BiG Talk : You Only Live Once

Written by Ying Chia  |

From a young age, Joshua Anak Belayan relished what it meant to be different. Growing up amongst two different cultures in a country dominated by yet another culture, the Iban-Kayan Bruneian has impressive chameleon-like qualities, something he identifies are being important particularly for the generations ahead. 

A peek at his social media highlights three alternative universes — Music, Food and Policies (his involvement in the third earning him the recent distinction as one of National Geographic’s Young Explorers of 2024, and the only Bruneian to ever receive it so far!) These alternate universes, in which he exudes his characteristics hyper activeness and amiability, have taken him from his quiet hometown of Kuala Belait, quite literally across the world. 

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Let’s talk about your perspective on the work you’ve been doing in your career. Because you were working in F&B when I first met you, and when you did this kind of 180 turn, towards environmental policy and conservation work.

JOSHUA ANAK BELAYAN:  I think, when you met me, that was a chapter in my life I was young and y’know, trying to figure out life and things. And I think the story of me working in the kitchen before was … I didn’t do well in A Levels, and I almost didn’t go to university. I initially wanted to do Law, not Biology. I’ve always been interested in law, politics, national relations stuff, but when I was doing my A Levels, my science subject was better. My brother suggested that I give Biology a go and if it didn’t work, to try culinary school. I was still on the fence but then my mum, because she’s still very Asian, asked me to pursue a normal degree and work part-time in the kitchen. This is where meeting Shinny, who owned the Wildflower Cafe, came into things. Working and doing things at Uni like creating a five-day event where we earned BND1,000 and splurged it at The Empire. The money was never to keep, it was more a way for me to collect money for enjoyment.

And you know, you’re 18 years old, so that’s how you should think. I had to do an internship in my third year which is where I thought ‘I need to try something new’. I thought I could put a cap on the culinary world and take an adventure in different things. I was adventuring in two different fields — my Biology course where I was interning at this environmental consultancy firm called DHI, and I enjoyed it a lot. At the same time, there was the ASEAN Youth Advocates Network (AYAN) Brunei organisations which opened for available positions and I thought ‘Oh, this is interesting’, because I’ve never joined a student body or whatever. I despised student bodies. I don’t believe in this principle of student bodies because it feels more like a popularity contest that actual work. I feel like the other organisations existing at the time weren’t really reflecting what I wanted to do. My brother was in PUJA at the time and his career was really soaring so I thought okay, maybe I do need this type of community to help. i would say AYAN Brunei and some others, are the second wave of civic movement organisations; before there were people like Khairunnisa Ash’ari Fisha Rashid and Shinny Chia, who paved the way, and these people are a huge reason why AYAN Brunei is where we are now because we had this good ecosystem — at least for us there wasn’t any competition. We recognised that we are nothing and we’re very grateful that people were interested in collaborating with us. Sharing resources and expertise, I think that was very, very important earlier on.

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Going back to the start where you went down the path of a Biology degree. What were your goals for yourself then and what’s changed now, that you are a Nat Geo Young Explorer of the Year?

JOSHUA ANAK BELAYAN:  Obviously when I took my courses, Biology was just for the sake of taking a subject and honestly, I love learning about biology but it wasn’t something I was passionate about. What I’m passionate about is policy, food and music, but somehow, and I think this is something you don’t expect right — what I learned in Biology gave me ideas and inclinations on climate change for instance and it gave me the pathway to work with DHI because I have this existing knowledge. My initial goal wasn’t to become a professor or lecturer. For me, the subject is a vessel and I will figure out how to get to my path. So honestly, I didn’t plan to go here, I was just trying.

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It’s interesting that you say you’re passionate about policy. Where do you think that passion comes from and why?

JOSHUA ANAK BELAYAN:  I like History, and I think that’s the closest thing to policy. And I mentioned I didn’t do well in my A’ Levels so for the two years I was working in kitchens, I was trying to mentally block that part of my life out and focus on a different route. I was content in the idea that maybe this is not the route I’m supposed to take because of my being stateless and all that’ there’s no ROI for me to be active.

