http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/politics/sabah-and-sarawak/12191-petrified-baram-natives-want-dam-plan-scrapped
Petrified Baram natives want 'dam plan' scrapped
Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:15
By Joseph Tawie
MIRI: Some 20,000 indigenous natives of Kayan, Kenyah, Saben and Penan communities living in the Baram division are horrified to hear about the voluminous fast-flowing Rajang River drying up, a phenomenon blamed in part to the impoundment of the controversial Bakun dam which began on Oct 13.
The unexpected dry spell and the continuous impoundment has caused untold misery and hardship for those living along the Kapit, Belaga, Nanga Merit and Pelagus areas.
“Never before have the Baram residents ever heard of the Rajang River drying up or seen such a thing,” said Philip Jau, chairman of Baram Protection Action Committee in a statement to FMT.
“We don’t want this (dry up) to happen to the Baram River, if the construction of Baram dam is to proceed,” he said.
“The committee therefore demands that the government scrap its plan to build the Baram dam which has a capacity of 1,000 MW. Otherwise at least 20,000 indigenous Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit, Saben and Penan communities from hundreds of longhouses and villages situated along the Baram River valley will be affected and displaced,” he said.
Jau said the majority of the communities living in Baram "strongly and vehemently oppose the Baram dam" and also all the other planned and currently under construction dams throughout Sarawak. He said the state had more than enough supply of energy even without these additional dams.
Not consulted
Jau said that the Baram residents were never consulted about the construction of the Baram dam.
“Even though it is still in its planning stage, the people have a right to know and to decide whether to agree or disagree with the project,” he said, pointing out that if all the planned 12 dams and Bakun Dam are operational, Sarawak would have an insane amount of surplus electricity or 600% surplus.
"The energy generated from Bakun Dam alone is more than enough to power Sarawak,” he said.
The Baram dam is expected to submerge an area of 38,900 hectares (389 sq km) of land and forest. The area is mostly native customary land, and consists of temuda, cultivated lands, gardens, villages, churches, graveyards, community forests and sites of historical significance.
The people are going to lose their longhouses, villages, properties, lands and forests as well as the history as a result of submergence and displacement by the Baram dam.
The dam will also submerge the existing government schools, medical clinics, airstrip and other building facilities which the government have spent a lot of tax payers’ money on.
The longhouse/villages downstream affected by the Baram Dam are Long Laput, Sungai Dua, Sri Kenawan, Uma Bawang, Long Miri (Daleh Pelutan), Long Pilah and Long Kesseh.
In the upstream and within the dam reservoir area are Long Na’ah, Long Liam, Long San, Long Selatong (Kiri & Kanan), Long Apu, Long Julan Asal, Long Julan Pelutan, Long Anap, Long Palai, Long Je’eh, Long Moh, Long Sela’an and Long Semiyang as well as some villages in Akah River that are Long Beku, Ba’ Abang, Long Tap and Long Tebangan.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
A thing of beauty
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/10/17/lifefocus/7235678&sec=lifefocus
Sunday October 17, 2010
A thing of beauty
By DIANA ROSE
starmag@thestar.com.my
Beads have literally rolled their way round the world, picking up, along the journey, bits of culture, lore and drama.
HAVE beads will travel. That seemed to be the case back in the days when traders explored new territories to ply their wares.
Research carried out by the American Beads Society shows that beads were brought to Southeast Asia from India via the Silk and the Cardamon routes. American beads expert Jamey Allen concurs with that observation.
“There is no doubt that the vast majority of ancient stone and glass beads were made in India, and distributed to her trading partners. In some instances, the technology (knowledge and skills, and actual workers) was transferred to new locations,” Allen says in a paper presented at the inaugural Borneo International Beads Conference (BIBC) in Miri, Sarawak, last week.
But the earliest evidence of beads can be traced to the Hellenic city of Alexandria (founded in 332BCE), a huge trading centre that had links with the East.
In facts, beads were so treasured that they were often buried with their owners; these tiny possessions are among the most common items unearthed from ancient graves.
