Let’s guard this knot that binds all Dayaks into one: Masing
KUCHING: Dayaks are warned that their Gawai is being used to further divide them.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing has called on Dayaks not to allow people outside their community to use the cultural festival to further divide them.
“We are the custodian of Gawai Dayak. Therefore, we must never allow others to use it to divide us further,” he said in his Gawai Dayak message released yesterday.
“People of other races are most welcome to join us in the celebration, but they must not be allowed to use this cultural festival for political purposes,” he reiterated.
Masing, who is also Infrastructure Development and Transportation Minister, also reminded fellow Dayaks against allowing themselves to be politically used by certain factions who don’t have their well-being at heart.
The senior politician, who heads Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), said the Dayaks who are divided into three main groups – Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu – do not have a common factor which could identify them as a single unit like their Malay brethren in Sarawak.
“They (the Malays) have their religion as one strong common factor which gives them, among other things, the discipline of character and unity of purpose! Unfortunately, religion is not a unifying factor for the Dayaks,” he said.
“We also don’t have a common social objective under which we can group ourselves as one social entity. Politics, which potentially could unite the Dayaks, instead divides us further.
“However, in Gawai Dayak celebration, the Dayaks have a common activity. It’s the one thing that we share. We all celebrate Gawai once a year, why must we be allowed to be divided on this auspicious occasion?”
He made a fervent appeal to the Dayak community to open their eyes to the fact there appeared to be efforts to split the community under the pretext of celebrating Gawai Dayak, in a veiled reference to efforts by politicians from Peninsular Malaysia to organise Gawai celebrations in the state.
The state government recognises Gawai as a Dayak cultural (harvest) festival since the 1960s.
The three Dayak NGOs – Sarawak Dayak national Union (SDNU), Dayak Bidayuh Nasional Association (DBNA) and Orang Ulu National Association (OUNA) – are the custodians of the festival.
These are the organisations that have been given the honour, on rotation basis, to organise the official state-level Gawai every year.
“Gawai Dayak belongs to the Dayaks. It is ours! Therefore, it is ours to keep. Keep it, we must. It is ours to organise,” said Masing.
He appealed to fellow Dayaks to make Gawai Dayak the knot that binds, and the glue which seals all Dayaks as one.
