LOINCLOTH MENTALITY?

A comment from Hadi Awang, a PAS supremo, who was quoted as saying that voters in Batang Ai wore loincloth or "Cawat" in Bahasa Malaysia, that's why they voted for the ruling coalition the BN. The voters, most of whom were the Dayak Iban tribe, used to have their ancestors wearing loinscloth.

The comment no doubt drew angry responses from the BN leaders, especially Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and from other Dayak-based parties such as the SPDP. They were so offended by the comment which is taken literally and demanded public apologies from the Opposition leader. The demands were in the mainstream newspapers for the past four days.

Hadi was interviewed by a national news agency about this disparaging comment, but did not retract his comments, instead he said he did not intend offend the culture of the Dayak Iban in that constituency. He was "referring to the BN leaders who had fooled the people in Batang Ai".

To many people of Sarawak that I have talked to some took offense and some did not, depending on one's political leaning. But for me, such degrading comment is not new to me, I have had several racial and degrading comment on what and who we were. I chose and still choose to take such comments as an impetus to do well. I took these degrading comments positively and when later they'd learned that I was better on many counts then them, eventually they gave very high respect to me and they would normally offer apolgies. Not because I demanded any apology.

The way I see it, this 'degrading' comment is meant to wake us up and do something RIGHT. People will respect us eventually. There's no point in demanding any apologies. The way I see it, we should do something right first.

That 'something right' may be subjective, but I my experiences had taught me, anything that is right will show eventually. .. with great impact too!


The Mighty Hornbill....