According to Bernard Sellato, (French anthropologue) “autochthonous people of Borneo  (now referred to as Dayak) are believed to have begun arriving from regions further north several millennia ago. These Austronesian’ peoples were of Mongoloid origin and their languages were part of the Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family.

They are believed to have brought to Borneo a variety of cultural novelties,including rice agriculture – a date for the earliest known occurrence of rice in Borneo is 2500 B.C.
The name Dayak, generally carrying the meaning of ‘upriver (people)’, is commonly used by outsiders  to refer to non-Muslim tribal.”

(SOURCE: Bernard Sellato.© Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 2007)