Today as i carried (actually forced to) the woods (my brother's woods) to the garage ( rain season mah...), i remembered a question my friend asked me once...
"I'm Dusun Lotud from Tuaran and you are??"
Hmm.. at that moment I simply answered "Dusun Bundu/Ranau" but then i asked my mom this morning to what ethnic of dusun do we belongs to, she answered Dusun Tindal....well all this question keeps bugging my mind so i decided to do some internet research and wow...i found that these 3 dusun was actually different from one another which adds more to my confusion....
As i keep reading each and every single word...i saw the word kadazan and i remembered that i was once accused of being racist over kadazan when i used the word to differentiate my friends dialect....well before this all i know was Kadazan is the term people use to differentiate the status from other dusun as kadazan comes from the word kadayan which means shop or something similar? I'm not really sure about it...all i know was the different accent present...wakkaka
Then from my finding, it was stated that there was no word such as kadazan before 1950's and 1960's...and it also stated that kadazan was originally dusun tanga..cause dusun ethnic was usually divided from the geographical factor...such as dusun tindal(the land people) and so on..
So if you are a dusun, if u say u are kadazan then it's still right as you are referring yourself as dusun kadazan..
if you are a dusun and asked to what race are u? then u supposed to answer by your ethnic e.g. tindal,lotud,bundu,kimaragang....and if u do not know what ethnic do u belong to...simply say dusun followed by your district...e.g.dusun papar,dusun ranau...
but if you were asked by someone who is not a dusun..then simply say u are kadazandusun as it is usually known by people who is not familiar with sabah..
so im proud to say that i am Dusun-Bundu/Dusun-Ranau/ Dusun-Tindal cause it doesn't matter to which ethnic do you belong to...as long as you are dusun then you are part of the family...and to those who are not dusun...do not worry for we applied these term to the sabahan ( as long as u are from sabah then u are a part of family) and even to malaysian ( as long as you're malaysian then you are a part of family)..i wish that everyone in the world would have this kind of mindset (as long as you are human then you are part of the family) but i guess the world still have long wasy to go....
these are the mindset of dusun people for they are known for their high-spirit when it comes to helping each other (dusun's unity)....for we doesn't walk forward alone..we walk together even though it means we will be left behind as well...
