News about the Dayak communities in Sarawak seldom receives national attention in both the mainstream and alternative media. But with the balance of power in West Malaysia now divided precariously between the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, the national audience should perhaps pay more attention to the two Borneon states of Sarawak and Sabah.

The latest issue that ruffles the subconscious impulse of the Dayaks’ sense of self-identity concerns the very name by which they shall call themselves.

It all started when the Deputy Minister for Rural and Regional Development Joseph Entulu from the PRS suggested some time back that the term “Dayak” be dropped as its connotation was “uncivilised, uncouth, and low-class."

The proposal sparked off a wave of protest among politicians, and the mostly urban-based Dayak intellegentia.

'Entulu must be drunk'

On July 11, 2009, a special forum was held by the Borneo Post in collaboration with the Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) to discuss this very issue. There were five panel speakers addressing some 150 participants, mostly professionals, pensioners, businessmen, and some university students.

During the forum, Entulu was thoroughly criticised by the panel speakers. Dayak blogger Joseph Tawie has this to report on his 'Broken Shield':

‘SDNU publicity chief Dr John Brian Anthony said that the term “Dayak” was used anthropologically to describe the natives of Borneo.

He said: “It is sillier to suggest dropping the term ‘Dayak’. He must be drunk. Otherwise he is playing to the gallery of those who are against the term ‘Dayak’.

‘“It is our intention to bring all the natives together under the name of Dayak, but there are people who think that the Dayaks are threat. That is why Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) cannot be registered because it is considered a security threat to the nation,” he said.’

Post-colonial and post-modern scholars will tell you how the act of naming any society is itself an indication of the power relation between the group doing the naming and the group being named.

When Sarawak came under British colonial rule after the end of WW2, they named the majority Ibans as Sea Dayak, and the Bidayuhs as Land Dayaks. These names were accepted by the Ibans and Bidayuhs themselves, more or less, signifying their acceptance of British hegemony over political power in the state.

But the political Dayak consciousness was stirred from its slumber when the Malaysia concept was proposed by Tunku Abdul Rahman in 1961. Dayak- based parties were formed to stake a claim in their future within the new federation.

Dayak was first chief minister

It was decided that all the non-Muslim indigenous communities were to be classified as Dayaks. The first Chief Minister of Sarawak was indeed a Dayak of Iban persuasion, Stephen kalong Ningkan. The Gawai Dayak festival was instituted by his government as a public holiday to symbolise the political importance of the Dayak people in the state.

This act of naming themselves as Dayaks is a symbolic act of declaration of liberation of the Dayak people from their former British political masters.

Since then, the political fortune of the Dayak people has floundered in past decades.

Then the term Dayakism came into vogue in the 1980s with the rise of the Parti Bangsa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS). One of the most ambitious plans of PBDS was their 'Project KMS (Ketua Menteri Sarawak)' during the 1991 state election. They fought from the opposition position at the state level, but failed to capture state power. Later, they too rejoined the BN ruling coalition.

Since then, PBDS has been deregistered, to be replaced by splinter parties with acronyms that will baffle people from out of state. Dayak unity and the reclamation of Dayak power in state politics remains as an unfulfilled dream for many members of the urban Dayak intellegentia.

The entry of PKR in a big way gave some hope to many Dayaks, but since their defeat at the recent Batang Ai by-election, the wind seems to have been taken away from the sail of this new Dayak entry in Sarawak politics.

We think Entulu’s claim that, in the perception of many people, the term “Dayak” has the connotations of “uncivilised, uncouth, and low-class” is untrue. In Sarawak, the term “Lakia” is much more racist, derogatory, and insulting.

But the refreshed fervour for the term “Dayak” by which to call themselves, as is evidenced in the recent forum mentioned above, also indicates the dilemma of the Dayak educated middle class over the lack of communal unity and effective leadership.

In his latest post, Joseph Tawie lamented about their Dayak elected representatives who are like “jaguh kampong” or “village champions”. They talk big in the villages, but keep a meek silence in the Sarawak State Assembly or the Dewan Rakyat to voice out the real concern of the Dayak people.

Must reclaim their former glory

We are afraid we have to agree with Joseph. Our Dayak politicians cannot survive in the opposition wilderness for long, and once they become an integral part of BN, they lose their critical independence for obvious reasons.

What the Dayaks need to reassert and regain their former political dominance is for a new political leadership to emerge and fight from the opposition front.

But the Dayaks cannot do it alone in this historic project, because in Sarawak, no single race constitutes a simple majority, either in numbers, or in the number of seats in which the race form a majority.

In short, this Dayak political movement to reclaim their former glory has to build bridges to forge strategic alliance with political forces that represent other ethnic groups, especially the Malays and the Melanaus.

While the hankering for ethnic unity is understandable for a besieged community in more ways than one, how will the call for Dayak unity be inclusive enough to allow room for the inclusive space needed for building bridges across ethnic lines?

Will it not be more prudent, for the sake of political advantage for all Dayaks later on, to call for Sarawak unity rather than Dayak unity?

SKY can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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