BN Continues to Leave Dayaks Behind

Dayaks still backward with no relief in sight

More than 40 years after the NEP, Vision 2020, New Economic Model, ETP and Score the indigenous people of Sarawak still rank the lowest in terms of educational attainment, occupational hierarchy and more than 50 percent of them have either primary or no formal education.

These findings are confirmed by the 1991, 2000 Population & Housing Census and projected figures from the 2009 Labour Force Survey. The percentage share of the Dayaks in the Agriculture sector is growing in Sarawak instead of declining.

This contradicts the Vision 2020's objective that an economic sector should not be dominated by one ethnic group. This shows that there is no upward mobility for the Dayaks. The majority of the Dayaks cannot move up to the more value-added tertiary sector.

Those Dayaks in the tertiary sectors are working as elementary workers. More than 70 percent of these Dayak workers are still expected to be around after 2020 or 2030. How can they be benefited from the jobs generated by Score.

How can Score train extra 1.5 million skilled workers by 2030 when currently less than 1 percent of the enrolment in the secondary schools are in Secondary Technical and Vocational Schools?

All these show that the Dayaks are moving in the direction of economic exclusion and marginalisation. I appeal to the Dayak scholars and academicians to compile the human capital base of Sarawak by ethnicity and to simulate the scenarios by 2030 or 2050 based on the current affirmative action plans formulated by the federal or state government to integrate the Dayaks into the economic system of Malaysia.

The two ethnic groups in Sarawak which are most neglected are the Iban and "other bumiputera". They are so far behind that it takes more than a generation for them to attain educational parity with other ethnic groups.

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/161854

Breaking Away

We’re all born the same, unfettered by preconceived limitations. Eventually, we submit to laws. There are those we must embrace in order to be free . . . the laws of hard work and discipline. Then there are those we must challenge for that very same freedom . . . the laws of conformity and small-mindedness. The weight of these Barisan Nasional chains can be so subtle, we forget them. This is how we are shackled, tamed. Normalcy becomes the rule and we grow comfortable with limits. Like a dog at the end of a Barisan Nasional leash, we move but never of our own will.

It is time to defy, time to rise, time to change is NOW . . .

We will test our mettle, pull hard against these restraints and together we can achieve more than what we can possibly do on our own. We will not let conventional thinking rule us. As we live here in Sarawak, the Barisan Nasional chain will bury deep into our flesh, the weight will pull us and our future generations down. But we must fight. We will defy Barisan Nasional. If we fall now, we will get right back up.

My friends, life is short and every minute that passes hurtles us closer to the end. In the time that we have, we must commit ourselves to this cause that’s far greater than ourselves and the cause bind into us – these words are the contract that bind us to our promise for the future generations . . . Upon this contract, I have signed by name in blood, sweat and tears – to unbind our future generations from the chains of Barisan Nasional.