DALAT : The 7 t h Cultural Symposium, with the theme of “Managing Culture In Digital Era”, will be held from August to November this year. Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development, Dato Sr i Hajah Fatimah Abdullah, revealed that her ministry had been tasked to organise it.
“It is held once every f ive years. The last one was held in 2013. The symposium is for seven races, namely, Malays, Melanaus, Chinese, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulus and Indians.
Held in conjunction with the 2018 Sarawak Independence Day, the symposium will be from August to November,” she said while officiating at the Dalat Melanau As soc iat ion (DMA) Annual General Meeting held at the Dalat Community Hall here on Saturday. Fat imah said i t was ver y important for the Melanaus to preserve, promote and document their priceless customs.
“They could be on wedding, engagement and even death. Others would be on dance arts, music, handicrafts, songs, dialect, traditional costumes and Melanau ethnic traditional food,” she said.
She also expressed her concern that the Melanau language was not spoken daily by Melanaus who had migrated to Kuching, Miri and Bintulu.
Touching on the sago industry, Fatimah, who is also Dalat State Assemblywoman, added that the downstream activities should be given the attention. “That approach will improve the social economic status of the people of the area. Dalat is the largest sago producer in the world; it produces 40,000- 50,000 metric tonnes per year.
Indeed, there are 29,419 hectares planted with the commodity in Dalat while Mukah Division has 57.1% of the total sago areas in Sarawak,” added Fatimah. She disclosed that there were six sago factories in the district and they should develop the industry with new practices to improve the revenue.
At the event, she also presented Minor Rural Project grants to DMA, Kampung Kekan Village De v e lopment and S e cur i t y C ommi t t e e ( J K K K ) , J K K K Kampung Sungai Ud and Parent- Teacher Associations. Present were DMA Chairman, Benedict Pon Akie, local community leaders and exco members of the association.
