‘Build Bandar Baru Telang Usan with elements of Kenyah culture’

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FULLY aware of the danger of losing their culture and their identity, the Kenyah community will insist that the proposed Bandar Baru Telang Usan be built with elements reflecting their culture.

It is their wish that the new township will be built as one of its kind in the country with elements of Orang Ulu in terms of its architecture and design unlike Miri or Sarikei.

“It will be a town that tells a totally different story from all other towns,” said Chuk Pai Ugon, the vice-president of Sarawak Kenyah National Association.

With the objective of building a Borneo Shangri-la of sorts in the Baram when the proposed Baram dam is finally built, the Kenyah people hoped the dam would be a centre for the Orang Ulu people.

This request will be brought up to the government through the association which is opened to all Kenyahs and even for those marrying into the community as their main aim is to preserve the culture of the Kenyah people.

“We may be only 40,000 in numbers (in Malaysia) but we speak 28 different dialects. Our similarity is the culture – songs, dances and traditional costume. We need to bring all our community together through the association,” said Chuk.

Over a dinner hosted by the association for the BAT IV team, Chuk said they has been applying to the Registrar of Society (ROS) to amend the constitution so that it would become an umbrella association where all other Kenyah associations affiliated to the bigger association could automatically become members of the supreme council.

“We are a minority ethnic group. Only when we are united can we talk about education and other issues that will benefit us.”

One of the measures to bring the Kenyah community together, he added, was to hold the annual Sarawak Kenyah Cultural Festival which the association hoped the government would include in the tourist calendar.

The last time it was held was at Sg Asap in 2010 which attracted 10,000 people. This year Chuk expected a bigger crowd at the festival slotted for Dec 3-5.

“We will invite Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem and the Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to be guests of honour.”

The Kenyahs traditionally occupy areas stretching from Baram to Belaga. With urban migration and mass resettlement like those relocated from Bakun to Sg Asap, Chuk wanted their culture and tradition to follow.

“The culture of the Kenyah people which are going to be affected by Baram dam will not die after the impoundment. We will only flood the bad but bring with us the good parts of our culture.

“Like the Kenyahs in Bakun, the Kenyahs in the Baram have to come out of their comfort zone and compete with the globalised world. This is inevitable. Either we do it now or be forced to do it later, which will be to our greater disadvantage.”

Another way for the local Kenyahs to preserve their culture was to work closely with the Kenyahs in Kalimantan, Indonesia.