Awang Tengah (standing front row, fourth left), Mohamad Asfia (standing front row, third left) and Hasbi (standing front row, second left) with other VIPs, guests and winners of the Junjung contest, pose for a photo after the prize presentation ceremony.
LIMBANG: The fine vocabulary of the Kedayan language should be incorporated into Bahasa Malaysia to add dynamism to the national language, suggests Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.
He said the Kedayan community had a beautiful language which could help contribute to the continuous growth and evolution of the national language.
“The national language should be dynamic and not static. This is important to ensure that our national language continues to flourish and not end up like Latin, which used to be a legal language but whose use is now increasingly diminishing,” he said at the Limbang Kedayan Association’s Makan Tahun Perdana 2017-cum-inauguration of the RM1 million Kampung Pahlawan Multipurpose Hall here yesterday.
Awang Tengah, who is Minister of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development, and also Second Minister of Urban Development and Natural Resources, called on the Kedayan community to retain its rich heritage of indigenous cultural values, customs and tradition to further reinforce its identity in a changing world.
He said the state government placed a strong emphasis on preservation of diverse heritage as reflected in the Sarawak Cultural Symposium, which provides a platform for the 30 ethnic groups in the state.
“Despite our diversity, we can live in harmony and it is imperative for us to work together and unite as this is the foundation of stability of the past and our future to come,” he said.
The DCM also spoke of the importance to preserve a community’s language, traditional clothing and lifestyle against the onslaught of foreign culture.
He said the onus is on the younger generation to take up this responsibility of safeguarding their culture, values and identity, and to withstand the challenges of continuous changes in the modern era.
On the request for a piece of land for the Limbang Kedayan Association building in Limbang, the deputy chief minister said he is supportive of this objective and urged the association to work closely with the Land and Survey Department to identify an appropriate location.
Meanwhile, Awang Tengah announced the approval of a government grant of RM40,000 to the Limbang Kedayan Association and another RM10,000 from State Legislative Assembly Speaker Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar.
He also presented prizes to the winners of the Junjung contest, which saw contestants competing to erect the best paddy farm hut, or ‘junjung’.
Among those present were Mohamad Asfia, Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Datuk Henry Sum Agong, Limbang MP Hasbi Habibollah, Batu Danau assemblyman Paulus Palu Gumbang, and Lambir assemblyman Ripin Lamat.