My exposure to their culture
intensified as I began to mix around with more and more KadazanDusun friends after I became a member of the Catholic Students’ Society and ultimately I
lived my life with them under one roof for almost four years. I have to admit
that the Sabahan Christians, unlike their Sarawakian counterparts, were very
staunch and dedicated believers who had strong ties with each other and also
with the local church authority. They were so vocal in expressing their ideas
and the bond between them reached an exceptional level. I really saluted their
kinship spirit!
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| The Nunuk Ragang Monument near Ranau, Sabah. |
As a matter of fact, I
learned a lot from them; from the “sumazau/sumayau” dance, traditional food and
beverages such as “tapai”, ‘tuhau’, ‘bambangan’, ‘lihing’, ‘bahar’ and more. Hahaha…don’t
ask me if I ever tried any of the listed above…you won’t be able to say “NO” to any of the Sabahans if they
offered you a glass of “tapai” for you to take a sip. It was still far from
mastering the language itself but anyway, a good introduction. Something is
better than nothing, isn’t it?? Sabahans are definitely Sarawakians best pal
since the dawn of Malaysian formation, so it is not a strange thing to find
them working closely to each other. It is a very common thing, especially in
the Peninsular where these two races become minuscule. Moreover, both races can
be found in quite a large number in industrial cities where most of them earn
their living by working in the factories. In fact, they are much open-minded
and their religious toleration is an exceptional example to their Peninsular
counterparts. It is not a new thing if you find a Dusun family that consists of
both Christian and Muslim members living under one roof. Well, this is truly
the spirit of unity practiced long before we were introduced to the 1Malaysia
concept.
 |
| The beautiful belles from four of the many KadazanDusun tribes in Sabah |
I was explained by one of my
housemates the reason
why they would prefer to speak in Sabahan Malay
instead
of their native KadazanDusun language. One of
the reasons was because they were
so used to be
that way. It was not only practiced in their family
but also in
their community; despite the absence of any other non-KadazanDusun tribes in
their area. The older generation is very fluent but when it comes to the
younger ones, the problems started to arise. They started to mix around with
other races as they started to leave their homeland to the greener pastures.
They started to interact in Malay and as a result, the younger generation
forgot their own roots and becoming assimilated with the urban environment.
This is not something strange since all cultures around the world are suffering
the same fate despite with a different degree.
 |
| The descendants of the Nunuk Ragang in their trademark costume |
I shared with my housemates
that the scenario won’t happen to the Ibans since the inability to speak in our
native language was considered as a humiliation and definitely the ones who
will be blamed first are their parents. Yes, it is true that there are a small
number of educated Ibans who are suffering from inferiority complex;
acknowledging that the Western culture is superior to their own and as they are
afraid to expose themselves as coming from a race that is considered by the
former as “uncivilized, barbaric and living their lives like cavemen”. Far from
truth, the Ibans are one of the well-studied people by the Westerners; from the
Rajah Brooke’s era where the Christian missionaries paved their way to spread
the message of God’s salvation to the savage tribes of Sarawak to late 1960’s
right before the formation of Malaysian Federation. Together with the other
tribes that experienced the same encounters with the British colonials such as
the Zulus and Maoris, the Iban culture is not something new to the eye of the
Commonwealth countries since numerous records and studies had been carried out
by both local and foreign professionals.
(The story doesn't here, though....see you again in my next entry!)
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