‘Dayak’ now officially a ‘race’ on gov’t forms

No longer 'lain-lain' as Federal Cabinet approves additional item for racial grouping

KUALA LUMPUR: The Dayak communities of Borneo have received official recognition as a “race” on government forms, with an additional item to be added to the current groups of nationalities.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Joseph Entulu Belaun, made the announcement in Kuching yesterday, according to the Borneo Post.

He said the decision was taken by the Federal Cabinet at its meeting in Putrajaya on Friday.

Earlier this month, Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem had urged the three main Sarawak communities of Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu to ignore the “Lain-lain” category and to state their ethnicities next to “Bumiputera” on government forms.

Government forms now provide for “Malay”, “Chinese”, “Indian” and “Others” (“Lain-lain”) as nationality groupings, which in political speech has become synonymous for “race” even though the Indian sub-continent comprises many different ethnic groups.

“Dayak” will now be added to the list, to cater for the many non-Malay bumiputera native tribes and ethnic communities who have hitherto been forced to categorise themselves as “Others”.

Entulu said yesterday: “I would like to announce that the Federal Cabinet has unanimously approved the word Dayak to be included in all government official forms. Now, the word Dayak will be printed on all official forms. Government forms will have ‘Melayu’, ‘Cina’, ‘India’, ‘Dayak’ and ‘lain-lain’ for other minority races other than the major races,” the Borneo Post reported.

Dayak activists and political parties have long pressed for one Dayak ethnic category, “because for generations we are people of the land” according to Dayak Bidayuh National Association supreme council member Joseph Jindy.

Sarawak Dayak National Union president William Mawan Ikom welcomed the decision, calling it  “timely and apt.”

“In Peninsular Malaysia, the term Bumiputera refers to the Malays and Orang Asli,” he was quoted as saying. “In Sarawak, the term Bumiputera refers to the status of the Dayak community comprising many races and ethnic groups, so that they are entitled to some privileges or special rights.”

State minister for social development, Mawan Ikom, said he had always found the term “lain-lain”, as a reference to Dayaks, to be degrading.

“The term Dayak refers to people – be it a race or a group of races. For the term to be used on government forms in the future would help in enhancing Dayak pride and dignity,” he said

The assistant state minister of Native Adat and Penan Affairs, John Sikie Tayai, lamented that it had taken so long for “Dayak” to be recognised. “It should have been added long ago,” he said.

Dayak is a loose term for over 200 ethnic subgroups mostly in the interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture. Coastal populations such as the Melanau in Sarawak are regarded to be more Malay, while the Bajau of Sabah are regarded as part of the Moro ethnic group.