KUCHING: Dayak National Congress (DNC) yesterday urged certain quarters not to perceive the association as extremist and racist.
Its president, Mengga Mekui, said DNC is apolitical in nature and fights for the rights and equality for the Dayak community.
He said yesterday that it was not wrong for DNC like any other associations and organisations, to make a decent request for the rights of the community like any other races.
“In Malaysia, there are many communities which speak for their rights…so we (Dayak) also want to be like any other Malaysians. What we are asking is for our rights and equality and these are decent request,” he told a press conference yesterday, at Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) headquarters, after the first annual general meeting (AGM).
He pointed out that Dayak are lagging in almost every aspect which DNC was struggling for.
Mengga stressed that DNC, formed a year ago, is a unifying umbrella for the Dayak community in Sabah and Sarawak and has three core responsibilities in economics, education and culture to bring the community forward.
Currently DNC has over 300 members and will go all out to recruit more next year, where a branch will be formed in every division to spread the existence of DNC.
According to him, almost three million natives in Sabah and Sarawak are willing to be called Dayak and urged them to join DNC to have a stronger bargaining power to fight for the rights and equality.
Mengga also said DNC was making strong effort to delete the ‘others/lain-lain’ in which the Dayak community is categorised.
Meanwhile, DNC has been allocated 500 slots for Mara loan for the Dayak community in Sabah and Sarawak which also includes the various ethnic groups in the two states.
He urged SPM school leavers with at least five credits to apply for the loan to further their studies.
Eligible candidates can contact the secretary general Richard Lias at 016 5759383.