Saritu, 31 haribulan lima taun 2008 jam 2 pagi.

Aku baru ka ngejang mulai kediri ke menua landai.
Pengaga ati enda ulih dikira, ketegal ke udah lama ninggal ke menua
Asai ka bisi nyawa ti nelai, pulai meh nuan enggau ngintu Gawai
Asai ke bisi munyi sada nyawa, ngangau ngasuh ngabas menua.

Ho…………. Ha… Ho………….. Ha…. Ho………………. Ha….
Sa,.. Dua,.. Tiga,… Empat,.. Lima,.. Enam,.. Tuuuu…juh.

Sapa ke nganggau, sapa ke mesau,
Nyawa tak taong 2x…..munyi Gong Senuyong anak Sultan,
Sada tak tala 2x… bedidit ke langit ngilah bulan,
Kanggau tak talau 2x… munyi guruh Guntur deka ujan.

Nadai..ditanya… nadai dipeda,
Nadai ditelah,… nadai dipadah…
Tu aku ke diau di tengah tasik mit pangka pasang,
Ti diau di tasik besai gilik gelombang.
Minta tulong,… minta pandong…
Minta sah… minta tuah,….
Minta peda…. minta ditela…

To be continue after Gawai

Sape

The sape is a traditional lute of many of the Orang Ulu or "upriver people", who live in the longhouses that line the rivers of Central Borneo. Sapes are carved from a single bole of wood, with many modern instruments reaching over a metre in length.

Initially the sape was a fairly limited instrument with two strings and only three frets. Its use was restricted to a form of ritualistic music to induce trance. In the last century, the sape gradually became a social instrument to accompany dances or as a form of entertainment. Today, three, four or five-string instruments are used, with a range of more than three octaves.

Technically, the sape is a relatively simple instrument, with one string carrying the melody and the accompanying strings as rhythmic drones. In practice, the music is quite complex, with many ornamentations and thematic variations. There are two common modes, one for the men's longhouse dance and the other for the woman's longhouse dance. There also is a third rarely used mode. Sape music is usually inspired by dreams and there are over 35 traditional pieces with many variations. The overall repertoire is slowly increasing.

Sapes are still being made in Borneo, and modern innovations like electric sapes are
common.

How Mount Kinabalu was named

As written by Joseph Yabai in The Borneo Post

This article discusses the relevance of Owen Rutter’s attribution of the naming of Mount Kinabalu to the native language in 1922.

It was written so that people can appreciate that South East Asia’s fourth highest peak was named by the native tongues of Sabah

During British rule in Sabah, under the auspices of the British North Borneo Chartered Company, they interacted quite well with the natives and saw the great need for education, which was necessary to emancipate the local population from general illiteracy, bad superstitions and the fear of the unknown

Two well-known British authors of the time were Owen Rutter and Charles Bruce. The former wrote the book The Pagans of North Borneo and the latter Twenty Years in North Borneo.

One of the most glaring differences in their views can be seen in their theories on the naming of Mount Kinabalu

Bruce simply attributed it to the name of a Chinese (Kina) widow (Balu).
Rutter, supported by some knowledge of anthropology, attributed its naming to the sound of the native language and an understanding of the phonology of the mative language.

Rutter out rightly rejected Bruce’s assumption, saying it was a nonsensical name to be given to such a mountain.

According to Rutter, the name had no connection at all with how the natives perceived the mountain. He strengthened his judgment by illustrating it with a vivid example of logical thinking, that if the natives could name even very insignificant things, how much more would they do for a majestic, sacred and awe-inspiring mountain.

According to Rutter, who was an anthropologist, the word Ki-na-balu was made up of three morphemes of which the two (ki and na) were the dependent morphemes
Ki means “there is” whilst na means “already”, balu means “place temporarily allocated for placing a dead person’s belongings”

There are many examples of native words that are prefixed by ki. For example, kitulu (there is a head), kimondou (there is a lion), or kitobu (there is suagr cane) and kituntul (there is a snail) The morphemes na prefixes many stem words like napatai (dead), naaba (fallen), naawi (finished), naakan (eaten) and naraag (damaged), to cite only a few.

The natives believed that the mountain was a dwelling place for the souls of their departed members of family.

Later on, some of them preferred to just call the mountain “nabalu” as a euphemism against mentioning all the time the prefix “ki” (there is). The euphemism was probably used because the natives believed in a cruel and merciless spirit who claimed to be the guardian of all living creatures. This spirit was said to punish them with illnesses if the chose to identify things by their real names.

