Civilization...

I just finished the TITAS exam. It's a tiring paper because of the confusing answer option given. but talking about civilization or tamadun in Malay, there's a few question mentioned about the Civilizing Malaysia. I am wondering wether it brought goodness to the Sabahan etnics, like me. So what am I? My Father is pure Dusun of Tambunan whilst my mother is Kadazan-sino of Inanam (according to my Aunt, Kadazan-sino means more to kadazan instead of Chinese ). So, I'm Dusun. What is that?

I had done few research from various pages and I found some explanation of introduction to Kadazan/Dusun. I'll just cut and paste what I had read from the net.

source: http://www.flw.com/languages/kadazan.htm
Kadazan
Kadazan (Kadazanusan) has several dialects and is spoekn by the Dusun/Kadazan people of Malaysia. There are about 50 indigenous languages of Sabah, all belonging to the Austronesian language family. These languages vary in size from several hundreds to over one hundred thousand speakers. Most of the languages of Sabah belong to one of four subgroups: Bajau (Sama-Bajau), Dusunic, Murutic and Paitanic. The Kadazandusun language belongs to the Dusunic subgroup.

Dusun/Kadazan group is the largest indigenous group in Sabah. They are actually a collectivity of ethnic groups speaking similar languages and dialects as well as having similarities in culture and traditional beliefs. Within this group there exists at least 10 distinct languages with possibly 30 or more dialects. There are some people of this Dusun/Kadazan group who prefer to call themselves Dusun, while others particularly in the Penampang/Papar areas prefer the term Kadazan

Source : http://rymza.blogdrive.com/archive/97.html
Kadazandusun (a.k.a 'Kadus'):

* The largest ethnic group in Sabah, making up 1/3 of the state population.

* Out from 0.8 million Kadus-es all over the world, less than 50% can speak their native language.

* From those 0.4 million (rough estimation) who can speak Kadus, 75% of them are over 40 y.o.

* Less than 5% of those under 25 y.o can speak the language.

* Due to its extreme complexity (in terms of grammar, syntax and semantic), Kadus Language is almost impossible to be taught effectively at schools (using formal and conventional method). It must be nurtured at home, naturally.


Source :http://www.multilingual-matters.net/cilp/001/0415/cilp0010415.pdf#search='kadazan%20dusun'
It's a PDF file. The point of this article is about Kadazan/Dusun Language.

• There are 138 language in Malaysia, of which 54 are indigenous to Sabah (Grimes, 1996)
• 13 indigenous languages are classified under the Dusunic language family.
• ...according to the 1999 Sabah census projection, speakers of kadazan /dusun ethnicity should have numbered 7500,00 by 2000-making it the largest single language community in the State.
• Kadazan/Dusun speaker are mainly ofund along the west coast of Sabah and also extending some distance inland.(Banker & Banker,1984)
• According to Banker & Banker (1984), this language consists of a chanin of dialects that are reasonably understood bye neighbouring communites. But because the language differs in varying degrees, it maybe difficult for one end of the chain to communicate to the other.
• Bahasa Malaysia, the national language of Malaysia since 1963 (Omar, 1984), was selected on the basis of having the greates number of speakers - at the time the Malay people made up more than half of the population of peninsular Malaysia. However, Sabah with 80% of it's population consist of the indigenous ethnic.
• Kadazan/Dusun-beginning, the penampang populace - south-east of the capital Kota kinabalu - was first introduced to literacy through the school-building by Mill Hill Missionaries early 1880 s. Despite the establishment was interupted during WWII, it is resiliently set up again after war. It's known as Native Voluntary Schools in 1960 s.
• They appealed to the local Kadazan and Dusun folk because they `opted to teach literacy to rural folk initially through their local Kadazan or Dusun Dialect only shifting gradually by the third or fourth yeat in English' (Reid ,1997)
• The language underwent vast developments post-war. The year 1953 saw the Language had been introduced in the all-English newspaper Sabah Times. the followed by the Radio Sabah and massive publication of literature.
• During the Nationalisme era (after joining Malaya in 1963), Mother-tongue developent went into decline as ephasis was put on the acquisition of the national language, Bahasa Malaysia(Now they called it Bahasa Melayu.) To safeguard social and economic interests as well as to assist assimilation into the fast-growing Malaysian culture, Kadazan/Dusun Parents had begun to allow the use of the Malay language in the home.
• This did more harm than good when code-mising became evident, slowly removing the need to converse in the mother tongue. (Lasimbang, 1996)
• The now-apparently loss had only begun to be identified in the realy 1980 s. By then, the infiltration of 'broken' Kadazan and Dusun songs into the music industry had added further damage to the situation. Their fun and catchy tunes belied the growing disparaging view held against mother-tongue use by many Kadazan/Dusun speakers.
• Therefore, as has happened in the many other languages situations around the world(Mulhlhausler,1996), modernisation and developement has meant that the ecology of the kadazan /Dusun language chains was breaking down and powerful new languages were entereing that ecology (Bahasa Malaysia and English).

