KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang has given the assurance that Iban Language will never ever go extinct.

He told a Pre-Gawai Dinner here on Saturday that the Iban Language is now a subject taught to 72,000 students in both primary and secondary schools to ensure that it does not fade away.

On top of that, he said several publications have already been published for the learning and teaching of the language, while it is offered as a subject for a diploma course for trainee teachers at the Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris in Perak and Rajang Teachers Institute in Bintangor.

“The Jaku Iban (Iban Language) is not dead and will never die. It will exist forever,” he said at the dinner organised by Kuching District Iban Community Leaders.

He also announced that the Dayak Cultural Foundation (DCF) will organise an Iban symposium in Sibu in the next few months to chart the way forward for the community.

The DCF, he added, had published and launched several Iban publications and it would continue to do so for the development of the Iban Language.

On another note, he said the head offices of DCF, Majlis Adat Istiadat and the Native Court will be sited side by side in Kota Samarahan.

He also committed RM20,000 from his minor rural project allocation to Kuching District Iban Community Leaders to organise next year’s Gawai Dinner, which he regarded as an important gathering of Ibans who had settled in the state capital.

(Source : Borneo Post Online , 13 May 2013)