I could use some good news for a change, and seeing this article overwhelmed me with a rush of emotion. Dr Jeffrey was quoted in a piece as saying he’s “now being viewed with another eye by Malaysians” but I don’t know what he thinks the public think of him , but I know he remains fairly controversial in Malaysia. To me, he is still one of Malaysia’s bravest men and makes all other leaders look like lightweights. When Mahathir knocked him down with the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) it really broke many hearts – not because Jeffrey ‘failed Sabahans’, which is what I fear he might have thought, but because such a brave good man could be put in a position of crippling self-doubt by a KL-centric “Ketuanan Melayu” despot.
It was then.
When I have to face challenging situations or I feel a little troubled or insecure, Dr. Jeffrey immediately comes up in my mind. He set the standard for me. I remember his words and his example: “Do not let a situation intimidate you. You have been prepared to meet any challenge.” Yes this is Jeffrey to me.
I call him “Doc Jef” and I have known him for a long time. The last time I saw him in “Sokid Villa” I spent 2 hours with him and he impressed me about this pan-Borneo grouping he is spearheading and his links with the indigenous folks in Sarawak and Kalimantan. I have to nail my colours to the mast with this one: Jeffrey will always have my respect, and I say that as a person who is not easily impressed by public figures. He has my respect not because he educated me about Mystical Borneo, about the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, about Sabah or about North Borneo or even Sarawak or Kalimantan or even Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, but because he’s an ordinary flawed humble Malaysian just like all of us. But unlike the majority of us, he has the guts to do the right thing and stand for the indigenous people of Borneo who are oppressed and have nothing. He reminds me of that Tianamen Square image – the one of a slight defiant figure in front of a phenomenal crushing tank of injustice. His bravery and humility in the face of the Federal Government machine of viciousness has never failed to inspire and impress me, and I think his ideas in this pan Borneo grouping are among the bravest I’ve ever heard him utter so far. What is 20 Points compared with this? Here he is challenging not just Kuala Lumpur, but standing up to Indonesia as well. As far as I am concerned these are the words and actions of a man doing work at the highest level. I hear his voice in the struggle, and am so glad to hear he’s back in action.
Long Live Borneo!
The article is via FreeMalaysiaToday and its by Luke Rintod :
See here…
KOTA KINABALU: A new pan-Borneo grouping called Borneo Dayak Forum or BDF is set to take centrestage on all issues involving the unified native Dayak community in Borneo, the third largest island in the world.
Its inaugural president Jeffrey Kittingan from Sabah said BDF was born out of a realization of the necessity for all the indigenous people of Borneo to reach and relate, share and work together for their common interest.
“This realization started in Sabah a year ago, moved down to Sarawak then finally to Kalimantan Barat.
“It is only the beginning of this formality. Much work has already been done to bring us together as one people…. Next year we have plans to visit the United States and the United Nation to study indigenous communities’ progress,” said Kitingan a Kadazandusun, who is also a PKR vice president.
Launched last Sunday, BDF is believed to be the first pan-Borneo socio-cultural body. It identifies with most of the natives in Borneo, including the Kadazans, Dusuns, and Muruts in Sabah as within the Dayak grouping.
Efforts are being made to register BDF abroad, possibly in Geneva, Switzerland, to secure its role on the global stage and manage it carefully into the future.
“Weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting our Dayak brothers in Pontianak and Sanggau together with Daniel Tajem and others from Sabah and Sarawak to celebrate the Gawai Festival.
“We were received with honour and friendship. We enjoyed their hospitality and discovered that we share many things in common, the friendliness, the ‘tuak’, the singing and dancing…” said Kitingan.
Among those present at the soft-launching on Sunday were senior leaders of Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU), led by its president Mengga Mikui and deputy president John Bryan Anthony; chairman of Dewan Adat Dayak Kalimantan Barat, Bapak Thadeus Yus; and president of Sarawak Dayak Graduates Association (SDGA), Dusit Jaul.
At the function, Kitingan, who is also vice-president of KDCA and heads several civil society bodies like CigMa and Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF) here, also unveiled for the first time the BDF logo that is a “Bunga Terung Dayak.
