State Born Leader

Sunday June 3, 2007
State’s born leaders
Source: Star On Line
By ELIZABETH TAI

Meet one of Sabah’s most prominent and influential families.

Little is known about this mysterious man whose origins are cloaked in legend. One account claims that Kina is a descendant of Nanangkis and Babalayong, legendary figures who were born out of a rock at the foot of Mount Kinabalu.



A story more rooted in reality and told by the present elders of this extensive family is that Kina was a Chinese who lived in Nanuk Raggang, though others say that he was actually from Kimanis.



According to that story, Kina left Kimanis for Keningau because of the bad harvest there. He eventually settled in Keningau and became very wealthy – he had plantations, plenty of livestock and sold jars (some which were used for burials) that were treasured by the natives there.



The natives called him “Kina” (or Chinese) because his real name was just too difficult for the natives to remember or to pronounce properly and therefore forgotten.
However, Datuk Ayub Aman, the grandson of Kina’s daughter Layomon, is convinced that Kina was actually from China. “Kina introduced agricultural techniques that were unknown to the natives and had livestock numbering in the hundreds,” he says during an interview at The New Sabah Times office at Kota Kinabalu where he is executive chairman.

Some members from Gunsanad’s line in front of Rumah Besar in Keningau, Sabah. It was the former home of Gunsanad’s son, OKK Sedomon, an influential political figure.

“And according to my grandmother Layomon, he was a Taoist, and so was his grandson, Sedomon,” he says.


(Kina’s descendants embraced a wide variety of religions. For example, while Sedomon was a Taoist, his third wife Jaliah Amat was a Muslim. Among her children, Irene, Susie and June are Muslims while Justine, Doreen, Injon, Ricky and Nelson are Roman Catholics.)
Of his many children, Gunsanad, his first son from his wife Lingkinan, is the most notable.
Like his father, Gunsanad’s life story is shrouded in legend. It is said that he obtained his considerable leadership skills (and even an ability to make people do his will) from a kumala, a magical stone he fished out of a river with dangerous currents. That stone is still being kept by one of his descendents today.



He went on to become a notable leader, and feared by many because of his prowess as a warrior and a leader. So great was his reputation that the local Chinese community called him San Tai Wong or “Emperor in the Mountain”.



Gunsanad’s leadership qualities were passed on to his two sons from his first wife Randus: Orang Kaya Kaya Sedomon and Datuk G.S. Sundang. Both were important figures during the years when the natives had to decide whether Sabah should be a part of Malaysia. According to the book Modernization in East Malaysia (1960-1970) by James P. Ongkili, the brothers “commanded traditional and unflinching loyalty among the majority of the indigenous people...”
The two brothers also formed Sabah’s first native political party, United National Pasok Momogun Organisation, in 1962 and were signatories to the Malaysia Agreement signed in London July 9, 1963, between Britain, Malaya, North Borneo (now Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore.



Sedomon is still remembered by the people at Keningau. In the book North Borneo by K.G. Tregonning, Sedomon is described as a “power to be reckoned with ... the strongest Dusun in the country, as tough as a Chinese towkay, reserved and non-committal, correct but cautious.”
Gunsanad’s grandsons from his daughter Isah were also notable: Tun Haji Ahmad Koroh became the Yang di Pertua Negeri of Sabah on Oct 12, 1977, and Tan Sri Haji Suffian Koroh was Deputy Chief Minister from 1983 to 1985.

But it is not just Gunsanad’s line that produced notable leaders. His sister Layomon’s grandchildren are important political and business figures today: There’s Datuk Seri Musa Aman, Sabah’s current Chief Minister, Ayub, former politician, Datuk Anifah Aman, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities and High Court judge Datuk Nurchaya Arshad.

It is obvious that many of Kina’s descendants inherited his leadership skills and business acumen, and are driven by the desire to improve the lives of their people. “We regard ourselves as ulun (servants); the rakyat is raja,” says Suffian during an interview at his home in Keningau. He has this to say to politicians: “Don’t forget you’re there to help the people. Don’t forget the promise.”