ONI WAT...

Oni wat ya kasig si odop to? Hi and good day everyone. I'm a day late for my deadline to submit my weekly material, but it was mostly because I was divided about the things I wanted to talk about. Really, a lot of things do happen on a day to day basis and that’s a lot of input to digest. But I think I’ve found a knock out topic yesterday. I’m about to share with you guys the story of an Iban longhouse that is literally on the brink of annihilation. Somewhere out there in Ulu Niah, a 60 door longhouse has been issued an eviction letter. They have been ordered to move out of their homes before 26 th June 2012 and that was last Tuesday. The longhouse I’m talking about is called Rumah Sigan (previously it was Rumah Umpol) and the reason for their huge predicament is that a local conglomerate called WTK was able to somehow magically change these people’s land from a native communal land into a state land. If there was any kind of magic that I’d like to learn…it is ...

Oni wat ya nai skia bogo dam? If there was any agenda that's been really hyped about in recent months for Sarawak, it has definitely got to be this particular dam project, which is; The Baram Dam. Now why am I relating my longtime dissent with The Borneo Post newspaper with this particular dam?  Take a look at this article: Committee Wants Baram Dam Scrapped by  Cecilia Sman, reporters@theborneopost.com . Posted on  May 6, 2012, Sunday LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE’S VOICE: (Back row from second left) Peter and Philip joined by others in holding a peaceful demonstration concerning Baram Dam at the venue where a closed door meeting was held for the project. MIRI:  The Baram Protection Action Committee is appealing to both the state and federal governments to scrap the proposed Baram hydroelectric dam project.  Its chairman Philip Jau claimed that the majority of the people from 26 villages affected by the project opposed it.  “Only certain...

Oni wat otto doik kamang sina Dayak to? I found this article and I didn't know if I should feel glad or sad. From one perception, having UNESCO make the initiative to save the Bidayuh language is pretty depressing. It's implying that we ourselves are not really doing a good enough job to save it. On the bright side, with UNESCO identifying that our language needs to be saved, it does show that the Bidayuh language is at a level worth saving and that it is better to start preserving it now before we lose it altogether. I know for sure that the DBNA has started an initiative to create a Bidayuh pre-school. Here, the kids are  provided Bidayuh reading material and teachers who educate children in Bidayuh, with Malay and English a secondary language. So at least, there's tangible efforts being made by our own community. But I think we need to the extra mile on this issue, otherwise..we may be the last generation that even speak the language. Quite frightening when yo...

Oni wat otto lobih ningak koyuh de kurang bikait duoh otto? During Gawai, I have to admit that I had great time at home. Even though, strangely; I didn’t really go all out on Gawai visits this year. It was mainly due the lack of transportation (because I usually ‘fly’ back) at home but I nevertheless had a wonderful time. I’m on of those Bidayuh who go off to other places to work and is married to a non-Gawai celebrating wife. So in so many ways, how I celebrate Gawai now seems more towards spending more time at home with my family. To most of my friends, I really apologize for not being able to visit you guys this year. Maybe next year, as long as I can keep tab of whose and whose house to go to and not to forget the possibility of acquiring some mode of transport. The northern hemisphere is experiencing summer which usually means two things: Closure of all European domestic football leagues and Champions League Some sort of summer sporting event goes on So,...

Oni wat blog oku tih obuoh togan tian tian tih? Wow, I can't believe that I have left this blog for almost half a year. I wonder if anyone ever wondered where I've been. I haven't been anywhere really, just been in Miri, and then just recently I went back to Bau for the Gawai celebrations. Meet up with a couple of friends but most important of all spent some quality time with my family back home. Truthfully, a lot of things did happen, but I just didn't have that desire to write about them. I did try to write, but every time I face my blog page's post section..I just didn't know what I wanted to write about. Talk about a writer's block. Really, this one was worse, I didn't even felt like I wanted to read...or even look at words. It must be a sort of disorder that happens when you try to squeeze your brain in the search for ideas. Afterwards, when I leave the blog page, I suddenly felt like I had so many things to talk and write about. Things abo...