Our “GAWAI” remind us of our co-existence that we are Natives (indigenous peoples) of Borneo Island (Orang asal tanah nusantara kepulauan Borneo).
Why wasn’t it known as “Gawai Bumiputra” or “Gawai Others” or “Gawai Lain-Lain” or “Gawai Native” or “Gawai Hari Raya” or “Gawai Christmas” or “Gawai Depavali” or “Gawai Gong Xi Fa Cai” in the first place?
• Our Gawai is our Dayak celebration (marking the New Year of our harvesting festival).
• Our Gawai is our culture.
• Our Gawai is our entity.
• Our Gawai is our way of life.
• Our Gawai is our language.
• Our Gawai is customary rights.
• Our Gawai is our Native Borneo festival.
• Our Gawai is our Adat and/or “Native Law”.
• Our Gawai is our calendar.
• Our Gawai is our past, presence and future.
• Our Gawai is our “Native Borneo Intellectual Property”.
An important aspect of the “Gawai Dayak” culture is obviously the Native Dayaks’ adat, tradition, music, costume, dance, miring ritual, spiritual belief and celebration. Our “Gawai” show our presence and co-existence while our “Adat” show our way of life.
Through it all, we Dayaks have remained a deeply spiritual people that have struggled to preserve and protect our Adat law, culture, language, way of life, and way of thinking. We have an incredibly rich heritage of traditions, customs, beliefs, art, music and stories.
We have kept the flame of our Gawai culture alive through times when it was in constant danger of being extinguished and/or through plausible denial assimilation of Non-Native policies, customs, religions and beliefs.
Dayaks are the earliest inhabitants of the Borneo Island before the establishment of the Brooke kingdoms and/or Malayan kingdoms.
In Sarawak, Dayaks are not the minority peoples of Borneo. The Dayaks are theoretically classified as “Bumiputras” (under the Malayan ‘Bumiputra Policy’), a status signifying indigenity to Malaysia which carries certain social, economic, and political rights, along with the Malays of Peninsula Malaya. Both ethno-labels; “Bumiputera” and “Dayak” imply indigeneity; Malays are classified as “Bumiputeras” but not as Dayaks?
Dayaks are not entitled more rights than the Malays even though they were natives to the land comparing to Native Americans in the US, Maoris in New Zealand, and Aboriginals in Australia, and other indigenous peoples of the world.
Somehow, thanks to our elders and ancestors who kept it flickering, the flame is burning brighter and brighter every year.
It will soon be a blaze that will eventually outshine and outlive societies with shallower roots, a weaker notion of who they are and why they are here, and a lesser sense of obligation to the natural world, their community, and to each other.
In the 19th century, many of Dayaks have embraced monotheistic religions such as Christianity and some converted to Islam as “Saudara Baru” following some active state-sponsored evangelism by Christian missionaries, and dakwah by Muslims while some minority still remain as pagans, but that doesn’t conflict with our ancient sense of spirituality and the supernatural beliefs.
Being Christian myself to celebrate “Gawai Dayak Festival”, I believe it is presumably “OK” and welcomed as it clearly acknowledge that I was born as a human known as “Dayak” (my skin tell me that I am not an “Orang Putih” and my mother-language tell me that I am not a “Malay”, “Chinese”, “Indian”, “Arab”, “Jew”, etc) but not to worship two Gods; because Christian’s God is a very jealous God!
Notes: Dayaks are not “Westerners” nor they are “Malayans”; Dayaks are natives, indigenous peoples of “Borneo Islanders”.
Preserving our “Gawai” is also protecting and defending our “Adat” and “Culture” which is our ancestral way of life, and it has not been easy. Since the Europeans (British/Dutch) came to Borneo and Sarawak through Malaysia independence, Ibans, like all Natives of Borneo, have had to fend off non-stop attacks on our way of life; “Throw away our Native pesaka, pengaruh, etc”, “Drop the word Dayak”, “Surrendered our Native courts”, culminating with the official government policy of assimilation.
The assumptions behind this misguided, paternal policy was that the “Western” and the “Malaya” ways of life were best and therefore Dayaks should stop being “Dayak” and start living, acting, and thinking like “Whites” and “Bumiputras”. In other words: become civilized like them, and Natives will be happier and better off.
So it was ignorance and a false sense of superiority, more so than malice that caused high-minded, both the Europeans and the more advanced Malayans to make policies;
1. Dayaks should not have their own private school/higher learning institution; “Sekolah Bantuan Dayak” or “Sarawak Dayak College”.
2. Dayaks should be assimilated under “Bumiputras” (‘sons of the soil’).
3. Dayaks are “bangsa lain-lain” (others – technically means “Non-Malaysian” or “Non-Malayan” or “Non-Sarawakian” or “Non-Bornean”); ‘Foreigners’ born within their ancestral homeland and soil?
