Kuching - Are the Orang Ulu people now officially called ‘Lundaya'?

That's the question many are asking now when an Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) communication uses the term ‘Lundaya' instead of the old, established and commonly accepted ‘Orang Ulu'.

But while State Orang Ulu National Association Kuching Branch treasurer Laing Budah has come out strongly in support of the continued use of ‘Orang Ulu', much confusion has arose by an invitation from Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) to all media organisations yesterday writing ‘Lundaya (Orang Ulu) community'.

The Azam invitation was for the Sarawak Fifth Cultural Symposium and it listed the ‘Lundaya (Orang Ulu) community' as one of the participants besides the Malays, Iban, Bidayuh, Chinese, Melanau and Indians.

Azam senior officer when contacted yesterday said during a committee meeting held earlier this month, the Federation of Orang Ulu Association Malaysia (Forum) secretary-general Datu Ose Murang said the term ‘Lundaya' could be used, but with ‘(Orang Ulu)' behind it.

Ose is the cultural symposium committee member and at that meeting he was representing Forum.

"All of the cultural symposium programmes have been changed to Lundaya (Orang Ulu), and was confirmed by Ose," the personnel said during a phone interview. Azam is a government think-tank.

Ose when contacted yesterday declined to comment. Forum president Lihan Jok also declined to comment.

The change of the term ‘Orang Ulu' to ‘Lundaya' was proposed by Lihan several months ago. Members of the Orang Ulu community could not see eye to eye on the proposal.

Laing said in a press statement on Monday that there is no substitute to the official term ‘Orang Ulu', hence, it must remain as the word used to refer to those communities as have been understood all this while.

He pointed out that while there was a move by certain members of the Orang Ulu community to adopt ‘Lundaya' in place of the current accepted term ‘Orang Ulu', a change was not likely to happen.

"The proposal has not got the agreement of all the ethnic groups within the Orang Ulu community," said Laing.

"I was, therefore, very shocked when the TV1 presenter at the Gawai Dayak Malaysia Open House 2009 held last Saturday announced the ethnic group as ‘Lun Daya' on air."

Laing went on to say that just because some people requested for a name change, using an unofficial term in place of one that is legal and proper was not only wrong but misleading too.

He said the use of the word ‘Lundaya' must stop because it would confuse not only Malaysians at home but peoples of the world too. -- Courtesy of The Borneo Post Online

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