KADAZAN SOCIETY SABAH launched its first Kadazan DICTIONARY

When a language is lost, the culture is gone and the race is extinct.  That is why the new Kadazan  dictionary produced by the Kadazan Society Sabah (KSS) must be taken seriously by the owner of the language themselves.

Deputy President of KSS, Sylvester Disimon explained after the press conference for the launching of the said dictionary.  There are so few Kadazan children who can speak their mother-tongue these days and no one else is responsible apart from the parents. When a young Kadazan reporter said she could not blame her parents because they too cannot speak in the language, Disimon replied that her grandparents were then responsible.

However, with the launching of KSS new dictionary we now have a stepping stone to revive and preserve the language so rich in vocabulary because anyone including foreigners who understand English and Malay can learn the language easily, he added.

Earlier, KSS President Datuk Marcel Leiking said his greatest dream is to find the dictionary in every home in Malaysia as reference when listening to the radio Sabah VFM Kadazan section every morning, or reading any newspapers printed in Kadazan.  When KSS paid a courtesy call to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2010, he was supportive of the production of the new dictionary and even provided a generous allocation of RM250,000.00, he added.

The dictionary is also a means of national integration and nation building whereby it will enable the Kadazans to speak in at least three languages namely their mother tongue, the national language and English as the global language.

Meanwhile, Mr Blasius Binjua who was the leading editor and researcher said that the greatest challenge in the printing of any book is the proof reading where the printing have to be stopped in order to add words or corrections. In addition, the lack of any reference material caused sleepless nights in trying to translate the words into Malay and English. The existing dictionary compiled by the late Rev Fr. A Antonissen was used as a guide only.  Luckily several elders who are deemed as the depository of the Kadazan language were also available to assist in the research and deserved to be named. They include Wilfred Mojilis, Peter Lidadun, Pius Jokinol and Freddy Ekol who have been using the language everyday as radio announcer/producers, catechist, teacher, administrator, presenter and the illustrator was George Mokunjil.

Mr Binjua highlighted one humorous aspect of the human body illustration whereby due to the sensitivity of the Adat or customary law the most sensitive part of the body was not named but covered with a fig leaf as per the Adam and Eve fame.

Even though the Antonissen dictionary was only used as a guide, nevertheless permission were sought from the original copyright owners namely the mission church and the Australian High Commission who printed the first dictionary under the Colombo Plan.

Due to their favourable reply, the KSS is now the sole copyright owner of the Antonissen dictionary.

To the layman, the difference between the two dictionaries is only physical with addition of the Malay – Kadazan section, the grammar and illustrations and thousands of new words. However the new dictionary is produced solely by the owners of the language without any outside help, and thus generate confidence that the contents are genuinely original.

On the question why the Kadazan language is still not taught in school despite being the first to be printed in dictionary, newspapers and the Radio Sabah starting in 1954 and it was also one of the language used as the Declaration of Independence of Sabah within Malaysia, Disimon clarified that it was all due to politics and the Bundu Liwan language currently being taught in school cannot be understood by the Kadazans because it is a mixture of the native language found in Keningau, Tambunan and Ranau.

However, this should not be made an issue as the KSS would like to see all the native languages in Sabah preserved.

The new Kadazan dictionary has already been endorsed by the Education Department, the Kadazan Chair of the University Malaysia Sabah and the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka for the Malay- Kadazan section. All that is needed for the language to be taught in school is for the Kadazan community to produce more books, novels and reference materials and KSS can assist in the publication.

Blasius Binjua, who is also a prolific writer of short stories for the children program at Radio Sabah VFM Kadazan section advised other writers to use their daily experiences as inspiration to write short stories and novels. Keep all eyes, ears and mind open when attending every event including weddings, birthdays, funerals, baby showers amongst others, he said. As for successors, Binjua believed that he knows many teachers who are good in the language and when they retire, they will replace him as the writers while the young children reading his stories in the radio every Sundays will be the future Kadazan deejays and speakers. The Kadazan language is here to stay, now and forever, he concluded.

The launching of the dictionary was done at the Pacific Sutera Hotel, Kota Kinabalu on 20th December 2013.