4. Dayaks radio broadcasting should be limited, monitored and controlled (wonder where is “Berita Iban”, “Berita Bidayuh”, “Berita Orang Ulu”?).
5. Dayaks knowledge and language have been systematically silenced by both the Colonial British and the new Malayan colonist (Dayak language disappearance is under threat by socio-political, manifested primarily via language policy, language indoctrination through education, repression and pressure to use the official and national language over local languages, which has been and continues to be the case in the Bahasa Malaysia context).
6. Drop the word “Dayak” legally means Native will lose their identity and entity forever. Why not drop “Malay”, “Chinese” and/or “Indian” altogether?
7. Systematically divide and rule Dayaks; “Sea Dayak”, Land Dayak” and “Orang Ulu”. Why not name the Natives as “Dayaks” like the Malays, Chinese and Indians? We are already living in a civilize society.
In addition, it was also the ‘ignorance’ because these policies too have overlooked two immutable facts:
First: There never was anything intrinsically superior about the “civilized” lifestyle and worldview to begin with. Dayaks lived prosperously and successfully for hundreds of years without ever making for themselves the problems Europeans/ Malayans made in far less time: genocide, disease, nonstop policies of authoritarian, systematic land alienation, systematic state powers and legislatives transfer, assimilation and religion, wholesale pollution of the earth, rigid class systems that disregard intellect and merit and trap vast segments of humanity in poverty and virtual slavery (low wage labor), political systems that oppress and leech upon all but the privileged few, science and learning whose main aim is to advance military technology or further an ideology, and a general view that man, not the natural world, is why the universe exists.
Second: For a thousand other reasons, Dayaks are Natives. Dayaks like being Dayaks. Dayaks want to be Dayaks. Dayaks will always fight to remain Dayaks. They are not “others” (foreigners) nor are they “bumiputras”. The word “Dayak” or “Dyak” has existed much earlier than ‘bumiputra’ which known in our Native vocabulary after the Malaysia Independence. Dayaks are original indigenous peoples of Borneo while “bumiputras” are assimilated ethnics of Malaya.
Our great ancestors and elders in the past did not want to be socially re-engineered by people who never understood us to begin with, especially when our lives, civilizations and societies were already better than the lives, civilizations and societies of those who would re-engineer us.
We, Dayaks, will never leave our own motherland nor will we ever surrender our lands to others for we are all born from this ancestral land founded by our great ancestors who have slept on this land since the beginning of times.
Notes: Without the Dayaks of Sarawak and Sabah, the “Bumiputras” (Malays) are not the majority ethnics “sons of soil” of Malaysia; who have conventionally divided 1Malaysia with the Chinese, Indians and Orang Asli.
Today generally and visually seen with facts Dayaks are far behind the other Malaysians because of Dayaks are politically being branded as “anti-government” (ngelaban perintah) and/or “anti-development” (enggai ka pemansang).
NOTES:
1. “Dayaks” are Natives. Natives are the indigenous peoples of Sarawak/Sabah/Borneo Island.
2. “Gawai” is part of “Adat”. “Adat” is Native Customary Law. Native Customary Right is Native Customary Law.
3. Native Rights is equivalent to UN Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Rights and as Human Rights too.
4. Native Customary Law is under the jurisdiction and legislation of Native Court.
5. If your Native Court is non-functional, powerless and non-governance, you also lost your Native Customary; “Laws”, “Rights” and “Sovereignty”. If so, then find it, re-claim and re-build it!
6. Whenever you voice your rights within the law, it is your right (Native and Citizenship rights); and not anti-government voice or anti-social or anti-development or label as “pro-opposition” (Please set aside that crabby politico perception, we are talking of our Native Rights unless your rights as Native or Native Court do not exist in the vocabulary(s) of the Malaysia/Sarawak/Sabah constitutions!).
Let it be stated clearly with facts that the Dayaks have persistently and consistently asked for development since joining Malaya states to form the “Federation of Malaysia” states including Singapore (later known as Malaysia but without Singapore) and have equal-equitable status as the Malays within the “Bumiputra Policy” but on their own terms respecting their Native indigenous rights which is clearly stated within the Malaysia/Sarawak/Sabah Constitutions and UN Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Rights.
My apology, it’s my personal opinion. Thank you.
SO WHAT KINDS OF “RESPONSIBILITY” WE, DAYAKS, HAVE NOW TO COLLECTIVELY ADVOCATE AND PROTECT OUR CURRENT WELL-BEING AND FUTURE GENERATIONS?
Salam ngagai semoa bansa Dayak;
“SELAMAT GAWAI DAYAK 2011 – SERAMAT ANU GAWIA 2011″....OoooHaaa….!!!!
Enti ngirup ai pengayu anang enda nyankong kami sebilik........Cheers!
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