Terkenal or Famous

Where ever he went, he was terkenal. He was famous… all in good ways of course! When he went to Sandakan, to Tenom, to Tuaran, to Inanam, in Penampang, he was well known. Who did not know him personally or, at least, heard of him? An old man, visualised as a jolly-good fellow, who was a member of the then Police Field Force of the pre Malaysia era, during the British Colonial rule of North Borneo, now, Sabah, but, of course, now gone, .. peace be upon his soul, .. was naturally well remembered by those who were privileged to have known him. Memories of him, his witty and almost comical reactions to things around him or said to him, both by the young and old, remained cherished by his grandchildren, so to speak. He had no direct grandchildren as his only child, it was said, did not hold on to life for long, again, so to speak. This old man was loaded with gimat and the like, and, by natural and social Kadazandusun living standard, the off-springs of people of that so called calibre did not stay on earth long. That child did not survive to adulthood. His brothers or sisters, as narrated by Kondu Pilaku, a great grandchild of one of his sisters, did have many children whom he called grandchildren and who all called him aki, grandfather. Kampung Mangkaladon, a kampung beyond the blue mountains, so to speak, as seen north-eastwards from Donggongon town tamu ground, was Ganggal’s original kampung. Since he was a member of the PFF in those days, he must have then temporarily stayed at police barracks and stations during his employment days. He naturally only went back to his roots when his employment terms expired. It was normal for PFF personnel to sign up for only so many years of service. Their signed-up terms could have not involved any monthly financial benefits upon retirement. “I did not hear of any instance when he went to get his pension money”, said Pilaku. He had indeed experienced some of the realised developments which did come by after independence as he only passed on, it was said, in post Y2K era. The present Penampang-Tambunan sealed road and the road to Pukak in Kiulu were frequented by this active old man. Where ever he was, he was always seen with his juli, believed to contain his personal things. His trouser’s pockets might have been too small for what he used to carry with him all around. It was reputed that he used to carry around with him one or two bottles of air bingong. Earlier on he had visited his sister, Lombitoi, and family, in kampung Tintap. He had stayed on with them for quite a while so much so that all his grandchildren had come to fall in love with him. His grandchildren would all sit down around him listening to his tales of his personal life’s experiences and adventures. As he told his stories, the children sat around him with their mouths agape, their eyes unblinking. This old man must have been a natural story-teller. He could captivate his listeners. No doubt, as others might do, too, he had added other interesting details to his tales to make listening pleasant for adult minds. To his young grandchildren his tales were fantastic truths of unimaginable magnitudes! Sadam, a younger great grandson, still marvelled at his grandfather’s tales of his catch of a giant centipede of one finger span length rib-bones on either sides of its body! There was also a time when this grandfather of theirs was running passed them. Then they asked, “Oonu titangkus-tangkus nu dii oi Aki?” (Why are you running, Aki?) “Oonu kanu, au ko kokito dilo Rogon momogusa dogo?” (You ask why… can’t you see the devils chasing me ?) He was loaded with the “whatever he had in his juli”. He could indeed be living in the twilight zone … his own willed twilight zone. He could have indeed caught that giant centipede … a twilight zone centipede which he then ‘twilightedly’ kept in his juli! The harmless devils were his friends and among friends running after each other in joyful play was a common scene. That could have been the witnessed scenario! It was only long after this grand old man had passed on and the then young great grandchildren had grown older that it was realised … all what he had said, all what he had advised, could not be believed, could not be followed. Among the many dozens great grandchildren, when one became naughty and narrated something which was far from what was factual, others would be heard to give advice, “Ada pinggaaganggal!”