Dayaks of Malaysia and Indonesia seek informal seat in the UN

The Borneo Dayak Forum says such representation can give the Dayak people a voice on the world stage and help protect and preserve their ways, while contributing to cultural tourism.

KOTA KINABALU: The Borneo Dayak Forum (BDF), an international organisation for indigenous people of Borneo, is seeking an informal seat in the United Nations (UN), said its chairman Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.

He believes having such a privilege would provide the Dayak people of Borneo the necessary platform to highlight their issues to the world and ensure the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia, both signatories to the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous People (UNDRIP), adhere to the resolutions.

“At the moment, we have someone inside the UN and we are already in talks with the government of Indonesia to allow us to do this. The Malaysian government is also aware of this.

“We are seeking to have the seat in the UN Economic and Social Council but I can confidently say that we are already half way there.

“I think both the Indonesian and Malaysian governments will be supportive of us, after all they have signed the UNDRIP. So I am confident they will recognise us and walk alongside us as we pursue this,” he told FMT.

Jeffrey said when he started BDF about seven years ago, the indigenous people in Sabah were not too keen on the term “Dayak” because they preferred to identify themselves based on their respective tribal names.

However, now, he said, the trend had changed, thanks to the people’s increased awareness of the importance of creating a united people under the “Dayak Nation” that crossed political borders.

“They know, if we only concentrate in Sabah, we will be slowly overwhelmed by outsiders. We will be Malayanised. We need a big group so we can stand together and be strong,” he said.

He pointed out that despite their different nationalities, all the Dayak people in Borneo shared common identities and, thus, had the right to self-determination.

This meant, he said, the Dayak people could determine their own future and how they wanted to manage their lives, including living independently on the land such as how the Australian aborigines were living.

He said the Dayak Nation could govern themselves according to their existing customs and culture, irrespective of their political borders.

“I envision a nation of people based on their customs and traditions. As owners of the land, we should be given the right to decide what to do with the land because we are the first people of the land.

“We have the means to do this because the system and the infrastructure are already there. We already have a working and fully-functioning Native Court system,” he said.

Furthermore, the Dayak people are all related with one another and have families in all three regions of Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan.

Instead of having to go through red tape to travel and see their families, Jeffrey said the BDF was looking for ways to convince the two governments to allow these people to travel using special passes.

“Governments should not stop us from seeing our families. We should have the right of movement on our land,” he said.

To celebrate the Dayak culture and to strengthen the relationship between the people from all three regions, BDF organises the Borneo Heritage Festival in all three regions, showcasing the cultures of different tribes under the Dayak umbrella.

Last year, the festival was held in Penampang, Sabah, and Jeffrey said Kuching would host the next event, this year.

“We are working hard to promote this festival. I admit it has not gained much publicity but as time goes by, we believe this will be one of the most important festivals for the Dayak people on this island,” he said.

He said other than promoting the culture and customs of the Dayak people, the movement would also promote the whole Borneo Island as a cultural tourism destination.

Cultural tourism, he said, had a huge economic potential that remained untapped.

“For example, our traditional sports, our martial arts can be promoted worldwide. Tourism will provide employment to the indigenous people and help them economically. This will be good for the Dayak people,” he said. -FMT