KUCHING (June 22): The Melanau community must protect and preserve their mother tongue from extinction due to increasing trend of interracial marriage, said Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.

The Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing said there has been a growing concern that the youngest generation from Melanau mixed marriages cannot speak or understand the Melanau language.

Fatimah, also the Dalat assemblywoman, thus proposed that local organisations such as Persatuan eDOK (Dalat, Oya and Kut) hold informal language learning classes to engage the younger generation to pick up the native language.

While admitting that it is not easy to pick up the various Melanau dialects, she, however, believed that such classes would be beneficial in the long run.

“This is so that our children, who are the results of intermarriages, at least know the basic of the Melanau language and are able to converse in it,” she said at the eDOK Kuching/Samarahan ‘Santuni Kasih Aidiladha’ programme at Jalan Muhibbah here today.

In support of that initiative, she said the Melanau Dalat Association had in previous years collaborated with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) to publish a Malay- Melanau Dalat glossary for future reference.

Citing some accomplishments and similar efforts by the Bidayuh community in Serian and the Kelabit in Bario, she suggested for the eDOK Kuching Association to seek sponsorship from the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) to produce simple reading materials in the Melanau language.

“All their content materials were produced locally to maintain their authenticity,” she said, adding that such efforts enhanced the interests of the preschool children where they were enlightened on the culture and traditions of the various ethnic groups in Sarawak.

Fatimah later presented a minor rural project (MRP) grant of RM3,000 to the eDOK Kuching Association, witnessed by some 300 members in attendance.