No to Ryzal’s apology for insulting Iban traditional costume – Dayak groups

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Representatives of the five groups in traditional Iban costumes after filing their report.

SIBU (May 31): The Dayaks will not back down and accept the apology of Instagram personality Ryzal Ibrahim for recently insulting the Iban traditional costume in a video, said five Dayak organisations.

The five, Sarawak Tajai Culture and Arts Association, Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU), Dayak Traditional Arts and Culture Club (Kemada), Dayak Bukit Kelingkang (DBK) and Terabai Menua, lodged a report against Ryzal at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) office here yesterday.

Sarawak Tajai Culture and Arts Association chairman Themotty Jagak said Ryzal’s insult of the Iban traditional dress worn by his Korean wife in a now-deleted video on the couple’s Instagram page was viewed by his followers and circulated all over social media.

“We cannot just forgive him and let him get away with it. What if next time, people insult us or our costumes again? Our traditional costumes are not to be insulted and ridiculed. We want action to be taken against him,” he said.

Themotty feared without stern action, such irresponsible act would become a trend and more people could insult anybody’s traditional costumes.

He said although a police report had been lodged, this matter had to be reported to Suhakam as well so that the relevant authority could pay attention to this problem.

“We are very hurt by this insult,” he said.