ANWAR NOT BESTOWED AS HUGUAN SIOU

By : DATUK SERI WILFRED MOJILIP BUMBURING

THE CONTROVERSY over the use of sash with the inscription 'HUGUAN SIOU MALAYSIA' which was garlanded to Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim during his recent visit to Paginatan, Ranau is being blown out of proportion.

I was at the function myself and during the whole duration of the function, l never witnessed or saw any specifics ceremony connecting the wearing of the sash by Anwar Ibrahim and the alleged bestowment of the Huguan Siou title to him. I also never heard it being mentioned by Jonathan Yasin is his brief speech.

"However, I agree that the wording on the sash was quite inappropriate as the title refers to the Paramount Leader of the KadazandusunMurut,  Rungus and Kimaragang community who hail only one person as the Huguan Siou.

For all intent and purpose the particular Ketua Kampung may have been overly zealous in showing his support to the Opposition Leader and Dato Seri Anwar himself may not even been aware of the particular wording appearing on the sash that was given to him as the inscription was never cited in anyway during the entire function.

They could also been overly excited considering no national leader from Kuala Lumpur have ever visited Kg. Paginatan prior to this.

Being a former Secretary-General and later Deputy President  of KDCA, and currently serving as a Member of the Board of Trustees of KDCA, I fully understand the institution of the Office of the Huguan Siou and the procedures it involved when conferring the title which must only bestowed on someone who is an examplary and renown leader of the community that are represented in the KDCA constitution.

In this context, I agreed that the bestowment of the title to any other person without the consent from the elders representing all the KDM community would render it an insult to the community at large.

Along these lines, if the term Huguan Siou Malaysia which was used by the  organiser to mean someone who is a great leader of Malaysia, then it does not relate directly to the KDM community as a whole who used the term Huguan Siou to refer to their Paramount Leader.

However,  I trust that the PKR leadership in Ranau would offer an explanation with regards to this whole episode.