Taiwanese visitors find cultural similarities with Bidayuhs

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Manyin (centre, front row) flanked by Calivat on his right, with the Taiwanese delegation, DBNA supreme council members and Bidayuh community leaders.

UCHING: A visiting group from the Council of Indigenous People of Taiwan found similarities between their culture and that of the Bidayuhs.

This was disclosed by Deputy Minister of the Council of Indigenous People, Calivat Gadu when leading the 40-member group to visit the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) headquarters here yesterday.

Calivat recited the numbers 1 to 10 in his tribe’s dialect, with some of the words similar or almost similar to that of the Bidayuhs.

He invited a delegation from DBNA to do a reciprocal visit to Taiwan anytime soon to study and learn more about the indigenous people there.

“I hope the next visit will be by DBNA to Taiwan to learn more about the 16 recognised indigenous tribes there,” he said at the reception officiated by Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong who is also DBNA advisor.

Manyin said he had visited some of the villages of the indigenous people in Taiwan and found similarities in their physical features, and costumes mainly using black, red and yellow colours.

He hoped this interaction between the Bidayuh community and Taiwanese indigenous people will continue, and he expressed support for DBNA to send a delegation to Taiwan for this purpose anytime soon.

Manyin on behalf of DBNA later presented Bidayuh Word List books to the Taiwanese visitors for them to find out more similarities with the Bidayuh language.

Yesterday’s reception at the DBNA Baruk saw traditional dances performed by the ‘ring ladies’ of Kampung Semban and cultural troupe from Kampung Gahat Mawang, as well as traditional music played on instruments made from bamboo.

The visit to DBNA was part of the itinerary for the 2-day visit of the Taiwanese delegation. They visited Kampung Opar in Bau on Thursday.