Lambat helps Dr Rundi to put on ‘baju burie’.
SIBU: The Iban community needs to look for ways and means to give added-value to the Iban language in the global society, Minister of Utilities Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom says.
He said the Iban language faced great challenges in positioning itself on the world stage, thus Ibans should accept as reality that promotion of languages is as crucial as fostering technology advancement.
He advised Ibans to promote the use of the Iban language globally.
“Make it a main medium for the people everywhere to communicate,” he said of the Iban language.
He was speaking at the closing of a national-level seminar on ‘Iban Language and Culture’ organised by the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Training Institute (IPG) Rajang Campus at Kingwood Hotel here yesterday.
A total of 308 school headmasters, lecturers, teachers and graduates participated in the two-day seminar.
Also present at the closing ceremony was IPG Rajang Campus director Dr Lambat Lindong.
Dr Rundi also urged Ibans to cash in on the rapid advancement of Information Technology to bring their mother tongue to greater heights.
He, however, was quick to advise against turning the Iban language into ‘bahasa rojak’.
“The use of funny abbreviations is commonplace on the social media. We should be careful about it with our own language,” he said.
He, nevertheless, urged Ibans, particularly the youngsters, to be active participants of the social media, and take the initiative to engage others in the Iban language.