TUARAN: Sabah Native Customary School (Saans) received a final evaluation visit from a Unesco delegation recently as part of efforts for its recognition within the Kinabalu Unesco Global Geopark.
State and community leaders, as well as academics, highlighted Saans’ role in preserving native customs, Indigenous knowledge, languages and community-based conservation during the visit on Aug 14.
Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Maijol Mahap said adat (custom) remains a living heritage sustained through families, communities, customary practices, elders and the passing of knowledge from one generation to another.
“When we speak about adat, we are not speaking merely about something inherited from the past; we are speaking about something that continues to live in the present,” he said.
Maijol said while the government could establish and administer native courts and provide the necessary laws and administrative structures, the life of adat begins within communities.
He said Saans and the Native Court perform different roles but share a fundamental dependence on adat remaining alive, adding that the State Government acknowledges Saans’ efforts and will continue supporting them where possible.
Tuaran MP Datuk Seri Madius Tangau said he strongly supports the initiative to recognise and position Saans within the Kinabalu Unesco Global Geopark framework.
“Our Indigenous heritage is not simply a record of our past, it is a living legacy – a source of identity, wisdom, values and knowledge that continues to shape our communities and our relationship with nature,” he said.
Madius said Unesco recognition would give greater international visibility and credibility to the initiative while encouraging stronger collaboration between Indigenous communities, government, academia and international organisations.
Borneo Institute for Indigenous Studies (Boriis) UMS deputy director Assoc Prof Dr Jeannet Stephen said Saans comprises a network of 44 informal, community-run schools, with each Indigenous community maintaining its own language and customary heritage.
Jeannet, who is also head of the Saans-UMS Native Customary School Living Lab, said the Living Lab supports rigorous documentation of knowledge already taught by communities so that it does not depend solely on individual memory.
She said Saans is also pursuing listing on Unesco’s Register of Good Safeguarding Practices, with documentation supported by the Living Lab, Sabah Cultural Board (LKNS) and National Heritage Department.
Sabah Native Customary Communities Association president and Saans founder Shalmon Sanangan said the initiative began in 2019 from community concerns that customary knowledge held by ageing elders, including traditional ecological knowledge, customary law and oral history, could be lost if it was not passed on.
He said Saans has since grown into a network representing 44 Indigenous ethnic communities across Sabah, with each retaining its own identity, language and practices while operating through community-led schools.
“We are not asking you to make room for us, we are asking you to recognise room that was already there,” he said.
During the event, Shalmon also presented the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of Indigenous Peoples document to Unesco evaluators Dr Atsuko Niina and Dr Yuanhai Zhang.
