Reproduced from The Daily Express, Forum section dated 7 October 2012. The view(s) of the writer does not necessarily reflect that of NBHE’s. However, in the interest of not confining ourselves to one single school of thoughts, we are and will be producing or reproducing materials now and then for constructive thinking. Credits to The Daily Express.
In 1992, I wrote to KDCA Executive Secretary Benedict Topin regarding the identity of KDM. I disagreed with KCA’s decision to change its name from KCA to KDCA just to accommodate the Dusun community in the name of unity.
I argued that changing KCA to KDCA is not practical and can’t unite our people. How to accommodate the Murut, Rungus, Lotud, Tobilung, Maragang and the other ethnicity Sabah? Otherwise it becomes KDMRLTM. It is not practical.
My point of view is to let the respective communities form their own association to safeguard their cultures and traditions. At the same time, we must join hands together to initiate an identity for one race.
I suggested Momogun as the official name of our race. Topin promised to study the proposal and to bring the matter to the KDCA executive meeting.
After 20 years there is still no news about the outcome of the study. The crisis of identity still unsettled (we are still referred to as “others”) perhaps it was totally forgotten. I must say that our forefather were smarter than this generation. They called themselves Momogun during the British era up to the early 70’s.
I recall that as a boy, I heard the Kadazan, the Dusun and Rungus call themselves “momogun” zotokou nopo nga tuhun momogun… Yati nopo ti nga tulun momogun… Etokou nopo diti nga tulun momogun.”
Nowadays we hear “saya bangsa kadazan, kau ni bangsa Runguskah?
It is sad that we have lost grip of the mandate from our forefathers so easily. Perhaps we were not aware that we were being manipulated by certain quarters.
So that instead of becoming one big race were divided into smaller groups of “lain-lain”.
The name Kadazan, Dusun, Murut and Rungus should remain intact as a separate ethnic or suku kaum with their own unique traditions and cultures.
They should have their own associations to safeguard their interests but suku kaum is not a race. We must pool together into One Big Race.
Only then we are united, feared and powerful. What makes it so difficult for us to adopt “Momogun” as the official name of our race?
Our forefathers called themselves Momogun since British era until the early 70’s, we have our foundation, we have history and we have direction. Why should we falter?
Without further delay I urge our leaders to decide once and for all to settle this matter for the sake of our generation. One race a symbol of unity and civilisation.
Anak Momogun
North Borneo History Enthusiasts 
Nadira Ilana
October 23, 2012
I disagree with this notion because it threatens Sabah’s multiculturalism. In the beginning, Dusuns were not known as Dusuns, they had their own tribal names and cultures e.g. Lotud, Kwijau, Gana. It was Bruneians and Westerners who started collectively called them ‘Dusuns’ although they didn’t call themselves that and this is the same with Muruts.
During the 60s, some politicians were unhappy with ‘Dusun’ because they thought it sounded uncivil so they tried to rebrand themselves as ‘Kadazan’ but that only reached so far as the West coast of Sabah as the rest of them were not as ashamed of their tribal roots.
The tem ‘momogun’ or ‘pasok momogun’ was often used in the 70s. Donald Stephens formed Sabah’s first political party, United Pasok Momogun Kadazan Organisation, which was later renamed UNKO. Datuk G.S. Sundang, a man who famously opposed the formation of Malaysia formed the United Pasok Momogun Organisation. In the 80s, Richard Jayasuriya formed PASOK. Essentially ‘pasok momogun’ means “people of the land” which many at the time also translated to anyone who lives in North Borneo and considers it home, even the Chinese because the Chinese were so integrated with our culture.
Cut to recent times where the Malaysian government has now banned our right to state our sino heritage, narrowing it to sino-native because it’s too much of a hassle for them to acknowledge that Sabah has 30 over different ethnicities, none of which are acknowledged in our country’s statistics because we’re just ‘dan lain-lain’.
I say to hell with this notion that we have to adhere to other people’s desire to ‘unify’ us because they are in fact simplifying our history and simplifying our incredibly vast and diverse heritage. If we are to preserve our heritage we need to stop putting all these different cultures into one box. This is an act that wants to denounce pluralism, diversity and this country’s multiculturalism. How will Sabahans water down our identities down next?
Rivaldi
January 21, 2014
really good information,,thanks 🙂