Adenan prefers to listen, talk to scholars

by Churchill Edward. Posted on November 25, 2010, Thursday

KUCHING: Advisor in the Chief Minister’s Department Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem yesterday said it was more refreshing to listen and talk to scholars and academicians than politicians.

MASTER OF LANGUAGES: Adenan delivering his speech at the conference.

Adenan, who is also Sarawak Foundation chairman, joked that after so many years of politics he had had enough of it. He has been in politics since the age of 32.

He explained that sometimes politics can make one feel depressed.
“It is always refreshing to listen to scholars and academicians than listening to politicians all the time. I had enough. Sometimes it can be depressing,” he said at the close of the International Conference on Minority and Majority: Language, Culture and Identity at Hilton Kuching Hotel here.
Adenan, also Tanjung Datu assemblyman, was guest-of-honour at the event organised by Malaysian Association of Modern Languages and Centre for Language Studies of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) which started on Tuesday.
He said even though he is a politician, he found out that there is actually more to life than politics and rhetoric.
However, Adenan, also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) information chief, did not elaborate, much to the disappointment of the local audience who may have read much about his political adventure.
Adenan also said the fact that Sarawak had managed to unite around 40 ethnic groups was because its people respected one another’s language, dialect and culture, adding that there was no big secret on how it managed unity.
Although many people thought tolerance was the key to unity, Adenan begged to differ because tolerance, according to him, means that one has to force oneself to do something against one will, when responding to a question from the audience.
“I think respect is better than tolerance. We must respect each other’s culture to enhance unity. Whether we agree or not (with the other person’s culture) that is another matter” he explained.
He said he found it silly to fight over territories and take revenge on each other as the world is big enough for everybody, pointing out that Sarawak is also big enough for all of its 40 ethnic groups.
Adenan said he enjoys reading and is interested in origins of certain words or names.
One must master various languages to enrich one culture or personality, he added.