Think Tales Collection

Ula Ula
The Ethnic Flag

By
Sirhajwan Idek
 Ula Ula, The Ethnic Flag

“If only I could join them in the festival, I wouldn’t feel so

lonely here,” lamented Ula Ula from the top of a tall pole
anchored on the ground in the middle of the village where a
wedding festival was taking place. Ula Ula was a tribal flag
that the Bajau community put up for display as homage to
their cultural heritage and ancestry. Just like any other
inanimate objects, the Bajau people had ritualized the flag
with their mantras, songs and dances that it was brought to
life by spirits that inhabited it during these rituals. Despite
its self-consciousness, it remained non-interactive with the
jomo (humans) until one day when it decided to talk.

Ula Ula, the flag designed to look like a humanoid figure, was
partially black in color while the other half was white with red
stripes. It had been watching the villagers danced and sang to
their traditional music in the past few years. They were
feasting on all types off food nights and days. It really wished
that it could be with the villagers and indulged in the pleasure
of entertainment and food. Instead, it was just stuck at the
pole and merely watched others. “I want to move, twirl, turn
and float,” uttered Ula Ula.

One day, a group of people took the pole off the ground and
carried Ula Ula in a wedding procession to the nearby village.
It felt excited to be able to finally go somewhere and see
other places and more people. However, it felt disappointed
that they brought it back to the previous village and stuck it
again on the same ground. “Why can’t they just set me free,”
wondered Ula Ula.

Then came a day where some peranak (children) played

football in the field when one of the children accidentally
kicked the ball towards his direction and landed just next to
the pole. Ula Ula quickly thought of an idea. Once the child
retrieved the ball, Ula Ula immediately attempted to convince
him to untie him from the pole.

“Ui se’, bukain sala ingkoton ku tu (Dear friend, can you untie
me)?” asked Ula Ula.

“Buli ka bege? (Are we allowed to do that?)” the boy seemed

hesitant. “Kang penenduleen kiti le meto’ ku (we might get
scolded by my parents)?

“Nia ko bedoom ngenda aku lemiang? (Don’t you want to see me

fly?)”

“Alap bana sap e (That would be so cool!)” retorted the boy.

“Pelepa no aku (then set me free)” replied Ula Ula.

So the boy quickly untie Ula Ula and once it was freed from
the pole, it was blown away by the wind and it floated in the
air.
“Yay! I am finally free,” cried Ula Ula as it hovered in the sky,
spreading its fabric arms and legs so it could control its
direction.

The villagers began to notice this and they immediately went

out of their houses to look at the flying flag that they
recognized so well. They were horrified that they the flag
might be gone permanently.

“We need to get it to come down,” yelled a dendo (lady).

“We have to catch it!” shouted a dela (man).

“Don’t leave us. We need you!” said a jomo too (old person) out
loud.

But Ula Ula continued to float higher from the ground and
drift away from the village. It twirled and swirled around and
propelled itself higher and further with its light broad arms
and legs made of thin fabrics. “Hooray!!!” yelled Ula Ula in
utter excitement.

The villagers attempted to shoot it with stones using

slingshots but they missed. They tried to shoot it with arrows
but it avoided them successfully. In the end, they simply
begged Ula Ula to return but Ula Ula kept sailing away in the
air until it vanished from their views.
They finally realized that their ethnic flag that they had
ritualized, sang and danced to as well as praised was gone.
There was nothing that they could do but hoped it would
return to them in the future. Since then, the villagers made
countless ethnic flags similar to Ula Ula and put them up at
the roofs of their houses and at the masts of their sailing
vessels so that if Ula Ula decided to return, it would be able
to recognize the flags and know its origin.

Short Bio of Ula Ula

Ula Ula was known as the ethnic flag of the Bajau community
that they used to signify and honor their cultural heritage and
ancestry. The flag could be made of fabrics of three main
colors: black, white and red. Sometimes yellow color was
added to this mix of colors.

Glossary of Bajau Words

Jomo: people, humans

Peranak: children

Ui: hey (a greeting)

Se’: friend

Bukain: to open, to untie

Ingkoton: tied rope

Ingkot: tie

Sala: Perhaps, probably (to indicate a probability or express a

request)

Ku: me

Tu: this

Buli: can (to ask whether something is possible, to make a

request)

Ka: Either ( to express doubt)

Bege: The way it seems

Kang: soon, later

Penenduleen: to get scolded or reprimanded.

Kiti: us

Le: by

Meto”: parents, elders, parents in laws

Nia: no, don’t you (to indicate negative meanings)

Bedoom: to want something, to desire something

Ngenda: see

Lemiang: fly

Alap; good
Bana: very, really

Sap: a possibility

E: that

Pelepa: release, set free

No: used to complement a request

Dela: man

Dendo: woman

Jomo too: old people

Too: old
Questions

1. What did Ula Ula see when it was tied to a pole?

2. Why did Ula Ula want to be set free?

3. Why did the villagers try so hard to catch Ula Ula when
it flew away?

4. What symbols do we have in the modern life? Explain why

humans created symbolic items such as flags.