Key to our racial harmony is ‘acceptance’ rather than ‘tolerance’
“SELAMAT Ari Gawai, Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai’. These are the greetings which Dayaks would say to one another during the celebration of their harvest festival , the Gawai Dayak
One of the most beautiful things that is often been vaunted about Sarawak is our unity in diversity. All these years our various ethnic groups have come together to live harmoniously. We have managed to live in peace together and we should continue to maintain such a spirit of camaraderie and be proud of it.
We Sarawakians are lucky to have learned not only to tolerate one another’s differences, but we are lucky because we have learned to accept one another’s differences.
In this connection, we need to know the difference between tolerance and acceptance. The word ‘ tolerance’ has a negative connotation in that it denotes a relationship in which one is making a conscious effort to endure an unpleasant situation. That can mean an act of enduring that has a limit to it; which, when exceeded, would result in something unpleasant
As for the word ‘acceptance’, it straight away gives us sense of comfort upon hearing it because it implies that one is eventually at ease and in approval of a situation.
Thus, it is only when we can accept one another’s differences that we would be able to live happily together in harmony. In fact, we can even go beyond that. We can even see our differences as something rich and beautiful. Just as an artist needs different colours to create a piece of beautiful art, a country also needs different cultures to create a beautiful country .
Demographically, Dayaks make up the largest ethnic group in Sarawak. Being such, the Gawai Dayak is thus a very significant event. This is the time when most of the rural parts of Sarawak would come alive with festivity. One only needs to spend a night on the eve of Gawai at a longhouse to get that exhilarating experience entrenched in his or her memory forever.
And of course that is not the only memory by which we should remember the Dayaks. We must also appreciate that the Dayaks in Sarawak are also making a huge contribution to the country in the sense that they are functioning as the backbone for the physical development of the country.
This can clearly be evinced by the fact that work would seem to grind to a total halt during the Gawai Dayak season. The observable scenarios that manifest themselves when the Gawai season comes are that construction sites become very quiet and many businesses like shops of all descriptions, coffee shops, restaurants, and bars may be temporarily shuttered down. Even for those businesses that continue to run during Gawai would exude a palpable feel that there is a shortage of manpower . This is all because the ethnic Dayaks make up a large portion of the manpower that drives the businesses, the economy, and productivity in Sarawak and even in some of the important States in Peninsula MALAYSIA .
Thus, behind the scenes, Dayaks make a very large contribution to nation building. They are most active in the construction sector. They are the real builders of our modern buildings all over the country . Therefore, we can say that the ethnic Dayaks do provide much of the manpower for the infrastructural development of the country.
Then there are Dayaks who are in the nursing or health care sectors, the educational institutions, the timber industries, the factories, the hotel and tourism lines, the big plantations, and, indisputably, in the armed forces to help in the defence and security of the nation.
And lest we forget, we must never cease to bear in mind also the substantial contribution of the legendary Dayak Sarawak Rangers and later the renown Iban Trackers.
They were the ones who had risked their lives and limbs to help fight against foreign aggressors, and many such heroes have even lived up to this day to tell the stories of their brave adventures.
Not to be overlooked as well, are the ethnic Dayaks who have distinguished themselves in various professions especially those in the legal and medical professions . One is a well known ethnic Iban judge, now retired, and the other a remarkable ethnic Lun Bawang lawyer who is not only articulate but a gentleman lawyer who works hard to help the rural people.
Then we have an ethnic Bidayu renown radiologist . The list goes on.
I am exceedingly proud of these fellow citizens . As far as I am concerned they are good people ,that they are ethnic Dayaks and I am an ethnic Chinese are accidents of birth .
In life to me there only two types of people . The good and the not so good.
Personally I am not an ethnic Chinese who knows everything about Chinese culture. But ,hopefully , I am not a bad MALAYSIAN! I offer no apologies.
So, let us remember all these contributions by the ethnic Dayak communities of Sarawak and let us honour our beloved ethnic Dayak brothers and sisters and rejoice with them in this Gawai Dayak. Selamat Ari Gawai, Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai. OOOOH HAA!