Author: Valentine Tawie Salok

UNRIVALLED ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 ‘Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.’ — Johann Wolfgang Bon Goethe  Our Iban community is known for many unique items. These cover our hospitability, cultural traits, augury, literary and chanting skills plus many more.  In my humble world I did come

COVERING MILES AROUND ‘MEJA BOLA’

In the pre-fire ‘cowboy’ town of Saratok (popularly Segatok among locals) there was only one ‘meja bola’ (billiard table) run by Ee Tay, with his trademark — long and white eyebrow.  It was on the second lot at the block nearest to the river opposite the Min Ching School.  As

Dreams of Keling, promises fulfilled

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. — Jesse Owens, American athlete Dreams, dreams, dreams … no, I am not talking about the popular number by Everly Brothers but it’s about dreams by

Highly lauded act amendment

Don’t be the driving force behind traffic accidents. — Anon The Road Transport Act (Amendment) 2020, which carries heavier penalties for traffic offences, particularly related to Sections 41 to 45 came into effect on Oct 23, 2020. Then Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong took the opportunity to

Of sceptics and tasty durian

It smelled like you’d buried somebody holding a big wheel of Stilton in his arms, then dug him up a few weeks later. — Anthony Bourdain, American celebrity chef and travel documentarian IN 1987, the husband of a SMK Serian colleague told a few of us that many people were

Fascinating Lubuk and their names

To be haunted is to glimpse a truth that might best be hidden. —– James Herbert, English horror writer Most pools or lubuk (sometimes spelled lubok) of rivers were named after certain regional terrains, items or happenings/incidents accordingly. These pertain to river sections or stretches that are in close proximity

Iban’s deity – given curing skills

Shamanism is the oldest form of communicating and healing. It probably resides in all of us. — Amy Hardie, film producer In the late 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, I came across a number of special individuals who were eminent for their special skills. Thanks to their expertise, they were

Strongly fused by the King’s legacy

There have been a lot of tough guys. There have been pretenders. And there have been contenders. But there is only one king. — Bruce Springsteen, American singer-songwriter It was certainly a picture of gloom surrounding my persona upon hearing about the demise of a friend in music. I was

Tawie

Not a pull but total nuisance

Sometimes, it’s not the song that makes you emotional, it’s the people and things that come to your mind when you hear it. — Author unknown Music gives life to an ambience, any kind of music or genre, that is. But any music with very high volume usually becomes noise

Tawie

Grim reminder of sufferance

There is a secret in our culture, and it’s not birth is painful. It’s that women are strong. — Laura Stavoe Harm, educator and writer Despite my year-long absence (June 2019 to June 2020) from this daily newspaper, I was still very much involved in journalism. Not only was I