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11 October 2008

The Origins of Sabah Ethnic Races

I am always interested in this subject..where in the world does KadazanDusun come from? Why do we look so different and unique? I asked my parents and aunties about my greatgrandparents so many times.

'Your greatgrandpa is from China'.

Hmm..but u know what i think. I think there are Mongolians..Hah, i saw a group picture of Mongol ladies who looked like our Odu Odu now. The hairdo. The sarong and the look. I even have the Kublai Khan's eyebrows..Hehe.

So, to prove my theory, i googled 'Origins of Kadazans' and found this very interesting article from
here. The title of the post is 'The North Borneo Story-as told by an Expatriate'.




The first paragraph:

The people who now live together as citizens of Sabah have little written history. As a result, hardly anything is known about the early history of Sabah.But by their oral accounts, they migrated here from the mainland, specifically China, and landed here via the Malay Peninsula or Malaya, thousands of years ago.
After the Mongols left China, and the Chinese picked the Ming Dynasty as its rulers, a Ming prince named Ong Sum Ping settled in Brunei, the metropolitan centre of Borneo and became the son-in-law of the country’s king or Sultan who was a dear friend of China.Ong Sum Ping, in time, became the king of the Orang Sungai, who live in the modern-day municipalities of Sandakan, Beluran and Kinabatangan, and he introduced Chinese goods to the natives, besides fathering a clan of Sino-Kadazans which dominates the tribe until this day.

So there u go. To all you KDMs out there, if u wonder y u have small eyes? Well u have Kublai Khan's eyes. Lucky me, i got the eyebrows and the eyes..Haha.

14 comments:

KaDusMama said...

I heard about it before but i thought somebody just made the story up..hehe but hey! how come i have this kinda big eyes ya?? :)

Lee said...

Hello Gina, I was putting in my 15 cents worth at Nessa's page about to check out noticed your lovely profile pic and slammed on my brakes, did a U turn here.
Never could resist a pretty lady's face, ha ha.
Wow, nice blog and very interesting topic you have, love your eloquence too.

I too have always been interested in the peoples of Sarawak having been there several times old days on business trips....even took a trip deep into the jungles visit a longhouse never patronised by tourists...I had by chance employed the big chief's grandson, and he took me there.

And it is thru blogging I learn about Kadazans, Ibans, Bidayu's, Orang Ulu's, etc as quite a few of my visitors from Sarawak.
And I must admit, some of the loveliest women are from Sarawak too....

check out my archive, "To a beautiful Sarawak lady" d/d 6/2/08.

And...."The Elusive Perfect 10" (about a Sarawak beauty) d/d 6/11/08..

Yes, Sarawak people are very interesting people.
Gina, you keep well and have a beautiful Sunday, best regards, Lee.

-Gina G- said...

KadusMama~~U're one lucky lady who can leave the house without eye liner..hehe..

U.Lee~~Thanks for dropping by..I'm sure sabahans are as lovely as sarawakians ;)

Anonymous said...

lol. true sabahan indeed. jual bah XD

Anonymous said...

Cool...thanks for sharing! :-)

-Gina G- said...

Gallivanter~~Sharing is Caring!

-Gina G- said...

Fara~~memang sememangnya the true-est sabahan u can find;)

adam k. said...

looking at the cultral traces that run down from mongolia to india ,taiwan to sabah. judging by the traditional customs,musical instruments and costumes i'm pretty sure we have our roots in mongolia.

i have a friend from nagaland,india and was surprised to find out that our cultures are very similar.from head hunting to rice wine to costumes.when i asked whether she knew where her people came from she said "probably mongolia".

it's sad that our mother-tongue isn't being taught in schools.it's all we have left of our identity. its funny how our neighbours the sarawakians have such a strong sense of culture yet we do not do as much so to preserve.

-Gina G- said...

Adam K.~~I couldnt agree more. I myself cannot speak the language annd am sad that i cant.

Btw, am happy that your friend from India confirmed my research :)

Kay Stanford Jr Kastum said...

No wonder I like lot's of meat and love roaming the 'plains'

Anonymous said...

One thing I hate kan, whenever I'm in a Chinese restaurant kan, they'll speak chinese to me...

Keeke... Ini la ni tau got mata sepet cikit.

-Gina G- said...

Arms~~I get that all the time also. Now, i understand a bit when it comes to ordering food. So sometimes just go with the flow..If not i'll get the 'eh, gua pikil lu cina', haha.

Tompinai paladius @ NiT said...

Yup...butul gia tu..I even watched it in a National Geographic - there was this one episode about the Mongolian ethnic - their traditional costumes and celebrations are almost the same like ours :)

Anonymous said...

I have heard also be our person to china, reach one area, him see inhabitants what there talk..