ONI WAT...

Oni wat nasib tana otto wat tih bih? Once upon a time there was an area in Bau that was alienated by the government as a proposed new regional growth centre. Having established that plan in motion, the rakyat of the area were aware that their priceless NCR land was about to be taken from them. So these vigilant Dayaks unanimously decided, “Hey! We’re gonna fight this! Huuraah!!! Idip Dayak!!!” And so they did, they wrote letters, made petitions, met up with waibi’s and also government officials to stand up for their rights (From here onwards, you are encouraged to listen to Bob Marley’s Stand Up For Your Rights). In the end, their efforts didn’t go to waste. The land status for that particular area…was left frozen and it was kept  frozen for nearly 2 decades until it was unfrozen last year. During the time upon which the land status was in limbo, the Dayaks there planted various crops on that land, cultivating them and some started to build their new homes there. For them, the...

Oni wat 'perlu' ogik Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia? Sometime before Christmas last year, I was hanging out at the office pantry during lunch hour and the topic of BR1M brought up the following conversation. Take note that ‘BR1M’ has been commonly pronounced as ‘brim’ even though it’s obvious that there’s no letter ‘I’ in the acronym. Evil Colleague: Hey, you guys filled up the BR1M form yet? Naïve Colleague: No…my household income is already more than RM 3,000.00. Evil Colleague: Hey, man it doesn’t matter la, free money ma…just fill in the form. Naïve Colleague: Why? It wouldn’t matter coz I’m not even eligible la. Evil Colleague: Alaa…don’t put your wife punya name in there. Just you and your kids. Naïve Colleague: What? That’s cheating la. Evil Colleague: So what? Look, you got 4 kids right? You take 2 as your tanggungan . Naïve Colleague: Ok… Evil Colleague: Then your wife fills in one more form for her and the other 2. Naïve Colleague: I don’t know man…it’s kind of ...

Oni wat ya perlu ogik azam ba'uh? Finally, I've got the mood to write something after so many months of silence. Well, the second half of every year is not always the most conducive time for me. There are things like budget prep, annual reports, annual meetings, appraisal and a whole lot of other crazy things that need to be done before the year end.  Before I start, I have to say Happy New Year 2012 to everyone out there, although it's almost a month overdue. Nevertheless, the New Year 'ambience' is still there...what with the Chinese New Year celebrated a week ago. Although I've never really posted things on my blog, I have been busy being a busybody in the Bidayuh Daily Issues facebook page. A lot of stuff is being highlighted and debated there so I think it is quite an interesting space for Bidayuhs all over the world to look into what's going on in the world of the Bidayuh. Since it's the New Year, I'd like to share a little story about resol...