Part Two: The Journey Continues: I Fell in Love with the KADUS culture

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!

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!)

SAYING HELLO TO OUR NEXT-OF-KIN, THE KADAZANDUSUNS

Chapter 1: An Introduction to the *KadazanDusun Culture and Language

( Disclaimer: *The ideas represented here are fully based on the blogger’s personal knowledge and experience and are not related to the particular interests of any groups, race or religion. Readers are advised to use their own judgment and discernment while reading any parts of the article).

Hello again to my followers (if any)..hahaha! I know that long wait finally comes to fruition when I compiled my experiences into a short, descriptive post here. Well, guys, sorry for making you all waiting a tree stump since I was so engrossed with my daily routines as a school teacher. I’ve been in a hiatus mode for most of the year 2014 but it doesn’t means that I am shutting down myself in the real world. For most people, blogging is just another way to spend their free time rather than a life-generating source of income. A big thank you to all of my followers out there, especially to my totally unexpected visitors from the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Germany and even right from my own soil; Malaysia.  Right, here it is…for those of you who have read my previous posts, I am absolutely sure that most of those posts are related to my numero-uno passion- Feng Shui! Some of you might get sick with my Feng Shui stories despite the interest of some who really would like to discover for themselves the uniqueness of this esoteric art. 

Okay, okay, enough with the Feng Shui terms! What am I going to tell you now is not about my vacation or my new love experience; despite the long school holidays. I would like to share my experience in learning one of the most alluring languages I ever learnt; the KadazanDusun language (or some might prefer it as either the Kadazan or Dusun language, since they considered these two languages are two separate entities that share many linguistic similarities). My experience might be few, but I really hope that there will be those who are learnt in this field contribute their expertise in improving my linguistic abilities. As a matter of fact, I am an Iban and honestly saying, I am not a linguist or an anthropologist who have expertise in conducting researches. So, please don’t get it too serious if any of the information included here is inaccurate or totally irrelevant. By the way, this blog is not for academics purpose. PLEASE TAKE NOTE..AGAIN..! 

The KadazanDusun priestess are called "bobolian/bobohizan". Like other cultures that believe in the supernatural, these "bobolians" connect the spiritual realm with the mortal world.

Epilogue: How It All Started

During my university days, I lived with a sort of three to four KadazanDusun housemates; all of them were males. You might expect that I was first introduced to this language by learning it from them but wait, you’re wrong! Ironically, they came from different dialects groups of the same language and they NEVER communicate in their own respective dialects! ( well, I never had such difficulties in speaking the Iban languages despite the different dialects which share almost 90% similarities, which does not impede casual conversation). They used the Sabahan Malay, some sort of an informal Malay dialect which is spoken throughout Sabah; regardless of the ethnicities. According to them, there might be similarities but different vocabulary and grammar rules that would make a normal conversation turns difficult. Some of them only used the language during conversation with their close family members while others never used the language at all.

The KadazanDusuns are very well-known for their fondness to music, merry-making and lots...and lots of dancing!

I am still wondering why I always have a chance to meet a KadazanDusun friend wherever I am. Since leaving my hometown in Sarawak, I always had encounters with numerous new friends which happened to be always Sabahans. Perhaps it was related to my past-lives karma. Perhaps I was one of their ancestors’ close acquaintances, who know. My first encounter with the Sabahan native was during my pre-university days. One was a Lotud Dusun (hailed from Tuaran) and the other is a Muslim Sungai (the Sungai dialect is a Dusunic language; despite its unintelligibility with the rest of the Dusun dialects…hmmm..that’s interesting!!). I still remembered that my Sungai ex-floor mate whom I still recalled as ‘Yok’ from Kinabatangan (I don’t know his real name…unfortunately I lost contact with him and never had a chance to meet him after my graduation) gave me a simple answer when I asked “I never heard how the Sungai people speak, can you please give me one word in your native language??”. The Sungai pal simply answered, “It’s more or less like the Dusun language; for instance both languages refer to water as “waig”.” I did not further my question since we were running out of time; well as like the rest of other pre-university students during that time, we were more interested with our books rather than with our room mates. Honestly, my exposure to the KadazanDusun language and culture was almost zero, since I knew nothing other than “Sumazau”, Mount Kinabalu and “Jambatan Tamparuli” song…LOL!!! (to be continued...)

Mount Kinabalu is the most prominent feature that can be seen even from the bustling capital, Kota Kinabalu