They said this is especially important for Sabah.
The issue was discussed in an online forum organised by Wisdom Foundation on Tuesday night.
The think tank’s executive chairman, Wilfred Madius Tangau, said most of Sabah’s 3.5 million people were considered minorities in Malaysia, citing findings by Minority Rights Group International.
In 2018, Kadazan Dusuns represented the largest minority at 17.8%, followed by the Bajaus (14%) and Muruts (3.2%).
“Looking back further in 2005, a Unesco report classified Kadazan Dusun as one of 7,000 languages that will become extinct in 50 years, or by 2055,” Tangau said.
“If this is the fate of the language of the largest ethnic minority in Sabah, what can be said of other marginalised languages in the state?”
He said the Kadazan Dusun language faced many challenges although it had been taught in schools in the state over the last 20 years.
“To protect native languages from extinction, the federal government must give the authority to determine the academic syllabus to the state governments as they are more knowledgeable and aware of the local context.
“At the same time, state governments must assume greater responsibility over education, including the teaching of indigenous languages.”
He said a general framework could be drawn up that would enable the federal government to preserve uniformity across Malaysia but still allow the states to have the final say on the knowledge areas or languages that the local community should study.
Rosliah Kiting, a lecturer at the Sultan Idris University of Education (UPSI), said if the state government were to handle educational matters, it would be in a better position to help the ethnic groups preserve their mother tongues.
“The speedy establishment of a Dewan Bahasa Kadazan Dusun (DBK) is also necessary and long overdue. This body can monitor and supervise the standardisation of the language.
“The DBK can also play the role of maintaining and developing relationships with the government and private sector as well as individual philanthropists in securing funds for the preservation of all the ethnic languages,” she said.
Citing statistics from 2018, she said 384 primary schools in Sabah offered Kadazan Dusun as an elective subject but only 45 secondary schools did so.
Linguistics expert Trixie Kinajil said indigenous languages in Sabah were currently in the “danger zone” and the state should, therefore, be given power over the teaching of the languages.
Danesh Prakash Chacko of Sunway University said Sabah had a unique provision in its local government ordinance that allowed local authorities such as district and municipal councils and city halls to contribute towards educational development.
He said the local authorities could build, equip, maintain or manage schools and education institutions, grant sums of money towards the establishment or maintenance of schools and education institutions, and grant scholarships or bursaries to eligible recipients.
“This means that if the government of the day has the money, it should explore creating avenues to manage or to cooperate with the state education department in providing the facilities to teach indigenous education,” he said.