Personaliti Borneo - Dianni Murni Kayar

Dianni Murni Kayar, Unduk Ngadau Kadazandusun Murut Johor State Level 2013 Winner/Top Fifteen Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan Sabah State Level 2010. She is a flight stewardess for Malaysia Airlines. Her career helped her to travel all around the globe and exposing herself with a unique cultural experiences. She enjoyed taking photos featuring people and cultures, and share the captured moments with others. 

1. Ceritakan mengenai diri anda.

Nama saya Dianni Murni Kayar. Nama dipanggil Othoe atau Dianni. Tarikh lahir 6 Jun 1985, berumur 28 tahun. Hobi saya ialah melancong dan menjadi master chef di dapur sendiri.

Personaliti Borneo - Cleopatra Sandud

1. Ceritakan mengenai diri anda.

Cleopatra Sandud berasal dari Kampung Tagaroh Kota Marudu, sabah. Berbangsa Dusun Tindal dan Dusun Bundu. Lepasan Bachelor In Healthcare Management di sebuah universiti swasta di Kuala Lumpur. Fasih berbahasa Dusun Tindal dan Dusun Bundu (bahasa lebih kurang sama). Lebih suka bertutur dalam Bahasa Dusun. Suka membaca, melayari internet, mendengar muzik, sangat meminati atau mempelajari sukukaum yang terdapat di Borneo. Sukakan alam semulajadi flora dan fauna.

 

Unduk Ngadau gone too commercial?

Dear readers,

With numerous organizations, including even nightspots and trade associations now seen organizing their own Unduk Ngadaus (traditional harvest beauty pageants), some feel the time has come to place restrictions on staging this now highly commercialized event so that it would not lose its dignity.

What are the requirements and duties of a title holder?

Salaam to all lovely readers,

Watching Borneo Hornbill Festival, Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan and other traditional/cultural-oriented beauty  pageant never failed to keep me on wondering  one thing - do beauty pageants really contribute to the society? And if they do, is this contribution a positive or negative one? Winners, care to explain?

Jauh di mata, dekat di hati

Salaam, semua.

Pepatah dalam Bahasa Inggeris ada menyatakan,“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Pepatah dalam Bahasa Melayu yang mempunyai maksud yang sama berbunyi ‘Jauh di mata dekat di hati.' Bagaimana kita memberi maksud  kepada kedua-dua pepatah ini bergantung kepada diri kita sendiri.

2013 Sabah State Level Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan prediction and analyses

Salaam, friends.

It has been almost a year and the question of who will be crowned as the winner of 2013 Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan hovering in the minds of every fan of this competition. Of course it is not an easy task. Various factors are taken into consideration based on the sets of criteria. 

As usual, I will analyze the participants based on the photographs and invented my own list. I am not saying I am good, but in the past 2-3 years, my prediction would be almost accurate (still a long shot). Gifted? Maybe. Simply, if you frequently taking pictures of tradition and culture oriented subject (i.e Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan), you will eventually generate the ability to predict based on the exposures obtained in different occasions. For example, the ability to assess beauty aspect of a lady, originality, traditional attire, personality, and so on. Against my better judgment, my predictions are a combination of realism and fantasy(whoa!). For example, those I'm pretty certain will make the cut and some who I'd like to see selected (but probably won't be). It's a pretty competitive year this year, but I think there are realistically only 4-5 girls in with a real shot at the title. Just my amateur thoughts. Jangan marah arr.. 

Inner beauty needs no make-up

Salaam, valued readers.

There is no doubt that the celebration of Harvest Festival is a celebration that is often eagerly awaited each year, especially for Sabahan. And, of course, the most anticipated event is Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan (traditional beauty pageant). This event will be less lively without the presence of "non-professional jury." This sounds cynical, but this is the reality. Here are some of the verses that will normally be echoed here and there, much less something like these:

“Punya cantik tu sumandak. Bulih tahan oh!”

“Ini kalilah saya punya kuda. Kihoyy!”

“Mana cantik tu. Bida juga tu kalau inda da mekap.”

“Astaga, paitungnya!”

“Arahi oku ti sumandak.”

…and the list goes on. Oh, dear!

Precious winning moments

Salaam, readers.

Kaamatan Harvest Festival is around the corner (May 30th and 31st). For all of us (Sabahan, and Malaysian at large), this is the moment we are all have been waiting for. Surely, there are hundreds of celebrations taking place every month all over the world, and Kaamatan Harvest Festival is one of them. The main highlight of this event is Unduk Ngadau. As mentioned by Mrs. Angie Boilis (blog), "The Unduk Ngadau Queen selection is never meant to be just another of those Beauty Queen contest.  Beyond physical beauty, concealed in piety and attired gracefully in full traditional costumes of her ethnic community, the Unduk Ngadau must satisfy the judges that in her most natural self, she portrays the best virtues and potentials to resemble the beatified Huminodun, the Kadazandusun Queen of love and compassion, the ultimate symbol of perfection and purity as reflected in the ancient Bobohizan’s (Kadazandusun Priestess) rinait or mantras."