BDF senior leaders and delegates also had adopted a Dayak greeting or salaam ‘Adil katalino, basermin ka suruga, basengat kajubata’ which loosely translates as “be fair to all humankind, believe in heavens, God gave us lifeline”. The refrain to the greeting is: “harus, harus, harus,” which means “must, must, it is a must”.
About two-thirds of the roughly 17 million people living in Borneo, are Dayaks of various groups.
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dr jef seorg sabahan y cintakan bgsa dan jg negeri sendiri,beliau sgup berkorban masa,wang,tenaga utuk mperjuangkan hak2 sabah y telah dinafikan oleh kerajaan persekutuan,dgn tertubuhnya ubf utuk wadah perjuangan rakyat sabah,kita mestilah menyokong dr jef utk mgembalikan semula hak2 sabah y telah diambil o kerajaan persekutuan termasuk status sabah sebagai sebuah negara tetapi diturunkan menjadi sabuah negeri,adalah satu kebodohan pmimpin kita terdahulu sekiranya sabah bersetuju mbntuk msia dan di berikan status sebuah ngeri seolah2 kita ini berada dalam kawasan tanah melayu,buat apa sabah bersusah2,jauh2 begbung dan tanahmelayu hnya utk mjadi sebuah ngri sahaja,sabah bersabung dgn tanah melayu utk mjadi sebuah negara y merdeka dan bukanya menjadi sebuah negeri y di tindas2,y tunduk kepada ketuanan melayu,oleh itukepada semua muda mudi sabah,marilah kita bersama2 berjuang bersama2 dgn dr jef utk hak kita,we just want our right,that all….kita tidak rampas hak siapa2 pn,jgn tkut utk berjuang kerana ia adalah hak kita,sudah cukup dan terlalu lama kita bersabar dgn kerajaan persekutuan…inilah masanya kita berubah…fikirkan saudara,panang jauh ke hadapan,tanya diri kita,
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Suria, thanks for the visit. You could try here : therevolutionist@groups.facebook.com
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how to bw a member?
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I’m interested with UBF founded by Dr JK. How to a member?
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Dr J sememangnya ada pandangan luas, harap dia dapat mencapainya.
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PKR, is a noble concept. However, the players and leaders are made up of the same characters. Many are way over the hill politicians whose ways and ideas are set and way past their time. It is time for new leaders to emerge. But where are they ? Anwar Ibrahim, the defacto leader of PKR, out of necesssity and political survival has been in the fore front of this so called agent of change. But is it for the better ? Seems to me, it is still about the domionation of the Malays. A race that has explicity stated that they are the superior race . It must be cautioned, therefore, that unless the citizens of Malaysia who are not Malays are prepared to lie down and accept their fate as a lesser class, something must be done .
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Malaysia is a democracy in name only. Even the casual political obsever can clearly see thiis on a daily basis. The continued dominance of UMNO and the its supporting cast, albeit presently fragile, is entirely based on race with the Malays the one dominating entity. It has been 47 yrs of so called independance but to the natives of sabah and Sarawak, other than most of the politicians and their relatives nothing much has changed. In fact their lot has not benifitted much form being “merdeka” but has degressed . Many in the rural areas are being deprived of basic infrastructure such as piped water and roads. Meanwhile, millions if not billions are being spent on massive buildings and projects that will not benefit the natives in anyway shape or form. Ofcourse we all know that these projects are purposely inflated in price so the people in power can siphon all the money they want. It is time for the natives of sabah and Sarawak to make a stand before they are systematically wiped out from the face of the earth. We need to return to our Warrior mentality, in a clever way, now before it is too late.
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I have followed Dr. Kitingan’s political career a little bit. He seems to be an idealist; nothing wrong with that. He even went to jail under the draconian ISA .I read some of his writings and for the most part he makes sense. My take on the Sabah/Malaysia situation is: at the end of the day, for the natives of Borneo to claim their rightful place, a revolution of sort will have to happen in the future. It will inevitably be an armed revolution . With the Malay’s stated claim that they are the Superior race-“Ketuanan” Melayu narrative, the stake has been raised. Remember Hitler ? He had the same twisted belief ! If the natives don’t act, and with the armed forces essentially Malay, genocide will take place. What must happen has to happen. The Natives of Borneo cannot take this attempt by the Malays to dominate them to take place ever !!
