KOTA MARUDU: Local KadazanDusun song “Saya anak kampung” by Jimmy Palikat is the current chart topping song.
It is hugely popular in the karaoke lounges and the melody even used as ring tones and it can be heard being sung or hummed in public.
The lyrics of the song make one smile but the wordings are a bit worrying since the individual referred to in the song is portrayed as a defeatist and has resigned to the fact that he was poor.
This did not portray the real spirit of the KadazanDusun Murut (KDM) community who are actually resilient and not defeatists, said Senator Datuk Maijol Mahap.
Maijol was officiating Kampung Samparita’s harvest festival celebration here recently and stressed that having the attitude of the individual portrayed in the song would not help the community to move ahead and improve.
“We must not have the attitude portrayed in the famous local song ‘Saya Anak Kampung’. The song is nice to hear, I like it too. I like the beat, I notice many young people like to sing it.
“I congratulate Jimmy Palikat for that entertaining song. However, if you listen to the lyrics of the song, it does not have any motivational element in it. In brief, it says, ‘I am a poor child. I don’t have anything to give to you (girlfriend). I can’t pay for the dowry. I don’t have a house. So, you (girlfriend) don’t stick to me. I love you but I am really to give up on you and release you to somebody else”.
“I hope it doesn’t reflect the character of the young people of the Kadazandusun and Murut. Having the character of those portrayed in the song is not good. Instead, we must work hard to improve ourselves and not to give up easily. We also cannot look at the negatives of ourself, but to work harder to put up more postive elements in our lives.”
The United Pasokmomogun KadazanDusun Murut (UPKO) vice president pointed out that the government has introduced a holistic package to turn Malaysia into a developed and high income earning nation by 2020.
In order to make it a reality, the people must respond and support it because the actual beneficiaries are the people themselves, he said, adding that the Kadazandusun and Murut people must respond to the government’s initiatives to develop the nation and the people.
According to Maijol, what was meant by ‘respond’ was that the people must understand what the government is doing and our part to make it work.
“We can do our part by working harder in whatever we are doing, and being smart in seizing opportunities in whatever the government has made available for the people.
“There are various opportunities given by the government in the agriculture sector, small and medium entrepreneurship, training to acquire new knowledge and skill, enrolment to colleges and so students must also strive hard because getting good education and training is one of the ways to come out from poverty,” he stressed.
In his speech, Maijol also accorded his gratitude to the state and federal bovernments for giving high recognition to the Harvest Festival, by declaring it a national event.
In an unrelated issue, he urged the government to expedite the long awaited irrigation in Kampung Damai, Kota Marudu for the benefit of the paddy farmers there.
The government has promised to build it sometime ago but until now, there is no sight of it, he lamented.