Mawan giving Jabu (left) a dart for the blowpipe to be used to symbolically launch ECAC.
KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu has lauded the setting up of Ethnic Cultural Advisory Council (ECAC), saying it will greatly preserve, nurture and promote the cultures and languages of the various ethnic groups in the state.
He described the council as “an important organisation with purposeful responsibilities” to bring alive the cultures and dialects of the various ethnic communities.
“Our dialects, cultures and traditions are very important because they relate our identity and the existence of our race in Malaysia … therefore we need to make a comprehensive and concerted effort to preserve, nurture and promote these elements,” Jabu said at the launching of ECAC at Four Points Hotel here yesterday.
ECAC, chaired by Minister of Social Development Tan Sri William Mawan, was formed in February this year following the Iban Cultural Symposium held in August last year.
Fort a start, ECAC will focus on Iban language, which is taught in primary and secondary schools, teachers colleges and universities, followed by other ethnic groups.
Jabu, who is also Minister of Rural Development, urged ECAC to work with the various universities and institutions of higher learning to further the aims of the setting up of the council.
He also suggested that ECAC work together with the Museum Department, which is the custodian of the artefacts of the various ethnic groups.
“We do not want the organisation (ECAC) after the launching to fizzle out … ECAC which has a meaningful and noble cause (related to the culture of the various ethnic groups) has a big and challenging task ahead.
“So it is very important that you carry out your responsibility as you possibly can and seek inputs from other agencies both inside and outside the state,” Jabu asserted, adding that volunteerism would be very much required for ECAC to carry out the responsibilities.
Jabu pointed out that every ethnic group in the state treasured their culture and the harmony with nature, which were among the areas that ECAC was set up for.
Also present were Jabu’s wife Dato Sri Empiang Jabu, Mawan, Assistant Minister of Public Utilities (Electricity and Telecommunication) Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi Utom and Assistant Minister of Welfare Robert Lawson Chuat Entering.