. Long after his visit to kampung Tintap, he happened to visit kampung Mantob, a kampung further up kampung Pukak in the Kiulu district. He was visiting the Domidal family. That family, too, was very much a family to him. Joy, Domidal’s eldest, and Pilaku, from kampung Tintap, were cousins since Pilaku’s father, Garib, was Domidal’s brother. Those two brothers got separated from each other when they were still very young boys. At one of Ganggal’s visits to the Domidals, he mentioned to them, “Haro kaaka bo do tobpinai dokoyu hilood Penampang.” (Your relative, it was heard, was living in Penampang). Although he knew for sure that Domidal’s brother was in Penampang, he still chose to use the doubt denoting word, “kaaka”. That prompted Joy’s mother to get assurance as to the truth of his revelation, fully knowing that what he could be saying could not be always true. “Otopot kopio oi Gaman?” (Truly, Gaman?) “Oo, bo!” (Yes, lah). “Nga’, mugad tokou pogihum diolo’ hiloo’d Penampang do korikot ku kaagu’ dohiti’.” (We would only make the trip to Penampang during my next visit.) As a way of making conversation, Joy’s mother told Ganggal that he had better be true for she would charge him for petrol cost if the trip ended up in nought. Ganggal released his own joyful style of laughter which further confirmed Domidal’s wife’s doubts. A few weeks from that good-news-revealing visit, Ganggal came to Domidal’s residence again for the promised Penampang trip. He had with him a quarter full bottle of air bingong. He was in the process of sipping thriftily its contents. He made sure he still had some left for the next morning. The Domidals refrained from such drinking practice as they were barred by their beliefs. Ganggal did not permit the trip done the same day as he said, “Mibok katuu tokou’d kosuabon suuwab.” (We would only start tomorrow morning). Joy, the would-be driver, got the indication that the place they were heading for must be very far away. Sure enough, early the next morning Ganggal requested for breakfast served. He and Joy had their good fill. They together left, Joy at the wheel. Knowing that they were heading for a kampong where he could almost swim in air bingong, he lavishly consumed his bottle. That sent him to sleep for the most part of the journey from kampong Mantob to Penampang district. Earlier on during the journey he would tell Joy of the different kampong names on the way. When they came to Inanam town he told Joy to take the Bambangan by-pass to save journey time. Joy was well-travelled too and told Ganggal that to reach Donggongon town was to turn right and to reach Tambunan was to turn left. Ganggal said that to turn left was the right direction. Joy’s intention was to get some buah tangan since they were visiting some long-lost relatives. Ganggal, in so many words, told Joy that they were heading for a relative’s house which surely had some rice to spare. In the end they did not go to Donggongon town but turned Tambunan way. From that point, the old man went to sleep. At each road junction Joy would ask, “Osudu po aki?” (Is it still far, aki?) In his near sleeping state he was heard saying, “Osoduu po”. Such question and answer were repeated many times until they reached Gunung Emas Hilltop Resort. “Odoi! Odoi! Odoi!, tuuk ku po dia’! Osomok tokou no’d Tambunan diti!,” Ganggal almost shouted as he pointed out to his driver the jungle shortcut track he used to take when he returned to his kampong. “Nokuro iri oi Aki?”, Joy asked. “Notusan batu no o kinotolibon dito!”, he said pretending to be quite angry. He fully knew that he was the greater party to the whole folly. Joy deposited him in one of the sheds where he had kampong men and women friends selling their land produce to road travellers. That was an opportunity for him to socialise while Joy rushed further to the Resort area. He wanted to top up his diminished supply of diesel fuel! They meekly drove down the mountain to kampong Moyog, kampong Kibunut, kampong Rugading, kampong Sangai Sangai then kampong Babagon. They took the left hand turning at the Podsupuan and headed for kampong Tintap, to Garib’s house. When they arrived at the house, he told Joy to wait in the vehicle while he went down to scout around. The household were all out, save for young Sadam. He had that old man’s gut to ask Sadam to go and call them home. That was the beginning of a reunion of two brothers who had parted at childhood until both had families of their own.

