A sash doth not a Huguan Siou make
Bumburing defends both Anwar and the integrity of KDM elders.
KOTA KINABALU: A leader of the Kadazan-Dusun-Murut (KDM) community has called for sobriety in the polemics over a recent reference to Anwar Ibrahim as the “Huguan Siou of Malaysia”.Tuaran MP Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing, who is a trustee of the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA), said neither had his community made Anwar its new supreme leader nor had the opposition leader usurped the position.
He lamented that the issue had been blown out of proportion.
He told FMT he was at last Sunday’s function where Anwar was decorated with a sash bearing the words “Huguan Siou Malaysia”. The function was organised by PKR’s division in Ranau.
He said there was no ceremony declaring Anwar as the Huguan Siou. If there had been any, he added, it would have amounted to an insult to the KDM community because the title could be bestowed only with the consent of the community’s elders.
But he said the organisers could have used the term “Huguan Siou Malaysia” to refer to someone who is a great leader of Malaysia. “In that sense, it does not relate directly to the KDM community.”
At the Sunday function, which was held in Kampung Paginatan, former KDM native chief Paulus Kimpuang presented a KDM headgear and sash to Anwar.
PKR Ranau chief Jonathan posted on Facebook photographs from the function that carried the caption “Anwar bestowed Huguan Siou in Paginatan”, causing an uproar in the KDM community.
Bumburing agreed with critics of Ranau PKR that the wording on the sash was inappropriate.
“The particular local leader may have been overzealous in showing his support to Anwar, who himself may not even have been aware of the wording on the sash as the inscription was never recited during the function,” he said.
“The local leaders could also have been overwhelmed by excitement, considering no national leader from Kuala Lumpur had ever visited Kampung Paginatan prior to this.”
He said he was confident that the PKR leadership in Ranau would offer its explanation of the controversy.
Meanwhile, a community leader from Penampang, Sylvester Disimon said the term ‘Huguan Siou’ was conceived by earlier community leaders, Michael Milip being one of them.
He was the one who coined the term ‘Huguan Siou’ and conferred that title on former Sabah chief minister Fuad Stephens who was then fighting for justice for the people of Sabah, particularly the KDMs.
“Now we have a person who is fighting for the Malaysians in general and in particular the Sabahans. It is only a word to describe a person who has shown great leadership qualities and capabilities … a leader who deserve to be known as a Paramount Leader in Malaysia, ” he added.
Disimon further pointed out that the words ‘Huguan Siou’ “means a leader who has no fear in leading his people like us Malaysians. Moreover, Paramount Leader or Huguan Siou should not be exclusive to the KDMs. Like ‘Allah’, it should not be exclusive” (to one group of people).
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