In a 1995 interview in Kuala Lumpur, Kamaruddin Zakaria, the-then curator of archaeology at Muzium Negara, said that early beadmakers had settled in Mantai, Oc-eo and Klong Thom (ancient cities in mainland Southeast Asia) and dominated the trade in the first half of the first millenium CE.
Around the sixth or seventh centuries, the latter two sites were abandoned and new sites emerged in Kuala Selinsing and Sating Pra. Around this time, Mantai began producing stone beads.
In olden times, only the aristocrats owned the alai maun or yellow peanut beads, which were a status symbol. – Apoi Ngimat
During the ninth or 10th centuries, beads from the Islamic west penetrated the South-East Asian market, coming through the Malay peninsula and slowly filtering into Borneo and the Philippines.
About 120 delegates attended the two-day BIBC, organised by Sarawak Craft Hub. Among them was World Crafts Council president Usha Krishna of India.
“For the first time the treasures of the indigenous people of Sarawak were put on display on a very personal and passionate level,” Usha says. “I do not do how to do beading or make beads but I love the beauty of it. Thus, I came.
“Now I see beads in a very different perspective. They have become a new world treasure. Just imagine – some of the beads found among the people of Sarawak are thousands of years old. How did they acquire them?”
Eileen Paya Foong says her ancestors obtained rare beads in exchange for a slave girl, and a mother and her child.
The Borneo bead story is as colourful and exotic as it is old. Generally, beads were used in ceremonial rites and rituals, for barter trading, and as jewellery (to denote wealth, power and social standing).
“Beads have played an important role in Dayak society for several centuries. They are not only decorative objects valued just for their aesthetic qualities, but have a deeper cultural value,” says Eileen Paya Foong, a marketing executive at Curtin University of Technology Sarawak, where she is also doing a degree in Borneo studies.
Paya Foong, of Kenyah-Chinese parentage, shares how her ancestors got to possess the Lukut Sekala (eye beads) in her paper titled “Barang Pu’un Mek: An Uma Pawek Family’s Pesaka Beads”. She claims that her family is among only eight in Sarawak that has those precious beads today.
In the past, a single lukut sekala was worth an adult male slave. These beads were usually designed in chevron, swirls, circles or eye style.
According to Paya Foong, one lukut sekala in her family’s possession was a ransom paid in exchange for the lives of a mother and her child during a head-hunting romp.
Another was given to her family in exchange for a slave girl.
Apparently, the Kenyah aristocrats in Uma Pawek in the Upper Baram region of Sarawak were unhappy that one of her ancestor’s had owned a slave girl. This ancestor had married out of the caste and been demoted to commoner, and was thus not allowed to have slave.
So the aristocrats negotiated to take the slave girl as their own; in return, they gave her previous owner a gong and a lukut sekala.
Aristocrat Devong of mixed Kenyah-Kayan parentage of Uma Nyaveng Sungai Asap says the bead treasures she owns are ancestral heirlooms. As far as she knows, some have been in the family for at least seven generations.
Dr Cheah Hwei Fen, a lecturer on Asian art and textile history at the Australian National University, presented a paper on “Beadwork (Penang, Singapore, Malacca)”, shared visuals on Nyonya beadwork and explored Peranakan Chinese ideas about fashion, identity, change and women’s lives in the late 19th and 20th centuries
She was amazed by how highly the people in Borneo value their beads. “In the Peranakan community, beads and beadworks are appreciated for their aesthetic beauty. That’s about it. The Peranakans do not share such a passionate link to beads as the people here.”
Jamey Allen helping to authenticate beads brought to him at the Borneo International Beads Conference held in Miri.
Dr Cheah thinks it is possible to fan appreciation for beads by having creative innovations and using the old techniques to create contemporary designs.”Nyonya beadwork has been sustained through museum displays and beadwork classes. The challenge for Nyonya beaders is to embrace beadwork as a mode of contemporary artistic creativity and imagination, drawing on history as an inspiration without being inhibited by past models.”
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak senior lecturer (Department of Anthropology and Sociology) Poline Bala, who hails from Sarawak’s Bario highlands, says: “We Kelabit are very passionate about our material culture, including our beads.