Kampung Tintap, Penampang District

Kampung Tintap got its name from the small river which runs through the kampung. The small river itself got its name from the tintap tree, a wide-leaf tree, which grew abundantly along and around the river.

 

The tintap trees have long been removed, cut down by people who wanted to make the riversides and the places around more habitual by domesticated animals and human. But the name adopted for the river and then the kampung remains. People, young people nowadays, wonder what a tintap tree looks like, if it at all, they thought, it was indeed a tree. Or, could one be thinking whethert it was infact actually an animal?

 

Kampung Tintap is in a Kadazandusun area and the name therefore is a Kadazandusun naming word. Had the place been inhabited by yet another race, the naming word for the kampung would have been in the language spoken by that particular race.

 

There is yet another place called Nyaris-Nyaris in a non-Kadazandusun area. The name therefore is assumed to have automatically been derived from the language of the residents of the places around. It is understood that the word means "nearly". Could it have meant that a hard-to-forget road accident nearly happened in that particular stretch sometime in the past?

 

Yet, in another place, a Dusun area, a kampung was given a phrase name … Kumawanan.. which literally means, going to the right. The name was even noblely used to officially register and call the Primary School situated in the kampung.

 

Such is the power of an agreement..a consensus.. a 'you agree, I agree' thing…When two or three people agree to call a place by an agreed name- reference word, then it is endosed by all.

 

It is very seldom to find a Kadazandusun word repeated twice to mean or to denote the plural form, e.g. tanak-tanak ku (my children).

 

There are words to denote plurality, e.g. tanak ku ngaavi' (my children), soviavi' tanak ku (all my children). The magic words are 'ngaavi' and 'soviavi' .

 

But, there was a kampung name which was formed by a word repeated twice. It was Kampung Sangai-Sangai. Sangai is a kadazandusun word which literally means 'reflection of oneself' or ' sun-shadow of oneself'. It could therefore be theorised that it did not mean 'a few reflections' or 'more than one shadow'. It could also mean 'namesake', two or more individuals sharing identical names.

 

Another unifying device of people and places, a design for soceity building is the renaming of kampungs into a common name, e.g. Kampung Dakata, where three kampungs grouped together to be under one kampung administrative JKKK! Kampung Dabak, Kampung Kambau, Kampung Tanaki, collectively form an example.

 

 

Maths & Science a Tool for ELL?

Simply refered to as, "The Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English" in Malaysian Schools, but the other noble agendas could as well be, "Facilitating the Ease of Acquiring the Mastery of the English Language through the Learning of Maths and Science", and, "The Making of Future Malaysian Scientists at parr with other World Scientists".

 

The mastery of the English Language has deteriorated since the progressive introduction of Bahasa Melayu, the National Language, as the medium of instruction in Malaysian schools. Everyone within the Education circles might have been very much concerned with such notion but they were Malaysian enough not to attribute the decline to the introduction of their National Language as the medium of instruction in their schools. It had been found out through unofficial and rather informal quick oral surveys asked of the fast-deminishing capable English teachers that pupils, at Primary or Secondary levels born after 1975, save for those with English home-background, could not function in the English Language for the diferent levels of studies they were in, in school. The young primary school English teachers, too, the results of the deteriorated ELL in schools, could not teach good English even for the level they were licensed to teach.

 

But, all things start with a desire to improve something for the better and out of the rutted status quo. The desire to change might have been felt and realised singularly or corporately by concerned national icon. The target attainment might have been collectively set. The envisioning processes of achieving a set target might have been naturally arrived at or they might have been purposefully established at a mental workshop under an authority-enforced gaze. "When you get back, go into some quiet time, think about this idea and come back with some bright ideas tomorrow morning", he might have concluded his office normal Monday "morning prayers".

 

The teaching of Mathematics and Science has been aclaimed by all parents to be important for their children. An extrinsic motivation that they could readily appreciate was that a good grade obtained for maths and science at the SRP or PMR level was required to gain admission, at least, into the Armed Service and the Police Force. This was a good motivation for the parents to value their children's learning of the Maths and Science subjects. This parents' motivation could have been capitalised to choose these subjects, Maths and Science, for the cause of the EL revival.

 

The Bumiputra children in the National type Primary Schools, the SRKs, are openly known to be weak in their maths subjects. It has therefore even been trialled out to introduce the use of the abacus, the bead-grids, as a teaching and learning aid for the Bumiputra children in their schools. This T&L Aids had been long used in the SRJKs, the Chinese medium schools, to instill the basic mathematical theories and concepts. The traditional thinking bumiputra parents did not object at all. They must have mused, "As long as learning takes place there should be no bar to racially-inclined T&L Aids!"

 

More often than not a student's desire to continue learning Science subjects for the upper secondary level, post PMR screening, by joining the Science Stream, is shot down when the school authorities decided which class-stream the students can follow. The students could be placed in the Arts Stream, contrary to his or her desire and choice. The school might guise its own weaknesses by calling such placement as an honest educational advice for the students. In actual fact the school could not provide a place for the student in the science class… limited science classes opened or the lack of teachers to teach the subjects. This truth was even demonstrated by the fact that, some years ago, not all secondary schools could offer the Science Stream.

