Friday, July 8, 2016

KADAZAN: My People, My Race

This blog is an explanation of the Theme of the Blog "Kadazan: Tuhun Ku, Tinau Ku".

This blog tries to explain who these people calling themselves "Kadazan" are. This name refers specifically to the native people who live within the region between Penampang-Nosoob and Papar.

This name is combined with "Dusun" to give a general meaning that refers to all Kadazan and Dusun people.

In the past, the British colonialists named these people "Dusun" after the Brunei "orang dusun" which means people of the orchards. Official (British) documents stated that the people who live within the said region were "Dusun". But these people continued to call themeselves as "Kadazan". Owen Rutter made this very clear in his 1929 book.

Kadazan was used in Radio Sabah broadcast starting 1956. The problem seemed to be that the Kadazan personnel at Radio Sabah failed to take the Kadazan Language to a higher level. There was a reason for this. There were very few educated Kadazans at that time, what more having college education. The colonial government had little interest in helping to develop the language because of the perception that there would be little financial return. The British Chartered Company was established for one and one purpose only. Commercial gains!

Disunity seems to dog Kadazandusuns. To prevent disunity from getting worse, the people agreed on the group name "Kadazandusun"  which comprise of both Kadazans and Dusuns. This classification include more than thirty tribal groups including the Paitanic tribes.

Now, a ripple is threatening to divide them. Again! May those involved ask who will gain from disunity among themselves. Those who belong to groups other than Kadazan and Dusun should refrain from interfering in the affairs of Kadazan-Dusun.

This blog will say more on this and other matters in future.


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