Opps... Maybe I had gone too detail. I'll try to make is as short as possible. (ASAP)

• Common Language/etchnic, nor could they agree to the labels outsider had for them. Since language labellin gworks only if members of a grop open to it , the not un-alike Kadazan and Dusun communities had to conted with the continuing pressure to arrive at a single way of identirying themselves.
• By the 1960's it become obvious that this dilemma was also causing problems for the preservation of the mother tongue. While the desire for the mother-tongue education was central to bothe communities, the touchy subject of identify - whether Kadazan or Dusun created confusion as to how to go about the matter.
• Finally in 1985 there was a break through with the crucial decisions being taken on the orthography and in in 1995, the standardisation of dialects materalised.
• With that, a close approach to a wider group identify was archieved.
• But it's a hard process as to educate Kadazan language in school which were also the dream of the Kadazan/Dusun must gone through the standardisation of various dialect of the Dusunic dialect.
• after the standardised process was done, a labelling matters occured wether to label as Dusun or Kadazan.
• In Sept 1990, various fruitless effort on forwarding the Kadazan Language in school. Then in 1994 when a Honourable Tan Sri Bernard G. Dompok, began seriously pursuing the matter.
• By that time, Kadazan Language was taught in private class, later on under the pressure by YB Tan Sri Bernard G. Dompok had manage to start a Kadazan Language class in April 1995.
• However, the labelling problem still occured. But eventually the Sabah Education Department played the mediator for the two cultural custodians - the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association and the United Sabah Dusun Association - on deciding the name of the standard language that was taught in schools. And after some compromise, the term 'Kadazandusun' was chosen as the official name of the shared language.
• In 2000, the Kadazandusun language was being taught to 19731 children by 881 trained teachers., 440 primary schools in 21 districts throughout the State of Sabah.

Yeah some brief story of the Kadazandusun language...more details, After reading the whole article, i had in mind that the Kadazandusun Language may had gone through a big development in the . But from my experienced, I can see this language is still in danger. More and more of my Kadazan or Dusun friend can't speak this language... are those effort mentioned by the article above fail? or maybe the situation for 20 years ago were worst and now we are pursued to be proud because of this 'little' development.

Go back to the spirit of my entry, language had a big role in civilization because of it importance. Language show the identity of one culture. Ok see this, since Bahasa Malaysia had become the major language in Sabah, at the same time Sabah also going through the civilization process in the name of Malaysia. I wondering to like it or not. will harm the Sabahan tribes as it had done by language previously until now? Where are the Kadazan Dusun identity?

Source : http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/kadazan

Kadazan

The meaning of the word 'Kadazan' in english means 'the people'.The Kadazan/Dusun is the largest ethnic group in Sabah. Sabah (with Sarawak) is part of the Federation of Malaysia.The ansector of the Kadazan/Dusun people are farmers.The word 'Kadazan' is used largely by the more educated Dusun people to describe themselves. It is used mostly in the Penampang and Papar area.

Language

The Kadazan/Dusun language is a dying language. All of the public school in Sabah does not teach the Kadazan/Dusun language. This is also due to the fault of the Kadazan/Dusun themselves who view their language as outdated and prefer to speak in the Malay language.There is significant different between the Malay language in Peninsular Malaysia and the Malay language use in Sabah.The Malay language used in Sabah are mostly influence by the Kadazan/Dusun language. Example "Celaka" in the official Malay language is "Silaka" in the Sabahan Malay language.

