We Do not Live on Trees and other Myths about the Sabahans

We do Not

live on trees

We Do Not Live On Trees! (and 9 Other Myths You Might Have Heard About The Sabahans) When I was in college, way back in the late 90s, I had the chance to stay in Kuala Lumpur for a couple of years. Being the only Sabahan in my group of newly-met friends, I could easily odd myself out just by opening my mouth and started to speak.

You see, we Sabahans have a very distinct identity when it comes to the way we talk. We have a unique-sounding slang that are fuller, louder and deeper – especially in consonants such as K and R. Yes, I embraced the feeling of being unique, I loved it when people in my class asking me stuff about my hometown and showed me curiosity on 'how's -life-like?'in the land across the South China Sea. But trust me, I've heard a lot of funny and ridiculous questions about Sabahans that were thrown at me.

Some brought me a good laugh but some were so unbelievably, ugh..un-clever, they made my fingers turned to fist. Here, is the list of ten most common misconceptions or merely myths, that you might have heard of about the Sabahans:

Myth#1: We live on trees Come on! When did that really happened? The early settlement in paleolhitic era, perhaps? But, if mankind had progressed to find fire, bred livestock, made bricks out of mud, mold steel and silver, so on and so forth, there are no rational reasons on why we should now still chose to live on trees. Even if you traced back to our ancestral roots, chances are you'll find that we had always preferred to live on ground – check out our traditional homes at Sabah State Museum and Heritage Village. As far as traditional houses are concerned, you can find long houses in area like Kudat and Kota Marudu (the Rungus Longhouses). In the East Coast, like Sandakan and Semporna, in villages where people livelihood depends on the sea, you can easily spotted houses on high stilt, mere meters above the water. Sorry to disappoint you, but in most area, our houses are as common as yours; terrace, semi-detached and detached made out of bricks and cements and woods (village area). If you got the chance to drive around Kota Kinabalu, you can easily see that the city is now fast adapting the high -rise/ medium-rise condo and apartment living. So, sooner or even right now, there are Sabahans who are living high up, not up on a tree, but higher on some penthouses with scenic ocean view.

Myth#2: We Are Not Malaysian If you're asking “Are you?”, you really need to brush up your knowledge on geography, and history, in that matter! Yes, it is true that Sabah is part of Borneo (same as Sarawak), but we're still the proud residence of one of the 14 states that make up the sovereign nation of Malaysia. Sabah was once governed by British North Borneo Company, and Kudat was made its capital in 1882 before it was moved to Sandakan the following year. In 1962, Cobbold Commission was set up to determine whether the people of Sabah and Sarawak were in favor for a union with the existing Malaya.

The union was generally favored, hence, Sabah officially joined Malaysia on September 16, 1963. Although Malaysia's Independence Day is annually

celebrated on August 31, but since 2011, September 16 began to be commemorated as 'Malaysia Day' and declared as a nationwide public holidays. If you happened to be visiting Sabah in the month of August, or Sepetember, you will notice that the city centre will be heavily decorated with our pride national flag; Jalur Gemilang alongside the Sabah's flag. With that visual proofs and the historical facts that you have just read, it's crystal clear that we are all very much a Malaysian. Or, if that's not convincing enough, ask us kindly, maybe we could show you our blue-colored Malaysian Identity Card. Or, simply join us for breakfast, you'll see how much we enjoy our teh tarik and roti canai as much as most Malaysian do!

Myth#3: Head Hunters Are Still at Large!

Are you out of your mind? We're civilized and governed by the law, and inflicting harm on others is a universal no-no. However, I remembered back in the days when I was in primary school, there was a certain period of time in a year, where kids were warned to be extra careful and preferably just stay at home, because that was a time called the “Pengait Season”. “Pengait” is a local word for modern day's head-hunters. “Pengait” was rumored to be driving around in a red car, looking for unfortunate little girls or boys to be beheaded. As creepy as it may sounds, “pengait” remained an urbanlegend that was made famous in the 80s, nothing more and nothing less. In the historical context, head hunting is actually a longabandoned tradition of our great, great, great, great forefathers. It used to represent the pride and heroic values for warriors to garner respects and intimidation among tribes. The legend of head hunters are common in Kadazan, Dusun and Bajau folklore. Check out Monsopiad Cultural Village, to experience where the head hunters used to roam.

Myth#4: All the Ladies are Gorgeous and Fair-Skinned We live in a state of multi-ethnicity, hence, we all come in various sizes, looks and skin colors. The socio-demographics factors also dictate our appearance and personality. Once, a friend told me that she got a non-Sabahan friend who really looked forward to be working in Sabah, merely for a chance to get a gorgeous wife-to-be. The assumption may derived from the images of 'Unduk Ngadau' or The Harvest Festival Beauty Pageant that are often commercialized by the media. The search for Unduk Ngadau is an annual event, where the contestantants in the state-level pageants are generally winners of their respective district pageants. The event finale will be held on 30 to 31 May, at Kadazan Dusun Cultural

Association's Hongkod Koisaan (Unity Hall), in conjunction with Harvest Festival or mostly known by the locals as Ka'amatan. The generalization also came about, since the fair-Skinned Kadazan-Dusun ethnics made up 17.82% of the entire Sabah population.