“We do not care where they are made, but we value the story behind each bead, how it got to be in our possession, the arduous, and at times dangerous, journeys people took to acquire it and the beauty of beads.”
Speaking about “Old beads and new beads among the Kelabit of Sarawak: Their changing social role and significance”, Poline says the highland community is toying with the idea of issuing certificates of origin to separate treasured heirlooms from replicas, which are actively traded throughout Borneo. Most of the latter are made in Java, Indonesia.
Datin Devong Anyie of Uma Nyaveng of Asap Belaga is a fine example of Sarawakian Orang Ulu whose passion for beads has not waned with the years.
“Some of the replicas are so good that it has become quite difficult to distinguish them,” she says, adding that the Kelabits prize the “bao rawir, alai, adan and lukut sekala.” A Kelabit woman’s bead cap (called the pala) can fetch up to RM30,000 apiece.
Yekti Kusmartono, one of Indonesia’s foremost bead scholars, relates how bead artisans in East Java make high quality replicas of “old” Venetians beads using recycled perfume and liquor bottles. These beautiful replicas are made into costume jewelleries at hefty prices.
Her passion for beads started in the 1970s, after she saw strings of antique stones and glass beads on display in shops in Jakarta. The majority of the beads were from East Java.
“This triggered my interest as my home town is in East Java. Before realising it, I had entered the world of beads, and began designing and stringing them!” Yekti recalls.
“Then I embarked on something even more fascinating – learning about the history and tradition of beads.” As antique beads became rarer and more expensive, she then explored the possibility of copying them.
“With the skills of the bead-makers in East Java we started reproducing them,” adds Yekti, whose replicas, which fetch thousands of ringgit per piece, have found their way to Europe.
“That’s how precious beads are, no matter whether they are antique or replicas of an antique. We’re literally producing art from shard.”
Allen, a researcher, lecturer and specialist on antique beads, especially multi-layered Rosetta beads, elaborated on The Heirloom Beads of Island Southeast Asia in his paper.
He notes that while ancient and antique beads are cherished throughout the world, it is only in this region that one can find substantial traditions that sustain interest in these artefacts, which are made mainly of glass, agate and metal and probably date back 2,000 years.
“Beads are usually thought to be older, rarer, and more valuable than is often the case in reality. Most of the heirloom beads in Borneo have Middle Eastern and Indian origins.
“There are also Chinese beads, copied versions of 16th or 17th century Venetian beads, bohemian beads and some of unknown origins.”
“This conference has given us an opportunity to discover, at a more personal level on how the people of Borneo value their beads. It is also good that the people here name each bead – it is easier to identify them,” said Allen, who was surprised to find that the natives in Borneo have male and female versions of the lukut sekala.
Indeed, the story of beads reveals many interesting facts wrapped around the survival of material culture, and lore.
As Heidi Munan, organising chairman of the Borneo conference, puts it:
“Beads really got to travel around, from one continent to another, from the coast to the highland, from one generation to another. They are resilient.”
She can add that beads are beautiful and definitely here to stay!
Sunday October 17, 2010
A thing of beauty
By DIANA ROSE
starmag@thestar.com.my
Beads have literally rolled their way round the world, picking up, along the journey, bits of culture, lore and drama.
HAVE beads will travel. That seemed to be the case back in the days when traders explored new territories to ply their wares.
Research carried out by the American Beads Society shows that beads were brought to Southeast Asia from India via the Silk and the Cardamon routes. American beads expert Jamey Allen concurs with that observation.
“There is no doubt that the vast majority of ancient stone and glass beads were made in India, and distributed to her trading partners. In some instances, the technology (knowledge and skills, and actual workers) was transferred to new locations,” Allen says in a paper presented at the inaugural Borneo International Beads Conference (BIBC) in Miri, Sarawak, last week.
But the earliest evidence of beads can be traced to the Hellenic city of Alexandria (founded in 332BCE), a huge trading centre that had links with the East.
In facts, beads were so treasured that they were often buried with their owners; these tiny possessions are among the most common items unearthed from ancient graves.