Make a deduction, the the new generation can't speak their mother tongue, what would happen to their race identity? Lost swallowed by other identity...ermmm. Yeah one more, Sabah now are called as one of the State in Malaysia. But according to the Malaysians History, it is a part Federation of Malaysia. I think She, Land below the wind should be more than just a state.

well, here's long pasted document from Wikipedia...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadazan

Kadazans are the major subgroup in the ethnic group Kadazan-Dusun, who collectively, are the largest ethnicity indigenous to Sabah, Malaysia. They are found mainly on the west coast of Sabah, surrounding locales and various locations in the interior.

Being an indigenous people, the Kadazans are inferred the same political, educational and economic rights as the predominant Malay population of Malaysia. The term ascribed to this is Bumiputra, a Malay word, which is translated to 'Sons of the Land'.

While Kadazan was an official designation for this ethnic group, it is widely believed that the term itself was a political derivative that came into existence in the late 50's to early 60's. No proper historical record exists pertaining to the origins of the term or its originator. However an article written by Richard Tunggolou (available on the Kadazandusun Cultural Association website) on this matter may shed some light. According to Mr. Tunggolou, most of the explanations of the meanings and origins of the word ‘Kadazan’ assumed that the word was of recent origin––specifically in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s––as assumed in the explanations for its origin from ‘kakadazan’ (towns), ‘kedai’ (shops), and from the claim that Kadazan politicians such as the late Datuk Peter J. Mojuntin coined the term. In fact, the word ‘Kadazan’ is not of recent origin. Owen Rutter, in his book, “The Pagans Of North Borneo”, published in 1929, wrote: “The Dusun usually describes himself generically as a tulun tindal (landsman) or, on the West Coast, particularly at Papar, as a Kadazan.” (page 31). Owen Rutter worked in Sabah for five years as District Officer in all five residencies and left Sabah with the onset of the First World War. This means that he started working in Sabah from 1910 and left Sabah in 1914. We can therefore safely say that the word ‘Kadazan’ was already in existence before any towns or shops were built in the Penampang District and that Kadazan politicians did not invent the word in the late fifties and early sixties. Thus, the most likely explanation for the term ‘Kadazan’ is that it means ‘the people’.

Presently, the Kadazans are associated together with another similar indigenous tribe, the Dusuns and various other indigenous peoples, under the blanket term Kadazan-Dusun. This is officially recognised as the result of political machinations, specifically, a resolution of the supposedly non-political 5th KCA (Kadazan Cultural Association, which was then renamed to Kadazan-Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA)) Delegates Conference held between November 4 and November 5, 1989. It was decided as the best alternative approach to resolve the "Kadazan" or "Dusun" identity crisis that had crippled and impeded the growth and development of the Kadazan-dusun multi-ethnic community socio-culturally, economically and politically - ever since Kadazanism versus Dusunism sentiments were politicized in the early 1960's.

Kadazans and Dusuns share the same language and culture, albeit with differences in dialect. Many consider the major difference between the two ethnic groups to be their traditional geographical influences. Kadazans are mainly inhabitants of the flat valley deltas, conducive to paddy field farming, while Dusuns are traditionally inhabitants of the hilly and mountainous regions common to the interior of Sabah.

Religion and Culture
Before the influence of the British missionaries in the mid 19th century that resulted in Christianity rising to prominence amongst Kadazans, animism was the predominant religion. It revolved around the belief that spirits ruled over the planting and harvesting of rice, a profession that had been practiced for generations. Special rituals would be performed before and after each harvest by a tribal priestess known as a bobohizan.

Kadazan culture is heavily influenced by the farming of rice, culminating in various delicacies and alcoholic drinks prepared through differing home-brewed fermentation processes. Tapai and lihing are the main rice wine variants served and consumed in Kadazan populated areas, and are a staple of Kadazan social gatherings and ceremonies.

