The competition was renamed to Miss Borneo Beautiful (instead of Miss Dayak Sarawak) after drawing much protests from Dayak leaders. Pic credit: The Borneo Post OnlineThe Borneo Post dated 16 October 2009 (pg. 22) quoted Peter Minos, the Kumang organiser, as saying that the organisers of the renamed Miss Borneo Beautiful Pageant should still meet and seek advice from Dayak leaders even though they have dropped the word “Dayak” from the pageant.
Prior to the name change, Minos had said the organisers should have gotten approval from Alfred Jabu to use the word ‘Dayak’ in the name of the pageant.
According to Minos, Jabu is the authority on Dayak matters due to his position as Dayak Cultural Foundation chairman and chief advisor of state and national level Gawai Dayak celebrations.
“Even people in Kuala Lumpur get advice from Jabu on Dayak matters. We already have Kumang Dayak pageants for most beautiful Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu ladies. So why duplicate?” he said.
Almost all Dayak leaders including Dayak politicians quickly came out and condemned the organisers of the proposed Miss Dayak Borneo beauty pageant for being insensitive to the feelings of the Dayak people.
Some months back, these Dayak leaders and politicians made a big row over the use of the word ‘chawat’ or loincloth used by Abdul Hadi, PAS president to describe the mentality of those who voted for Barisan Nasional in the Lubok Antu by-election.
It appears that these leaders treat these petty issues very seriously as if “life and death” are involved. What “maruah” (dignity) is there left when the livelihood of the Dayaks is threatened, when they live in poverty and misery after their most valuable possessions are being taken away, when many have become beggars.
Hundreds and thousands of hectares of NCR land are taken away by force through the process of legal means. These lands are sold to big towkays, leaving the NCR land owners with nothing. Not only the land owners will suffer, but their generations to come will also become landless and will continue to bear the burden of poverty and other social ills. Their future is grim. It will not be a surprise if one day, the Dayaks will become ‘kampar’ or foreigners in their own land and ‘temuai’ or visitors in their own house.
These are the issues our political leaders should fight for and should defend; these are the issues that they should condemn the powers that be as they (powers that be) are slowly strangling the life out of our people rather than criticising other people on issues of ‘chawat’ and Miss Dayak Borneo beauty pageant. - The Broken Shield
Source: http://www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com/
Prior to the name change, Minos had said the organisers should have gotten approval from Alfred Jabu to use the word ‘Dayak’ in the name of the pageant.
According to Minos, Jabu is the authority on Dayak matters due to his position as Dayak Cultural Foundation chairman and chief advisor of state and national level Gawai Dayak celebrations.
“Even people in Kuala Lumpur get advice from Jabu on Dayak matters. We already have Kumang Dayak pageants for most beautiful Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu ladies. So why duplicate?” he said.
Almost all Dayak leaders including Dayak politicians quickly came out and condemned the organisers of the proposed Miss Dayak Borneo beauty pageant for being insensitive to the feelings of the Dayak people.
Some months back, these Dayak leaders and politicians made a big row over the use of the word ‘chawat’ or loincloth used by Abdul Hadi, PAS president to describe the mentality of those who voted for Barisan Nasional in the Lubok Antu by-election.
It appears that these leaders treat these petty issues very seriously as if “life and death” are involved. What “maruah” (dignity) is there left when the livelihood of the Dayaks is threatened, when they live in poverty and misery after their most valuable possessions are being taken away, when many have become beggars.
Hundreds and thousands of hectares of NCR land are taken away by force through the process of legal means. These lands are sold to big towkays, leaving the NCR land owners with nothing. Not only the land owners will suffer, but their generations to come will also become landless and will continue to bear the burden of poverty and other social ills. Their future is grim. It will not be a surprise if one day, the Dayaks will become ‘kampar’ or foreigners in their own land and ‘temuai’ or visitors in their own house.
These are the issues our political leaders should fight for and should defend; these are the issues that they should condemn the powers that be as they (powers that be) are slowly strangling the life out of our people rather than criticising other people on issues of ‘chawat’ and Miss Dayak Borneo beauty pageant. - The Broken Shield
Source: http://www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com/