During Sixth Form, I watched Bernie Sanders as the primary candidate and I was like ‘Woah, I like this guy, I like what he’s talking about’, and naturally from there I started to be more active. He’s someone I look up to. Maybe ‘idol’ is a strong word? he was someone from an outside perspective who was influential in my life, like helping to shape my perspective  … and off the top of my head, the few people who I can say were influential in shaping my thoughts: My grandfather, he’s the one who gave me this foundation of loving history and policy. He would talk about the second World War.

There’s also this tuition teacher, he’s no longer here but her was the first person to realise that I’m capable, that I’m smart (laughs). Early on, even my mum thought ‘Joshua, vocational school’, and he’s actually the one who told me that I could write well, do things, and he gave me that confidence. He knew how to uplift my potential in some ways. I haven’t talked to him in a long time but he’s definitely one person I can think of who made me shft my thinking. In Brunei, I would say the whole ecosystem which includes Shinny, Khairunnisa and all of the other people in the NGO scene that were there to help me and still are helping me to get where I am going. I would say these four factors are the reason for where I am now.

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Can we talk about your love for music (live music in particular), which kind of seems ironic considering you come from in a country where it’s difficult to experience. How critical was this aspect in shaping you into the type of person you are today?

JOSHUA ANAK BELAYAN:  Let’s just say I was in an ecosystem of bands haha! That’s my new favourite words (laughs). Okay, I’m not amazing at it, hence why I’m not just one band. I wish I was better but I would like to think that I know good music! And the reason why music is quite important for me, is because I often use music as a way for me to get to know a person. I know it’s probably not the ‘correct’ way but it’s the most correct in my perspective on the similarity index, of how a person feels or thinks. That’s my way of trying to know if I vibe with this person, and because I feel like when you’re listening to a specific type of music, it sparks a specific type of emotion and I feel like I’m in unison to that person, project of whatever. So that’s why it’s an important thing for me.

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You grew up immersed in both the tribal, traditional culture of your Iban-Kayan heritage, and the Malay-Muslim culture of modern Brunei. Do you skill carry many of those aspects with you today?

JOSHUA ANAK BELAYAN:  I think most of them. Let’s just say in this context, in Brunei, Iban are ‘Malay-passing’ right? Like we could look Malay, and if we speak Malay like a local (in the sense that we don’t have an accent because the language is from the same family) … We are similar but also incredibly different as well. I mean … drinking (laughs). That’s a HUGE part of Iban culture. And we live mostly in the interior and Malay people usually come from coastal communities like Kampong Ayer. We’re more forest-dwellers so that’s why I have this affinity, I was brought up close to nature. But it wasn’t something like ‘I’m an environmentalist because I’m Iban’ . I didn’t even think of it like that until people told me these things were environmental practices.

This is how I learned what I thought were just normal everyday stuff — like only hunting at specific times or not cutting a specific tree, taboos — were actually bio-conservation practices. I think I had this click like ‘Oh wow, so all this time whatever my grandfather or great-grandfather did is a sustainable practice?’ . But yeah, I’ve been eating on banana leaf plats for a long time (laughs). I’ve told this story, like I’ve lived through this experience and to some extent we practise some of this. But the reality also is that people frown upon this stuff because it’s seen as primitive. In the modern world, you have to use plastic spoon and so on. When I was growing up, my mum was very adamant that you need to sell a little bit of yourself in order to be successful in the modern world. For example, speaking English in a proper manner, knowing Malay. Iban is actually the fourth language I learned, after Mandarin. So if I didn’t hang out with my grandparents, I wouldn’t be able to speak Iban. We were brought up in a very weird like pseudo-Chinese-Iban-Malay mindset. My mum has this mindset of ‘hustling’, like a Chinese ‘tiger mum’. I don’t know, this is why I can’t say I’ve lived a full Iban life, in that sense. Because even when we were speaking to each other we spoke in Malay, not Iban. Being a minority, that’s the brief reality that you have to sell certain parts of your identity.