In a 1995 interview in Kuala Lumpur, Kamaruddin Zakaria, the-then curator of archaeology at Muzium Negara, said that early beadmakers had settled in Mantai, Oc-eo and Klong Thom (ancient cities in mainland Southeast Asia) and dominated the trade in the first half of the first millenium CE.
Around the sixth or seventh centuries, the latter two sites were abandoned and new sites emerged in Kuala Selinsing and Sating Pra. Around this time, Mantai began producing stone beads.
In olden times, only the aristocrats owned the alai maun or yellow peanut beads, which were a status symbol. – Apoi Ngimat
During the ninth or 10th centuries, beads from the Islamic west penetrated the South-East Asian market, coming through the Malay peninsula and slowly filtering into Borneo and the Philippines.
About 120 delegates attended the two-day BIBC, organised by Sarawak Craft Hub. Among them was World Crafts Council president Usha Krishna of India.
“For the first time the treasures of the indigenous people of Sarawak were put on display on a very personal and passionate level,” Usha says. “I do not do how to do beading or make beads but I love the beauty of it. Thus, I came.
“Now I see beads in a very different perspective. They have become a new world treasure. Just imagine – some of the beads found among the people of Sarawak are thousands of years old. How did they acquire them?”
Eileen Paya Foong says her ancestors obtained rare beads in exchange for a slave girl, and a mother and her child.
The Borneo bead story is as colourful and exotic as it is old. Generally, beads were used in ceremonial rites and rituals, for barter trading, and as jewellery (to denote wealth, power and social standing).
“Beads have played an important role in Dayak society for several centuries. They are not only decorative objects valued just for their aesthetic qualities, but have a deeper cultural value,” says Eileen Paya Foong, a marketing executive at Curtin University of Technology Sarawak, where she is also doing a degree in Borneo studies.
Paya Foong, of Kenyah-Chinese parentage, shares how her ancestors got to possess the Lukut Sekala (eye beads) in her paper titled “Barang Pu’un Mek: An Uma Pawek Family’s Pesaka Beads”. She claims that her family is among only eight in Sarawak that has those precious beads today.
In the past, a single lukut sekala was worth an adult male slave. These beads were usually designed in chevron, swirls, circles or eye style.
According to Paya Foong, one lukut sekala in her family’s possession was a ransom paid in exchange for the lives of a mother and her child during a head-hunting romp.
Another was given to her family in exchange for a slave girl.
Apparently, the Kenyah aristocrats in Uma Pawek in the Upper Baram region of Sarawak were unhappy that one of her ancestor’s had owned a slave girl. This ancestor had married out of the caste and been demoted to commoner, and was thus not allowed to have slave.
So the aristocrats negotiated to take the slave girl as their own; in return, they gave her previous owner a gong and a lukut sekala.
Aristocrat Devong of mixed Kenyah-Kayan parentage of Uma Nyaveng Sungai Asap says the bead treasures she owns are ancestral heirlooms. As far as she knows, some have been in the family for at least seven generations.
Dr Cheah Hwei Fen, a lecturer on Asian art and textile history at the Australian National University, presented a paper on “Beadwork (Penang, Singapore, Malacca)”, shared visuals on Nyonya beadwork and explored Peranakan Chinese ideas about fashion, identity, change and women’s lives in the late 19th and 20th centuries
She was amazed by how highly the people in Borneo value their beads. “In the Peranakan community, beads and beadworks are appreciated for their aesthetic beauty. That’s about it. The Peranakans do not share such a passionate link to beads as the people here.”
Jamey Allen helping to authenticate beads brought to him at the Borneo International Beads Conference held in Miri.
Dr Cheah thinks it is possible to fan appreciation for beads by having creative innovations and using the old techniques to create contemporary designs.”Nyonya beadwork has been sustained through museum displays and beadwork classes. The challenge for Nyonya beaders is to embrace beadwork as a mode of contemporary artistic creativity and imagination, drawing on history as an inspiration without being inhibited by past models.”
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak senior lecturer (Department of Anthropology and Sociology) Poline Bala, who hails from Sarawak’s Bario highlands, says: “We Kelabit are very passionate about our material culture, including our beads.
