KUCHING: Five students and an academician from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Unimas participated in a weeklong International Workshop on Cultural Heritage, Community Empowerment and Sustainable Management of the Austronesian Peoples which ended in Taitung, Taiwan yesterday.
They participated in the week-long workshop, from Oct 8-14, on the invitation of Taiwan’s Taitung University.
It was organised by the Centre of Austronesian Culture (Taitung University) and sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology and Taiwan Council of Indigenous People.
Among others, the workshop was aimed at enhancing socio-cultural understanding between Austronesian communities of Taiwan with Malaysia and Indonesia.
The participants comprised 31 students and 10 academicians. The students are from Taitung University, National Taiwan University, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Universiti Tanjung Pura, Pontianak, Indonesia.
Over the week, 10 sessions of lectures were conducted.
There were also excursions to cultural heritage sites such as Amis village and Bunun Slate House where the traditional stone houses were being rebuilt and restored so that the Bunun people live in the traditional houses again.
The workshop was an eye-opening experience for students of Unimas who are from anthropological background.
Taiwan like Sarawak is home to many indigenous people. Many of these indigenous groups are no longer practicing their traditional ways of life due to, among others urbanisation and migration.
The government and the Council of Indigenous Peoples and NGOs are trying to create an awareness and recognition towards the indigenous people.
At the same, they want to help promote and improve the people’s quality of life and sense of identity.
The workshop provided a rare opportunity for Unimas students to have a more holistic view of the issues and challenges revolving around indigenous people.
