The first part on this subject was a discussion on the formation of the United National Kadazan Organisation (UNKO) and the use of the term Kadazan as a label to call the same speech community now called the Kadazandusun by KD leaders. I explained then why the label Kadazan was chosen by our Founding Fathers in 1961 - that the term was already in use in Sabah and the suku Tangaah of Penampang and Papar have been referring to themselves as Kadazan. I also mentioned the role of the Church in making the term accepted. The term Kadazan is a race - meaning people - tuhun.
The term Dusun, on the other hand, was not chosen because it is NOT a race. There is a book written by an administrator of the Chartered Company Government in which he wrote "these indigenous communities have different names, a term to refer themselves in each different district.
The Brunei Overlords had simply lump them together and called them Dusun because they are farmers.
Therefore, we also use the term Dusun to call these people". The word Dusun means orchard in Malay and because our community were farmers, the Brunei Overlords used the term Dusun.
According to Datuk Ayub Aman, himself a writer and a repository of historical facts about Sabah and its people, the Chinese who arrived in Sabah found themselves in the Coastal areas of the West Coast and when they met the KD communities who were all farmers, they used the term "lousun" meaning peasant.
So, it would appear that the early Chinese and the Brunei Overlords coined the word Dusun to refer to our KD ancestors because they were farmers.
As I explained in my earlier article, the Penampang KD who are actually called Tangaah never accepted the term Dusun to refer to them.
It was the foreigners who invented the term which mean farmers.
They did not mind to be referred to as farmers for that is what they were and are but when it was used as a derogatory term to refer to them as "people who are dirty, a village yokel" and worse "uncouth", they objected very strongly. This objection from the Tangaah tribe of Penampang and Papar have continued up to the present. To be called Dusun to them is akin to be called "Tagaas". Tagaas in itself is not a derogatory term as it is the name of a community or suku in the interior of Tambunan.
History tells us that the Tagaas and the Liwan communities were traditional enemies and the Tagaas sided with Mat Salleh when Mat Salleh came to Tambunan and built his fort. The Tagaas fought with Mat Salleh against the Company Government and when Mat Salleh and his men were beaten and killed, the Tagaas who sided with him were arrested and made to pay fines.
Since then, the name Tagaas was interpreted as a "traitor" and later used as a derogatory term as an uncouth person.
In regard to the choice of the term Kadazan as the name of the first political party (Unko), and as a label to refer to the same speech community of different tribes or Suku, Datuk Ayub Aman told me that at the meeting at the Community Centre Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu), there was a lot of debate or discussion on the name and indeed a bigger portion of those present were in favour of the term Dusun.
The Suku Lotud of Tuaran were especially against the term Kadazan and if I remembered correctly, the strong objection came from OKK Indan Kari, he said.
Limbai and Bagong were also strong objectors but after a lot of discussion and explanation, those present decided to accept the term Kadazan as the label and name for the party. It was a show of hands and not a secret ballot but I think there was unanimity amongst those who raised their hands in favour of the name Kadazan, according to Datuk Ayub. In so far as I am concerned, I am only guided by the minutes of the meeting recorded by Datuk Richard Yap, the first Secretary General of the party.
The term unanimous was used in the minutes.
The split that ensued a few months later that led to the formation of Pasok Momogun, with Datuk Sundang as its leader had nothing to do with the name or the label Kadazan. It was a political move by the Chinese leaders led by the late Peter Chin who were opposed for Sabah to join in the Formation of Malaysia. Chung Chau Loong, a timber tycoon was one of the financiers of the political party.
This is mentioned by Professor Treggoning in his article and also confirmed by Datuk Ayub Aman who left Unko to join his uncle, Datuk Sundang in Pasok Momogun. Datuk Sundang himself had consistently objected for Sabah to join in the Formation of Malaysia for as he told me, Sabah should obtain its independence first before joining so that it joined as an equal partner.
In the opinion of most of the delegates, especially from the Interior of Keningau, they thought that Unko was formed to oppose the formation of Malaysia. Unko, instead, especially Tun Stephens, was in favour of Malaysia.
The fact that the KD community was split at the time on the issue of Malaysia, showed their weakness for both factions at the first local government election when both parties (Unko and Pasok) fought for the same ward and in some cases the wards consequently fell to the Usno party because of the split among the KD supporters of Unko and Pasok Momogun.
Someone also mentioned in an article, and quite derogatory too to Tun Stephens, that the latter went to see OKK Datuk Sodomon in Keningau, slept in his house and "begged" OKK Sodomon to support the name Kadazan. This is an error according to Datuk Ayub for as far as he can remember, Tun Stephens and Tun Razak came to Keningau and saw OKK Sodomon to explain to him the benefits of the Formation of Malaysia with Sabah in it. In other word, they came to Keningau to seek the support of OKK Sodomon who like his brother was strongly against Sabah joining Malaysia without first obtaining its independence.
They did not sleep in Keningau at the time and if Tun Stephens slept in OKK Sodomon's house, it was after the merger of the two parties was agreed in Tenom and there was a form of celebration for this.
But Datuk Ayub thought the celebration was in Tenom.
The United Pasok Momogun Organisation (UPKO) meanwhile became a reality when the two party leaders met in Kota Kinabalu to pass the resolutions. It must be remembered that Pasok Momogun is actually a party for all races; the indigenous communities can join it by virtue of the word "Pasok" meaning, "sons of the soil" and Chinese or non indigenous community can join the party by virtue of the term "Momogun" which means living (in the country). Indeed, Stanly Ho of Beaufort was an Upko Member of Parliament despite the fact that he is pure Chinese.
