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TAN Sri Herman Luping contends that the Brunei nobles were responsible for introducing the term "Dusun" to describe the farming native tribes of Sabah (DE 11.08.09).I hope he's right. If we take northern Borneo alone it looks that way, for in Malay "Dusun" means "orchard" or "farm".

However, if we take Borneo as one entity, then, it does not seem the case.

There are Dayak sub-ethnics in Southern Borneo who are also called "Dusun", such as Dusun Witu, Dusun Malang and Dusun Pepas.

Did the Brunei nobles travel that far to give them their collective name, too?

The dominant ethnics who held sway in Southern and other parts of Kalimantan was the Banjarese who were actually animist Dayaks before they accepted Islam.

While the Banjar and the Brunei do share some similar vocabularies, I am sure the Banjar didn't need help from the Brunei nobles what to call the people in their own backyard.

I told that the Dusun Witu dialect shares many common words with the Penampang-Papar and Rungus dialects.

So, before we can be conclusive about the term "Dusun", much research needs to be done.