KUCHING, Feb 19: Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) calls on the Malaysian government to recognise the ethnicity of Dayak at the national and international levels.
According to its president Bobby William, in a press statement today, the Sarawak Dayak ethnic term is required to be included in the Malaysian Constitution preferably to replace the term “Bumiputera Sarawak” and “Lain-Lain” with “Dayak” in the official form for Sarawak.
“This is to say that “Dayak” is now more preferably to be known as Dayak instead of “Bumiputera” or “Lain-lain”. The recognition of the term Dayak is utmost important for our Sarawak native indigenous community and it is the priority in our manifesto and it is also under clause one (1) in our manifesto.
“The term Bumiputera is a category which only collectively describes those who are indigenous from various parts of Malaysia as a whole, it is not an actual term of ethnicity or race,” he said.
Bobby pointed out that although there are multiple calls being made for the word “Dayak” to be given the force of law, there are still no developments on the matter.
He added, for Sarawak, the “Majlis Adat Istiadat Bumiputera” should be replaced with Majlis Adat Istiadat Dayak” and that the “Bumiputera Court” should be replaced with “Dayak Court”.
He emphasised that it will further strengthen the institution on the national level and shall be equivalent to the Syariah Court and as well as the High Court.
“For doing so, it shall unite the Sarawak Dayak native and its communities in general, but do not worry, because such a term shall not affect the Non-Dayak race, where Malays still are protected under the Syariah Court and also the Chinese shall be protected under the High Court,” he opined. — DayakDaily