 

To demonstrate how a child's parent could be forced "to accept without explanation", there was an instance many years ago when a parent of a fortunate pupil from a relatively rural area came to an Education Office to complain that his son was wrongly assigned to study in a premier town secondary school. He was told in such limited scolding words that his son was actually assigned to study in heaven!

 

It has, perhaps, been accepted that the maxim, the logical thinking and reasoning, "The English Language is best learnt in the service of other learning", might have been taken as a base when the idea of teaching maths and science was first mooted by the concerned educational icons in the Ministry of Education. It goes without saying that in this case, while the children are learning maths and science, they are at the same time learning authentic English at the same time.

 

Actually, it has always been generally said that the best way to learn a language is to learn the language as it is authentically used for a purpose … to learn maths and science … and not to merely learn English for the purpose of learning English … learning about the language… or to learn English out of context. If it is used in the service of other learning, in the learning of maths and science, then it is Communicative language learning (CLL) in action.

 

This line of thinking is very much compromised if the Malaysian Educational Authorities surrendered to the political pride of teaching Maths and Science in the National Language in Schools. There were limitations and Malaysian Scientists would never feel comfortable in sharing any segments of their scientific concerns outside Malaysia. They would not be able to captain a Malaysia Space Craft if and when one was launch at the end of the next mellinium.

 

The Minister concerned with the advancement of Science should come out in support of the teaching of Maths & Science in English.

 

Malaysian democracy is extra-ordinarily democratic in that even the formulation of educational policies are also thrown to a cross-section of the society for debates and discussions and the outcome of which would then be administratively shaped into some nice sounding policies foregoing and discarding any purportedly researched previously learning and teaching ease, e.g. …a language is best taught in the service of other learnings. The learning points of the new and interesting subjects, Maths and Science, are better hinged through the communicative learning memories and experiences of ELL.

 

Sure, there was also a world-aclaimed maxim that the learning of a new concept was better done in the L1. It should be wieghed acurately the pros and cons governing each subject materials. Whar would GMT be in BM?

 

When the children have learnt English, when they have learnt reading with comprehension, they will be able to continue learning maths and science on their own. They can read English books, they can surf the internet and learnt more. It has been said that the ability to read, and in this case, to read in English, is the gateway to further unlimited self-tutoring experiences through the virtual miracles of the internets.

 

If the results of the 2008 SPM were taken as some yardsticks, then all pointers were flashing signals to the continuation of the teaching of Maths and Science in English in future.

 

Who would want to set the hands of the National Educational Clock back in time? Far-sighted people, the like of Madius, are for Maths and Science in English. Congratulations! People with a close-shop mentality, the like of some aged sasterawans, could not really see clearly where they were heading to. Our new Prime Minister had some words of advice in one of his speeches during the UMNO's AGM for such great pretenders. Isn't it beautiful for one to be multilingual?

Ju, Jo or Joe?

The Roman Catholic Missionaries had come up the shores of the island of Borneo, choosing the north-west side of the island, where Jesselton was, as their landing place. That was well over a hundred years ago. They brought with them mordenity and influence to the thinking of the local people. They especially brought with them a new belief, a belief in a heavenly God, God the Father Almighty and the morden aclaimed 'Good News' of salvation by Jesus Christ, God's only Son. Together with the influence-dessiminated believes came the introduction of cannonised saints' names, suggested taken by the local believers as additions to their existing names. Newly borns were especially recommended to take up names of saints from foreign lands.

 

On 1^st February, 1942, about 66 years ago this year, 2008, a bundle-of-joy-daughter, the first-born, was born of a mother. That baby girl was given Christian-Catholic names. Time passed by and the baby girl grew up to be a bounching young girl. When that bounching young girl was almost 2 years old, a baby boy, a brother to her, was born of her mother, his mother too, on 29^th January, 1944. Minan Oginis, as many adults called her, or, Odu Oginis, as she was popularly called by many younger people, was undoubtedly the highly regarded midwife in attendance. She must have stayed in the same house long before the delivery time for that was the custom practised at that time. Nearly all the young people in the villages around were delivered by the famous village grand midwife, Odu Oginis. If a young person's name was mentioned, Odu Oginis would say, "Ah, but she's my daughter!" or, "He's my son!". She meant she was the midwife who saw to it that the baby was carefully laid down in the mother's arms.

