1,500 join Sino KDM CNY bash

MANGGATAL: More than 1,500 people gathered at the Good Shepherd Parish Hall here to join in the Chinese New Year celebration organised by the Sabah Sino KDM Association on Saturday."The event was held because as Chinese descendants, it is an obligation to celebrate the festival as a reminder of the existence of Chinese in Sabah since time immemorial," said its President Datuk Johnny Goh, who is also the organising chairman.

Also present were Sepanggar BN Acting Chairman Datuk Yakub Khan representing the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and Mayor Datuk Yeo Boon Hai.

The association represents the more than 250,000 Sino KDM in Sabah to fight for their rights as natives of this land and to help other Sino KDM who have problems, especially with regards to registering their children as Sino KDM in their birth certificates.

In November last year, said Goh, the association successfully reached one of its objectives to get the recognition of the National Registration Department (NRD) after the department allowed Sino KDM to register their children under their preferred race instead of just choosing between Chinese or any of the native race in the birth certificates.

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"Why this matters so much to us? Because you can change other things, your appearance, your religion but you cannot change your blood, your lineage. We refuse to deny our origin. We refuse to drop our surnames.

This is our uniqueness and we have the right to be identified correctly according to our real race," he said.

However, the name Sino KDM does not truly represent the whole community because KDM does not include other races such as Lundayeh and Rungus.

Therefore, the association will hold a workshop next month where the participants will deliberate on the matter and other issues with regards to the association and the community.

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"I think the most accurate term now would be Momogun because that term will cover all the natives.

So it could be Momogun Sino, but we need to agree on this first," said the association's supreme council member Jerry Goh. He said the three-day workshop will be held at Bukit Kokol and representatives from all the association's branches will be invited to attend.

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