KENYAH BORNEO-KENYAH SEDUNIA(KENYAH WORLD)

State recognises ‘Orang Ulu’
By Puvaneswary Devindran

Taib’s stand is only the community can change that, not him or any outsider
KUCHING: The state has not changed the term ‘Orang Ulu’ to ‘Lun Daya’.
Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud feels that the decision to be called Orang Ulu or Lun Daya should be made by the people of that race itself.
He said it was not for him or any other outsider to decide how the Orang Ulu should be called.
“No, I’m not making up my mind (on this). It is to me whatever people agree and accept. If it is a controversy, you cannot make it permanent,” Taib said, referring to an apparent controversy on the use of the word ‘Lun Daya’ by some section of the Orang Ulu community in place of the officially established and commonly used term ‘Orang Ulu’.
“So let things settle down and let it be decided by the people concerned,” he told reporters after opening the Fifth Sarawak Cultural Symposium at Dewan Undangan Negeri Complex here yesterday.
He made it clear yesterday that he would not “propose to understand why it should be this and not that” (Orang Ulu or Lun Daya), saying it was not for him to decide.
The State Orang Ulu National Association Kuching Branch treasurer Laing Budah was one of those who had voiced strong support for the continued use of ‘Orang Ulu’.
He said in a press statement on Monday that the proposal had not got the agreement of all the ethnic groups within the Orang Ulu community and expressed shock when a TV1 presenter at the Gawai Dayak Malaysia Open House 2009 last Saturday introduced the ethnic group as ‘Lun Daya’ on air.
He said just because some people requested for a name change, using an unofficial term in place of one that was legal and proper was not only wrong but misleading too.
He said the use of the word ‘Lun Daya’ must stop because it would confuse not only Malaysians but foreigners too.
The confusion was further worsened by an invitation to the current symposium from Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) to all media organisations on Tuesday using the term ‘Lun Daya (Orang Ulu) community’.
But Azam senior officer when contacted about this on Tuesday said that the Federation of Orang Ulu Association Malaysia (Forum) secretary-general Datu Ose Murang said the term ‘Lun Daya’ could be used, but with ‘(Orang Ulu)’ behind it.
The change was first proposed by Telang Usan assemblyman Lihan Jok, who is also Forum president, several months ago.
That proposal drew flaks from several prominent members of the Orang Ulu community.