 

When the babyboy was born, the infant birth-cry must have been louder than usual. The little conversation that issued could have been, "Oonu kaa, kusai?" "Ooh". "'Patut no, opuod poogi o tiad." ("What was it, a boy?" "Yes." "No wonder, the cry was so loud".) It was noted that that infant boy had an exceptionally big mouth. This must have been well displayed when it opened its mouth to cry. Odu Oginis must have stayed longer with the nursing mother because of the sensitive big mouth crying baby. Unknown to all onlookers at that time, the sensitive crying baby was at an early stage of developing a mysterious skin disease, locally code-named a Japanese skin disease.

 

My mother told me much later that it was a miracle that I continued to live my 1^st year. My skin disease was so severe that my mother had to use banana leaves to wrap me in, in the stead of a proper napkin. She said that the banana leaves were cooler to soothe my bare flesh. It did not stick to the flesh, rather the bared-skin body would slip and slide drop of the banana leaves if one was not too careful.

 

My grandmother and aunties must have criss-crossed the hills around Guntiban to look for tongkuasam (herbal medicine) and other trees for their vonod (medicinal sap juice). They must have reached as far as Suok Kianau to look for any herbal plants expressedly or impliedly mentioned to them by others, either in passing or in truthful intentions. I was surely indeed quite a bother to the members of the immediate family and the family circle. After hearing all those hardships I had incurred to my parents and relatives around when I was still small, I wondered whether it had ever crossed my parents' mind not to really mind at all should I had died during those troublesome years.

 

But God was forever great. He saw to it that I survived. The skin disease left me completely when I was, probably, doing my 2^nd year. Very much early, around the time of my birth, there must have been discussions among the people in the house, between my father and mother together with my aunties and uncles, as to what name should be given to me. My father, in much later years, confirmed to me his involvement in naming me Julius. A distant cousin who was born almost at the same time as me in Kampung Penampang, further down the Moyog River, was named by his parents, Julius. So my father also called me, Julius. It was theorized that everyone in the household then called me, Ju, a short form for, Julius. Nice name. In much, much later years, when I went to school, my must-be learned teacher called me, Joe, the short form for Joseph, not, Ju, for Julius. But my name then was not Joseph. When I had the opportunity to craftily adjust my given names, I took, Joseph, as my Confirmation name so as to put right what had been, sort of, collaboratively put wrong.

 

In my real kampung-environment growing-up years, with the very limited kampung growing-up contemporaries as friends, there was a jingle which had the mention of the name Joe. My so-called growing-up friends sang the jingle to tease me.

 

        Joe, Joe Kanatok

        Nokojiil sominggu

        Minanakau do Natok!

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is there in a name?

 

 

My given names, according to my Roman Catholic Church Baptismal Certificate stated Joannes Julius. Where was the name Joannes from? No one could enlighten me as to who suggested the name for me! Could Emol's other name be Joannes? He was my uncle, my mother's youngest brother. Emol died in his teens due to nohusian. (mysterious reasons). The name, Joannes, was incidentally taken by the late Emol's nephew, Vivian. I did not mind I had that name, except that I did not use it. It was therefore not framed in my NRIC, the official tag-card for all Malaysian citizens. The names I sported on my NRIC was Joseph Julius Kinajil, Kinajil being my grandfather's name. I also used a supplimentary NRIC which stated my alias names as Joseph Tangit. My alias is also stated in my high quality MyCard if its chip-piece was machine-read.

 

My everyday name is Joe Tangit, otherwise, Joseph Tangit. Formally, my full name is Joe Tangit Kinajil or Joseph Tangit Kinajil. On all formal ducuments my name is Joseph Julius Kinajil @ Joseph Tangit. Sometimes, my name is reversed mistakenly as Joseph Tangit @ Joseph Julius Kinajil. Such a case was for my application for a personal Post Office Box No. 70, in Penampang. My gazetted name for my BSK Award from the State Government was simply Joseph Tangit which is my commonly used name as a Government Officer when I was still in service. My names as appended on all four University Certificates from England are the mixtures of Joseph Julius Tangit Kinajil. The Colombo Plan Scholarship Training Certificate from Australia is appended simply with the name Joseph Tangit.