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What is the function of armed enforcement agencies like PDRM and MACC?.
They are supposed to catch big time thieves of the Malaysian treasury.
In this way the wealth of the nation will be circulated within the country.
Then it is not necessary for small theieves to carry out minor crimes out of necessity to fill the stomaches of their families.
PDRM and MACC has failed the people in the above agenda.
They goes around catching small theieves.But as the economy of Malaysia goes fom bad to worst more people are forced to be small thieves everyday.They never to be able to have enough mampower to catch all the newly born small thieves.
PDRM amd MACC did not catch Tiong King Sing and Musa Aman who stole billions from the country.If these billions were not taken out of the country many Malaysians would have a decent job and do not have to resort to corruption and stealing from the supermarkets.
I am from Kulim,Sabah but I have stayed in KK for more than 20 years.My IT management contacts in all the 5 star hotels have supplied me with a wealth of the corruption details on most of the Sabah ministers especially Musa Aman.But whenever I send them to MACC they always say that it is complete.They poured cold water over thw whole issue.
But they must know that if I take the documents from Musa Aman’s office the police may arrest me for stealing and put me to jail.
The conclusion between the police,MACC Musa Aman is simply I help you and you help me.Musa Aman steal billions and we cover you
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Ini merupakan pendapat saja bagi seorang pemimpin. mungkin ada sebab kenapa mahu membagikan sabah dan serawak kepada 16 negeri. Tapi mengikut dari komen-komen yang mereka katakan mereka tidak akan setuju dengan pembentukkan 16 negeri itu. Suara ramai harus diambil kira juga. Jadi Jeffery tidak perlu mendesak dengan pendapat sendiri untuk memecahkan sabah dan sarawak tersebut. Sekiranya Jeffery mahu juga, bagikan sebab yang kukuh dan kuat untuk menyakinkan semua kenapa ini perlu..
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psal cadangan jeffrey nak bahagikan sabah tu, ramai yg tak setuju, sabah lebih baik keadaan sekarang. membahagikan sabah akan mewujudkan lebih banyak masalah dari segi ekonomi, sosial dan politik.
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his proposal to dividing Sabah seems not popular.. actually the idea will require a lot of changes and it is not as easy as he think.
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Well, he does impress you but not me, sorry.
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So, do I. I don’t really agree with dividing EM to 16 States. He maybe be good in fighting but some is still not convince about him.
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Although i may think Jeffrey ideas regarding the division are refreshing yet I’m still not convince that it would be a good idea to actually execute it.
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Jeffrey should convince with his brother first. how he wants to convince the people of Sabah, while his own brother also are not in line with him.
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setipa pemimpoin ada perjuangan mereka masing2. bagi jeffery, ada yng menyokong beliau dan tidak. apapun biarlah perjuangan mereka itu baik untuk rkyat.
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he is a frog…period…
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From the beginning i don’t like Jeffry Kitingan……but 1 thing i like about is the spirit in him to struggled for the good of Sabahans…but as for me he might need to find another method in showing his protest, may be in a better way…. and i think he should retire!!!…
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i also not agree with he idea to divide sabah and i believe, many sabahan not agree with this.
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everyone have they own opinion..for me, i`m not agree with some idea from Jeffery, especially idea to divide Sabah into new states. but, like i say every one have they own opinion about Jeffery.
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Jeffry Kitiggan is a great leader like Lim Guan Eng. He is a man of priciple.All the Sabahans love him.”What sunshine is to flowers, Jeffry Kitiggan is to Sabahans” Quote Cobra.If Pakatan wins the next GE , He must be made the chief minister.He will deliver, not like BNs Musa Aman,there is no aman in Sabah, since BNs rule. What was all the BNs PM doing all this while.If you really want to improve the livelihood of the poor sabahans, vote for the Pakatan & appoint JK as the CM. You will never EVER regret. Mark Cobra’s word.
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As a Sabahan, may I suggest to Jeffery to include as one of his project a Genome Project for the whole of Borneo. Then there will not be any dispute for our origin.
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