Young Perakians proud of dialect

He felt that the claim that young Perakians are not interested in speaking the dialect is inaccurate because "Perak is a big state with people from different ethnic backgrounds like Jawa, Rawa, Minang, Banjar, Pattani and more.

"People tend to think that those in the state can speak the Perak dialect, but they would be mistaken because many are of mixed ethnicity and most are not good at speaking the dialect, in fact some speak in a northern dialect because they live near the border with Kedah," he said.

He was responding to a Malay newspaper article recently that reported Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Centre for Research in Language and Linguistics lecturer, Prof Dr Nor Hashimah Jalaluddin, saying on a programme by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) that the dialect is facing "extinction" because young Perakians are shy to speak it and instead prefer to use bahasa baku (standard Malay).

Zabidin added that the majority of the original people live along Sungai Perak and among the places where the dialect is used in everyday conversation are Kampung Gajah, Parit and Kuala Kangsar.

"The dialect is spoken widely by people of all ages throughout these areas, and especially Bota in Parit.

"Those from places like Batu Kurau and Gerik who are of Pattani origin, or those from Gopeng who are of Rawa origin, would not be good at speaking or understanding the Perak dialect," he said.

Zabidin said Karyawan PK hopes that Perak's young people will value their cultural heritage and keep the dialect alive because it does not exist anywhere else.

My Red Manchester Komuniti Perak deputy president, Zairul Azmir, said he noticed that children raised in Ipoh speak the Perak dialect, although not fluently.

"I organise a lot of welfare activities with young people who come from around Ipoh and they use slang words that sound like they're from Perak's dialects, although not 'piyor' (pure) like in Bota.

"Perak is unique because the dialects vary by district," he explained.

Bakti Gemilang Perak non-governmental organisation chairman, Muhamad Khalish Nantha Rajendran, said he learnt the dialect after living in Perak for over 10 years.

"I don't think it's correct to say that almost all the young people are shy to speak in the local dialect because I picked it up through friends, acquaintances and the community. I also haven't forgotten my Negeri Sembilan dialect," he said.

The former Malaysian Youth Parliament and Perak Youth Council member said using Bahasa Malaysia to speak with outsiders should not be taken to mean they are embarrassed to speak the local dialect.

"Generally, people still use the Perak dialect, for example, 'awok' for 'saya' or 'teman'. That proves that people are still using it to communicate," said Muhamad Khalish.