Mother's Nature was inspired by the story of Pulau Labi-labi, an island in the middle of Tasek Merimbun lake.

Legend has it that there was once a Dusun family living in Tasek Merimbun, who had a little boy named Malau. One night, Malau asked his father to get him the moon. Knowing that the little boy's request was an impossible one, Malau's father asked his son to ask for something else instead - but night after night, Malau continued to ask his father for the moon.

Not wishing to disappoint his son, Malau's father decided to build a bamboo tower using bamboo trees he had cut down from the forest. After asking his son to wait patiently for his return, Malau's father then climbed up the bamboo tower to get Malau the moon. As he climbed higher and higher, Malau's father disappeared behind the clouds.

Days passed, Malau continued to wait for his father by the bamboo tower, yet there was no sign of him.

Unbeknownst to his family, Malau's father had fallen from the bamboo tower into the sea. When a turtle appeared before him and offered to carry him back home, Malau's father climbed onto the turtle's back. With Malau's father on his back, the turtle began to swim towards Tutong River.

As the turtle approached Tasek Merimbun from Tutong River, they passed by a huge tree with a trunk that spanned the width of the entire lake. This tree was called Kayu Yadu and would bleed when it was hacked or cut down.

When the turtle reached Tasek Merimbun vilage, the villagers were surprised to see a turtle in the lake (which they had never witnessed before), and even more so when they found Malau's father hanging on its back. Malau and his mother were overjoyed to be reunited with his father. It was said that Malau's father had been away for six months.

As the turtle swam back towards Tutong River from Tasek Merimbun, it discovered that the trunk of the Yadu tree was obstructing its way. Try as it might, the turtle could not swim past the Yadu trunk back towards the sea. Frustrated, the turtle swam to the middle of Tasek Merimbun and turned its body over, forming Pulau Labi-Labi as we know it today.

Whenever you visit Tasek Merimbun, you can see where Pulau Labi-Labi lays to this very day, with its head pointing towards Tutong River.

Telling nature's stories through filmmaking

Brunei's First Conservation Short Films 🍃 🎬

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