Phelan, Richard

• Phelan, Peter R

Peter R. Phelan, born Richard Phelan in 1934 In Kilmacow, Kilkenny County in Ireland, became Brother Peter in the La Salle Order in 1950 and came to Sabah in 1963. A teacher in various schools throughout his career in Sabah, and principal of St Martin's Secondary School in Tambunan during 1978-87, he has many sustained interests in the indigenous cultures of this fascinating slate of Malaysia once known as British North Borneo. He is one of Sabah's resident authorities on a number of cultural subjects. He is also a keen observer of the system of native law found in Sabah Author of a number of articles on various aspects of Sabah's cultures and a book entitled Traditional Stone and Wood Monuments of Sabah Centre for Borneo Studies, 1997), he was given the 1980 Barwis-Holliday Award for Far Eastern Studies by the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland for his essay on the Bobohizan priesthood system in Sabah. He spent some 15 years at Tanjung Aru near Kota Kinabalu. then lived about 10 years in Tambunan and lived in the Nabawan area since 1990. He died in 2010.