One morning as a Brookian.

An alternate take whereby Sarawak is still under Rajah Brooke and there is no Malaysia. A little inspiration from my own comment in one of my post. Mind you, nothing political about this.
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It’s early, I thought. Though it’s really not that early but I woke up late. And here I am sipping coffee on my apartment balcony overlooking Kuala Lumpur with a newspaper in hand.


MCA IS OUT. The headline of the newspaper seems to scream at me into reading the front page. But I wasn’t really interested. Yesterday it was almost the same when MIC decided they had enough of coalition with UMNO. I sighed. All because this country I’m staying for the time being, refused to change its name from the controversial ‘Tanah Melayu’. And it already celebrated its 50th years of independence.

50 years huh? 50 years and still bickering about three races. I met a young cute guy recently whose dad is Malay and his mom Chinese. And till now he couldn’t figure which races he should put when applying jobs. So I told him, government job, Malay…private sectors, Chinese…international company, Malachi. They might think you’re Jews.

And why oh why do I have to be bothered? My working visa nearly expired and if I couldn’t find myself a job, I might have to go back home. And become the native people of Brooke Borneo. At least here, in the middle of a thriving chaotic city, I’m the unique Brookians, although I rather be known as Borneon. I am a Bidayuh but my dear beloved country…and that’s sarcastically beloved…refused to acknowledge my heritage. So dumped me into the Land Dayak group. Sea dayak, land Dayak! Nobody knows what it actually means anymore! Can’t the royal (pain-in-the-ass) family accept that?

Sometime I wonder what our royal adviser doing? Respected as the Taiko of Borneo, I wonder sometime whether he actually thinks of the native rights. Or whether he was just using his own people to amass his own family fortunes? Though there are many improvements for the last few years….

But still, do we have pay tolls to cross our own bridge?! Gah?!

My dad told me recently, there is an uprising of political unrest. Unlike in Tanah Melayu, surprisingly enough the Malay and Chinese are united. I think it’s because they find themselves being oppressed by all the ‘ang moh’ being brought into the country. And felt they are being mistreated in their own (adopted) land.

Sometime I felt bad about that. At least all the indigenous groups are formally known as Bumiputra; being rightfully the actual native of Borneo but it is really not fair. I mean, I got Malay friends whose families had lived in Borneo for many generations and still not properly recognized as a citizens.

But sometime I’m angry too. On Chinese and Malays. They being educated early gave them the edge, they being gathering fortunes from across the ocean felt the need to be biased towards other groups. Its ironic that some people who accuses other people of being racist are ignorance of their own racism. Not forgetting rude.

And here I am, far from my own country. Seeking the greener grass that my hilly jungle could not provide. Questioning again the Taiko silently. Yet can’t stop thinking that they are many native Brookians…yeah, the Bumiputra…had found success outside of Borneo as they could not find it in their own hometown.

I sipped my coffee again. And found out it had turned lukewarm. I took a steady sip, putting the cup down, started to go through the newspaper again to find something more interesting to read.

Batang Ai dam to be renamed Batang Brooke dam.

I chocked on my coffee. What the hell?! Sometime the royal family just simply makes the worst mistakes. I don’t know whether to laugh or be angry…Batang Brooke…don’t they even know what ‘batang’ means?

I remembered sometimes ago, they tried to rename a Bidayuh village with the name of Tanah Melayu Prime Minister who was visiting the country. That poor guy. I don’t think he realized it was an inside joke to actually putting a curse on his family. Fortunately for him, somebody felt the joke had gone too far.

Talking about names, the Brooke family thinks its ok to name everything using English resulting in a few hilarious embarrassing effects. Change Bau to Smell? What Smelly town? James Town. Nobody thought it existed in Borneo. Even some of the village had their names changed too. Give Village. Burnt Onions Village. Hot Village. Arghhh!!!!

My Dad says that in earlier years, the Brooke family didn’t even bother with the natives. Some of us until now didn’t have a proper ID. I was lucky. My Dad worked for the government and he could speak good English, so he befriended some ‘ang moh’ who helped our family out.

I didn’t like the ‘ang moh’ much back home. They are nice but sometimes they really looked down on us. Maybe considering us that particularly exotic race that should stay in the jungle to attract more tourists. Yet some of them dare to steal our lands and sold our trees. Pollute our rivers and destroyed our hills.

I flip the newspaper again, finding myself thinking too much about home. I haven’t gone back for nearly three years as the plane tickets was too high. Last I gone back was for Christmas. There is no other holiday in Borneo. I guess, being backed up by the Vaticans, the Rajah family feels the needs to NOT acknowledge any other religions. Luckily for me, my family had converted to Catholics so it helps in many ways. There are many other races who are Catholics too. Including Chinese and Malays.

I looked again over the city and wonder about something. What if Borneo had joined Tanah Melayu? What if the Rajah had given Borneo to the British and it would have the chance of being independence? Would things have changed for the better, for worse or maybe, as it is written, nothing will change?

I need to find a job just to renew my working visa. But right now, as I looked at my cup of coffee, I need another cup…preferably a hot one.

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