By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, June 28: Sape songstress Alena Murang admits that she now feels safer and more secure knowing that she can inherit her ancestral land after officially being recognised as a Sarawak native.
Alena who was born to a Kelabit father, former deputy Sarawak secretary Datu Ose Murang, and English-Italian mother Valerie Mashman, pointed out that she had always been a Sarawakian native despite not receiving the native certificate previously.
“I think the biggest challenge (of not being recognised as a native) was just having that security and safety where it was uncertain that I would be able to inherit our native customary right (NCR) land in the kampung (Long Peluan in upper Baram).
“Personally, I didn’t have any problems yet because my father is still around but I’ve heard of cases where people whose grandparents or parents passed away and they had problems with inheriting the land because they were mixed children as well,” she told reporters after hosting the ‘Kelabit Call and Response Chants Workshop’ at the Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) in conjunction with the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) 2024 today.
Alena, who is now 35, received her native certificate from the Kuching District Office on June 11.
Previously, children of mixed parentage would have to apply to the Native Court to assume native status. The status is not granted to them automatically.
This was not until Feb 15, 2022, when the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUS) passed the Interpretation (Amendment) Ordinance 2022 which determines the native status of any eligible person, effective Nov 1, 2023.
The eligibility criteria for any person to be recognised as Sarawak native is that he/she must be a Malaysian citizen, a biological child born to someone from the Sarawak native community, and one of his/her parents is a Sarawak native.
Meanwhile, commenting on the workshop, Alena was quite satisfied with the crowd, which consisted of Sarawakians and non-Sarawakians.
“I think it’s something that’s quite unique to do the Kelabit’s call and response songs. I didn’t expect I would be so tired,” she jokingly said.
Alena further hoped that the workshop had given a valuable experience and exposure to the participants on the livelihood in the longhouse.
“I hope they gain an experience on how we (Kelabit community) used to sing and dance together in the longhouse and how music is very much for the community where everybody can participate.
“I hope that’s what people took away in the short 30 minutes,” she added. — DayakDaily
