Monday, March 4, 2013

Sabah - The Land Below the Wind



Lagu Negeri Sabah (Sabah's State Song)
 Tanah Airku (My Homeland)

 Sabah tanahairku, (Sabah, my homeland)
Negeri kita yang tercinta, (Our beloved state)
Pemuda-pemudi semua marilah, (Come every young person)
Bangunlah bersatu semua. (Everyone wake up and be united)
 Marilah bersama serta maju jaya, (Let's get together and prosper) 
Merdeka sepanjang masa, (Independence at all times)
Bersatu segala bangsa sentosa, (All races become one for peace)
Sabah negeri merdeka. (Sabah a freed state)

I sang this song every morning and everyday during my schooldays. My family used to live in Semporna for a couple of years and it was there where I took my UPSR examinations (major test for elementary schools before enrolling into middle schools). 

A lot has happened during this couple of days. But I'm not gonna blog about that. 

Being a local in Sabah, I didn't do much touring around Sabah as a traveler. Only last year did I decide to follow a group of my friends to travel from Kota Kinabalu to Ranau and visit key attractions along the way. The itinerary can be read here

Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Malay Archipelago standing tall at 4,095 m.
Lemme share you some facts about Sabah before blogging about my trip. (extracted from here
  • Sabah is one of the 13 member states of Malaysia
  • Population - 3.1 millions
  • It is the SECOND largest state in the country after Sarawak
  • Sabah is often referred to as "Land Below The Wind", a phrase used by seafarers in the past to describe lands south of the typhoon belt.
  • Kinabalu National Park was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2000.
  • The western part of Sabah is generally mountainous, containing the three highest mountains in Malaysia. 
  • Over three quarters of the human population inhabit the coastal plains
  • Has many places that are either designated as national parks, wildlife reserves, virgin jungle reserves, or protection forest reserve. 
  • Sabah has one of the highest population growth rates in the country as a result of illegal immigrants (27.81% of it's population are of Non-Malaysian citizens - Filipino, Indonesian)
  • Malay language is the national language spoken across ethnicities, although Sabahan dialect called Baku is different from West Malaysian dialect of Johor-Riau
  • Sabah also has its own slang for many words in Malay, mostly originated from indigenous or Indonesian words. (ah-ha!)
  • The people of Sabah are divided into 32 officially recognized ethnic groups, in which 28 are recognized as Bumiputra, or indigenous people. 
  • Collectively, all persons coming from Sabah are known as Sabahans and identify themselves as such.

So reading from these facts, me having the bloodline of both Bajau and Kadazan-Dusun ethnicity, I'm actually just an indigenous person. =P

Kota Kinabalu city viewed from Bukit Bendera. 
Oh.. another thing to note which I found to be a very sad fact - as of 2010, Sabah is the poorest state in Malaysia with a GDP growth was 2.4%, the lowest in Malaysia behind Kelantan. Rich in flora and fauna but still slacking in terms of economy. Let's pray for a prosperous future for my fellow Sabahans OK? =)

More blogposts on Sabah to come! Ciao!



5 comments:

Arlida Abdullah said... [Reply]

Sabah, negeri di bawah bayu :)

Alid Abdul said... [Reply]

Is it about Sultan Sulu hehehe???

Anonymous said... [Reply]

sabah org kaya ramai...
tapi jurang dengn miskin tinggi
negeri paling bermasalah dgn PATI

penduduk 3 juta mungkin paling tinggi lepas selangor..yeke?

kueh

Izzat Eshak said... [Reply]

Tak pernah pergi Sabah lagi
Maybe one day =)

Al-Manar said... [Reply]

I am leaving my comments here because this land below the wind is very special to me , part of me when it was Jesselton/Api Api.

I need to contact you for a special favour. I need to ask and possibly your permission to write about the Almanar mosque that posted not long ago. Please contact me at almanar@pd.jaring.my