The original proposed name for the party, according to Datuk Ayub, was United Party Kinabalu Organisation but this was objected by those present at the meeting. There was a lot of discussion and both Datuk Sundang and Tun Stephens decided to go and have a quiet talk and coffee at the nearby hotel Jesselton. Tun Stephens told us to continue discussing the merger and the name and they would return in half and hour's time.
When they returned to the meeting, the name was already agreed as the United Pasok Momogun Kadazan Organisation (UPKO).
There was no disagreement regarding which of the term to appear first, Kadazan or Pasok Momogun.
In any case, the name Upko was preferable and easier to pronounce than UKPO, he said.
I mentioned Datuk Ayub Aman a lot here because he was in fact involved in the early formation of Unko and later Pasok Momogun.
The office of Unko and later Upko was at the Nabahu building which is now called the Ruby Inn.
The Nabahu building was sold after the unfortunate plane crash that killed Tun Stephens, Datuk Peter Mojuntin, etc in June 1976. Datuk Ayub used to work in this building.
As for me, I joined Tun Stephens Sabah Times Organisation in 1965.
I was serving as a District officer in Tenom when he telephoned me and I still remember this: "Herman, this is Donald. You resign from working for the Government and come and join me and be counted"; these were the exact words he spoke. . Needless to say I was in a dilemma but after discussing the matter with my wife, Margaret, I went to see him in his office. He offered me to look after the Sabah Times Organisation and take over from him as he was going to concentrate fully in politics.
I was also later made the chief editor of the paper. I formed the Sabah Times Sdn Bhd later with Tun Stephens as Chairman, Toh Puan Rahimah Stephens as Secretary of the Company and myself as the Managing director. I made a small investment in the newly formed company.
Tun Stephens held the majority shares.
The work with the Sabah Times also included my being co-opted into the Upko party.
And soon after I was elected as one of the Vice Presidents and later to take over the youth wing of the party the Sabah Kadazan Youth Organisation from the late Datuk Peter Mojuntin.
The late Datuk Idrus (Andrew) Matakim was my deputy.
Tan Sri Stephen Koroh meanwhile, was serving as a District Officer too when Tun Stephens called him to join Upko.
Tan Sri Suffian Koroh and I spent nearly two years together at the Tutorial Training Centre in Kota Kinabalu in the late 50s. This was especially set up by the Colonial Government to train indigenous persons (natives) to become administrative officers in the Colonial Civil Service.
There were fourteen of us as the first batch of officers and the prominent persons were the late Tun Ahmad (Thomas) Koroh, the late Datuk Clarence Mansul and Datuk Harris Salleh.
All of us were sent abroad under the Colombo Plan and five of us were selected for University Degree education and the late Datuk Dzulkifli Abdul Hamid and I went together to New Zealand to study at VUW.
I am mentioning this especially Tan Sri Suffian Koroh because there are many occasions in our twilight years when we get together with Datuk Ayub Aman and Datuk R.M Jasni just to reminisce and talk about the old times. We shared the same experience in politics as well as in government.
My own early involvement in the Kadazan Organisation was when I was a school teacher at St.Michael's Penampang. I joined the Society of Kadazan, Penampang in 1957. The Society was registered in 1954 with Orang Tua Tinoi as the first President and the Secretary General and the prime mover of this Society was the late Datuk Richard Yap. In fact, Datuk Richard Yap, whom I called uncle, was very supportive and encouraged me to participate actively with the Society and indeed helped me to prepare the Constitution of the Penampang Youth Association that I formed in 1958 with Cyril Fung as the President and myself as its Secretary General and the prime mover of the youth association. It was also in 1958, at the Annual General Meeting of the Kadazan Society Penampang that Datuk Richard Yap stood down and did not seek re-election as the Secretary General and instead nominated me for the post.
I was elected then as Secretary General of the Society but before I could take the post seriously, I was sent to Kent College to undergo teacher training in English.
Tun Stephens meanwhile also joined the Society and when he attended the Annual General Meeting in 1958, he was elected as the Vice President and Advisor. His employee in charge of circulation and advertisement of the Sabah Times newspaper, my cousin Lee Kim Chong, was meanwhile re-elected as President of the Society. Half way through however, Kim Chong resigned as President and Tun Stephens took over as President and since then, until the formation of Unko in 1961, Tun Stephens remained the President of the Society.
I supposed I am lucky that I have had the opportunity of a close association with our Founding Fathers especially when I joined Tun Stephens in 1965.
I was selected by him as one of the "inner circles" of the party and sometimes I think people referred to both Peter and I as the "blue eyed boys" of Tun Stephens. I have had occasions to talk to Tun Stephens about the party, the aspiration of our community and above all, when everything seemed over with the apparent demise of Kadazan nationalism in December 1967. I was also fortunate to see some of the files relating to the party, Unko and Upko and the Society. These files contained invaluable information about the early formation of the Kadazan Soceity, Penampang and the parties, Unko and later Upko.
In short, I was actually there when some of these events took place. So was Datuk Ayub Aman and so was Tan Sri Suffian Koroh. In the case of Datuk Ayub, he was there from the very beginning of Unko.
We are not making up a story.
Finally, I repeat that the label Dusun was not chosen because it is not a race. It was just a label used to call the collection of so many sukus of the Kadazandusun community. But the term got stuck in the minds of many through ignorance as to its origins. Today, the Dusun faction amongst the two - Kadazan and Dusun - is larger.