Jatti Miriek want ethnic recognition from Sarawak govt

MIRI: The minority Jatti Miriek community in Sarawak – despite being among the oldest communities in the country – has long hoped to be recognised as one of the state’s ethnic groups, something which remains a dream up till today.

The close-knit community has been yearning for Jatti Miriek to be official recognised as an ethnic group by the Sarawak government after submitting an official application in 2016 seeking the long overdue recognistion.

Two years have passed and Miri Jatti Miriek Association secterary Ujut Rahman said the association is still awaiting an official reply from the Sarawak government to its letter that was sent to State Secterary Tan Sri Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani on Dec 7, 2016.

He said another letter was sent on March 21 this year to the Director of Administration Unit of the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Department, Antonio Kahti Galis.

There was still not reply to both letters, he told Bernama here yesterday. Ujut said despite being in existence culturally as well as historically in Sarawak for many decades, Jatti Miriek had yet be officially recognised as one of the ethnic groups by the Sarawak government administration.

One such example, he said, was the the Jatti Miriek community was categorised as Sarawak Malays in the race column in government application forms, unlike other ethnic minority communities such as the Kayan and Kenyah.

“We want an official recognition so that in application forms, such as for scholarship or even lands ownership, it is stated our race, Jatti Miriek,” he said, adding that they wanted the official recognition because the community also contributed to the state’s development.

He said it was also to ensure the future generation would be aware of the existence of the Jatti Miriek community in Sarawak.

For the record, Jatti Miriek is said to be one of the oldest communities in the country which came to Sarawak about 200 or 300 years ago.

It is said the word originated from Miriek.

The Miriek people number about 10,000 and they reside mainly in ‘ Miri’ northern Sarawak and Brunei Darussalam.

The Miriek language, according to researchers, is one of the oldest spoken languages in the world and one of the languages in the world that is on the verge of extinction.

The only book on the language found in the country is ‘A Guide to the Jatti Miriek Language’ which was printed and published by the association in 2008.

Though well-known for their ability in fisheries and agriculture, the Miriek have now successfully ventured into business or are working in the government and private sectors.

An academician had expressed his fears that the Miriek language, being the language of a minority group in Southeast Asia, might become extinct due to the shrinking number of speakers among the younger generation.

James T. Collins, a renowned linguistic expert from the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ( UKM), in his paper at a seminar in Miri in 2005, said that this was also largely due to there being no official documentation of the language. — Bernama