KOTA KINABALU: Harvest Festival month is but newly over for the Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) community, but the question of unity still lingers in the minds of the people and their leaders.
More than 30 years ago, the KDM leaders banded together to chart the future of the community, envisioning the full participation of the people in all aspects of the nation’s development.
Today, the leaders view the community as the original people of the land but they have not reached the hoped-for levels, mostly because many still live in rural areas.
“What I would like to see one day is our people running the government, participating in businesses, education, security, coming up with good ideas and enjoying the fruits of development and taking care of their cultural heritage.
“This is the Kadazan dream,” said Jeffrey Kitingan, one of the leaders who started the movement in the 1980s. He has since been named the Lundu Mirongod Huguan Siou, or the “Thinking Paramount Leader”.
Recalling the early days of the movement, Kitingan said several forums were held among the KDM leaders to discuss the future of the community. He himself presented a paper called “The Future of KDM Community”.
He said the dream was refined into a workable vision, with the leaders successfully defining the path towards that vision.
“But the moment we defined it, we were scattered. We were divided into different political channels. That is the reality,” he said.
But Kitingan, who now leads the opposition Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku, still holds on to the dream that one day, that vision could be put into action.
The problem, he said, is that there is a “symptom of armchair warriors” among the leaders.
“There are many concerned professional KDM who talk a lot. They like to talk a lot, but they don’t do as much as they should.
“They argue a lot in WhatsApp groups. They complain a lot. That is not enough for planning. They have to solve the problems themselves. They cannot be depending on others,” he said.
He added that many leaders care little about the needs of the community.
He urged KDM leaders to help raise the community to be on par with the rest of the world and in control of their own future.
“I want to see a future where this community enjoys the fruits of their effort. There is entrepreneurship and they feel safe.”
Kitingan said the dream, which came about during the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) rule, could not then materialise because the environment was not right.
At that time, he said, the federal government had not accepted the PBS government and had tried to make life difficult for them.
He said KDM leaders were accused of being anti-federal, with he himself detained for trying to defend Sabah’s rights.
“Now, after 30 years, the same prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is back. Hopefully, the environment will be better and the situation that we faced 30 years ago will no longer be there.
“I have met him and he said he wants to treat Sabah as an equal partner. This seems to be a departure from what he used to do, and that has given me some hope, some space for us to work on to ensure that we reactivate the dream. We hope that one day, we will get there,” he said.
For the moment, Kitingan said, the KDM leaders must be united, if not politically, then at least culturally through the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA).
He said he cannot stop KDM leaders from choosing sides politically but implored them to set aside their political differences and let KDCA accommodate each of the groups in its supreme council.
“KDCA is our mother. We are all the children. We all have our own lives but we still must come home and tell our mother what we have done, our contributions to the community, the family. This is where we come home and share.
“Even though we have different political views, we still hold one vision and we still must work together.”
He also noted a growing awareness of the need for unity among the KDM community, thanks to advancements in technology.
He said this had helped solve the past problem where the people were isolated and leaders worked in silos.
Once unity is achieved, Kitingan is eyeing a bigger community which will include all the Dayak tribes in Borneo under the Borneo Dayak Forum.
“We have made great strides. We now have a permanent representative in the United Nations. Things are moving more quickly now.
“The dream, which before this was half-dead, is now reactivated,” he said.
Source : FMT by Tracy Patrick
Indie Borneo 