“We do not care where they are made, but we value the story behind each bead, how it got to be in our possession, the arduous, and at times dangerous, journeys people took to acquire it and the beauty of beads.”
Speaking about “Old beads and new beads among the Kelabit of Sarawak: Their changing social role and significance”, Poline says the highland community is toying with the idea of issuing certificates of origin to separate treasured heirlooms from replicas, which are actively traded throughout Borneo. Most of the latter are made in Java, Indonesia.
Datin Devong Anyie of Uma Nyaveng of Asap Belaga is a fine example of Sarawakian Orang Ulu whose passion for beads has not waned with the years.
“Some of the replicas are so good that it has become quite difficult to distinguish them,” she says, adding that the Kelabits prize the “bao rawir, alai, adan and lukut sekala.” A Kelabit woman’s bead cap (called the pala) can fetch up to RM30,000 apiece.
Yekti Kusmartono, one of Indonesia’s foremost bead scholars, relates how bead artisans in East Java make high quality replicas of “old” Venetians beads using recycled perfume and liquor bottles. These beautiful replicas are made into costume jewelleries at hefty prices.
Her passion for beads started in the 1970s, after she saw strings of antique stones and glass beads on display in shops in Jakarta. The majority of the beads were from East Java.
“This triggered my interest as my home town is in East Java. Before realising it, I had entered the world of beads, and began designing and stringing them!” Yekti recalls.
“Then I embarked on something even more fascinating – learning about the history and tradition of beads.” As antique beads became rarer and more expensive, she then explored the possibility of copying them.
“With the skills of the bead-makers in East Java we started reproducing them,” adds Yekti, whose replicas, which fetch thousands of ringgit per piece, have found their way to Europe.
“That’s how precious beads are, no matter whether they are antique or replicas of an antique. We’re literally producing art from shard.”
Allen, a researcher, lecturer and specialist on antique beads, especially multi-layered Rosetta beads, elaborated on The Heirloom Beads of Island Southeast Asia in his paper.
He notes that while ancient and antique beads are cherished throughout the world, it is only in this region that one can find substantial traditions that sustain interest in these artefacts, which are made mainly of glass, agate and metal and probably date back 2,000 years.
“Beads are usually thought to be older, rarer, and more valuable than is often the case in reality. Most of the heirloom beads in Borneo have Middle Eastern and Indian origins.
“There are also Chinese beads, copied versions of 16th or 17th century Venetian beads, bohemian beads and some of unknown origins.”
“This conference has given us an opportunity to discover, at a more personal level on how the people of Borneo value their beads. It is also good that the people here name each bead – it is easier to identify them,” said Allen, who was surprised to find that the natives in Borneo have male and female versions of the lukut sekala.
Indeed, the story of beads reveals many interesting facts wrapped around the survival of material culture, and lore.
As Heidi Munan, organising chairman of the Borneo conference, puts it:
“Beads really got to travel around, from one continent to another, from the coast to the highland, from one generation to another. They are resilient.”
She can add that beads are beautiful and definitely here to stay!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Low production main reason why Bario rice cannot be exported
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/8/sarawak/7181937&sec=sarawak
Friday October 8, 2010
Low production main reason why Bario rice cannot be exported
By RINTOS MAIL
rintos@thestar.com.my
BARIO rice is of high demand outside Malaysia but production could not meet the need.
Beras Corporation Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of PadiBeras National (Bernas), said production constraint was one of the main reasons why Bario rice could not go beyond Malaysian shores yet.
Its chief executive officer Mohd Kamaluddin Mohd Effendie said they had tried to promote the rice in Italy, Hong Kong and Singapore, and the response was good.
”There were also requests for this rice to be exported there, but unfortunately we are unable to meet the requirement, especially on the production part,” he told newsmen at the launch of the new Bario Rice trademark at its premises in Kuching yesterday.
The Bario rice has been re-branded under the name “Bario O’ Grain”.
Mohd Kamaluddin said so far the total production for Bario rice was only about 50 tonnes per year while the supply was dwindling now.
He said the decreasing trend was likely to continue since most of the youths from Bario had migrated to towns and cities in search of work and higher income.
