Bandar Seri Begawan- It was a bittersweet moment to witness the Dusun community in Tutong celebrating the annual harvesting festival Adau Gayo, meaning "Big Day", earlier this month. Their determination and effort to preserve and resurrect their culture are commendable.
Dr Yabit Alas, the guest of honour during the festival at Kampung Bukit Udal Ukong, is head of the Malay Language and Linguistics, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Literature of Universiti Brunei Darussalam, gave a home run speech. He warned that it would be the beginning of the end for the Dusun community if they continue to ignore their language.
According to Unesco, a language needs about 100,000 speakers to sustain the culture for another 100 years. Based on this measurement, Dr Yabit said, "About 20,000 older Dusun still speak the language. This means the Dusun still have 20 years left before its disappearance. And when the language is lost, the culture dies too."
Languages extinction is happening world wide. Professor David Crystal, of the University of North Wales said, "Of the 6,000 languages in the world, half are so seriously endangered they are unlikely to last the century. Each language in the world is a unique vision of the world. Each has something to offer everyone else."
Cultural survival depends highly on the use of traditional languages and dialects. Dr Yabit also pointed out that the Belait language has reached a critical point whereby lesser than a thousand speak it nationwide. The Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka is compiling a dictionary on this language. Revitalising languages isn‘t difficult as long as the community wants it to survive.
In his working paper "Moving Towards Homogeneous Malay in Brunei Darussalam", Dr Yabit attributed several factors to the dying Dusun culture. Undoubtedly, rapid development and globalisation accelerate an already fast erosion. In an effort to integrate the people in this country, Malay was made the official language and used in schools. As the Malay language grows in popularity and as cultural diffusion accelerates, this smaller ethnic group is dying.
In the name of unity, the 1961 Brunei Nationality Act (Undang-Undang Taraf Kebangsaan Brunei 4.1) stated that these indigenous groups Belait, Bisaya, Dusun, Kedayan, Murut and Tutong are grouped together under the Malay banner. Dr Yabit applauded this act in achieving unification. But there‘s an unwanted repercussion: In the long run it changed the indigenous mentality and way of life, specifically the younger generation who have fully assimilated and adapted to the Bruneian Malay culture.
In his speech at the festival, he emphasised that becoming Muslim did not make one Malay. "Embracing Islam doesn‘t automatically makes a person Malay," he said. "People need to differenciate between ethnicity and religion. You‘re still a Dusun, but a Dusun who believes in Islam."
Dr Yabit suggested that every Dusun should join Pakatan Sang Jati Dusun (PSJD) lest they forget their roots.
A dramatic cause of language and cultural extinction is that children no longer speak their mother tongue. The language is dying not because it‘s primitive or inadequate to communicate, but simply because the children find it more useful to speak other languages. Dr Yabit commented that parents should take on proactive role and start conversing Dusun at home in an effort to preserve their heritage. "Looking at the current situation, the future is bleak for the Dusun. It‘s going into that direction slowly but surely."
Despite the current calamity, PSJD is optimistic about the future. The plan? Conducting the festival annually by making it more exciting and involving the youth to touch base with their roots. At the recent Adau Gayo, the focus was on the bergandang (drumming) competition. It doesn‘t require genius to use music to draw the young. The contest involved nine members from each village, young and old, men and women, hitting the traditional instruments such as the gong, canang and gulintangan.
The President of the PSJB, Newas Ukoi, said, "It‘s encouraging to see that seven villages are participating in the contest. This is one way to involve the youth in an effort to preserve our culture. Hopefully the seed we sow now in drumming culture will grow well in the future." Aside from this, several traditional dances were performed such as the tamarok. In ancient times, this dance was performed to thank and entertain derato, a group of deities.
After listening to Dr Yabit‘s speech, one couldn‘t help but watch the festivity with more appreciation. It makes one wonder if the crowd that day understood the gravity of the situation.
Standing in the midst of the many Dusun that came, donning their finery to join the merrymaking, the question lingered: Will we be able to see this again, 20 years from now?
Source: The Brunei Times (26 Mei 2007)