Besides food and drink, the Kadazans also developed their own unique dance and music. Sumazau is the name of the dance between a male and female, performed by couples as well as groups of couples, which is usually accompanied by a symphony of handcrafted bronze gongs that are individually called 'tagung'. A ceremonial ring of cloth sash is worn by both male and female. The Sumazau and gong accompaniment is typically performed during joyous ceremonies and occasions, the most common of which being wedding feasts.
Contemporary Kadazan food is heavily influenced by Chinese cuisine, with unique modifications and nuances as well as particular usage of locally available foodstuffs, particularly bamboo shoots, sago and fresh water fish, which is pickled. Water buffalo meat is a major staple food and the animals are highly prized assets, which are a typical requirement of wedding dowries.
Dowries are paid to the bride's family and an elaborate negotiation is arranged between the groom and bride's families. As a traditional gesture of politeness and civility, the dowry is metaphorically laid out with match sticks on a flat surface, with a representative from each side pushing and pulling the sticks across a boundary to denote the bargaining of the dowry. Dowries traditionally consisted of water buffaloes, pigs, sacks of rice and even urns of tapai. Modern dowry negotiations also include cash and land ownership deeds. Kadazan women from the Tambunan, Penampang and Tuaran areas are widely regarded to have the most expensive dowries.
While it is traditionally customary for Kadazans to marry within a village or a neighbouring village, a change of xenophobic attitudes over the past few decades has eased the difficulty once associated with inter-racial marriage. The Kadazans have a particularly good affinity with the local Chinese and this has resulted in the coinage of the term Sino-Kadazan, which is a phrase used to describe the half Kadazan, half Chinese offspring of such unions. Due to the overwhelming Christian influence, marriage to muslim spouses, which results in a mandatory conversion to Islam, still induces outrage and rejection, and is known to divide fiercely traditional Kadazans. Of late, Islam has been embraced by a growing minority as a means to political ends considering the fact that the local Malay minority has gained political ascendance in recent years.
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Language
It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article. (Discuss)
The Kadazan language is an amalgation of various influences, mainly coming from other indigenous tribes in North Borneo and the adoption of various Malay words. According to legend, the Kadazan language has its roots in the migration of a band of seafaring Chinese from Southern China. Anecdotes describe a provincial Chinese tribe whose language differs greatly with the common Chinese dialects but bears striking similarities to the Kadazan language; a tribe whom purportedly bear a physical resemblance to Kadazans as well. However, no research or concrete evidence has risen to support these claims although it is supported by authoritative figures in the Kadazan community.

As in many countries with a singly dominant language, the use of the Kadazan language has been on the decline for the last few decades. As a result, Malay is spoken fluently by most, if not all Kadazans, although English is spoken fluently by more Kadazans than any other ethnic group, due to the influence of British missionaries. With the decline of the usage of the Kadazan language, the Sabah state government introduced policies with the objective of preventing the extinction of the vernacular languages of many of its numerous small ethnic groups and has, in the past decade, encouraged public schools in Sabah to start teaching the Kadazan language, among other indigenous dialects. With this initiative, a concerted effort was also made to officialise the Kadazan language and standardise its written form.
Kadazan language belongs to Malayo-Polynesian languages branch of Austronesian language family.
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Language sample (prayer)
(1) Tama za doid surga apantang daa oh ngan nu koikot oh Perintah nu kaandak nu adadi doiti id Tanah miga doid Surga. Pataako dagai oh takanon za do tadau diti om pohiongo dagai oh douso za miaga dagai do popohiong di nakahasa doid dagai kada zikoi pohogoso doid ponginaman katapi pahapaso zikoi do mantad ngaaci do kalaatan. Amen. (2) Ave Maria, nopunu' do graasia, miampai diau o kinoingan, obitua ko do id saviavi' tondu, om obitua o tuva' tinan nu Jesus. Sangti Maria, tina' do kinoingan pokiinsianai zikoh tu' tuhun do mominiduso, baina om ontok jaam do kapatazon za. Amen.
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Translation
(1) Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen. (2) Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

It's been so long I never heard Our Father in KadazanDusun. Ok let me go straight to my little more point. Indeed the Kadazan/Dusun indigenous (Kadazan, Dusun, Murut, Sungai and Rungus) ethnic had a great memorable unique and beautiful cultures. But I think due to some irreversable, impreventable, the lack of civillized properties and certain circumtances , the Kadazan Dusun with it lack of historical story can't independantly reach the glory of peak of civilization. ermmm....there's more to write but it just too much....