Pairin must ‘compensate’ for insulting Jeffrey

Raymond Tombung

An alleged 'spiritual insult' against his brother Jeffrey Kitingan may have set back the Kadazandusun community leader and deputy chief minister Joseph Pairin.

KOTA KINABALU: The Kadazandusun community’s Huguan Siou (paramount keader) Joseph Pairin Kitingan must pay a “sogit”(compensation) to his younger brother Jeffrey for embarrassing him, claims a veteran political leader.

Failure to do so, according to Frederick Lojinki, would be a setback for Pairin, who is Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president.

Pairin had allegedly described Jeffrey as a “mendiang” (the late Jeffrey) in a political speech in Beluran recently.

The term is considered spiritually offensive in the community, especially when used on a living person.

Culturally, sogit, or “cooling compensation”, is a traditional way of seeking forgiveness and to make spiritual restoration on someone after a serious offence.

Serious spiritual offence includes public utterance of a curse or a hint of curse on someone.

Sogit is also a form of restorative justice used to make amends and to restore goodwill in the case of a quarrel between parties.

Lojinki, 71, whose participation in state politics dates back to the 1960s, said Pairin’s alleged utterance of the word against his younger brother was classified as “cursing”, which in the Kadazandusun culture is considered as more serious than a quarrel.

‘Severe offence’

In this case, the gravity of the curse is decidedly more pronounced because the object of the curse is a sibling.

“As a veteran and an elder of the community, I would like to advise my old friend, Joseph Pairin, to consider paying ‘sogit’ to his younger bother Jeffrey.

“That is, if Pairin really and actually did utter the word ‘mendiang’ on Jeffrey in Beluran as claimed by some.

“Such ‘sogit’ could come in any form – perhaps a buffalo or a pig or two – which will sufficiently reflect the severity of the offence in accordance with our custom when such a malicious utterance is made on a living person.

“As the chief custodian of the Kadazandusun customs and cultural laws, being the community’s paramount leader, Pairin should know best what to do in cases like this.

“As such, I appeal to him to do the honourable thing and live to the required adat (custom) so everything will be physically and spiritually in harmonious balance once again.”

Traditionally, the need for “sogit” is more for spiritual restoration than for material gain for the offended.

The traditional Kadazandusuns strongly believe that a spiritual offence such as a curse causes disharmony that leads to misfortune and illnesses, not only to the offended but to the whole community as well.

The problem in this case is Pairin’s standing as the Huguan Siou of the community. He is seen as the chief custodian of adat (customs) and to admit to having uttered such a word and agree to compensate would cause a serious dent on his image.

Pairin, therefore, is caught between two hard choices – either to admit and compensate or simply deny uttering the offensive word.