Not Momogun, please: KDCA
Published on: Sunday, April 24, 2016
Penampang: KadazanDusun Cultural Association (KDCA) Secretary-General Datuk John Anthony reiterated that KDCA rejects the use of the term Momogun to officially describe the KadazanDusun people.He said Momogun National Congress President Datuk Henrynus Amin was "playing with words" in his statement. He was referring to the Daily Express report "MNC Glad KDCA on the Same Page with Them on Momogun Issue" in Daily Express on Saturday.
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"KDCA's official stand is very clear and simple: that it rejects the term Momogun for official use and would rather stick to the name of KadazanDusun as was decided and agreed to by the KadazanDusun elders and leaders, since 1961."John said on the change of the term from Kadazan & Dusun to KadazanDusun, this was actually agreed in a signed declaration between Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan in his capacity as the President of KDCA and the late Datuk Mark Koding as President of USDA at that time, in order for the syllabus of the KadazanDusun language to be formalised and be officially taught in the schools in Sabah. "I'm surprised that Henrynus is not aware of this important event since this all happened during PBS rule and that he was at one time a strong PBS man. "He must have short memory just as he has forgotten the efforts by our elders when advocating for the change in the generic name of KadazanDusun race to Momogun."
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John said KDCA has done much since its inception in contributing towards the empowerment of the KadazanDusun people."I want to put on record some of the outstanding achievements of KDCA on empowering the KadazanDusun people lest they are also forgotten.
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"KDCA is not only about preserving and promoting the culture of KadazanDusun but also the KadazanDusun language."The effort to preserve, develop and promote the KadazanDusun language has a long history culminating in the Government approval for Kadazan to be taught as a subject in government primary schools, an effort initiated by KDCA, in 1997."The Education Department of Sabah started the first phase of teaching KadazanDusun language in 15 primary schools in Sabah. "By 2001, 30,000 children in primary four to six from 435 primary schools in 23 districts in Sabah had learnt KadazanDusun. "The teaching of KadazanDusun in government schools started in primary four but Suausindak was the first school in Sabah to teach KadazanDusun to pre-school children, mainly due to the effort of the Kadazan Language Foundation in providing input on linguistics in an annual teacher-training workshop held by the Suausindak community pre-school." He said In 2007 KDCA declared open its own Pre-School KadazanDusun schools, beginning with the Tadika Ceria KadazanDusun Tiong Monggis Tenghilan, Tamparuli Tuaran.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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