A senior Bidayuh minister has made a shocking revelation that there are still some Bidayuh parents who still thinks that sending their children to university as a waste of time and money.
Expressing deep regret over such a mentality, Infrastructure Development and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Michael Manyin Jawong said it was sad to discover there are still parents with such mentality.
“They (these group of parents) have very low regard for education and believe it’s just a waste of time and money to send their children to university ... simply because they said they were so many jobless graduates out there,” he added.
Manyin said such mentality should no longer exist should the community want to prosper together with other communities.
He stressed that education was the best recipe to break a community’s vicious poverty’s cycle, adding that was what the Bidayuh had gone through for the past six decades or so.
Manyin warned that such negative thinking among Bidayuh parents, especially in the rural areas, would only cause the community to be left behind when the country attained its developed nation status by 2020.
“As a minister I have gone to every corner of the community (Bidayuh) but still there are Bidayuhs in the rural areas who do not see and understand the benefits of education.
“They’re still so narrow-minded in their thinking ... saying things like, what’s the use of sending your children to school or university when out there are so many jobless people,” he told The Star after officiating at the closing of the eighth series of World Bidayuh Golf Championship (WBGC) played at the Siol Demak Course of the Kelab Golf Sarawak during the weekend.
Manyin said back in the 50s and 60s illiteracy and mortality rate among the Bidayuh community was so high.
Then, the majority of the members of the community were living in poverty, so much so that some Bidayuh, at that time, were ashamed to even identify themselves as Bidayuh, he recalled.
“But now our literacy rate is already parallel with the other communities and the Bidayuh are now proud to be called Bidayuh.
“We have progressed by leaps and bounds and all these happen because more and more Bidayuh have attained good academic qualifications.
“We have to acknowledge that education is the only way for our community to improve our standard of living.
“Our children must be given the best education,” said Manyin.
The minister said the Bidayuh should be prepared to face the future when the country attained a developed nation status, where the country’s per capita income was forecasted to be between RM48,000 and RM60,000 or a minimum income of RM4,000 a month.
“Light the candle and do not curse the tunnel. Also do not be crabs in our community and don’t blame others for our weaknesses and failures if we ourselves don’t even want to lift a finger to help ourselves,” he lamented.
Manyin said ideally the Bidayuh should be positioned in the middle class by the year 2020.
He said more Bidayuh should involve themselves in economic activities, adding that they should start to broaden their economic base and had better business networking among themselves and other communities.
A successful Bidayuh businessman Albert Tanon won this year’s tournament when he denied defending champion Magit Semong of his third consecutive title in the tournament.
Tanon netted a gross score of 78, one score better than Magit to win the Datuk Seri Michael Manyin Jawong Challenge Trophy.
Third place in the gross event went to Anthony Rupeau with a gross score of 84 while fourth placing is Lester Simbas (85).
Some 45 Bidayuh golfers including three female golfers participated in the competition.
Meanwhile in the nett event, Christine Ruda with handicap of 21 showed that she was better than her male competitors when she made the nett score of 70 to win the title.
The first runner-up went to Andrew Peter Joseph with a handicap of 13, who made nett score of 71 and Dominie Siron Rujin finished third placing while fourth position was grabbed Joseph Richard Michael Ruda.
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