NAJIB RAZAK, the Prime
Minister, of course has been reading Insight Sabah (Kaamatan speaks for
1Malaysia). He says he is touched by the way Sabahans and Sarawakians celebrate
their Kaamatan rice harvest festival that exemplifies his 1Malaysia unity
policy.
And he tells peninsular
Malaysians to learn from the Borneo states on how to live with one another in
peace and harmony. But the indigenous Kadazandusuns and Muruts who make up
about a fifth of Sabah’s 3.2m people have more reasons to rejoice. Najib is giving
them a college of higher learning which will use their language to teach and a
royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into illegal immigrants in their state that
they have long wanted.
The prime minister has
indeed struck a happy cord with Sabahans. Education and political well-being
are at their heart ever since the late Fuad (Donald) Stephen and a group of
educated natives used the Kaamatan to galvanize the Kadazandusuns and Muruts
into a formidable political force.
They now control eight of
the 25 parliamentary constituencies and 16 of 60 state seats. So they have been
crucial in helping the Barisan Nasional coalition of 13 parties stay in power.
The dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno) has 13 parliamentary
seats in Sabah. Ethnic Chinese control four. In the state assembly, ethnic
Chinese have 11 seats and Umno 33.
The Kaamatan has thus become
more than a spiritual or cultural celebration that honours god Kinoingan’s
sacrifice of his only daughter Huminodun in the field to grow rice to feed his
people so that they would survive a famine and never lack food.
It was Fuad, their first
Huguan Siou or paramount leader, who turned the Kaamatan into what it is today.
Joseph Pairin Kitingan, 71, a deputy chief minister, inherited Fuad’s mantel 36
years ago and has remained their undisputed supreme leader. He has never lost
an election since he first won his state seat of Tambunan in 1976.
It is Pairin who mooted the
RCI when he was a minister in the Berjaya government of Harris Salleh because
he was concerned with an influx of illegal immigrants from the southern
Philippines and Indonesia in the 1970s.
BEAUTY.....Melinda
Louis is the new Unduk Ngadau (beauty queen). She is flanked by Fenny Doimis
(left) who is second and Meryl Paladius.
His sober, serious and sensitive
demeanour has won him respect and influence and, since his party joined the BN
in 2002, federal leaders who count Najib and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin have
been giving him a hearing.
Insight Sabah was the first
to report last November 4 that Najib was likely to set up the RCI after Pairin
pleaded ardently for it at the 26th congress of his Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS)
on October 30.
And Kuala Lumpur has yielded
to his request to set up a Kadazandusun and Murut college. Details are still
skimpy but Najib will launch it at Kaingaran in Tambunan, the native heartland
about 60km (37.5 miles) from Kota Kinabalu, on June 17. It is expected to offer
courses in agriculture and animal husbandry and use the widely spoken Bundu
Liwan dialect to teach.
On June 16 Najib is expected
to grace the national Kaamatan celebration in Keningau, a little further away
from Tambunan. This is his first visit to the Sabah interior and he will
retrace the steps of his late father, Razak Hussein, in 1962 that will take him
back probably to the roots of the Malaysian nation at Rumah Besar, the house of
the late Sedomon Gunsanad, a politically influential native chief. It was there
that Razak, then deputy prime minister, convinced the natives of Malaysia.
While in Keningau, Najib
will launch an integrated livestock centre in Sook. A project of the Sabah
development corridor, it is expected to get investments of 763m ringgit ($240m)
in hybrid beef and dairy cattle that will transform the area into a vibrant
economic hub.
Najib who will be
accompanied by his wife Rosmah will also open a Sabah handicraft centre in
Keningau.
Officials say the national
Kaamatan celebration is likely to attract about 15,000 people. Hotels are all
booked. And Najib will get a rousing welcome from 3,000 school children to the
beat of 50 traditional gongs (brass drums). (Insight Sabah)
Pesta Kaamatan 1Malaysia diharap dapat menjadi salah satu cara untuk menyatukan rakyat berbilang kaum. Pasti akan lebih meriah lagi.
ReplyDeletesemangat 1Malaysia telah wujud lama di Sabah, masyarakat Sabah mmg bersatu padu sejak dulu lagi.
DeleteSabah has always practiced the spirit of 1 Malaysia since the beginning, I am proud of my state and people for able to live together in peace although we are all different.
ReplyDeleteSabahans must continue to unite and live together in harmony.
ReplyDeleteFestival yang mendapat sambutan di Kenigau baru-baru ini.
ReplyDeletePemimpin perlulah memahami bahawa mereka adalah pemikul amanah kerajaan untuk membantu dan menjaga kepentingan rakyat
DeletePairin has mooted for RCI since 1970s!
ReplyDeletePairin said the water supply project to Tanjung Aru has already reached 87% completion.
ReplyDeletekalau bukan kerana kesungguhan kerajaan negeri dalam mempromosikan budaya di negeri ini dan kalau bukan kerana Pairin yang bertungkus lumus menaikkan martabat suku KDM negeri ini, orang luar tidak akan tahu apa itu pesta menuai atau pesta kaamatan..
ReplyDelete