KDM College In Sabah

Have KDM College visible in 3 years 

By: Tan Sri Herman Luping 

When the building of KDM college in Tambunan is finally completed and lectures in the various disciplines start, the KDM community must truly be grateful to the State and Federal governments for making this happen. For, the KDM community can truly say that they "have arrived" and are "counted" as belonging to a community and part of this great nation of ours.

Now I know and appreciate what "counted" and "belonging" means when a long time ago today, the Kadazandusun foremost leader, the first modern day Huguan Siou of the KDM, Tun Stephens spoke to me on the phone while I was in my office and said "Herman, this is Donald. I want you to join us and be "counted"", . And at the time when he said that he was indeed building the concept of his dream to make his community, the KDM a community to be proud "to belong".

He wanted them to be the "governors" and not just the "governed". Tun Stephens who dared to "dream" this of his community and racial origin alas is no longer with us today. He would have been proud to see that at long last we are "counted" and can truly say "we are proud to belong", and it was because he started it all. And yes, there would be others who say he had "turned his back" on us, at one time, but that period of time is also a long time ago and now covered in the mist of time, and best forgotten.

Today, we think only of the positive side of his contribution to the community he led and we are and should be forever grateful. The culmination of his "dream" is now in the hands of his worthy successor, the second modern day Huguan Siou, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan. It is in the hands of this worthy Kadazandusun leader that the Prime Minister has eloquently bestowed the honour to bring this "dream" of a KDM seat of higher learning to fruition and realisation.

He cannot fail. He must shoulder the responsibility given to him by a caring State and Federal leaders - Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman and Datuk Seri Panglima Najib Abdul Razak-so that the community of Kadazandusun Murut, the original inhabitants of this State have a place or seat of learning to call their own. We, the KDM must be forever grateful to both these leaders.

Let me say it at the outset then: that the construction of a seat of higher learning for the KDM in Tambunan is not meant as a propaganda gimmick for the Barisan Nasional coalition government. It is a genuine attempt to give the KDM a strong place in the nation, and as part of the multi-racial and multi-religious mix of what Malaysia, One Malaysia, is all about. That the venue is in the District of Tambunan, the original place of the Kitingan family is coincidental, but very apt, in my opinion. Tambunan is the heartland of the suku Liwan dialect, a bigger suku amongst the seven major suku of Kadazandusun Murut who speak the same language, separated only by dialects.

As a suku Tangaah from Penampang district I would have naturally preferred to have the KDM college sited in my birthplace, Penampang the heartland of the Tangaah speaking tribe. but nevertheless I also rejoice that there is a place, a seat of higher learning, for the community to call their own. Never mind where it sits or built upon; for one day soon, perhaps we can also have another seat of higher learning for the same community to be sited in the Penampang or Papar district, closer to the major city and capital of the State of Sabah. What is important is what this institution can promise to give to the community and the people of Sabah and Malaysia. We see this college operating in the same manner as any other institute of higher learning in this country, be it the University of Malaya, the University of Malaysia, Sarawak or University of Malaysia, Sabah (UMS) to mention a few - this latest and new college, named the KDM college, would stand shoulder to shoulder with these other institutions of higher learning in the country provided for us by a caring government.

The first question in every one's mind then is how big or grand this new college be. Would it be like any of the other newly built colleges, like say the University of Malaysia, Sabah (UMS) a colossal masterpiece of modern architectural design, built to look like a colossal holiday resort concept and costing the taxpayers billion of ringgits with awe inspiring auditoriums, including the Vice chancellor auditorium.

or would it be just another school building of the Education Department, with the intention to keep the cost of construction to a minimum? I would imagine that a precedent has been set in regards to the modern day architectural design of a university in the country. There is no reason therefore that the new KDM college would not be built similarly in a spectacular fashion too so that it can truly stand there as a permanent edifice of KDM's pride of place in the country. Then there is the question of the subjects or disciplines that would be taught in the college. Would it be just a college for Arts subjects, or would it be also have a strong bias towards the teaching of science subjects, and even medical subjects. And would the study of law, Adat, custom, Language and culture of the KDM be emphasised as a strong alternative for students to undertake to study?

