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KUCHINGBenedict Sandin, a Sarawak-born folklorist and ethnographer who spent his life working to record and preserve the legacy of his own Iban ethnic community, was celebrated by Google today with a Google Doodle.
Google Malaysia in a press release explaining the doodle on its home page said it did so to celebrate the 102nd birthday of the Sarawak-born folklorist and ethnographer who was once the curator of Borneo’s oldest museum, the Sarawak Museum.
Born in 1918 as Sandin anak Attat in Kerangan Pinggai on the Saribas base, Google Malaysia said it was Sandin’s father who first introduced him to the poetic language Iban, which he came to dominate and defend.
Google noted that the Iban ethnic group that Sandin belonged to was one of the largest indigenous ethnic groups in Malaysia.
“In 1941, Sandin began working in the Sarawak civil service, and his gift for writing eventually led to an assignment as editor of Pembrita, the first news publication in the Iban language.
“His articles attracted the attention of the Sarawak Museum curator, who recruited him to join the museum’s staff in a special position in 1952,” Google Malaysia said in the press release.
Furthermore, he noted that Sandin was soon accepted into a scholarship program at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in New Zealand, where he learned anthropology and museum techniques.
“He returned home determined to chronicle the history, culture and language that were absorbing and recording the wisdom of local genealogists, bards, and historians.
“As a testament to Sandin’s invaluable ethnographic achievements, he was appointed curator of the Sarawak Museum and government ethnologist in 1966, a position he held for the better part of a decade,” he said.
According to the official website of the Sarawak Museum Department, Sandin was listed as its 12th curator or director with his specialization in history and ethnology, with his role as curator of the museum that lasted from December 1966 to March 1974.
Google Malaysia also said that Sandin had earned academic recognition as one of the world’s greatest experts on Iban and dedicated his life to preserving his native heritage.
“Thank you, Benedict Sandin, for safeguarding and preserving indigenous tradition and heritage for generations to come,” he added.
Based on excerpts from the Journal of the Malaysia Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Sandin died at his home on August 7, 1982.
Celebrating Malaysian legends in the form of Google Doodles is relatively rare.
Until now, those who posthumously appeared in the past on their birthdays were the filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad (with a scribble on January 7, 2014), footballer Datuk Mokhtar Dahari or SuperMokh (November 13, 2014), the fighter for the freedom Sybil Kathigasu (September 3, 2016), actor Tan Sri P. Ramlee (March 22, 2017) and Malaysian singer Sudirman Arshad (May 25, 2019). – The Borneo Post
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