BY CLEMENT ERIK WONG & ALVERDTEKOSTER ANYAP
KUCHING: The Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) Women Branch will collaborate with the Ministry of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development in empowering Bidayuh women and preserving its tribal identities.
DBNA Women Branch chairlady Theresa Udam said, the collaboration would allow Bidayuh women to increase their income, especially for housewives and single mothers. Apart from being the association’s main interest, it also aimed at training digital entrepreneurs, in line with the state’s digital economy initiative.
She said the association would present working papers to the ministry with regards to intellectual property preservation of Bidayuh cultures.
“We will also work closely with Pungu Borneo and Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) in order to preserve our culture.
“Our custom such as the pangiah (traditional bead necklace) represents our identity, so we need to protect that and we have to declare it as our intellectual property,” she said.
Theresa said this when paying a courtesy call to Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah at the latter’s office at Baitul Makmur Building, here today.
Fatimah said the collaboration proposed by DBNA Women Branch was in line with the ministry’s focus and that there should be no problem for the two parties to work together.
She stressed that unity amongst Bidayuh women played an important role to achieve unity in the country and Sarawak in particular.
“We should not forget that unity starts among ourselves and within our own racial group.
“The unity amongst Bidayuhs and other races in Sarawak is also important to ensure the achievement of (total) unity and harmony,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Fatimah said the role of women was instrumental to instil, maintain and preserve the value of unity within and among other races, which should be the main agenda in Sarawak.
“This is to ensure that we can continue to live in harmony and be able to focus on the development and prosperity of Sarawakians,” she added.