Can we also dream of a school of archaeology, with emphasis on the study of the ancient Archeology of Sabah? And yet again, can we dare to think that a school of Zoology be also another strong subject to be introduced? These are the future of this college that Tan Sri Joseph Pairin and his committee would encompass in their approach to the setting of the college.

But for the time being, he must also consider the speed as to when the college could get started. He would not want to see the construction of the building to take more than say 5 years. He would like to see it done in the minimum of time - say three years - so that just before the next election, the 14th general election in the country, that the various schools or departments would have been in operation? And the chancellor and vice chancellor hopefully would be from amongst the many KDMs PhD holders. There are indeed quite a few of our own KDMs now wearing the mantle of these qualification and as professors of their own subjects in the other institutes of higher learning. This of course, is for the future, but a future that has to be addressed too.

But meanwhile, let us briefly trace the community's long journey towards reaching the final destination in education or getting an institution of higher learning to be sited at Kaingaran. Tambunan. We can probably start our original journey from the legendary Nunuk Ragang connection, a place situated at the river bank in Tampios, near Ranau. It was in this place that the KDM originated as the children of the first ancestors, Kinoingan and Suminundu, according to their legendary story. But this story of their origin fits in nicely with the scientific study of the KDM's origin: that they came out amongst the fourth migration from southern China, a thousand years ago. Their fellow travelers were the Bataks who settled in Sumatra, the Torajah who settled in northern Celebes, the Dayaks who settled in southern Borneo and Sarawak and the KDM who settled in northern Borneo - Sabah today, and according to the legend at Nunuk Ragang in Tompios.

The route according to this scientific study was through what was known as Cochin China (Vietnam, Laos, etc) and on to Taiwan and the Philippines. There are indigenous tribes in these countries today that bear resemblances with us and even their languages have strong similarities or derivatives.

The study of DNA blood samples also produce strong evidence that the KDM, Bataks, Dayaks and Torajah have strong connection. But when the first ancestors migrated to our parts of the world, they were hunter-gatherers and probably fit in the description of the "noble savage".

But "noble savages" we did not continue to be as time went on. When the first Europeans visited us they were met by the people who had the concept of the afterlife and have a set of governance in their villages with Adat as the universal laws. Then came the foreign missionaries both White men and Arabs. The Arabs concentrated their missionary work to spread Islam on the nobilities - thus the Brunei royal families all embraced the new religion, Islam and so did the nobilities of the Sulu Sultanate. Meanwhile, the White foreign missionaries who came to spread the Gospel concentrated on the people. But according to Fr John Rooney in his study of the history of the Church in Northern and Western Borneo (Gambar Gembira) there was a serious flaw in the thinking of some of the White foreign missionaries. They were so racist that they actually thought that the natives of the country had souls but they were not worthy to become priests. They could not be expected to hold Mass, the central believe of the Church, because they were heathens. There was a case of one Chinese convert who wanted to become a priest and was sent to study for the priesthood. He remained a deacon for a long time in Hongkong.

He returned to Sabah but was never ordained a priest but remained a deacon until he died. It was this stupid notion that a native, or an Asian were not meant to be priests, only the White man! But things began to change rapidly by the turn of the century and newer and more enlightened foreign missionaries arrived with the intention of not only to spread the Good News but also to give education. Schools were opened and this was what I call the "golden era" in the field of learning for the people.

The mission schools became the symbols of what is good in education. Everyone was welcomed. Education was more important. Religion was just a subject and no one was forced to become a Christian. The Muslims in the schools were given special places and no one was asked to convert. To the KDM, however, this was the start of their long journey towards getting their education, that is to say, to be able to read and write and know how to count and most importantly, the knowledge to speak English the universal language then and now. The KDM of today have the mission schools to be grateful for and to thank for helping them in their early start in their journey to get education.

The KDM college whose ground breaking ceremony performed by the Prime Minister in the presence of Musa, Pairin and thousands (some say, 20,000) of people, mostly KDM from all over Sabah were also the proud witnesses of the event. The prayer then is for the successful implantation of this important gift to us, the community - and most importantly, that it is not just a pipe dream.

There were some questions raised I believe whether this KDM college is a private college, operated perhaps by KDM leaders who run the KDCA; and yet there are those who expressed the hope that the new college would be a government aided institution.