by Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, March 5: Photos of a statue of a water buffalo with a unique facial expression in a public park in Serian town have gone viral online.
Under many posts about the statue are comments from netizens asking questions about why the water buffalo statue has that expression and how to describe it. Is it aghast? Surprised? Shocked?
To get some answers, DayakDaily drove to Serian town, which is about a 45-minute drive from Kuching city.
During the drive, DayakDaily recalled a local children’s song in Malay called ‘Bangau Oh Bangau’ (White Crane Oh White Crane) as its lyrics also includes the line ‘kerbau oh kerbau’ (water buffalo oh water buffalo) in the song.
In ‘Bangau Oh Bangau’, the water buffalo has an upset stomach, and this reporter couldn’t help but wonder if the artist who created the Serian statue might have been inspired by the song when they decided to give the said statue its unique animated expression.
Upon arriving at the statue’s location in Serian town, there were members of the public already posing for photos and selfies with the statue which up until just a few days ago, had received relatively little attention from locals.
“That is the beauty and the power of social media these days. It can disseminate information at the tip of our fingers.
“I always hope it will give a positive vibe to all of us,” said Serian Chinese Chamber of Commerce president Lai Chau Liong when contacted by DayakDaily today.
Lai disclosed that the statue of the water buffalo has been at the public park in the heart of Serian town for many years and was always gone unnoticed until just recently.
“I am amazed, but thanks to social media, the water buffalo statue is in the limelight and attracted onlookers. We never thought of the statue until now.
“Before this there was a statue of a tiger, and as I understand, it was damaged and subsequently removed by the council. It was then replaced with this water buffalo statue,” he revealed.
Lai opined that the unique expression of the water buffalo is the result of its artist’s inspiration.
“We must thank the artist who is finally getting some attention. To me, social media played its part. Having it go viral got the attention of the public in the whole country or further.
“It is some sort of an icon now, and Serian welcomes this as it could be a new landmark or even a tourist attraction and good for the town.”
Lai said the water buffalo is often described as a very hard-working animal, and it also symbolises the hardworking people of Serian as a whole.
“To me, there is a positive meaning to all this, and I don’t see the expression of the water buffalo which made it go viral (as a problem), or question the artist making it, but it speaks more to (the qualities of) the animal itself.
“We deserve the attention, and maybe for that reason, the Sarawak government even made Serian the 12th Division in 2015 to reward us for being hardworking folks like the water buffalo,” he said. — DayakDaily
