PBDS Baru enters alliance with Jeffery Kitingan’s party
KUCHING: Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru ( PBDS Baru) entered into an alliance with the Homeland Solidarity Party of Sabah in a ceremony held in Sabah yesterday.
Its president Cobbold John Lusoi said the main aim of the alliance, called the United Borneo Alliance, is to provide the Dayak people of Borneo the platform to highlight their issues to the world and ensure the government of Malaysia and Indonesia, both signatories to the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous People ( UNDRIP), adhere to the resolutions.
Apart from that, he also commented that the alliance is also hoping to raise awareness on the use of the term ‘Dayak’ to unite the indigenous people of Borneo in Malaysia.
“Sarawak’s indigenous people are like the ones from Sabah, as they are also not too keen on the term ‘ Dayak’ and prefer to identify themselves based on their respective tribal names.”
He said the Dayak people of Sarawak should determine their own future and how they want to manage their lives, including
Sarawak’s indigenous people are like the ones from Sabah, as they are also not too keen on the term ‘Dayak’ and prefer to identify themselves based on their respective tribal names. Cobbold John Lusoi, PBDS Baru president
living independently on the land, such as how the Australian aborigines are living.
The alliance with Homeland Solidarity Party of Sabah was made through the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Cobbold and Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who is president of the Sabah-based party and also Bingkor assemblyman.
Cobbold, meanwhile, also slammed the state government for barring and blacklisting Jeffrey from entering the state since March last year.
He said Jeffrey was supposed to attend the Dayak Forum held here in March last year, but was deported back to Sabah instead.