 

There was a time when I was seriously asked to abandon the use of the surname, Tangit, and to assume the surname, Kinajil, in its stead. I was given the impression that I may have to take a Deed Poll to effect changes. I had my guesses as to the reasons why I was asked to do so. I really kept quite about the order coming from an elder. If my guesses of the reasons were true, then I did not like them. Not at all! I was therefore thick-headed and continued to use, Tangit, as my surname, the surname I have given for my children and consequently then assumed by my grandsons, my sons' offsprings. I am prepared to start a new family tree steming from Tangit as the source. If there are any of my 2 sons and 2 daughters who would prefer the use of Kinajil as their everyday surname, to concur with the rest of the upper and lower lines, then I would not put down my feet to bar them. They are free to manipulate the use of names familiar to them as long as they realise as to the theory, "what is there in a name!"

 

Terkenal or Famous

Where ever he went, he was terkenal. He was famous… all in good ways of course! When he went to Sandakan, to Tenom, to Tuaran, to Inanam, in Penampang, he was well known. Who did not know him personally or, at least, heard of him? An old man, visualised as a jolly-good fellow, who was a member of the then Police Field Force of the pre Malaysia era, during the British Colonial rule of North Borneo, now, Sabah, but, of course, now gone, .. peace be upon his soul, .. was naturally well remembered by those who were privileged to have known him. Memories of him, his witty and almost comical reactions to things around him or said to him, both by the young and old, remained cherished by his grandchildren, so to speak. He had no direct grandchildren as his only child, it was said, did not hold on to life for long, again, so to speak. This old man was loaded with gimat and the like, and, by natural and social Kadazandusun living standard, the off-springs of people of that so called calibre did not stay on earth long. That child did not survive to adulthood. His brothers or sisters, as narrated by Kondu Pilaku, a great grandchild of one of his sisters, did have many children whom he called grandchildren and who all called him aki, grandfather. Kampung Mangkaladon, a kampung beyond the blue mountains, so to speak, as seen north-eastwards from Donggongon town tamu ground, was Ganggal’s original kampung. Since he was a member of the PFF in those days, he must have then temporarily stayed at police barracks and stations during his employment days. He naturally only went back to his roots when his employment terms expired. It was normal for PFF personnel to sign up for only so many years of service. Their signed-up terms could have not involved any monthly financial benefits upon retirement. “I did not hear of any instance when he went to get his pension money”, said Pilaku. He had indeed experienced some of the realised developments which did come by after independence as he only passed on, it was said, in post Y2K era. The present Penampang-Tambunan sealed road and the road to Pukak in Kiulu were frequented by this active old man. Where ever he was, he was always seen with his juli, believed to contain his personal things. His trouser’s pockets might have been too small for what he used to carry with him all around. It was reputed that he used to carry around with him one or two bottles of air bingong. Earlier on he had visited his sister, Lombitoi, and family, in kampung Tintap. He had stayed on with them for quite a while so much so that all his grandchildren had come to fall in love with him. His grandchildren would all sit down around him listening to his tales of his personal life’s experiences and adventures. As he told his stories, the children sat around him with their mouths agape, their eyes unblinking. This old man must have been a natural story-teller. He could captivate his listeners. No doubt, as others might do, too, he had added other interesting details to his tales to make listening pleasant for adult minds. To his young grandchildren his tales were fantastic truths of unimaginable magnitudes! Sadam, a younger great grandson, still marvelled at his grandfather’s tales of his catch of a giant centipede of one finger span length rib-bones on either sides of its body! There was also a time when this grandfather of theirs was running passed them. Then they asked, “Oonu titangkus-tangkus nu dii oi Aki?” (Why are you running, Aki?) “Oonu kanu, au ko kokito dilo Rogon momogusa dogo?” (You ask why… can’t you see the devils chasing me ?) He was loaded with the “whatever he had in his juli”. He could indeed be living in the twilight zone … his own willed twilight zone. He could have indeed caught that giant centipede … a twilight zone centipede which he then ‘twilightedly’ kept in his juli! The harmless devils were his friends and among friends running after each other in joyful play was a common scene. That could have been the witnessed scenario! It was only long after this grand old man had passed on and the then young great grandchildren had grown older that it was realised … all what he had said, all what he had advised, could not be believed, could not be followed. Among the many dozens great grandchildren, when one became naughty and narrated something which was far from what was factual, others would be heard to give advice, “Ada pinggaaganggal!”