BINTULU, October 31 - The people of the Hornbills are certainly no stranger to the name of the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem or more friendly to the title Tok Nan who is so vocally fighting for Sarawak's rights.

 

Following this, Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Campus, Sarawak (UPMKB) came forward with the establishment of the Pehin Sri Adenan Satem Chair (Kursi Tok Nan) to research and collect the unexplored ethnic treasures of Borneo.

 

The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Management and Science (FKPS) UPMKB, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohamad Maulana Magiman said the establishment of the Tok Nan Chair was placed under the Borneo Ethnic Research Centre FKPS as a research centre for the Borneo ethnic group in Sarawak.

 

"Throughout the establishment of the Tok Nan Chair since 2018, the focus has been on bringing together Sarawak's ethnic minority groups that were previously rarely heard and known to the public.

 

"There were only 27 ethnic groups registered in the Sarawak state statistics book. But in February 2022, the number of ethnicities was increased to 31 with the addition of four new ethnic minorities and is continuing to study these ethnic findings," he said.

 

In addition, the research of the Tok Nan Chair has found two new festivals celebrated by ethnic minorities that can be adopted as tourism products such as the Kayan ethnicity with the 'Pesta Doh Ladoh' and the Ira Aco Festival for the Lun Bawang community which is a fraction of the Kelabit-Murut ethnicity. 

 

According to him, all the forms of the festival are documented and will be kept at the Tok Nan Gallery to be shared to the public. 

 

"The forms of research results such as journals in English and Bahasa Melayu have been developed for the next generation's understanding of an ethnic minority," he said. -UPM

 

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