By Luke Rintod
KOTA KINABALU: The eight sub-ethnic languages - Bajau, Murut, Rungus, Bisaya, Iranun, Suluk, Sungai, and Ubian - spoken in Sabah may all be facing a slow quiet demise.The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia or Suhakam said 'champions' of these native groups in Sabah should speak up to upgrade their languages to become an optional subject in schools and colleges.
Suhakam Commissioner Jannie Lasimbang said this at Suhakam's one-day 'Workshop on Education for Natives' at a hotel here yesterday.
"Other native ethnic groups need to have 'champions' from their own respective communities to bring up the issues of their language to be taught in schools and universities," she said.
She cited as an example the Kadazandusuns language which had been championed by cultural activists in the KDCA (Kadazanusun Cultural Association) along with politicians and NGOs like the PACOS Trust and the Kadazandusun Language Foundation (KLF).
Lasimbang said the Kadazandusun language is one of only three native (orang asal) languages in Malaysia that now have a developed syllabus for teaching in primary and seconday schools. The other two being the Iban language in Sarawak and the Semai language in Peninsular.
"In fact Kadazandusun language students are ready for SPM for the first time next year. With the cooperation of institutions like Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) in Tanjung Malim, Perak, we are taking this language to a new height in teaching," she said.
However, she admitted that a lot more needed to be done by the Education Ministry in order for a native language like Kadazandusun to be really picked up as favoured subject, even among the community.
"Funds for continuous development of the language need to be consistently made available," she said, quoting teachers involved in the developing of Kadazandusun syllabus who complained that they were always told that there was a shortage of funds for their activities.
There are over 30 native groupings in Sabah alone each with its own unique dialect.