. Long after his visit to kampung Tintap, he happened to visit kampung Mantob, a kampung further up kampung Pukak in the Kiulu district. He was visiting the Domidal family. That family, too, was very much a family to him. Joy, Domidal’s eldest, and Pilaku, from kampung Tintap, were cousins since Pilaku’s father, Garib, was Domidal’s brother. Those two brothers got separated from each other when they were still very young boys. At one of Ganggal’s visits to the Domidals, he mentioned to them, “Haro kaaka bo do tobpinai dokoyu hilood Penampang.” (Your relative, it was heard, was living in Penampang). Although he knew for sure that Domidal’s brother was in Penampang, he still chose to use the doubt denoting word, “kaaka”. That prompted Joy’s mother to get assurance as to the truth of his revelation, fully knowing that what he could be saying could not be always true. “Otopot kopio oi Gaman?” (Truly, Gaman?) “Oo, bo!” (Yes, lah). “Nga’, mugad tokou pogihum diolo’ hiloo’d Penampang do korikot ku kaagu’ dohiti’.” (We would only make the trip to Penampang during my next visit.) As a way of making conversation, Joy’s mother told Ganggal that he had better be true for she would charge him for petrol cost if the trip ended up in nought. Ganggal released his own joyful style of laughter which further confirmed Domidal’s wife’s doubts. A few weeks from that good-news-revealing visit, Ganggal came to Domidal’s residence again for the promised Penampang trip. He had with him a quarter full bottle of air bingong. He was in the process of sipping thriftily its contents. He made sure he still had some left for the next morning. The Domidals refrained from such drinking practice as they were barred by their beliefs. Ganggal did not permit the trip done the same day as he said, “Mibok katuu tokou’d kosuabon suuwab.” (We would only start tomorrow morning). Joy, the would-be driver, got the indication that the place they were heading for must be very far away. Sure enough, early the next morning Ganggal requested for breakfast served. He and Joy had their good fill. They together left, Joy at the wheel. Knowing that they were heading for a kampong where he could almost swim in air bingong, he lavishly consumed his bottle. That sent him to sleep for the most part of the journey from kampong Mantob to Penampang district. Earlier on during the journey he would tell Joy of the different kampong names on the way. When they came to Inanam town he told Joy to take the Bambangan by-pass to save journey time. Joy was well-travelled too and told Ganggal that to reach Donggongon town was to turn right and to reach Tambunan was to turn left. Ganggal said that to turn left was the right direction. Joy’s intention was to get some buah tangan since they were visiting some long-lost relatives. Ganggal, in so many words, told Joy that they were heading for a relative’s house which surely had some rice to spare. In the end they did not go to Donggongon town but turned Tambunan way. From that point, the old man went to sleep. At each road junction Joy would ask, “Osudu po aki?” (Is it still far, aki?) In his near sleeping state he was heard saying, “Osoduu po”. Such question and answer were repeated many times until they reached Gunung Emas Hilltop Resort. “Odoi! Odoi! Odoi!, tuuk ku po dia’! Osomok tokou no’d Tambunan diti!,” Ganggal almost shouted as he pointed out to his driver the jungle shortcut track he used to take when he returned to his kampong. “Nokuro iri oi Aki?”, Joy asked. “Notusan batu no o kinotolibon dito!”, he said pretending to be quite angry. He fully knew that he was the greater party to the whole folly. Joy deposited him in one of the sheds where he had kampong men and women friends selling their land produce to road travellers. That was an opportunity for him to socialise while Joy rushed further to the Resort area. He wanted to top up his diminished supply of diesel fuel! They meekly drove down the mountain to kampong Moyog, kampong Kibunut, kampong Rugading, kampong Sangai Sangai then kampong Babagon. They took the left hand turning at the Podsupuan and headed for kampong Tintap, to Garib’s house. When they arrived at the house, he told Joy to wait in the vehicle while he went down to scout around. The household were all out, save for young Sadam. He had that old man’s gut to ask Sadam to go and call them home. That was the beginning of a reunion of two brothers who had parted at childhood until both had families of their own.