Daniel Lim
Eight members from the Belait Youth Association (PEMBELA) returned from Indonesia after representing the Sultanate in the International Minangkabau Literacy Festival (IMLF) 2023 held from February 22 to 27.
Organised by the Satupena Sumbar and the Yayasan Sumbar Talenta Indonesia, the festival was held at the Human Resource Development Centre at Padang Panjang, West Sumatra, Indonesia.
Leading the contingent was PEMBELA President Atikah Rumaizah binti Dr Haji Harun.
The journey was supported by the Youth and Sports Department, as well as the Culture and Arts Division of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
Alumni veterans of PEMBELA and Syarikat Ainul Mardhiah also aided the contingent’s visit to the festival.
With this year’s theme ‘Building Synergy in Developing Socio-Cultural Competence in the Era of Globalisation’, the contingent learnt about the Minangkabau language in reading the various books at exhibitions and viewing art at galleries, preparing them for the Three Parallel Discussion session.
This included discussing ‘Language, Literature and the Era of Digitalisation’, ‘Minangkabau Cultural Literacy from a Historical Perspective’ and ‘Human Resources Management Through Literacy Culture’.
The discussion served to help spark inspiration among the participants in hopes that the language literacy projects and activities carried out in Indonesia can also be carried out in Brunei, especially in supporting the literacy of the Malay Language.
The contingent from PEMBELA also recited a poetry titled Bangsa Ku Bahasa Ku, The poem contained stanzas that are structured using the language of the seven ethnics of Brunei, as well as in English, in a show of harmony among the people living in the nation.
