RM50,000 Awaits MGM Pageant Winner This Year
Kota Kinabalu: This year’s Mitarab Gimpuhut Momogun (MGM) winner will bring home prizes worth about RM50,000, including a cash prize of RM10,000.
The beauty pageant for Rungus and northern beauties which will become the highlight of the Magahau Fest’ finale tomorrow (Monday) will be participated by 21 Rungus beauties from around the country.
MGM received numerous sponsorships, including from two private higher learning institutions which offer scholarships to the top winners.
Apart from that, the winner for the MGM pageant will also be offered to join Samora and Tourism Malaysia delegates to the International French Travel Market (IFTM) 2017 in Paris, France.
Magahau Fest organiser cum Sabah Momogun Rungus Association (Samora) president Datuk Jelani Hamdan said the total prizes for the MGM top seven is worth more than RM300, 000.
“The pageant aims to produce skilled ambassadors, in terms of cultural skills such as making traditional crafts, embroidery and dances.
“And that is why MGM is not merely a beauty pageant as the judging criteria falls heavily on cultural skills.
“The organisers want the pageant to be not only competitive but also educational,” he said during a press conference at Ujana Rimba Tropika Park, here, on Saturday.
Jelani also disclosed the pageant also witnessed an increase in language proficiency among participants this year, compared to previous editions.
“This year’s contestants are better prepared…they knew how the competition is being organised, so they made preparations like studying the Rungus language as well as the culture.”
He said MGM is an excellent avenue to ignite the young generation’s interests on traditional culture.
On Magahau Fest, Jelani said the festival which has been included in the country and State tourism calendar will attract more than 5,000 attendees, including 100 confirmed foreign tourists.
The activities for the National-level Magahau Fest celebration started on Jul 27 with the finale being held on Jul 31 at Puruvan Square, Matunggong.
The Magahau Fest was launched at Kanibongan Community Hall, Pitas, on Jul 8 where Pitas Zone was selected as the curtain-raiser for this year’s celebration.
After Pitas Zone, the fest was held in six other zones – Peninsula Zone, Kota Marudu Zone, Kudat Zone, Beluran Zone, Kota Kinabalu Zone and Matunggong Zone.
Among the activities lined up for the fest are traditional sports, traditional food competition, Mitarab Monurizak (singing competition), Mitarab dot Band (band competition), Sodop Papak Tavasi (gala night) apart from the MGM beauty pageant. – Ricardo Unto
Source: TheBorneoPost