Myth#5: All the Rich Sabahans are Distant Descendants to the Brunei Sultanate As ridiculous as it may sounds, I have encountered people who asked me about this. Geographically, Sabah does shares boundaries with Brunei, and history wise, Sabah was once rule by the Brunei Sultanate in the sixteenth century. But, economy wise, the state's wealth has got nothing to do with contribution from World-Richest Brunei Royals.

Sabah is pretty much in control of its economy, with the three major contributing sectors of agriculture, manufacturing and tourism. The most significant impact from the historical relation with the Brunei Sultanate, is the largely visible composition of Sabahans of Melayu-Brunei ethnicity all over Sabah, especially in areas such as Papar, Membakut, Beaufort and Bongawan. They have a rich cultural heritage, which combined the esthetics of both nations. But, like all Sabahans they're all of different socio-economics background, involved fairly in all economics activities.

Myth#6: We All Have Conquered Mount Kinabalu For your information, in case you're not aware of it yet, Mount Kinabalu is located in Kundasang, in the district of Ranau. Which means: Mount Kinabalu is not at eve r y b o dy ' s backyard! To be able to climb Mount Kinabalu, we all have to comply to the same requirements and regulations as everybody else - the fitness level, the fees, the mental and physical preparation.

It's no child's play, it's 4,095 metres of hard work! For the adventurous traveller, Mount Kinabalu is a must see sight that has got to be in your list. You can find a lot of websites that provide you with tips and guidance on how to get your best mountain climbing experience. Here, to list a few: www.climbmtkinabalu.com www.mountain-kinabalu-borneo.com www.amazing-borneo.com www.mountaintorq.com http://mountkinabalu.weebly.com

Myth#7: We Eat Seafood Everyday Because it's So Cheap!

Compared East Malaysia, yes, it is true that the seafood in Sabah is much, much cheaper. But relative to other food source here in Sabah, some seafood such as tiger prawn, lobster, garoupa and various of deep sea fishes, are still considered to be pricey, hence, it's only eaten at certain occasion or times. There are wide selections of food in Sabah, and they are not just great for your tummy but they also can easily accommodate your pocket. One of the most well known is the sinfully delicious barbecue chicken wing. It's available at almost every night market and open-air eataries all over Sabah, with a price range from RM 1.20-RM2.00 per piece.

Myth#8: Our Road Network is so Bad, We Have to Take 3 Hours Boat Ride to Get to School/ Office/ Town

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ince we're very much represented with our rainforest and diversity of flora and fauna, people sometimes equates that with being left behind in terms of development. We have to admit that there are rural areas in Sabah that are hard to reach, with gravel roads and rivers to cross, but it is not a disadvantages that most of us have to experience.

In fact, the government is taking a lot of measures to resolve the problem by allocating more funds to build and improve roads in rural area. Kota Kinabalu itself is a growing city, with major shopping complexes like Suria Sabah and 1Borneo. Plenty more are coming up in coming years for instance the second phase of KK Times Square, Aeropod, Sutera Avenue and so much more. With this ongoing trend, traffic jam is more our major concern rather than the non-existence boat ride

Myth#9: When We Speak, We Put 'BAH' at The End of Every Sentence

I

was once asked by a friend if the word “Bah” that we, Sabahans frequently used in our conversation is short for 'Sabah'? No, of course not. We are proud to be Sabahan, but not to the point of having to create a pet name for our beloved state and get it mentioned in our everyday lingo. No, we're not that vain. “Bah”, as easy as it may seems, is the most common mistakes made by people who wants to speak Malay in Sabahan's slang. The usage of 'BAH' is a lot more complex than just simply putting it at the end of every sentence. “Bah” served lots of purpose, such as : a) to put emphasize on your sentences b) as a word of affirmation c) just to put the extra 'umphh', if you know the right way to use it And the best way to get your “bah” perfected? Talk with Sabahans and go with the flow. This is one of the unique thing that only Sabahans know best. Period.

Myth#10: We're All Excellent Singers How I wish this is true! Singing talent, as most of other talents are something that you're born with. If you have it, it's your birth-right, regardless of whichever part of the world are you born in. Maybe, you have encountered a lot of Sabahans who could carry a tune more than well, but honestly, there sure are the hidden few who are as melodically-challenged as Giant, from the Japanese animated series Doraemon.

Frankly, most Sabahans love to sing. In key or off key, we don't really care. I've never met any Sabahans who would say no for a round (or maybe more!) of karaoke.

There are quite a selection of places to go for karaoke around Kota Kinabalu, such as D'Junction KTV, AMP Square, Cempaka Square, Magma KTV & Bistro and many more. One of the many reason on why this assumption might come about, is the fact that they're a lot of Malaysia's well known singers that originally hail from Sabah. There are also a lot of Sabahan singers being the finalists even winners in well known and prestigous singing competition or reality shows on national television. The local music scene is also rapidly growing and getting more attention on national level. Want a taste of a Sabahan's music? This one here makes a good starter :

There are plenty of other things that I might have heard of, or you might have heard of, but didn't make it in this list. This list won't stop the myths from spreading. People talk, there's nothing we can do about it, right? So, in the spirit of a true Sabahan, regardless of whatever label people put on us, relax! They'll know us, when they know us. But, hey! You made it here, now you know that those myths are all BUSTED!