Sabah

The newspaper was founded by Donald Stephens, who later became the First Chief Minister of Sabah. When the new calendar, starting on January 1st, replaced it, people who continued to celebrate the traditional New Year were, apparently, mocked and teased, the subject of various humorous harassment. Sabah's first established newspaper was the New Sabah Times. April Fool's Day probably has its origin with a pre-Gregorian new year celebration which went from the spring equinox to April 1st. Visit Atama's website[1]. The French First Republic was proclaimed and the French monarchy was abolished on September 21, 1792, making the following day, Autumnal Equinox Day that year, primidi Vendemière, the first day of the "Republican Era" in France. Atama's debut album My Tribal Roots was released on 30th May 2005. Autumnal Equinox Day is "New Year's Day" in the French Republican Calendar, which was in use from 1793 to 1805.

Sabah's first hip hop recording artist is Atama, real name Andrew Ambrose Mudi, who has successfully fused hip hop and tribal music. Andrew's Day (30 November). Sabah's first homegrown film was Orang Kita, starring Abu Bakar Ellah. Since the 17th century, the Roman Catholic ecclesiastic year has started on the first day of Advent, the Sunday nearest to St. Some films and shows filmed in Sabah include the first season of reality show Survivor, The Amazing Race, Eco-Challenge Borneo, Bat*21, and Sacred Planet. In the Middle Ages in Europe a number of significant feast days in the Ecclesiastical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church came to be used as the beginning of the year:. Noteworthy mentions include filmmaker Tony Francis Gitom, and their many high-placing contestants on local shows Malaysian Idol and Akademi Fantasia. In 45 BC Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar, dropping Mercedonius and decreeing that the New Year should start on 1 January.

Sabah is not known for producing many well-known media figures, but the few it has produced have made their mark. Because consuls were chosen in January, and because years were named after the consuls who served in that year, January became the de facto beginning of the year. The most popular tourist destinations include:. Around 715 BC the months of January, February and Mercedonius were added to the end of the year (Mercedonius in leap years only). Tourism, particularly eco-tourism, is a major contributor to the economy of Sabah. The ancient Roman calendar had only ten months and started the year on 1 March, which is still reflected in the names of some months which derive from Roman numerals: September (Seventh), October (Eighth), November (Ninth), December (Tenth). The federal government extracts 95% of the revenues generated by Sabah, leaving only 5% for local needs.. The most common modern celebrations are:.

Part of the problem is the inequitable distribution of wealth between the State and the Federal government. . The state has the highest poverty level in the country at 16 per cent, more than three times the national average. Cultures that measure yearly calendars all have New Year celebrations. In 2000, Sabah had an unemployment rate of 5.6 per cent - the highest of any Malaysian state and almost twice the national average of 3.1 per cent. The New Year is an event that happens when a culture celebrates the end of one year and the beginning of the next. Average incomes are now among the lowest in Malaysia, and with a considerably higher cost of living than in West Malaysia. 1 September was used in Russia from the 14th century until the adoption of the Christian era in 1700 (previously, Russia had counted years since the creation of the world).

However, despite its vast wealth of natural resources, Sabah is currently the poorest of Malaysia's states. The ancient Roman new year of 1 March was used in the Republic of Venice until its destruction in 1797, and in Russia until the 14th century. In 1970, Sabah ranked as one of the richest states in the federation, with a per capita GDP second only to Selangor (which then included Kuala Lumpur). In Circumcision Style dating, the new year started on 1 January, the Feast of the Circumcision (of Jesus). Tourism is currently the second largest contributor to the economy. A disadvantage of this system was that because Easter was a movable feast the same date could occur twice in a year; the two occurrences were distinguished as "before Easter" and "after Easter". Other agricultural products important in the Sabah economy include rubber and cacao. This was used in France from the 11th to the 16th century.

Sabah's economy was traditionally heavily lumber dependent, based on export of tropical timber, but with increasing depletion of the natural forests and ecological efforts to save remaining natural rainforest areas, palm oil has emerged as a more sustainable resource. In Easter Style dating, the new year started on Easter Saturday (or sometimes on Good Friday). See Demographics of Malaysia for some further details about the population. The UK tax year still starts on 6 April which is the 25 March + 11 days for the conversion from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
The federal government of Malaysia officially recognizes 28 ethnic groups as being "indigenous" or bumiputra in Sabah:. The rest of Great Britain changed to Circumcision Style on the 1 January preceding the conversion in Great Britain from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar on 3/14 September 1752. Those POW's skulls line the roof of Dusun-Kadazan 'skull houses'. Annunciation Style continued to be used in Kingdom of Great Britain until January 1, 1752, except Scotland which changed to Circumcision Style dating on 1 January 1600.

