Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) continue their joint effort to protect and preserve the various types of mother tongue in Sabah.

This collaboration was made official through a second Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) renewal signing at the UMS chancellory building here on Thursday, which aims to foster productive research and cooperation, expand educational opportunities, and strengthen the indigenous communities and languages of Malaysia, including Sabah.

SIL executive director Dr Timothy Philips said most of the languages in Sabah are considered endangered, partly due to the communities’ small size, but also partly due to a break in the generational transmission of language such as when parents stop speaking the native language to their children which allows them no chance to learn it. Among the languages in Sabah that are very close to going extinct due to these factors are the Dumpas and Bokan.

“One of the things that we can do with UMS is to document these languages. As communities start to realise that they are losing their language, there is a chance that they can recover them through documentation should such a thing occur in the future.

“This has been done in the Maori languages in New Zealand where the languages had started to disappear but they had enough documentation that they were able to revitalise them.

“Now, I would rather see languages rescued before they get to that point but regardless, documentation is always a good thing – it’s good for academics and good for the university to publish about the languages in Sabah,” he told reporters after the MoU signing ceremony.

Timothy said UMS as a premier university in Sabah attracts students from various ethnic tribes who either speak their mother language or their ancestors such as their grandparents do, and these students can be the key resource in instilling the passion of preserving their languages, especially since language is closely tied to culture and to lose it would be to lose a large part of a tribe’s identity.

He said a person’s language embodies everything that is important to them, adding that even when travellers pass through the Kota Kinabalu airport, they are greeted by a beautiful mural depicting people from the dozens of ethnic tribes in Sabah, and anyone who has any experience of the state cannot conceive of a Sabah without its rich variety of peoples and languages, nor should they need to.

“And so, we would like to foster a pride in the language, but not to the exclusion of other languages. When multilingual education is done well, the students can learn more languages and can learn them better than if they just learn in one language, so I see that SIL can help out UMS through its students and its commitment to excellence and research, and we are proud to be working with the university in its efforts to serve the people of Sabah and the nation of Malaysia by helping preserve its languages,” he said.

Timothy stressed that SIL’s collaboration with UMS is not just an academic exercise as the ultimate product of linguistics is to strengthen the languages to be used in language development not only through oral literature but also written literature.

He said for example, by using linguistics, they can transform a basically unreadable language, such as the Samai language in West Malaysia which has 26 vowels, into a readable one by creating new alphabets or symbols to denote certain sounds which fit the language, where as soon as one knows how to pronounce a word, they know how to write it, and vice versa.

Timothy also noted that there are features in Malaysian languages that have not been found anywhere else on earth, such as in Sarawak which possess a unique aspirated voiced plosive, or several languages in West Malaysia which has something called in-copy fixation – a type of reduplication where a piece of the end of a word is taken and then in-fixed at the beginning of a word, as opposed to usual reduplication which normally occurs at the beginning or end of a word where part of it is repeated.

“Hence, we need to be more concerned about indigenous languages. According to the Sarawak Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in March last year, four tribal languages by Sarawak ethnics are now extinct, namely Seru, Pegu, Bliun and Lelak. We should prevent such an incident from happening in Sabah,” he said.

Meanwhile, UMS vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Kasim Mansor said the second renewal of the MoU represents a significant milestone in UMS and SIL’s ongoing and steadfast partnership.

Kasim said the anticipated areas of collaboration including joint supervision of postgraduate students, engagement of invited SIL examiners for postgraduate programmes and the delivery of invited lectures to enhance the academic experience for their students and faculties alike, and some of the languages or ethnics to be involved in this endeavour include Kadazan Dusun, Bajau, Rungus and Sungai, adding that it is also important to delve deeper into these languages so that they can provide the youth with the knowledge on them they would not be able to obtain otherwise.

He echoed Timothy’s concern on several ethnic languages in Sabah, in which there are more than 43 overall in the state, which face risk of extinction, especially in this newer generation which does not utilise its mother tongue in daily conversations, pointing out the need for more concerted efforts to preserve these languages such as through carrying out researches, implementing related programmes, or documentation including the publishing of dictionaries of ethnic groups here akin to existing Kadazan Dusun ones.

At the same time, he lauded SIL Malaysia for its efforts to catalogue and research the numerous indigenous languages and dialects as well as the incidence of language chance, with examples of its recent initiatives include the proposal of a process for profiling language vitality across the state and a study into the effect of language shift on the indigenous language spoken by the people of Pulau Banggi.

“Together, UMS and SIL will continue to empower individuals and communities through the preservation and promotion of language and culture,” he said.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), through the Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition (FSMP), has established a collaboration with the Dietetics and Catering Department of the Sabah State Hospital to share expertise in enhancing meal menus for dysphagia patients.

Dr. Aizul Azri Azizan, a lecturer from the FSMP Food Service Program, explained in a statement that dysphagia, a condition where patients experience difficulty swallowing due to factors such as aging, stroke, cancer, and others, is commonly reported among the elderly in the country.

