Borneo Reality - Sabahans and Sarawakian (the Borneans)

Over the last weekend, I had Aramai Ti drinking and BBQ session with a bunch of Borneo friends. Sarawakians and Sabahans. As always, in any borneo hosted aramai ti session, the presence of alcohol is compulsory.

As usual variety of Tapai, Tuak and Langkau were the main attractions, top it with a couple of Thai Songs.

No no, it's not a Thailand music rendition, neither did we have Thai Hot Chicks to sing them, though I wish we had, hehe.

"Thai Song" is a cheapskates brand of bottled whiskey, commonly available in local supermarkets in Petaling Jaya and its vicinity. You can get it from local stores at a price starting from RM16.99 to RM19.99 in Giant Supermaket.

Among us, the aramai ti herd, we fondly call "Thai Song" simply as "Tai Sung". The taste, color and textures are deceivingly similar to Jack Daniel, the famous bourbon whiskey.



If I were to put the Thai Song content into a Jack Daniel bottle, I bet only a handful of people will be able to identify the difference. True whiskey connoisseur like my friend, a seasoned drinking champion. Not to worry though, because it is guaranteed to make you drop "kalapik" in no time.

Back to the Aramai ti Session, as always it was great to catch up with Sabahans and Sarawakian friends. There's a special bonding between us Borneans, the spirit of comradeship, camaraderie and always good rapport between us.

We share almost identical history, we formed Malaysia in September 16th 1963 as equal partners together with Malaya and Singapore. Both Sabah and Sarawak indigenous people are descendants of headhunters, we enjoy good traditional wines, we are proud of our ancestors and most of all we share the same political aspirations and hatred too, it's particularly true among my fellow friends.

After having one glass too many, as we were clinging on to last remaining bit of soberness, the conversations eventualy unavoidably turned to politics. As dirty as politics are to some people, we Borneans will not run away from it, as Borneans we have a deep rooted sense of insecurity after so many years in Malaysia.

This is partly because of the inconspicuous social marginalization faced mostly by the Non Muslim Bumiputra in both states. Also, a prolong institutionalization of subtle religious persecutions (forced conversions, ketuanan melayu, etc). Those topics came out top in our flurry and lively discussions.

Often interrupted by our friend ("tukang suki") who's holding the cup filled to the brim with intoxicating beverage, going round and pestering everyone to drink.

Intermittently, if someone took too long and struggles to finish a cup. We would sing the infamous annoying song to force him to drink.

Apa guna c Anu (Anu bukan nama sebenar) (2x)
Aiiya Anu ah! you are useless lah (Anu not a real name) (2x)
Kalau tida pandai moginum
if you don't know how to drink

Apa guna c Anu (Anu bukan nama sebenar) (2x)
Aiiya Anu ah! you are useless lah (Anu not a real name) (2x)
Kalau tida pandai monigum
if you don't know how to drink

Kalau tida minum
If you don't drink
Bagus pulang saja
You better go home

Kalau tida minum
If you don't drink
Basar kemaluan
You have Big Genital

(Repeat the songs - until of course the person emptied the cup)
* The english version with a Manglish twist

I frequently end up on the receiving end, for being the slowest drinker among us. I agree that you should go home if you don't want to drink, but the Basar Kemaluan part would make lots of people refuse to drink, for the fun of it.

We talked about the current status of Sabah & Sarawak, whereby now, instead of being regarded as a partner, we are merely the 13th and 14th state in Malaysia. How the previous leaders violated the agreements made during the formation of Malaysia. The twenty points agreements put forward by Sabah has been harshly derided, to the point of mockery.

Tun Datu Mustapha and Datuk Harris Salleh are largely culpable in the significant derision of the agreements. Datuk Harris Salleh is famously known as the one who literally sold Labuan to the federal government, and the money used for his own lavish greeds, which consist of foreign mistresses and even private jets.

Religious persecutions were also committed by these two leaders, their inspiration is to make Sabah as a muslim dominant state. As part of their malayisation campaign, the Berjaya government, and Tun Mustapha before that, sponsored mass conversions to Islam among the groups in the interior areas.

They also actually encouraged the inflow of illegal immigrants, giving them Identity Cards and the right to vote in order to “win the census”. The immigrants are almost entirely Muslim.

All in all, the governments under Mustapha and Salleh claimed to have converted 56,112 people to Islam between 1970 and 1985. And with their incorporation into society, the Muslim groups of the state would be able to hold on to power.

Although it's hard to swallow, I will admit that previous Sabahan leaders were unbelievably stupid, they totally imposed sectarian racism as a way of life in Sabah.

I am not against any creed or religion, nor do I have any qualms if all Sabah leaders are muslims. For me, as long as they can do their work sincerely and govern fairly, I am fine with it.

Religion was certainly out of my equation in choosing a leader. But to exploit religion to hold on to power is utterly senseless, preposterous! And that exploitation by UMNO alone, over time had injected hatred in our hearts. It may not be long before the marginalized beginning to revolt. Subversion may be the last resort, but it is not impossible.

Nowadays, Kadazan Dusun are further divided into religions. Whenever any leader speaks about Sabahans, they will categorically call us as either Bumiputra Islam, Bumiputra Bukan Islam, and others.

I suppose you remember during general election in 1994, the one where PBS lost to Barisan Nasional, not by proper democracy, but by apparent purchase of the bloody ADUNs.

Clearly in all the 1994 electoral lists, they showed the divide according to religions. Bumiputra Bukan Islam 40%, Bumiputra Islam 39% and so on. I see this as an attempt to divide the racial composition in Sabah, also to impose Ketuanan Melayu into Sabah.

On the other hand, I envy Sarawak as compared to the current status in Sabah. Just look at Sarawak, they have more state autonomies than Sabah. For one, UMNO has not invaded them, that makes them politically more powerful. We Sabahans are different, our own leaders brought UMNO into Sabah, in the process, they also sold piece of our land.

Thanks to the stupidity of Datuk Harris Salleh, he was also the one who inked the unbalanced distribution of oil money with Petronas, granting the oil company a good 95%. Whereas Sabah will only get tiny 5% of the oil revenues. But I think in this aspect, Sarawak is also getting the same lopsided deal as we do.

In the 12th general election, Sabah and Sarawak became the saviour for the ruling coalition. If not because of us, Barisan Nasional would have been eliminated. BN lost considerably in the peninsula. While Sabah and Sarawak contributed immensely to the simple majority won by Barisan Nasional.

Borneans are not happy on many issues with the federal government. But why the landslide win for Barisan Nasional? Giving BN the win can only show one thing, we are indeed content with the federal government. Confusing isn't it?

But then it struck me, after so many years of BN reign. The fine line between Borneo for Borneans and federal government injustice have been erased. I mean, as villagers in rural kampung. They only care about quintessential needs in life, like sugar and salt, coffee and tea, rice and vegetables. When they have these basic needs fulfilled, then the current government is good enough.

To attempt to vote for opposition is just to risky. That's why BN got a huge victory in Sabah and Sarawak. As my Iban friend told me, In between burps and belches... "Anak sedara saya dapat biasiswa cukuplah, satu keluarga mereka memuja BN".

Now we are at a juncture, we can take the same route as before and continue to be oppressed. Or we can take this off the beaten track to a new political revival and engineer our own destiny. However gloomy the journey may be, there will be a silver lining on the horizon.

The choice is in our hands.