KUCHING: The Sarawak Indigenous Intellectual Association (Perantis) has expressed strong support for the establishment of Iban language study centres at local universities in Sarawak.
The association said such a proposal is timely and will aid in overcoming the issue of the critical shortage of Iban language lecturers at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI).
“We thank Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas for his efforts and concern in solving the critical and endless shortage of Iban teachers.
“As we know, many qualified Iban teachers applied to become lecturers but due to its location and family constraints, they had to cancel their intention to serve there (UPSI).
“We sincerely hope that the recruitment and offering of Iban language programmes at these institutions will continue every year, to meet the needs of Iban language teachers,” it said in a statement.
On another matter, Perantis also emphasised the need for Sarawak and Sabah to secure one-third of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat, as stipulated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
It pointed out that the demand is justified to restore the rights that have been eroded since Singapore left Malaysia in 1965 and that it has been agreed upon since the negotiation of the establishment of Malaysia.
“Moreover, this is the composition that has been enshrined in the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report which states that before Singapore left Malaysia, our composition should be one-third in Parliament.
“And the statement of ‘without Sarawak and Sabah, there is no Malaysia’ also indicates that the position of the two states are unique in the Federal Government as we help in the formation of Malaysia,” it said.
