (or Dyak) people, from Borneo, I wrote here, only that then I insisted on Ibans, the most important branch of this ethnic group. This time, the postcard is from Indonesia, which hold approximately 73% of Borneo's  territory, divided into four provinces: West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and East Kalimantan.