Questa è Enida

It is never a short answer to “Where are you from, Enida?” Never. Neither is it a short story. Now, how do you summarize this:

I was born in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah – hence the XXXXXX-12-XXXX in my MyKad. A few years after I was born, my parents were transferred to Taiping, where I started school and finished Form Three (Grade 9). Much to my and KaCher’s resentment, we were sent to Temerloh, Pahang, to complete the two remaining years of our high school. KaCher and I were both born in KK, raised in Taiping and sent to Temerloh. Two years later, together, KaCher and I got a place in the TESL Program at PPP/ITM Shah Alam – and that was where we were asked a lot about our origin.

Am I a Sabahan? Apparently Sabahans do not think so. If your parents were not born and bred in Sabah – no matter how much your blood spilled on the land below the wind and how fluent YOU are in Kadazan-Dusun – you are as outside as an outsider, bah! So, no go. Can’t claim I am a Sabahan, can I?

Am I from Taiping? Well, I am basically not from there. Wasn’t born there, wasn’t from there. I just lived there for 15 years or so. So, not good enough to keep on kami-hang, kami-hang with the Taiping-ites no matter how smooth my kami-hang, kami-hang still is. My MyKad could not be converted to XXXXXX-08-XXXX just because I lived in the metal state for 15 years either.

Do I claim myself Orang Pahang? Muahahaha. Hmmm… no offence to Orang Pahang, but no thanks. I did mention the word resentment that I was sent to Pahang, didn’t I? I kicked, screamed and cried the Sungai Pahang crocodile tears back then for two years, hating my own inability to adjust to its koi-awaok, koi-awaok. But I must admit it is a source of amusement mocking the leweh dialect ever since we left the sleepy town.

I mean, really… where am I from? Which do you think shall be my preference, if I can have a preference?