Thus they used euphemized words to identify almost everything. For instance, a bride or bridegroom should never call his or her father and mother-in-law by their names but refer to them as wan.

So, it was Rutter’s great contribution to the native people of Sabah, when he attributed the naming of the mountain to the mative language and that the name should be unchangeable.

SELAMAT GAWAI DAYAK

The Gawai Dayak festival is celebrated yearly on 1 June in Sarawak, is both a religious and social festival. Gawaj means ritual or festival and Dayak is a collective name for the tribes of Iban, Bidayuh, Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit, Murut and more.

Tracing its roots back to as early as 1957, the Gawai Dayak festival was formally gazetted on 25 September, 1964 as a public holiday in place of Sarawak Day. The first official celebration being on 1 June, 1965, Gawai Dayak became a symbol of unity, aspiration and hope for the Dayak community and is an integral part of Dayak social life today.

Preparations for the festival begin early with brewing of tuak (rice wine) and traditional delicacies like penganan (cakes from rice flour, sugar and coconut milk). On Gawai eve, glutinous rice is roasted in bamboo known as ngelulun pulut. The celebration starts on the evening of 31 May with a ceremony called Muai Antu Rua (to cast away the spirit of greediness), signifying the noninterference of the spirit of bad luck in the celebrations.

Two children or men each dragging a chapan (winnowing basket) will pass each family's room in the Iban longhouse with each family throwing unwanted articles into the basket. The unwanted articles are then tossed to the ground from the end of the longhouse for the spirit of bad luck. Around 6pm, the offering ceremony known as miring will take place, with ritual music; gendang rayah being performed beforehand. The feast chief will thank the gods for the good harvest, ask for guidance, blessings and long life as he sacrifices a cockerel. Dinner will then be served, while everyone talks and mingles awaiting for midnight.

At the stroke of midnight, a gong is sounded and the tuai rumah will lead everyone in drinking the Ai Pengayu (tuak for long life) at the same time wishing each other 'long life, health and prosperity' ( gayu-guru, gerai- nyamai) . A procession to welcome the spirits known as Ngalu Petara ensues with a procession walking up and down the entire length of the longhouse. The celebration now gets merrier with dancing and traditional music being played. Others will recite pantun (poetry).

Other activities that may follow the next day include cock-fighting, blowpipe demonstrations and ngajat (dancing) competitions. On this day, the homes of the Dayaks will be open to visitors. In the longhouses, a practice called masu pengabang takes place where guests will be served with tuak by the host before they can enter the longhouse.

The Gawai Dayak festival may last up to several days, with visitors being welcomed to the homes of the Dayaks throughout the festival. It is also this time of year that many Dayak weddings take place, as it is rare for all members of the community to assemble at the longhouse at one time.

Source – Sarawak Tourist Board.


Well, 2008 Gawai is just around the corner, wished you all Selamat Gawai Dayak, Gayu guru, gerai nyamai, betuah belimpah nyambut taun ti datai…

Happy Birthday Sweet Heart

Happy birthday Joffanny, dad was very sorry for unable to be by your side on yours special day. Although not there, dad hopes you do enjoy your birthday party.

Well, you are 15 years old now, for the past 15 years, dad and mum always proud of you and to both of your sisters too. The best thing ever happen in our life was to have all 3 of you. It was a Blessing from God.

Anti-crossover law to safeguard political integrity

NEVER mind if it is the BN leaders or the opposition who want to introduce the anti-hop law in our system of democracy.

Never mind too if the BN leaders in the past were the ones who disliked the idea of such laws to prevent party-hopping by unscrupulous elected representatives who had no qualms about changing their political allegiance and loyalty overnight, to the extent that they succeeded in knocking it off, especially in the case of Sabah and Sarawak
Because of the nature and standards of some of our politicians who lack political convictions and who would not hesitate to trade their principles and ideas whenever it is convenient, they therefore tend to attach importance to ethics, principles, fairness and integrity.

Without the anti-hop law, politics would become adulterated and politicians are likely to become corrupt.

The anti-hop laws keep decency in politics and ensure the trust and mandate of the voters are not betrayed.

If you ask me for an opinion, party-hopping is immoral, unethical and unbecoming to begin with. It should be made a crime as it bothers on cheating.

For the other school of thought, if they think party-hopping is a democratic right of an elected representative, if he or she so chooses to change his mind about his party platform or the ideals and principles they stand for, then at least, the anti-hop law will have the effect of making them vacate their seat first.

By vacating the seat, it will allow an equally important democratic process to take place, that is, a by-election, and this gives the voters a chance to say if they agree or disagree with the jumping. That will be fair to all parties.

