Tag - Culture

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's annual Folklore Festival is gaining interest among the international community with 75 countries requesting to take part in the seventh series of the cultural dance event this year. However, due to financial constraints, the state could only accept 20 international dance troupes to be showcased at the festival here from July 8 to 17. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the state would have to shoulder high costs footing the bill for their accommodation, meals and transportation during their stay here. “That is why we limited the participation to 20 teams, thus making the event much more exclusive,” Masidi said, adding the selected teams were also the cream of the crop. Another disadvantage with having so many dance troupes was that the event would take more than two weeks to finish, he added. “We try to pick teams with unique presentations each year so the public can have a variety of new cultural dances to witness rather than just re-runs,” Masidi said. However, the number of participating teams could be increased in future especially when the Sabah Cultural Centre in Penampang near here is fully renovated to cater to international events, he said. Finland and Timor Leste are the two first-time participants at the Sabah International Folklore Festival (SIFF) 2012, which would also see cultural teams from Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Brunei, South Korea, Kuwait, Egypt, Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Indonesia and Morocco. Masidi represented Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman to launch the SIFF2012 promotion campaign here and also unveiled the festival's mascot locally known as Siwat Dalam, a mythical creature that snatches children roaming the streets. Source : The Sun

KOTA KINABALU: Heritage Sabah will be carrying out a documentation exercise of the Atkinson Clock Tower with the permission of Sabah Museum while on-going work to repair the 107-year-old clock tower is in progress. This is following the decision of the museum to facilitate structural repairs on the oldest historical landmark in KK city after the Heritage Sabah NGO highlighted its poor condition to the public through their Facebook social network page. This swift response from Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun and Sabah Museum director Joanna Kitingan prompted an investigation on the condition of the clock tower and subsequently confirmed that the clock tower was in timely need for an upgrade. Heritage Sabah will be documenting the progress of the repair as well as prepare a measured drawing of the clock tower to be compiled as an academic reference. A report will be handed back to Sabah Museum for safekeeping when the documentation is completed. The approved society (officially registered in April 2012) will also be conducting a study of resources with the Sabah State Archives and other relevant government departments to trace back the history of the clock tower — which has undergone several facelifts before its current existing facade that was done in 1959 for Jesselton’s silver jubilee anniversary. Heritage Sabah is currently looking for funding assistance to aid its volunteers in the documentation process of the Atkinson Clock Tower. Heritage Sabah is a society that is dedicated to the architectural and cultural heritage conservation in Sabah. Its mission is to organize public awareness, to promote the preservation, restoration and protection of the architectural and cultural heritage, to advocate architectural and cultural heritage policies and guidelines for implementation, to collect and study any relevant information on architectural and cultural heritage for educational and reference use and to identify places with cultural significance in Sabah through heritage significance assessment for protection and conservation. Source : Borneo Post