By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, May 9: Kuntau Pencha Ajat Sepring Sarawak (KPASS) club chairman John Siang has clarified that the cloth laid out to welcome human rights activist Peter John Jaban as the guest-of-honour at an event was not the original ‘pua kumbu’.
“I invited the ‘panglima’ (respectable figure in the community) to attend our event and as a sign of respect towards him, I laid out a cloth to welcome his arrival.
“The cloth was simply a table cloth that I bought at a grocery store, not an original pua kumbu,” he told DayakDaily via phone call today.
This came following a recent uproar on social media with netizens criticising Peter John for stepping on a pua kumbu when arriving at an event organised by Pencha Adat Sepring Sarawak and KPASS in Sibu recently.
A pua kumbu is a traditional multipatterned cloth used in Iban ceremonies.
John Siang further said that KPASS has issued a video statement to clarify the issue but he noted that many online users continued to bombard the comments section with negative responses.
“I believe the criticism was not sparked by the pua kumbu alone but rather because of ill intention and dissatisfaction towards our achievements.
“From their comments, most of them disagreed with what I have displayed and continued to blame me for using the cloth that resembles pua kumbu.
“Maybe they do not understand and just intend to mock and belittle us,” he added, stating that there are times when original pua kumbu was stepped on during the Gawai celebration and ngajat Iban performance, but no one made a fuss about it.
Earlier today, Peter John issued a statement saying that he meant no disrespect to the pua kumbu. — DayakDaily
