Stop polemic on Kadazandusun language: Madius

PENAMPANG: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau said the Kadazandusun community need to stop the ongoing polemic on the standardisation of the Kadazandusun language, which is based on the Bundu-Liwan dialect, and start moving forward.

He said this is vital as the community is confronted with an even greater challenge, which is the extinction of their mother tongue primarily due to their own tendency to speak Malay to their young ones instead of in their mother tongue.

“We have achieved a lot on the Kadazandusun language and we are very thankful for it. And yet, we continue to face challenges after challenges. I consider that we are done with the polemic on which dialect to use in the teaching of Kadazandusun language in school.

“The Education Ministry has already accepted and today we enjoy enriching our Kadazandusun language, which is based on Bundu-liwan dialect...but still, at the same time, there are still different voices and views.

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“To me, we no longer need to re-invent the wheel. There is no need for us to repeat the challenges and polemic that we have gone through.

We must move forward. Don’t forget, our main challenge is extinction of the language,” he said when officiating at the inaugural State-level Storytelling in Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) Mother Tongue Contest held in conjunction with the State-level Tadau Kaamatan celebration at the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) Hongkod Koisaan here Wednesday.

Tangau, who is also Trade and Industry Minister, said the root of the language extinction starts from the attitude of the parents.

“It is because parents find it easy to speak to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren in Bahasa Melayu, English and so on.

“That is where it started. And because of that, all the family heads and community leaders should today focus on this matter - on why our people are fond of using other people’s language rather than our own language,” he said.

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Tangau praised the initiative of the State-level Tadau Kaamatan Organising Committee and those involved in organising the contest for the first time, which augured well to the effort in promoting the use of mother tongues among Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) community.

At the event, he presented the prizes for winners of the contest, which is participated by young children from various KDM sub-ethnic communities.

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