Dayaks Want All Of Borneo, Mamaks Should Claim Penang, Kedah, Bagan Serai, Taiping, Kelantan Jadi Kelate ??

Here is a very interesting video. It is from the Indonesian side of Kalimantan. Those of you who are 10 years old (very young blog readers?) please deposit this video somewhere inside your memory for the next 40 or 50 years. This is obviously a big issue and can go seriously wrong if it is not dealt with properly. It can lead to the break up of Indonesia say 40 or 50 years down the road.

This is a very powerful statement by these young men and it will certainly attract the interests of ALL the Dayak people on the entire island of Borneo (Sarawak, Sabah, Kalimantan).  There is no Sedition Act in Indonesia (the Indons are so much more superior in many aspects) hence these young folks will not be prevented from saying what they want to say.

Borneo is actually the anglicisation of "Brunei".  The Brunei that we have today is just the vestige of something that was once much larger.  Brunei was a local "empire" that stretched all over Borneo into Palawan and Mindanao in the Philippines. 

Obviously from what the young man is saying Dayak is a generic term   that refers all the inhabitants of Borneo (the Iban, Kelabit, Bidayuh, Rungus, the Dusun, Kadazan and numerous others - saya minta maaf tidak sebut semua kaum).

In their appearances, the people of the Borneo are among the most beautiful human beings on Allah's green earth. Especially the ladies. 

And their nature is lembut - or gentle - perhaps more than the folks who inhabit Terengganu.

Why are these Dayak youngsters from the Indonesian side demanding now that the entire island of Borneo (Kalimantan)  become the sole preserve of the Dayak people? 

I believe it has to do with Jokowi wanting to build a new Indonesian capital in Kalimantan. Plus the issue of land titles. 

Here let me digress. Among the numerous good things that the British brought with them and introduced all over the world is the scientific system of surveying land and issuing land titles to capture ownership of the land.  The word "title" is indeed tied closely to land. In England "titled nobility" refers the gentry and the aristocrats  who were knighted ('Sir') or made peers of the realm ('Lord'), or Earls (who administered lands on behalf of the king) etc.  Land was the common denominator.

The British introduced the more scientific system of surveying and granting titles over land. I believe this system was the single most important event in the development and "building up' of modern Malaya and now Malaysia.

Once the land was surveyed and undisputable  titles issued, only then could other things follow through like the proper laying out of towns, cities, roads, zoning, various classifications of land use, freehold, leasehold etc. This is why Peninsula Malaysia, particularly the West Coast states (negeri Pantai Barat) have seen and are still seeing such rapid development. Lets thank the British for this.

Without a proper survey of lands and without a proper system of creating land ownership titles a country will face much problems to progress.  I believe that until today only about 1/3 or more of the land area in Sarawak has been surveyed and issued land titles.  The same may hold for Sabah.  

Much of the land disputes in Sarawak today (among the Dayak peoples) are because there are no titles to prove scientific claim or ownership of lands.  And (horror or horros) land ownership is not by individual persons but the land belongs to the "long house" community.  It is a very tribal identity.  

The system has become more modernised now but in the interior regions of Sarawak things are pretty much the same. No titles and no proper claim to ownership of land.

Hence the constant battle with the timber companies in Sarawak. Timber companies do not have title to anything. They just want to cut down the trees for lumber. 

Now lets cross the border into Indonesian Kalimantan. I believe the land situation is a lot worse over there.  And Jokowi's plan to build a new Indonesian capital can only mean one thing - land disputes. For certainly the new capital will be built on tens and hundreds of thousands of acres of land that may not even have been fully surveyed or have title deeds. But the land has to belong to someone. That would be the native peoples of Kalimantan ie the Dayaks.

The Dayaks can feel they are going to be marginalised on their own land - again. 

The difference is the Dayaks of today do go to school and to university. They are also lawyers and technocrats who know just as much about things as the next clever fellow.  Not only do they know their rights but they know how to go about safeguarding their rights. All over the world people are growing up or have grown up. (A very large number seem to be going the other way - they are becoming immature and childish. Wa alaikum salam.)

The ultimate safeguard is of course to manage your own affairs. 

To run your own country. 

And I believe this is the beginning that we see happening in this video above. 

Like the Kurdish people who are spread over Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria the Dayaks are spread over Sabah, Sarawak and Indonesian Kalimantan. As time passes and the Dayaks become more developed and modernised they will coalesce and yearn for a Dayak homeland. That shall be the great island of Borneo or Kalimantan.  Republik Dayak Borneo or just Republik Dayak. 

Despite the 21st century the Scots want to be independent of the UK. Wales might follow too, eventually.  Castille and the Basques want to be free of Spain, Belgium already exists in two parts.  Balochistan and Sindh will break from Pakistan in due time.

In modern history only the United States of America takes in more territory. Now they even have to keep out new territories from formally joining the United States (Guam, Puerto Rico,  the Marshall Islands, the Philippines ?? etc). 

Nation building is a process and the Americans have created a feeling of inclusiveness - (after wiping out the Native Americans). About 200 years ago Texas fought a war with the United States. Now the people of Texas are the most patriotic Americans on the planet. And the Americans have not stopped taking in people from all over the world.

If Malaysia is not going to lose Sarawak and Sabah and if Indonesia is not going to lose Borneo / Kalimantan there has to be a very strong feeling of inclusiveness among all their people.  And you cannot tell the native people 'Ok I will include you'. That is kurang ajar. They are the native people. There must be due regard for their presence.  

(In Kelantan the official position by the State government is that the Orang Asli have no rights to the native lands in Kelantan because (among other things) the Orang Asli do not possess any land titles.)

Can the mamaks claim Pulo Pinang? And Kedah? I don't think so. Just kidding ok. But in Malaysia if there is any such thing as a mamak homeland it has to be Penang. Followed  by Kedah.  

The Kedah / Penang Malay dialect is spoken from Perlis, down through Kedah, all of Penang (mainland and the island) and south past Bagan Serai into Taiping. Here they say aiyyaq (for air or water).  Pasiaq for pasir or sand.

Along the banks of the Sungai Perak from Grik down past Kuala Kangsar the language is what I call the bahasa sungai variety (pelat atau dialek Perak Tengah).  They say aiyyor for water and pasiyor for pasir or sand. 

Other examples of dialek Perak Tengah are kome (kamu), ape kabor (apa khabar), khobo (kerbau), blajo (belajar), nyor (kelapa), cer cite (cuba cerita).

So its a wonderful world. Full of so much variety and things to do. Languages we can learn and people we can get to know. And things to be done.