Orang Ulu urged to help poor students get good education

0

(From sixth left) Debbie, Dennis and Kijan with other members of the Orang Ulu Ladies Group during the cake cutting

MIRI: The Orang Ulu women group here is called to set up a platform to help their community, particularly students from poor families to ensure they obtain good education.

The call was made by Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau during a Gawai Dayak dinner organised by the Orang Ulu Ladies Group headed by Kijan Toynbee at a hotel here last Friday.

Also present at the dinner were Dennis’s wife Debbie Irang and Penghulu Freddie Abun.

According to Dennis, there were many children from the Orang Ulu community who were unable to attend school or further their studies due to lack of funding and financial assistance.

“I have been contacted a number of times by parents seeking financial help for their children to attend school, especially at the start of a school year. I can help some, but I cannot help each and every one of them.

“So if you want to make programmes in the future, please consider a programme that can help our Orang Ulu children in terms of education funding. Perhaps you can find ways to enable children from poor families obtain pocket money or funding to go to school,” he said in his address at the dinner.

Dennis noted that there are members of the Orang Ulu community who are well-off and are able to help, but there must be someone to start it off, thus he urged the Orang Ulu women group here to take up the challenge.

He added that to help such charity programme, the group can also collaborate with the Federation of Orang Ulu Associations Sarawak, Malaysia (Forum) as they share similar objectives.

On the dinner held, Dennis said the event not only provided a venue for the guests to celebrate Gawai Dayak, but also an opportunity for them to mingle and promote unity.

“There are a lot of ethnics within the Orang Ulu community, so this is a great platform for all of them to get together and mingle with one another,” he said.

Being a minority group in Malaysia, with a population of about 200,000, Dennis said it is important for the Orang Ulu to always stay united and support one another.

Meanwhile, the dinner featured cultural performances including a sape performance and takena’ (Kenyah traditional song) presentation by the Royal Maren Borneo Group.

Other activities included modern dance performance as well as lucky draw.