KUCHING: It is not only the Dayak leaders who are at fault for the political fragmentation of the community, said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing.
Thus, he said that the argument by Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) general secretary Julius Enchana was both superficial and lack depth at best.
Masing, who is Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president, said the whole community’s egoistic and macho characters as expressed by Utilities Minister Datuk Seri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom were the main culprits.
“We, especially the Ibans, don’t really understand the value of power as the guide to our destiny in the long run and therefore we have no patience to let our leaders learn the trade.
“Some may not be good, that I accept but not all are bad. We do have angels among the devils in our communities,” Masing said who is also Infrastructure, Development and Transportation Minister.
He added that the communities that administer our state must have discipline of characters and unity in purpose.
“These are the characters which Dayaks lack,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, political observers and a former supreme council member of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (now Progressive Democratic Party) and Parti Teras, Gines Ruwia said a person or group who can bring the Dayaks into a solid cohesive unit must be highly regarded as close to a divine being.
“In other words, it an almost impossible task to unite the Dayaks,” he said.
According to Gines, each ethnic group does not see itself as belonging to a single unit called the Dayak but a separate unit based on geographical aspect as well as dialectical.
Besides, he said the political ploy in the past as well as presently, works towards dividing the Dayaks which makes it almost difficult to break.
“Any attempt is like walking through sulphuric acid gas as the person, instead of talking about the causes of disunity, should lay out with a comprehensive plan to forge unity,” he said.
He said among the task is to set up our own Dayak Centre/Bureau in the heart of Kuching City similar to the one in Kalimantan Indonesia.
All Dayak leaders, he said irrespective of their ethnicities should come together in one voice to fight for this, adding that in fact it can come in the form of an ultimatum.
Julius, meanwhile on Sunday, said a major problem of Dayaks today is political fragmentation and the biggest disadvantage for the Dayaks is the fact that their political leaders are spread thinly among all the parties in the state.
He pointed out that they are even in the non-Dayak parties which pass themselves off as multi-racial, but which give only scant attention to issues plaguing the Dayaks either out of ignorance or political convenience.
He argued that political lessons should have been learnt from the past and the issue of a diluted voice should have been addressed.
Unfortunately, he said, nothing of that sort had happened.
“If you are an educated young Dayak from a struggling family of farmers, let’s say, you probably would be struggling to keep your emotions in check seeing how Dayak political leaders today have no real agenda to pursue except repeat what they have been saying all these years.
“This is one of the many challenges faced by the Dayaks. Are they just afraid or conditioned to be afraid to voice out what they really think?” he asked.
He also believed that the often slow and lukewarm responses of Dayaks to pertinent issues that affect them are among the reasons they still lag behind other ethnic groups in many aspects.
“Having said this, the current leaders should not be expected to do all the work and shoulder all the responsibilities of taking care of the Dayaks. Here I’m referring to collective responsibilities,” Julius said.
“So, dare to dream is my message to Rundi (Datuk Seri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom),” he said yesterday in response to Dr Rundi’s remarks during Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) Gawai Dayak dinner here on Saturday.
Dr Rundi, the state Utilities Minister had said that of all the enemies of the Dayaks, ego was the worst.
Hence, he urged Dayaks to get rid of their ego, false pride, self-righteousness and parochialism to make it possible to unite with fellow Dayaks, especially those in their own community.
He said that it was only through their own unity that they could elevate themselves to be on par with other ethnic groups.
Dr Rundi said based on his observation, the one thing that had always managed to take down the Dayaks was their ego, individually as well as communally.
He had cautioned that if the Dayaks failed to deal with this, they would forever remain as the most backward people in Malaysia.
