KUCHING, June 10: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Youth chief Datuk Snowdan Lawan reckons a “more holistic” way to resolve the ‘Dayak’ term issue is via the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) route.
“If we were to uncover the MA63, what it entails for the terms ‘Indigenous people’ of the Borneo Territories, which includes the ‘Dayaks’, are there for us to grab. It’s both implicit and explicit.
“That’s why we have to continue to pursue this via the MA63, both at the federal and state levels, to get to the root of the issue. It’s more holistic and not just a piecemeal approach,” he said in a statement today.
Snowdan was commenting on this issue that was raised by Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) secretary-general Julius Enchana yesterday, where he lamented that the initiative to recognise the term ‘Dayak’ has stalled since several years ago.
Snowdan highlighted that in Sarawak, the government has been passionate about the well-being of the Dayak community. In addition, although fragmented, the Dayaks are well represented in the state administration, he pointed out.
“Over the years, we would have noted that Dayaks are improving across the board, progressively, although it’s not a leapfrog,” he said. — DayakDaily
