Sikie, Penguang, Majang, Rentap and Friday jointly perform the gimmick during the closing ceremony of SNI 2022.
MIRI (Feb 13): The state government wants the traditional clothing of the Iban community or ‘Ngepan Iban’ to be recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in the near future.
In this regard, Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas wants the relevant parties including government agencies, non-governmental organisation (NGO) and field experts to work together to make this happen.
“I want all relevant agencies to work together to pave the way for Iban clothing or ‘Ngepan’ to be gazetted as a priceless heritage and further qualify it to be recognised under Unesco.
“The recognition by Unesco is important, especially for countries under United Nations (UN) as we can get advice, protection, promotion and opportunities to further develop the identity and traditional culture of our nation,” he said.
Uggah said this in his text speech which was read out by Minister at the Premier’s Department Datuk John Sikie Tayai at the closing ceremony of the Ngepan Iban Symposium (SNI) 2022 held at Pullman Hotel here Saturday night.
He added this effort needs strong collaboration between government agencies and relevant parties including NGO and individuals, to ensure the objective can be implemented successfully.
In his speech, Uggah also praised the effort of the symposium organising committee chaired by Deputy Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Datuk Dr Penguang Manggil.
He noted the event was meaningful to the Iban community, while at the same time gathered individual experts, government agencies and NGOs of the related fields.
“Ngepan Iban is our heritage that must be passed down to our children and grandchildren so that it does not disappear with time, and can be developed as part of the culture-based tourism sectors for this state.
“Therefore, I hope the symposiumwillcontinue to be organised for years to come, and be included in the Sarawak government’s calendar of events,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sikie in his address at the dinner voiced support for the symposium to be held on a larger scale.
He suggested that the function and roles of the symposium to further include matters related to the Iban tradition and language.
“We know this symposium means a lot to the Iban community in the state, especially in our efforts to uphold our tradition and customs.
“Therefore, I would suggest that the roles of this symposium to not only cover traditional clothing, but to also include Iban traditional games and the language itself,” he said.
He said that with a more extensive coverage, the symposium could be organised in rotation according to its focus of either Ngepan, Iban culture or Iban language, every one, two or three years.
“I will bring this matter to the higher authorities to discuss the matter in detail and how to get it done through the correct channel,” he added.
Earlier, Penguang in his address said one of the important resolutions achieved in the two-day event was to further enhance the symposium’s status and to make it a major event in Sarawak.
Also present at the dinner were Deputy Minister of Youth, Sport and Entrepreneur Development Datuk Gerald Rentap Jabu; Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Port Development Dato Majang Renggi, Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, and Krian assemblyman Friday Belik.