The Story Behind Tambunan's name

http://lostborneo.wordpress.com/tag/gombunan/

For the uninitiated, Tambunan is a town in the interior of Sabah, about 80 km away from Kota Kinabalu. Its populace are mostly Dusun. According to Low Kok On of Universiti Malaysia Sabah, in the early 20th century, the social structure of the Tambunan Dusuns consisted of seven sub-tribes namely Tuwawon, Tagahas, Tibabar, Bundu, Gunah, Palupuh and Kohub. Today, the Tuwawon, Tagahas and Tibabar sub-tribes are still concentrated in Tambunan.

Email Interview with Lynette Ramsay Silver

I did an email interview with Australian author and honorary Sabahan, Lynette Ramsay Silver on behalf of North Borneo History Enthusiasts. The interview is published on NBHE's blog but I thought I should share it here too.

For NBHE - Justin Wong

Lynette Ramsay Silver, the Australian writer who wrote Blood Brothers : Sabah & Australia 1942 - 1945, recently agreed to entertain our email interview despite her busy schedule. This Australian writer had immersed herself for the past 20 years, towards championing Sabahan World War II heroes and also the natives who helped the British and Australian POWs. Hence, I thought she is a personality...... her work, her efforts should be appreciated. One wonders why our State Government has yet to honour her with a Datukship, not that she would be bothered about it, I think.

It all started with a can of Stewed Pork..

Puzzled with my choice of a title for my post? What I meant is the subject I'm going to blog about was inspired by what transpired when I went to the local hypermart to buy a can of stewed pork hehehe.

So there I was, looking for a cashier that I could go to pay for my stuff. Alamak! All wearing tudung (headscarf) ler... Then my eyes scanned for a non-Muslim cashier, ah!... I saw an Indian girl cashier sticking out like a sore thumb because she was rather on the plus size. What the hell?! How come everyone's making a beeline to her counter!? Her queue was long!!! "No choice", I thought. Then I spied a Muslim cashier who was serving the last customer at her counter. So I went to her counter hesitantly and put my stuff on the counter. Without even batting an eyelid, she promptly picked up the can of stewed pork, scanned it and put it in the plastic bag. I gave her my RM50/- note and looked at her face to see any expression of disgust, zilch! Rather amused by her non-chalantness, I engaged her in small talk,

Township of Sarawak, Ontario, Canada

Did you know that there is a town called Sarawak in Canada? I didn't but there really is and if you think that is intriguing, the history behind its founding will knock you off your chair!


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Mount Kinabalu : Piece of Cake?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/aug/22/malaysia

Last month, 23 August marked the 10th anniversary of the tragic death of British student, Ellie James, who perished on Mount Kinabalu on 23 August 2001.

Ellie was described by family members as an adventurous and tough as nail young lady.

In a tribute to her daughter, Bruce James had this to say about Ellie,

"From the age of five she raised money to help human and wildlife charities.

"She became a vegetarian at seven and never wavered in her commitment to shake people from complacency.

"If her death inspires other people to stand up and be counted, her life will not have been in vain."
Before climbing the mountain, Ellie had spent time with villagers of Kampung Kiau Nulu in Borneo.*

*Excerpt from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1504524.stm

Pot calling the Kettle black

I don't know whether you guys have heard the news about PAS Deputy President, Mat Sabu, who got himself into hot soup for his comments about the contribution of our security forces in pre-independence day. He was reported to have said that the real freedom fighters were the communists because they were fighting the British and the security forces were working for the British. 

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That's like telling me that Korom was not a patriot because he was with the North Borneo Armed Constabulary which was under the payroll of the British North Borneo Chartered Company. In my humble opinion, I consider Korom as a patriot regardless to whom his allegiance was. He was fighting for the freedom of North Borneo from an oppressive invading force i.e. the Japanese Imperial Army. It's just a matter of semantics. 

To be fair to Mat Sabu and the Communists, people seemed to have forgotten that the Communists did participated in guerilla warfare against the Japanese during World War II. 

An excerpt from Times, 

A Communist long before World War II, Chin Peng earned his O.B.E. honestly. British Intelligence Officer Lieut. Colonel F. Spencer Chapman, who spent 3½ years dodging the Japanese in Malayan jungles, called him "Britain's most trusted guerrilla representative."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806357,00.html#ixzz1WrT9LkLF

Yes, I know later the Communists would be responsible for thousands of deaths in Malaya, I know about the atrocities they committed in their attempt to liberate Malaya from the British and set up a Communist Malaya. 

Of Control Freaks and Confused People

Credit : sophia_soshow - Photobucket

My friend was complaining to me about certain people in her live recently. That person has an opinion on everything and just about anything and stubborn to a fault. 

She was beginning to suspect that he was just a sad, confused and lonely small man. She said many times he caught him contradicting himself and that whenever she said something, she was certain that he would have a different opinion about it. Poor woman, she said she's developing teeth deterioration from grinding her teeth too much in an effort to prevent herself from stranggling the snob LOL. 

She said the snob disagrees on everything just for the sake of disagreeing. I asked her why she continues to torture herself by hanging out with the snob? She said she wished that life is like Facebook where she could just unfriend him and blocked him permanently :D. 

Congratulation to Sabah Publishing House

Sabah Publishing House Sdn Bhd (SPH) is the owner of Daily Express and Overseas Chinese Daily. The former, a bilingual daily (English and Malay) and the latter, yes you guessed it, a Chinese daily. 

I grew up reading the Daily Express, my mom subscribed to it since heaven knows when, like forever.

The Daily Express was founded by the late Tan Sri Yeh Pao Tzu in 1963. Its first issue was on 1 March 1963. Yes, that means the paper was pre-independence. Before someone points out to me that I'm mistaken about it, I'm talking about North Borneo's (Sabah) independence day lah. Please refer to my earlier post.

Hall & Oates - That 70's band

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Ok, I seldom write anything about artists or make movie reviews but today, I'm going to make an exception. I suppose not many of you know or have heard of Hall & Oates.

They are an American musical duo famous in the late 70's and 80's. Their music is unique and distinct to them, no one could sound like them better than them. Their music is a fusion of rock & roll and rhythm & blues many said. I'm no music expert and know next to nothing about genre or lables but I love their music.

The band is made up of Daryl Hall who sings most of their songs and John Oates, who co-wrote most of their songs and played the guitar. The latter is a singer too but he lets Daryl sing most of the time. 

A Father's Heart - The Accident 4

“Son, wait!... Could you just give me a chance...” pleaded James to his long lost son.

“Chance for what, FATHER!” Joshua emphasized the last word sarcastically as he walked away from his papa.

“...a chance for me to explain. Please...!”

Joshua turned around to face his papa, all the years of suppressed anger, disappointment and hurt came together like a force of nature manifesting on his face, with clenched teeth and finger pointing at his papa's face, he said, “Don't! Don't! Don't even dare think that you can explain or justify what you put me through. You're a liar! You were a liar then, you are still a big liar now. You used subterfuge to lure me back to Sabah. I don't know how you talked mama into colluding with you but I won't be as gullible as her!”