Frog politics is unhealthy and therefore is no good to a society that longs for integrity, quality of life and good governance.

Fear: Who fears what and who fears who…

By Anak Malaysia

IN a society with many ethnic groups practising different languages, cultures, beliefs and values, such as ours, distrust, fear, misunderstanding, conflicts and sometimes disagreements, are the order of the day.

Care, tolerance, mutual respect and diplomacy are elements we cannot do without as we go about in our daily life.

In Malaysia’s case, communities enjoy social peace and harmony but at times such a situation is an uneasy one. The precious social peace and tranquillity could easily be shattered by reckless utterances, statements and speeches, especially by the same politicians who prod their countrymen to value peace, talk peace and live in peace with one another.

I would hasten to add that the tongue is even more deadly than the sword or the keris.

So, we should all watch what we say. By the same token, words of kindness, cooperation and conciliation and acts of compassion, especially by community leaders towards one another are the surest safeguards. In other words, the existing harmony is not an optional luxury but a necessity as our Prime Minister told us.

At the recent Umno General Assembly, statements by several Umno leaders, this time, hardly provocative as compared to last year’s gather, sought to reassure wary non-Malays about racial and religious sentiments being expressed or raised.

Whether they did assuage or allay simmering fears and apprehensions among the non-Malays we do not know. All I can tell is that they were not that provocative to the extent where it could spell trouble.

We have laws on sedition, that clearly spell out incitement to hate etc and we should not hesitate to use it on anyone committing such an offence.Our leaders keep warning the people not to raise sensitive issues like race and religion and yet there were some who did just that at political meets.

The spirit of togetherness and co-existence cannot be traded for anything else in a land with many races, values, cultures and religions. Open houses attended by different races are not enough to guarantee us the continued peace we have unless we unhesitatingly rein in the politicians Ð whether it is Umno, MCA, MIC, PAS or opposition elements - who deliberately provoke, incite and cause trouble.We have said many times that we ought to preserve and enhance religious and cultural tolerance and understanding.

With such elements in our midst, then only would we able to protect our freedom and social stability that we treasure.There are many issues that need urgent attention and solution and there is no quick fix to them and solutions must be accepted by all parties.

Racial equality must not be confined to mere lip-services. We must be fair in all areas of our Malaysian life to include scholarships, job opportunities, promotions, etc.

Otherwise, many questions and doubts will remain.

Next political tsunami could be bigger if…

By BN Loyalist
THE political tsunami that swept Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan, drowning and sweeping away the once mighty Barisan Nasional state governments and several MPs, clearly stunned Malaysians who woke up the next morning to see their political landscape changed drastically.
Apa sudah jadi? (What happened?) — many a Malaysian and even politicians on both sides of the divide raced to ask themselves.
The BN was not really infallible as was said many a time but was finally proven to be so as voters overwhelmingly decided to swing to the opposition parties who were no better than the BN.

But why?

BN old-timers and heavyweights were shown the exit in the most ungracious and merciless manner, thus adding salt to injuries and bruises sustained in the electoral battle.

The magnitude of this BN election debacle was neither foreseen nor expected.
People power was evident in our democracy after it had happened elsewhere in the region. BN is now so badly bruised and one wonders if at all the damage inflicted on the coalition is reparable.

Khairy Jamaluddin, the Umno deputy Youth chief declared soon after the results were known that the BN would fight back. But the way I look at it, only two possible scenarios could develop from the stunning political development:

• The opposition parties especially PKR and DAP which now savour power in their hands, could screw up their rules along with PAS, and allow BN to regain and regroup and fight back successfully like what Khairy said, or
• The powerful presence of the opposition parties of PKR (once written off), DAP and PAS in five states and in the national parliament, could further erode the power base and support of the BN which could eventually deal an even bigger blow in the next round.

Factors that contributed to the massive BN losses were ethnic frustrations, a better organised opposition front, economic difficulties and general dissatisfac-tion with the administration which included the arrogant attitude of BN and Umno politicians.
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was not to be blamed solely. And, what about the Internet’s powerful influence on voters?

It is true the opposition parties were hardly featured in the mainstream media. It is an open secret. There is no need to deny this. Yet, by word of mouth and through the help of the Internet, they managed to get their messages across to the electorate. BN’s opponents had skilfully exploited the Internet.The outcome of the general election was worse than 1969’s. The blow was even more severe.

What can BN and especially Umno politicians learn from this disaster?

I hope to see an answer in the coming years. Or the political tsunami would be a bigger wave.