Despite being blamed for having a “crab mentality”, Sarawak’s Orang Ulu community with a population of four percent or 117,690 people, has done very well in the academic and professional field.

orang ulu repair damaged forest 110707 engkabang meranti According to the chairman of the federation of Orang Ulu association of Malaysia (forum) Lihan Jok, the community has produced 13 PhD holders, 190 master’s degree holders, 809 bachelor holders, 1,111 diploma holders and 280 other professional certificates.

Profession-wise, the community has 48 engineers, 16 doctors, 47 lawyers, 13 lecturers, six professors, five scientists, 35 accountants, two pilots and 45 managers, he told an Orang Ulu cultural symposium in Miri.

In his paper, “Success So Far: A scoreboard on the significant progress made by the Orang Ulu community since Independence”, Lihan who is also the state assemblyman for Telang Usan attributed religion as one of the factors that had brought changes to the community.

“The breakthrough came when the community embraced Christianity and discarded their pagan belief. In the process, we began to adopt a more global outlook. We began to love one another instead of trying to kill in the guise of headhunting, which was allowed by the old belief,” he said.

'Crab mentality' still with Orang Ulu

Despite the level of success, Lihan said the community had not progressed as much as it should be because the “crab mentality” was still with them.

The phrase “crab mentality” has now become a common cliché in Sarawak used by politicians as a reason for the lack of progress of a community. .

The words “crab mentality” were first used by a Bidayuh leader, Henry Harry Jinep to bring the downfall of Tiki Lafe from a post of deputy minister in the federal cabinet and as a result of the Bidayuh community having no representative in the federal cabinet, there was a hue and cry among the community.

“Who is to blame? Certainly the Bidayuh community for its crab mentality,” Jinep had said.

dayak orang ulu name change 280109 Among the Dayak communities (Bidayuh, Orang Ulu and Iban), this mentality, also known as “kepapas” (jealous) mentality, is a common feature of trying to pull down someone who has been successful in business, politics or any undertaking.

It refers to crabs in a pail, which will pull down any other crab trying to escape.

Lihan told reporters later that the “crab mentality” was the remnant of the old belief carried forward to this modern era by some sections of the community, but he was certain that such a mentality would over a time turned into a healthy competition among the successful members of the community.

He said that healthy competition would come about as more and more of their people did networking with each other and with other communities in this globalised world.

Melanaus have become more progressive

Meanwhile in Mukah, deputy president of the federation of Melanau association Sarawak, Aidan Wing, said that the Melanau community had been able to move forward successfully because there was no “crab mentality” among them.

We have been able to move forward successfully because of our positive mentality and optimistic approach. More importantly, there is no “crab in the pail” syndrome among the Melanaus.

“The syndrome refers to negative attempts by those within the same community to dethrone the successful members of their own community,” said Wing, who is Lambir state assemblyman.

Wing said that the Melanaus had evolved from being a reserved and passive community into one that was more forward-looking and progressive.

Among the successful Melanaus are Muhamad Salehuddin, Tuan Yang Dipertua Negeri Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud, chief minister of Sarawak, Abdul Rahman Yakub, former chief minister of Sarawak, and Effendi Norwawi, former federal minister.