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That’s quite curious because it feels like right now all over Borneo and Borneans overseas, they’re working very hard to reclaim that part of their heritage.

JOSHUA ANAK BELAYAN:  This is why I realised I’d been shy about this. Because there’s this narrative where tribal communities are seen as primitive. Even for Malaysians, if they think of Borneo, you probably think of people who live in the jungle. So that type of preconceived notion.

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What are the attitudes now towards tribal/indigenous people?

JOSHUA ANAK BELAYAN:  I wouldn’t say I’ve ever felt judged. Although maybe being stateless is already one thing to think about (laughs). So far it’s been okay, no one’s been like, points finger “Oh, Primitive!”, but I’ve heard stories of people being treated that way. And of course we’re not Muslim too so that’s also a lived experience. But then again kids are jerks, so I wouldn’t associate it as discrimination. Maybe in some way it is, but if there’s 100%, that’s just  40% of discrimination (laughs) because kids don’t know better right?

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That’s an interesting observation because I think – and correct me if I’m wrong – most people from here see being Bruneian as a detriment to their success. 

JOSHUA ANAK BELAYAN:  Yeah! That’s also how i felt sometimes before. But now I try to see it

as like, actually, the thing is that not many people make an effort to let (them) know where is Brunei. This is where I can come in. I mean it sounds kinda nationalistic but how things work on a grassroot community level here, how does a Bruneian think… I at least will try to represent that. And sometimes to some people, I am not the ‘Bruneian’ that’s supposed to represent Brunei, but then I have to say to those people that ‘You should create that way for yourself’. My lived experience in Brunei is as a Bruneian who is an Iban person. When I went to the United States, people were asking me why I don’t wanna become an American citizen. Basically, people see the stuff that I do and the work that I’ve done, (and are asking) ‘Why are you not moving away from a country that doesn’t appreciate you?’ But I said it’s more than that. Again, back to lived experience. Let’s say I moved from China to Brunei because of some war, and for example, many Chinese people in Brunei were stateless right?

For them, maybe they have no reason to stay because that’s not where they are ‘originally’ from, in some ways. If they leave, there’s no element of heritage that is left behind. And some people do agree to that. But I live in a reality where tribal communities never left, that’s the thing. You can argue the technicalities, like ‘You live near Sarawak so you probably moved from Sarawak to Brunei’ but boy, wasn’t Sarawak also a part of Brunei’s empire too then? It’s all very subjective. So I always say this, that we’ve never left. If I leave, then in some ways they win. Now we’re going on the sidelines, but even the rule of penghulu and ketua kampong (who must be from one of the seven puak, of which Iban is not a part of); all of these Iban-controlled areas, there’s no Ketua Kampong because it is mostly Iban there. So the policy needs to change. If you have an area presided heavily by Ibans, you either make them an official puak or you revise that law.

 

Unfortunately, my granddad wasn’t able to see me receive the award and he loved Nat Geo. I don’t know man. Just old Dayak, Kayan, Iban, whatever, if they’re in that Dayak group, they just love Animal Planet, National Geographic. They love it so much! For instance, when we were younger, he would babysit us. We’d already watched our cartoons and if he feels like it was enough, for the day he would say ‘I want to watch the TV, can you give me the animal channel’. I would change it to Nat Geo and we would watch like, lions chasing the gazelle. So honestly amongst all the other things that I’ve done, the Nat Geo award is particularly very, very special, because it’s the earliest thing… like I only knew about the United Nations later but that yellow Nat Geo square… I knew that from when I was 5 or 6 years old already. It is massive, for me it’s like another pinnacle. Going to the White House was another massive thing but Nat Geo is bigger haha! I met the person who scouted and nominated me – his name is Yannick. We had a conversation and he was saying ‘Yeah your profile was so different and intriguing, you’re from Brunei!” you see, again. People are so fascinated, because it’s so rare to meet someone from there. They only know about the Sultan or Prince Mateen, but what about the people who live here? So I think that’s why in some ways, it is a privilege in itself (to be from Brunei/Borneo).