Brendon Beliku is a corporate immigration and employment compliance professional based in Kota Kinabalu. He writes independently on Sabah’s economic governance, labour policy, regulatory affairs and Momogun empowerment.
KOTA KINABALU: Most debates about the name Momogun are treated as debates about identity: who belongs, and which word should sit on the banner.
Those questions matter, but they are not the most useful part of the argument. In May 2026, Prof Datuk Dr. Ts. Ramzah Dambul, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Development Studies (Sabah), made a case for Momogun that deserves to be read more closely.
He supported replacing the KDMR acronym with Momogun, noting that KDMR leaves out the Paitanic cluster, including the Sungai community.
He also said Momogun could serve as a common category in national statistics, as Orang Asli and Dayak do elsewhere in Malaysia, so that help for rural poverty, economic access and education can be better targeted.
Read this way, the case for the name is also a case for being counted. And the place where counting matters most is the labour market.
-What Sabah Cannot See-
Sabah already knows some hard facts about its young workers. Figures from the Department of Statistics Malaysia show that 58.6 percent of Sabah’s unemployed are aged 15 to 24.
A study of Sabah job seekers by the same department, carried out in 2024, found that 25.9 percent of Sabahan respondents were living in Peninsular Malaysia, and that 66.2 percent of Sabahans working there preferred to stay.
Only 54.4 percent of degree holders stayed in Sabah, compared with 87.6 percent of those with only a school certificate. In July 2026, a TVET consultant quoted by the Daily Express put Sabah’s graduate unemployment at 7.6 percent and said nearly half of the workforce holds jobs that do not match their qualifications.
Now ask a simple question. How many of these young people are Momogun? Nobody can say from these figures, because none of them are broken down by community.
Sabah can see its graduates leaving. It cannot see whether Momogun graduates leave faster, earn less, or get stuck in jobs below their skills. A problem that cannot be measured is very hard to fix, and almost impossible to fund.
-A Name Does Not Produce Numbers-
This is where the argument needs care. Adopting the name Momogun would not, by itself, produce a single new statistic. Labour figures follow official categories.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the sub-ethnic categories for Sabah Bumiputera in the 2020 census were realigned using a list from the Sabah Native Affairs Department.
So a new category has to travel through institutions before it shows up in a table. A resolution or a press statement starts that journey. It does not finish it.
There is also a risk. A large shared category can hide the very groups it was meant to include. If Momogun becomes one big number, the Paitanic communities that the IDS chief said were left out of KDMR could disappear again, this time inside a total.
He was clear that communities would still identify with their own groups. The data should do the same. A good Momogun category would show the whole, and still allow the Dusunic, Murutic and Paitanic parts to be seen.
The naming debate itself continues. The Piagam Perpaduan Kadazandusun signed in September 2026 keeps Kadazandusun as the umbrella name under the Kadazandusun Cultural Association, which the IDS chief had called on to recognise Momogun.
The labour data does not need to wait for that debate to end. Counting people fairly is useful whatever name finally sits on the banner.
-What Employers and Institutions Could Do Now-
Employers hiring foreign specialists under Malaysia’s revised Employment Pass policy must show succession plans for Categories II and III, meaning a plan for local employees to take over.
In Sabah, local hiring priority must be shown first where it applies. Both rules assume local talent can be found. But a company cannot plan to develop Momogun talent it cannot see in any data. Good human capital planning starts with knowing who is available, where they are, and what they can do.
A few steps would help, offered here as proposals for discussion. IDS, with its research role, is well placed to pilot a Momogun labour market profile using existing surveys, with sub-group detail kept intact.
Employers could record, on a voluntary basis, how many of their local hires and promotions come from Momogun communities.
Training providers could track where their Momogun graduates are one year after completion. None of this needs the naming debate to be settled first.
The Momogun name is often defended as a matter of dignity, and it is. But the strongest part of the case made in May 2026 was practical.
A community that is not counted cannot show what it needs, and a community that cannot show what it needs will always be served last. The name gives Momogun a place on the banner. The numbers would give Momogun a place in the plan.
[Disclaimer]: The views, opinions and analyses expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies or positions of the Jesselton Times, its editors, management or affiliated entities. This article is published for analytical and public discussion purposes and should not be construed as institutional commentary or endorsement.
