BUJANG SENANG

The single most infamous man eating crocodile was a giant that terrorized
the Lupar River in Sarawak, Borneo. His name was Bujang Senang. The name
means happy bachelor. So the story goes he was one a much-feared
human warrior who had never been defeated in battle. His wife betrayed him
to his foes who ambushed and beheaded him. His spirit became a huge
crocodile that haunted the Lupar River.
The first attack that grabbed the headlines occurred 26th June 1982. Bangan
Anak Pali and his brother Kebir had gone fishing for shrimp. Banang had just
been appointed a tribal chief. The 26th began as a happy day for him. At one
point a banded kingfisher had flown across their path. In Sarawak this is
considered a bad omen, much like a black cat crossing your path. But
Bangan was not a superstitious man and the pair continued their trip.
The catch was poor and not wanting to return to the longhouse emptyhanded Bangan climbed out of his boat and waded into the water to get
closer to the shrimps. His last words to his brother were Name utanibaka
batang, whats thatit feels like a log?
It was not a log. Kebir said there was a thundering sound and the river
exploded. His brother vanished. What little was left of him was found five
days later. His death caused an outcry. Bangan was a popular man. His
ancestors fought alongside Charles Brooke, the White Raja who purged the
area of headhunters in the 1850s and 1860s. The newspapers ran the
headline Bujang Senang Terror and a ten year reign of terror began.
The authorities tried to capture the huge beast by bringing in teams of
sharpshooters, professional crocodile hunters, and Pawangs, Malaysian

maintains. One pawing claimed to have harpooned Bujang Senang but the
giant reptile had dragged his boat against the current and dislodged the
spear. A six inch hook baited with a dead monkey but their quarry ate the
primate and left the steel hook twisted straight. Even a hand grenade inside
a dead duck was tried but Bujang Senang was having none of it. In another
encounter two grenades were hurled at the crocodile but he escaped
unscathed.
The killer avoided them all. But one thing did emerge from the hunt.
Witnesses claimed that Bujang Senang had distinctive white markings on his
back. Like Moby Dick, the crocodile soon gained an air of legend about it.
But people become complacent. Bujang Senang seemed to have vanished
and life began to gradually return to normal. On September the 27, at a
place not far from the first attack, Badong Anak Apong, 51 was out gathering
shrimps. A massive object rammed his boat tossing him into the water. The
object was none other than Bujang Senang. Badong was seized and thrashed
about like a rag doll. Horrified on lookers ran to fetch hunters with rifles from
a local longhouse. They estimated the crocodile to be some twenty-five feet
long. All of them saw the distinctive white back. They perused the killer and
fired at it from a range of only ten feet. Despite flinching the crocodile did
not seem harmed and submerged taking the body with it.
Soon after a local farmer Bah Jukin bin Tapaling offered a reward of 300,000
rupees for anyone who could kill Bujang Senang but the monster had done
his disappearing trick again.
Five years later on February 29th 1989 he struck again. 57-year-old farmer
Berain Anak Tungging was repairing his boat in shallow water. Bujang Senang
rose from the river and grabbed him about the waist. The sole witness Pandi

Anak Lia was only thirty feet away from him. He heard the victim cry out
Help me Im dying before he was dragged off.
Some people came forward and claimed that the white backed crocodile had
been around and killing for at least thirty years. Tuah Anak Tunchun a 70year-old man said that a crocodile with the same distinctive markings killed
his brother Inch Anak Tunchun in 1962. Others said that Bujang Senangs first
victim was an Iban woman killed around 1960. No one could recall her name.
A second Iban called Lindang was killed shortly afterwards. Since 1960
fourteen people had been killed by crocodiles along the Lupar River. Could
they all have been the work of one rogue?
On May 21st 1992 thirty year old Dayang Anak Bayang and her elderly
parents were returning to their farm after visiting a longhouse. They usually
waded across a small tributary but it was high tide and the stream was deep.
Her parents decided to wait for low tide but Dayang was impatient and
decided to wade across. She crossed once and seeing that the water came
up to her chest and no higher, returned for her mother. She did not know
that a huge crocodile lay submerged in the water. As she led her mother
across
It lunged out of the water and grabbed her. Dayang`s mother beat the reptile
with a tree branch but it would not leg go. Her father screamed for help and
several farmers raced to the scene. One shot at the crocodile three times but
missed.
Dayang`s brother Enie Anak Bayang was fishing downriver when he was
informed of the attack. He grabbed a shotgun and paddled to the spot. He
saw the crocodile and shot at it twice but did it no harm.
By noon an armed posse of twenty-five were in pursuit of Bujang Senang.
They suspected he had taken his victims body to a deep pool along the river
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and stored it among the debris. They broke into two groups. The first kept
watch whilst the second erected a fence of wood and bamboo across the
lower portion of the river.
Enie found his sisters body among the debris at 12.15. At 12.30 the
crocodile returned to finish its meal. Enie shot at its head at point blank
range hitting the eye. Thrashing wildly the monster submerged. As it dived
another man hurled a spear that lodged in its back.
As the tide began to ebb the villagers followed the killer upstream the spear
shaft showing above the water. They peppered it with more shots. It reached
the fence and smashed through. However a little way along a large tree had
fallen across the river and become stuck in the mud blocking the reptiles
way. One man ran ahead and shot at the crocodiles head and neck forcing it
to turn about and go back the way it had come. More spears were hurled but
they bounced off. Bujang Senag became enraged and reared out of the water
roaring, jaws agape Enie and two friends raised their guns and fired
simultaneously into the crocodiles mouth. Thrashing in a mad frenzy it bit at
floating wood and other flotsam and jetsam. Finally it sank its fangs into a
tree trunk and expired. The man-eating career of Bujang Senang was over.
It took four hours to haul him ashore. His length had been overestimated. At
19 feet 3 inches and weighing over a ton he was big but certainly no record
holder. This species, Indo-Pacific crocodile, can grow to over 28 feet long and
weigh well over two tons. The scales on his back were indeed oddly pale. But
legends die hard. Many said that the white backed crocodile was not the true
Bujang Senang. One man claimed to have seen a black crocodile 35 feet long
emerge from the river shortly after Berain Anak Tungging was killed in 1989.
Another man said he saw the same creature in the area when Dayang was
killed. Many feared that the black giant would start a new killing spree in

revenge for its smaller kin. An anonymous person wrote to the Sarawak
Administrative Office stating
Bujang Senang cannot by killed by a bullet. Only God can determine his
death.