“This makes Malaysia at risk for dysphagia, as it is expected that 20 percent of the population will be elderly by 2056.

“Therefore, through this collaboration, UMS and the Dietetics and Catering Department of Sabah State Hospital will strengthen dysphagia menus based on the International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiatives (IDDSI) framework, which provides preparation guidelines and testing methods used worldwide in managing dysphagia patients.

“This initiative also ensures that hospital menus align with clinical interventions and prescriptions provided by medical and speech therapy professionals based on their assessments,” he said in a statement during a recent visit by the Sabah State Hospital Dietetics and Catering Department to FSMP.

Aizul added that through the collaboration between academia and industry, sharing resources and expertise could improve the quality of health food services by providing IDDSI-compliant dysphagia diets in hospitals across Sabah.

“The implementation of IDDSI has not been carried out in any health facilities in Malaysia, making this effort a significant step forward in dysphagia management in the country.

“Thus, FSMP UMS is honored to continue contributing and collaborating with the Dietetics and Catering Department through the sharing of expertise and resources for the implementation of IDDSI in all hospitals in Sabah,” he said.

Meanwhile, Norafizah Mohd Nordin, Head of Dietetics and Catering Expertise, stated that the implementation of IDDSI in Sabah demonstrates the state’s commitment to improving patient nutrition intake in hospitals while ensuring the food texture is safe for consumption based on clinical needs.

“This collaboration also aims to enhance the food preparation skills of hospital staff in government hospitals to plan and prepare diets that comply with IDDSI specifications.

“Studies have shown that food waste for dysphagia patient menus, such as pureed diets, could reach 68 percent, indicating the need for serious attention to ensure that dysphagia patients’ nutritional treatments are improved,” she said.

Also present at the working visit were Heads of the Dietetics and Catering Departments, Dietetics Officers, and Assistant Food Service Officers from both the west and east coast zones of Sabah.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) was among eight international universities that involved in developing the Open Science Asia policy recently.

This is through a group of researchers from UMS led by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Professor Ir. Dr. Rosalam Hj. Sarbatly who attending a consortium meeting and forum for the development of the Open Science Asia policy at Mandal's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) Mumbai, India.

Rosalam in a statement said, the collaborative project involves universities from Malaysia, India, Netherlands, Finland, and Slovenia, with funding support totaling EUR779,000 from the ERASMUS+ program of the European Union.

“The primary objective of the initiative is to formulate policies and implementation frameworks for Open Science, facilitating the global sharing of research and innovation knowledge.

"Open Science is in line with the five main priorities of the Ministry of Higher Education, especially in strengthening the research and innovation ecosystem, and is aligned with UMS's goal of enhancing the university's research skills on the international stage,” he said.

He added that, the main emphasis is on the development of policies for Open Science implementation and the provision of infrastructure and information structures to enable researchers to ethically share information, particularly from the perspective of sharing and using research data.

“This is expected to accelerate the process of generating new technologies and innovations for problem-solving.

“For example, the development of vaccines, which previously took years, can now be accomplished in a short period, as demonstrated in the development of the Covid-19 vaccine,” he said.

During this consortium meeting, a forum was also held as a step to raise awareness about Open Science within the community.

The event featured insights from several experts and industry leaders in the field, including a keynote address by Emeritus Prof Dr. Man Mohan Sharma from the Institute of Chemical Technology, India, and UMS Chief Digital Officer, Professor Dr. Ag. Asri bin Ag. Ibrahim.

The project implementation coordinator from UMS, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatimah Ahmedy, also attended as a representative along with several research partners from the Universiti Malaya and the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, who are also consortium project partners from Malaysia.

Pusat Minda Lestari (PML) of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) distributed 3,500 portions of bubur lambuk (a traditional Malaysian porridge) to students, staff, and the public as part of the "Bah, Sungkai Kita Bubur Lambuk 3.0!" program.

According to PML Director, Dr. Suwaibah Zakaria, the program, sponsored by Adabi Sabah Distribution Sdn. Bhd. (Adabi), aimed to strengthen relationships and foster a spirit of cooperation among PML staff, UMS employees, and external agencies.

“This program is also part of our corporate social responsibility activities, in addition to seeking blessings and the spiritual benefits of Ramadan Al-Mubarak.

“The activities today included preparing ingredients, cooking, packaging, and distributing the bubur lambuk to UMS staff and the public.

“We hope this program will benefit the entire UMS community and the agencies involved, while promoting a culture of giving during Ramadan Al-Mubarak,” she said.

The third iteration of this program, since its inception in 2022, was officiated by UMS Vice-Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr. Kasim Mansor, at the main entrance of UMS.

The event also saw collaboration with the Preparatory Centre for Science and Technology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Faculty of Islamic Studies, Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language, the UMS Housewives and Women Staff Club, and the UMS General Staff Union.

Also participating in the distribution were Chief Librarian, Md Sazali Md Salleh; Adabi Sabah Manager, Muhammad Zahari Muhammad Nasir; Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Strategic), Professor Dr. Mohammad Saffree Jeffree; and department heads from UMS.