He said because of the age factor, the capility to farm was also decreasing, which has affected the grains supply.
Mohd Kamaluddin said due to production constraints, they had to hold back their plan to promote Bario rice internationally.
Regarded as Malaysia’s best, Bario rice is grown in the cool climate of the Kelabit highlands at an elevation of more 1,200 metres.
The rice is homegrown, labouriously planted and harvested by hand using age-old traditional methods.
Mohd Kamaluddin said they had spent about RM5mil since 2001 to buy and transport Bario rice, adding that the rice was specially flown out of the highlands to Miri.
“We are buying the rice from them at RM6 per kg and paying air charges at RM6 per kg, and selling it at between RM6 and RM7 per kg in Miri and Kuching,” he said.
”The transport charges, which is about RM2.5mil, are paid for by Bernas as part of its corporate social responsibilities,” he added.
Friday October 8, 2010
Low production main reason why Bario rice cannot be exported
By RINTOS MAIL
rintos@thestar.com.my
BARIO rice is of high demand outside Malaysia but production could not meet the need.
Beras Corporation Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of PadiBeras National (Bernas), said production constraint was one of the main reasons why Bario rice could not go beyond Malaysian shores yet.
Its chief executive officer Mohd Kamaluddin Mohd Effendie said they had tried to promote the rice in Italy, Hong Kong and Singapore, and the response was good.
”There were also requests for this rice to be exported there, but unfortunately we are unable to meet the requirement, especially on the production part,” he told newsmen at the launch of the new Bario Rice trademark at its premises in Kuching yesterday.
The Bario rice has been re-branded under the name “Bario O’ Grain”.
Mohd Kamaluddin said so far the total production for Bario rice was only about 50 tonnes per year while the supply was dwindling now.
He said the decreasing trend was likely to continue since most of the youths from Bario had migrated to towns and cities in search of work and higher income.
He said because of the age factor, the capility to farm was also decreasing, which has affected the grains supply.
Mohd Kamaluddin said due to production constraints, they had to hold back their plan to promote Bario rice internationally.
Regarded as Malaysia’s best, Bario rice is grown in the cool climate of the Kelabit highlands at an elevation of more 1,200 metres.
The rice is homegrown, labouriously planted and harvested by hand using age-old traditional methods.
Mohd Kamaluddin said they had spent about RM5mil since 2001 to buy and transport Bario rice, adding that the rice was specially flown out of the highlands to Miri.
“We are buying the rice from them at RM6 per kg and paying air charges at RM6 per kg, and selling it at between RM6 and RM7 per kg in Miri and Kuching,” he said.
”The transport charges, which is about RM2.5mil, are paid for by Bernas as part of its corporate social responsibilities,” he added.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Pack of 2kg Bario rice now on sale
http://sarawakupdate.com/home/national-news/pack-of-2kg-bario-rice-now-on-sale/
Pack of 2kg Bario rice now on sale
KUCHING, Oct 7 (Bernama)
The highland rice or more popularly referred to as Bario rice from the “Adan” version is among the rice which is frequently sought after as souvenirs by tourists visiting Sarawak from within and outside the country.
In view of its popularity, Padi Beras Nasional (Bernas), through its subsidiary Beras Corporation Sdn. Bhd., had marketed the Bario rice on a commercial basis under the brand name Bario O’ Grain since 2001, said its chief executive officer, Mohd Kamaluddin Mohd Effendie here.
“Bernas has spent RM5 million since 2001 to promote the Bario O’ Grain rice and of the amount, half (RM2.5 million) was spent on the cost of transportation from Bario to Miri city,” he said during the launch of the new packaging for the Bario O’ Grain rice, here today. — BERNAMA
Pack of 2kg Bario rice now on sale
KUCHING, Oct 7 (Bernama)
The highland rice or more popularly referred to as Bario rice from the “Adan” version is among the rice which is frequently sought after as souvenirs by tourists visiting Sarawak from within and outside the country.
In view of its popularity, Padi Beras Nasional (Bernas), through its subsidiary Beras Corporation Sdn. Bhd., had marketed the Bario rice on a commercial basis under the brand name Bario O’ Grain since 2001, said its chief executive officer, Mohd Kamaluddin Mohd Effendie here.
