KOTA MARUDU: Sabah’s ethnic and cultural associations have been urged to fully utilise artificial intelligence (AI) and social media to preserve and document the identity of Sabah’s indigenous communities.
Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Ewon Benedick, who is also Sabah Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship and Transport Minister, said efforts to preserve indigenous identity, including language, customs and culture, should not rely solely on printed materials such as books and dictionaries, but require new approaches.
He said preservation methods needed to be diversified through digital approaches that were more accessible to today’s generation.
“We can use AI and social media to develop digital dictionaries and produce suitable content on our language, customs and culture that is more accessible, particularly to the younger generation,” he said.
He said this when officiating at the Mongompok Batas organised by the United Sabah Tindal Organisation (USTO) at the open field of Kampung Tagaroh here on Sunday.
Ewon also encouraged ethnic associations to collaborate with other organisations to produce more digital content that could showcase the unique identity of indigenous communities and ensure their languages and heritage would not be lost to time.
“We must have new approaches in developing our communities and ensuring that our identity continues to be preserved. Who else will promote our language, customs and culture if not us?” he said.
Ewon said efforts to safeguard indigenous identity should also go hand in hand with economic and entrepreneurship development.
He said programmes organised by ethnic associations could be strengthened with entrepreneurial activities, including through the organisation of expos events or public markets in collaboration with the Sabah Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship and Transport Ministry (Mindet).
“We do not only want to safeguard and preserve our customary system, identity and language, but at the same time, we want our communities to progress and become entrepreneurs,” he said.
Meanwhile, USTO president, James Baga said the organisation was working on publishing a three-language dictionary in Tindal, Malay and English.
He said the dictionary would serve as a reference for the younger generation to learn and become familiar with their mother tongue.
“I believe this dictionary will become a reference for our children in the future and help ensure that the Dusun Tindal language does not become extinct over time.
“This is because studies have predicted that many ethnic languages, particularly in Sabah, may increasingly become extinct within the next 50 years if there are no continuous efforts to preserve them,” he said.
James said the concern was becoming more apparent as fewer young people spoke their mother tongue and increasingly used Malay or English, including when communicating at home.
He said USTO was also documenting Tindal customs and traditions, including marriage and engagement customs and other traditional practices, in book form to serve as a reference.
“This is among our efforts to ensure that the language, customs and identity of the Tindal community do not disappear and continue to be inherited by future generations,” he said.
