KOTA KINABALU: The story of Saudin Labutau’s courage who was the first Murut to step foot in New York in 1936 should be an inspiration to all, especially the younger generation.
\nChief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor said Saudin\u2019s story who overcame many challenges to travel from the Borneo jungle and made it all the way to New York some 86 years ago was fascinating.
\nHailing from Kampung Ambual, Keningau, Saudin at the age of 26 made the journey after he was recruited by renowned American documentary filmmaker couple Martin and Osa Johnson.
\n\u201cDespite not having a basic education, he was someone not easily intimidated. He was brave and like challenges.
\n\u201cAlthough his job was to take care of an orangutan named Abai in New York we could not imagine all the obstacles that Saudin must have gone through living in an alien world so far away from his families.
\n\u201cYet, he persevered. I was so touched,\u201d said Hajiji at the launch of the \u201cSaudin The Orangutan Whisperer\u201d documentary and \u201cThe Murut Journey to New York – 1936\u201d exhibition at the Azman Hashim Gallery and Sekafi Auditorium in Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) today.
\nThe Chief Minister said he did not hesitate to give his full support after seeing a preview of the documentary by the producer and descendants of Saudin who came to see him last month.
\nSaudin passed away in 1986.
\n\u201cThis is Saudin\u2019s legacy, not just for his children but his bravery should be emulated by all our youths. Always be brave with a heart of steel when facing challenges and never stop learning,\u201d he said.
\nThe Chief Minister commended Rye Production Sdn Bhd and those involved in the production of the documentary that will also be aired on the History Channel Asia.
\n\u201cThis is priceless because not only it depicts Saudin\u2019s life journey but also draws attention to the unique image of Borneo that has made Sabah a tourist destination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KOTA KINABALU: The story of Saudin Labutau’s courage who was the first Murut to step foot in New York in 1936 should be an inspiration to all, especially the younger generation. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor said Saudin\u2019s story who overcame many challenges to travel from the Borneo jungle and made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":16222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16223,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16221\/revisions\/16223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}