During World War 2, the British army liberated North Borneo from the Japanese and released 280 Japanese POW's knowing that the vengeful natives would not show mercy. This was used in many parts of Europe in the Middle Ages. Monsopiad the legendary warrior who lived in the 1700's-1800's took 48 heads in the heat of battle before being overwhelmed. In Annunciation Style dating the new year started on 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation. Even though Dusun-Kadazans are known for their peaceful nature, they are also well known for their bravery and defiant nature towards oppression and foreign rule. This was used in Germany and England until the 13th century, and in Spain from the 14th to the 16th century. Their traditional dances appear erotic yet innocent making the Dusun-Kadazan culture a popular one. In Christmas Style dating the new year started on 25 December.

Dusun-Kadazan people are known as the Latin lovers of the East, famous in the state for love and passion for music. The Iranian New Year, called Norouz, is celebrated at the exact moment of the vernal equinox, commencing the start of the spring season. In addition, Kadazan-Dusun, Bajau, Murut and other minor races also have distinct ethnic languages. 2008 will see two Muslim New Years. English and the Chinese dialects Mandarin and Hakka are widely understood. Since the Muslim calendar is based on 12 lunar months amounting to about 354 days, the Gregorian date of this is earlier each year. Bahasa Malaysia is the national language spoken across ethnicities, although the spoken Sabahan dialect of Bahasa Malaysia differs much in inflection and intonation from the West Malaysian version, having more similarity in pronunciation to Bahasa Indonesia. The Islamic New Year is celebrated on 1 Muharram.

While the local and federal government do not officially recognise the existence of Filipino illegal immigrants, they are widely employed commercially, forming the bulk of manual labour in construction and other sections of commerce. The Gujarati New Year is celebrated usually two days after the festival of Diwali (held in mid-November). Unofficially, Sabah is also home to an estimated 700,000 strong Filipino population due to lax immigration controls and poor policing of the Malaysia-Philippines national border. Some neo-pagans celebrate Samhain (a festival of the ancient Celts, held around November 1) as a new year's day representing the new cycle of the Wheel of the Year, although they do not use a different calendar that starts on this day. The largest indigenous ethnic group is the Kadazan-Dusun (roughly 25% of the total population); followed by the Bajau (15%), and the Murut (3%). It is currently 1998 on the Ethiopian calendar. The largest non-indigenous ethnic group is the Chinese, who make up for about 20% of Sabah's population. The Ethiopian New Year, Enkutatash, is celebrated on 11 September.

The population of Sabah was 2,449,389 in the year 2000 (Housing Census of Malaysia, 2000), of which is divided into 32 officially recognized ethnic groups. The Bengali New Year Poila Baisakh is celebrated on 14 April or 15 April in a festive manner in both Bangladesh and West Bengal. Names such as Fernando, Gomes, Rodriguez, and Fernandez are popular and widespread, which explains Sabah's festive almost Brazilian-like culture. The Lao New Year is celebrated from 13 April to 15 April. Many peoples of Sabah have a Portuguese blood connection. The Cambodian New Year is celebrated from 13 April to 15 April. Sabah consists of five administrative divisions, which are in turn divided into a total of 23 districts. The Thai New Year is celebrated from 13 April to 15 April by throwing water.

Aside from nominally separate immigration controls, little evidence remains of Sabah's theoretical autonomy. The people of Andhra Pradesh, India celebrate the advent of Lunar year this day. These tensions are further inflamed by Kuala Lumpur's colonial mentality towards Sabah, wherein 95% of the profits from Sabah's immense natural resources are taken by the federal government, leaving the state government with only 5%. The Telugu New Year generally falls in the months of March or April. Although Sabah entered the Federation of Malaysia as a autonomous state, resistance to pressure from Kuala Lumpur's vision of a one-party unitary Islamic state dominated by ethnic Malays has created considerable friction and even occasional calls for secession. In the Bahá'í calendar, the new year occurs on the vernal equinox on 21 March, and is called Naw-Rúz. A recent effort by PBS, a component party of BN, to hatch a co-operation with the one opposition candidate within the state assembly (whom conversely was a former UMNO member competing independently because he was not nominated for the constituency by his party) in an unprecedented attempt at bipartisanship, was harshly criticized by UPKO, another component party of BN. The Tibetan New Year is Losar and falls from January through March.

Sabah politics (as are Malaysia's) are very much based upon party lines. The Vietnamese New Year is the Têt Nguyen Dan which is the same as Lunar New Year. Therefore many cast votes for independent candidates. The Chinese New Year is generally celebrated with firecrackers, and in some places with a parade. This was caused by a general sentiment where a number of voters were reluctant to cast votes for BN whose victory was almost assured but did not trust the opposition parties, most of which were not vigorously active before the election. It is perhaps the most important Chinese holiday. The state assembly is now dominated by the ruling party BN (who conversely also did not penetrate Sabah until the 1990s.) with only one seat held by an opposition politician who is an independent candidate. Each year is symbolized by one of 12 animals and one of five elements, with the combinations of animals and elements (or stems) cycling every 60 years.

