Tag - Culture

Kota Kinabalu: The Resource Development and Information Technology Ministry is always supportive of any community-driven activity, particularly those involving youths, arts and creativity, like cosplay. Minister Datuk Siringan Gubat said cosplay, which is relatively new in Sabah and very much a misunderstood culture, is actually a healthy performance art that involves a lot of creativity. "It takes a lot of courage to wear one of those costumes and show it to the world. On top of that, one has to be very creative in making those costumes look good on him or her," he said. "Cosplay is a healthy art, a healthy performance art, in fact. It has no gender and age bias, although participants are mostly youths. Still this is very much a misunderstood culture in our society and we need to correct this misconception, which is one of the reasons why the Ministry is supporting this activity," he said. He was officiating the Hobbycon 2013, which entered its seventh year, at the Kota Kinabalu Sport Complex in Likas, here, Saturday. His speech was read by the Ministry's Permanent Secretary, Bruno Vun. Siringan said cosplay, which is growing in popularity across the globe including in Sabah, also promotes the spirit of supporting each other irrespective of which country the cosplayers may be from. "The cosplayers should take pride in this and further enhance the cross-country collaboration. You will never know what positive things may crop up from your relationship, other than cosplaying," he said. He said another reason the Ministry supports such event is because it involves talent development, adding there are a lot of talented people taking part in the event. "They form a potential cast of actors and actresses for the State's pursuit in developing the creative content industry. Cosplayers are people who wear the costumes and act out the characters of their dream, whether it is from a movie, a video game or a comic," said Siringan. "These are all healthy and positive traits that we wish to promote and encourage. We hope more people, especially the youths, will join the community and share the passion, enjoy the spirit of camaraderie and develop a strong character and personality along the way," he added. Meanwhile, Hobbycon founder and organiser, Johan Julian Lee, said Hobbycon is slowly making a name for itself after seven years among the youths in Sabah and we are very happy to engage with the ministries and all its sponsors to make the event successful. "Youth are the forefront of the nation. They are the future generation and the talent pool of what the State of Sabah has to offer. The ministries and sponsors understand that these 'talents' will need a proper breeding ground to nurture and foster relationship with people that are like minded and, most importantly, an outlet to showcase their work of art," he said. Source: Daily Express