Highlighting their Borneo birthrights

BORNEO Birthright is made up of three young women who decided that the best way for them to contribute something to their beloved state was to come up with a book highlighting the people of Sarawak.

The leader of the group, 19-year-old Bethany Lu­hong Balan, explained that the goal of their project was to compile stories, legends and customs of Sarawak’s various cultures, with the ultimate aim of preserving the state’s diverse heritage.

“There are 32 races and sub-races in Sarawak alone, and our ultimate goal, given enough time, would be to collect a legend or custom from each and every ethnic group in Sarawak,” she said.

Through this project, Bethany believes that her group would contribute towards the preservation of Sarawak’s culture for future generations.

“We need to remember our origins to truly progress and succeed as a state and as a country. Also, we hope to prove to Sara­wak – and to the world – that youths are not to be under­estimated just be­cause of our age,” she stated.

Josephine Joeyna Joseph Jantan, 18, and Grace Law Ern Tze, 20 – Bethany’s group members – were both convinced that their book would benefit Sarawak as it complements the state’s efforts in promoting tou­rism.

“Besides promoting tourism in Sarawak, we will prove that youths can amount to something, while also encouraging other youths to put aside their fears or inhibitions to pursue their dreams.

“By showing interesting facts on the diverse Sarawakian culture, we hope to instil a sort of community pride in the people of Sarawak so that they will want to preserve our culture instead of taking it for granted,” said Josephine.

By selling their book, Bethany explained that their endeavour would be beneficial financially, while also bringing social and cultural benefits.

“Also, we intend to be role models to Sarawakian youths, and hopefully get them to step out and become entrepreneurs and inno­vators themselves.

“Just imagine the change Sarawak would experience if, by the age of 20, every young adult owns his own company or create his own product. The possibilities are endless!” she said.

Grace revealed that through their book project, the group also came up with a plan to extend their original idea to incorporate e-commerce.

“We also plan on selling handicrafts through our official website; items such as woven baskets, pua kumbu or bead crafts, which will help the indige­nous people get more in­volved in businesses and cottage industries of their own, as well as placing a global spotlight on their unique talents in craft-making,” she said.

In implementing their project, Bethany found it daunting to interview people, especially as she had to speak to strangers.

“I would have to say the major challenge for me was during the interviews, as we had to talk to total strangers and ask them all sorts of questions. The people we interviewed were usually much older than us, so the generation gap was also quite intimidating.

“In the end, we had to prove to ourselves as well as to other people that even though we were young, we had the capacity and passion to get things done,” she said.

For her team mates though, meeting the pro­ject deadline was the main challenge for them, as they struggled to collect and compile the information they needed.

“The biggest challenge was the deadline. But, in the end, we managed to overcome it and got everything ready on time,” said Grace.

As for Borneo Birthright, the other group taking part in Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) Sara­wak’s ‘Youth Engaged in Social Innovation, Service, Education and Enterprise (YES I SEE)’ project, its members said they enjoyed the guidance of mentors assigned to them.

They said they were also fortunate to receive the support and encourage­ment of friends and family members, who acted as their ‘unofficial’ mentors. Apart from that, they were grateful for the assistance they received from Sarakraf.

The YES I SEE project is a component of Azam’s ‘Sarawak Youth Em­powered and Engaged to Serve (Sarawak YES!)’ programme, which it co-organises with Sarawak Development Institute and Azam subsidiary, Faradale Media-M Sdn Bhd.