Pitas novelist bags RM7,000 in competition

KOTA KINABALU: Jun Durabi of Pitas won the second series of Novel Writing Competition Sabah.

He took home RM7,000 cash prize which was presented by Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun at the closing of the event at Pacific Sutera Harbour, yesterday.

His novel, ‘Sangkar Terapung’ was adjudged the best followed by the novels by Kartina Tati and Ramlah Abd Rashid, who won the second and third places respectively.

Kartina received RM4,000 cash prize while Ramlah bagged RM3,000.

Two consolation prizes were given to Rodia Said and Ismail Salleh.

The young novelist category went to Melanie Marcellina J. Kinjawan and Fymila Jessica Nandoh who received RM500 each.

Masidi in his speech said novel writing competition was one of the most important events that should be given special attention.

“Whether we realize it or not, we are living in an era where we have the potential of damaging the beauty of the language, especially when it comes to conversation in the social media.

“For example, the limited space in Twitter will force us to use abbreviations when typing our messages. For example ‘laugh out loud’ is LOL. This has been happening for many years already and it has become a habit,” added Masidi.

He said the novel writing competition was one of the best ways to restore the value of appreciation of languages, and the relevant bodies must do something to preserve the unique languages in Sabah.

Also present yesterday were chairman of Sabah Cultural Board Datuk Seri Panglima Wences Angang and the board’s general manager Datuk Rosmadi Datu Sulai.

Source: Borneo Post