The Ida'an are an ethnic group of Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

, residing primarily in the Lahad Datu

Lahad Datu

Lahad Datu is a town and district located in Tawau Division, in the east of Sabah, eastern Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It occupies the peninsula on the north side of Darvel Bay. Its population was estimated to be around 118,000 in 1991 and 156,059 in the 2000 census. Lahad Datu is surrounded...

 districts on the east coast of Sabah

Sabah

Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...

, Malaysia. Their current population is estimated to be around 6,000 (1987 est), but it appears that they once inhabited a much larger area along the east Sabah coast than present. For centuries, the Ida’an have owned exclusive rights to the collection of edible bird's nests in the limestone caves of the region, notably the Madai Caves. Most Ida'an are Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

, but a small sub-group called the Bega'ak (Dusun Bagahak) (population 1,500 in 1987) have been converted to Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 recently, but some of them remains animist.