Thus the 2004 general elections saw widespread disillusionment, coupled with an ineffectual opposition. Because the Chinese calendar is astronomically defined, unlike the Gregorian Calendar, the drift of the seasons will change the range. This has given rise to dissent as the Chief Minister rotation system was halted just as UMNO, a Malay-based political party, was holding the post. The exact date can fall anytime between 21 January and 21 February inclusive, on the Gregorian Calendar. UMNO had a quick rise to power since its entry into Sabah in 1991 where before that both eastern Malaysian states were not penetrated by the party, whose president is the de facto leader of the ruling coalition BN and automatically the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, occurs every year at a new moon during the winter. This practice has since stopped with power now held by majority in the state assembly by the UMNO party, which also holds a majority in the national Parliament. Many in the countries where Eastern Orthodoxy predominates celebrate both the Gregorian and Julian New Year holiday with the Gregorian day celebrated as a civic holiday and the Julian date as a religious holiday.

It also serves to give a disproportionate power to the minority Malay ethnic group, enabling them to overturn any local legislature implemented by the majority Kadazan-Dusun. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the New Year (also celebrating the infant Jesus' circumcision) is on 14 January (1 January in the Julian Calendar). This serves to extremely weaken the executive branch of the State government, which was formerly much at odds with the federal government in Kuala Lumpur. Rosh Hashanah cannot occur later than 5 October, when it occurred in 1967 and will again occur in 2043. A bizarre feature of Sabah politics is a policy initiated by the Barisan Nasional in 1994: the Chief Minister's post is rotated among the coalition parties every 2 years, regardless of the party in power at the time, thus theoretically giving an equal amount of time for each major ethnic group to rule the State. After the year 2089, the differences between the Hebrew Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar will force Rosh Hashanah to be not earlier than 6 September. The present elected State and Federal Government posts are held by Barisan Nasional, a coalition of major ethnic parties, including UMNO, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) & Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS). In the Gregorian calendar at present, Rosh Hashanah cannot occur before 5 September, when it occurred in 1899 and will occur again in 2013.

A general election for State and Federal level officials is held every five years. Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew for 'head of the year') is a celebration that occurs 163 days following Pesach (Passover). Sabah has a democratic political system with universal suffrage. 1 January : The first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar used by most developed countries. The Philippines claims the whole of Sabah as part of its territory, based upon the Sultanate of Brunei's cession of its north-east territories to the Sultanate of Sulu in 1703, because of military assistance given by the latter to the former. In 1946 the Company's rule ended and it became the colony of North Borneo until it was admitted into the Malaysian federation in 1963.

Sabah was taken over by the British North Borneo Company in 1881, and became a protectorate of the British Empire with internal affairs still administered by the company in 1888. Mount Kinabalu, in central Sabah, is the highest mountain in Malaysia, and second in Southeast Asia. Over three quarters of the population inhabit the coastal plains. These mountains and hills are traversed by an extensive network of river valleys and are in most cases covered with dense rainforest.

Sabah is generally mountainous, with the Banjaran Crocker range of central mountains varying in height from about 1,000 metres to 3,000 metres, which at its peak of Mount Kinabalu rises up to 4000 metres, and with several lower ranges of hills near the coasts. .
. The state capital is Kota Kinabalu, formerly known as Jesselton.

The southern part of the island, called Kalimantan, belongs to Indonesia. Situated on the northeast of the island, Sabah is smaller than its sister state, Sarawak. It is one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Sabah is the second largest state in Malaysia and is also known as Negeri di bawah bayu which means "The Land Below The Wind" .

'Kataks' , Kadazan-Dusun Nationalism and Development: The 1999 Sabah State Election (Regime Change And Regime Maintenance In Asia And The Pacific Series No 24, Department Of Political And Social Change, Research School Of Pacific And Asian Studies, Australian National University) (ISBN 0731526783). 1999. Chin, Ung-ho. Adam and Charles Black, London.

British North Borneo. 1913. W. W.

Gudgeon, L. Atama Site, Photo Galleries, Discussions and Forum. The Northern Tip of Borneo. Gomantong Caves - populated with millions of swifts and bats.

Turtle Islands Park - conservation efforts for endangered sea turtles. Danum Valley Conservation Area - wilderness rainforest. Pulau Sipadan - a famous island for scuba diving. Sandakan - gateway to the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary and Kinabatangan River.

Mount Kinabalu - the highest mountain in Southeast Asia. Tanjung Aru resort - outside of Kota Kinabalu, with luxury beach resorts and Tunku Abdul Rahman Park and the North Borneo Railway. Rumanau. Minokok.

Ida'an. Paitan. Orang Cocos. Filipina-campuran.

Sarawak-indigenes. Sino-campuran. Maragang. Indonesian.

Melayu. Tidong. Bisaya. Kedayan.

Brunei. Orang Sungai. Suluk. Mangka'ak.

Bugis, (see Bugis of Sabah). Dumpas. Tambanuo. Rungus.

Lotud. Illanun. Bajau. Murut.

Kwijau. Serani (Orang Portuguesa Campur). Filipino. Kadazan-Dusun.