“Bernas has spent RM5 million since 2001 to promote the Bario O’ Grain rice and of the amount, half (RM2.5 million) was spent on the cost of transportation from Bario to Miri city,” he said during the launch of the new packaging for the Bario O’ Grain rice, here today. — BERNAMA
Friday, October 1, 2010
Jala denies ‘envoy’ role over church matter
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/1/nation/7135593&sec=nation
Friday October 1, 2010
Jala denies ‘envoy’ role over church matter
By JOSHUA FOONG
joshuafoong@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: Cabinet minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala has refuted claims that he is heading a government effort to convince Christians to use the Hebrew word Yahweh instead of the Quranic Allah in their Malay text.
“A friend asked me a personal question and, while in my heart I have my opinions, I believe that church matters should be left in the church,” he told reporters at the National SME Economic Transformation Conference 2010 at at the Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.
He was commenting on an online report that Putrajaya had dispatched special envoys – including Jala – to parley with his community and seek a peaceful end to the Allah court dispute amid Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s overtures to world leaders urging pragmatism in dealing with extremists.
While Jala is said to be heading the effort, the portal also reported that he was facing stiff resistance from within his own Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church.
The portal added that the move at home may have caused a rift within the Christian community, with the English-speaking, urban and middle-class members on one side and poorer, rural churchgoers, who mainly use the Malay language in their worship, on the other.
The Catholic church won its bid in December last year for the right to use the word Allah to refer to God in Christian worship.
Two other suits filed separately by SIB Sabah and an SIB Sarawak member are still pending.
Jala, a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, grew up in the Bario Highlands of Sarawak’s interior, home of the staunchly Christian Kelabit people.
On another matter raised by the portal, Jala said he was taken out of context regarding his alleged dismissal of the need for proficiency in English for Malaysia to achieve its 2020 vision of becoming a high-income nation.
“I did not write off the importance of mastering the English language but only said that Malaysia can be a high-income economy with the national language,” he said.
“South Korea and Japan became high-income nations without using English. If they can do it, we can do it, too,” he added.
“In this manner, it does not mean the English language is not important. It is also crucial,” said Jala, adding that the bigger picture was to ensure that the quality of education was raised to groom a generation of calibre and competent citizens.
Friday October 1, 2010
Jala denies ‘envoy’ role over church matter
By JOSHUA FOONG
joshuafoong@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: Cabinet minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala has refuted claims that he is heading a government effort to convince Christians to use the Hebrew word Yahweh instead of the Quranic Allah in their Malay text.
“A friend asked me a personal question and, while in my heart I have my opinions, I believe that church matters should be left in the church,” he told reporters at the National SME Economic Transformation Conference 2010 at at the Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.
He was commenting on an online report that Putrajaya had dispatched special envoys – including Jala – to parley with his community and seek a peaceful end to the Allah court dispute amid Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s overtures to world leaders urging pragmatism in dealing with extremists.
While Jala is said to be heading the effort, the portal also reported that he was facing stiff resistance from within his own Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church.
The portal added that the move at home may have caused a rift within the Christian community, with the English-speaking, urban and middle-class members on one side and poorer, rural churchgoers, who mainly use the Malay language in their worship, on the other.
The Catholic church won its bid in December last year for the right to use the word Allah to refer to God in Christian worship.
Two other suits filed separately by SIB Sabah and an SIB Sarawak member are still pending.
Jala, a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, grew up in the Bario Highlands of Sarawak’s interior, home of the staunchly Christian Kelabit people.
On another matter raised by the portal, Jala said he was taken out of context regarding his alleged dismissal of the need for proficiency in English for Malaysia to achieve its 2020 vision of becoming a high-income nation.
“I did not write off the importance of mastering the English language but only said that Malaysia can be a high-income economy with the national language,” he said.
“South Korea and Japan became high-income nations without using English. If they can do it, we can do it, too,” he added.
“In this manner, it does not mean the English language is not important. It is also crucial,” said Jala, adding that the bigger picture was to ensure that the quality of education was raised to groom a generation of calibre and competent citizens.
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