Murut ethnic clothes for Sabah International Folklore Festival participants

KOTA KINABALU: Exchanging ethnic clothes and KK City Folklore Parade were the highlights on the third day of 11th Sabah International Folklore Festival (SIFF), yesterday.

Chairman of Sabah Cultural Board, Tan Sri Wences Angang, said the exchanging of ethnic clothes was one of efforts to educate local people about the diversity and uniqueness of the ethnic clothes from other countries.

This year, Sabah has chosen the ethnic clothes of the Murut people, to be given as a gift to the countries involved, and they would also reciprocate with their respective ethnic attires.

“With the ethnic clothes given, we are promoting Sabah to the world, especially to the participating countries,” he added.

Eleven countries are participating in this year’s in SIFF, namely Australia, Estonia, Ireland, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

After the exchanging of ethnic clothes ceremony was held at Sabah Art Gallery in Penampang, dancers from all participating countries paraded from Suria Sabah shopping mall, showcasing some of their dance moves at Dataran Deasoka before ending the third of the nine-day event for Folklore High Tea Ceremony at Kota Kinabalu City Hall.

Mayor Datuk Yeo Boon Hai said the SIFF would no doubt enable the people of Sabah, especially in Kota Kinabalu, to enjoy a sensational blend of ethnic dances as well as musical presentations from all participating countries.

Yeo said he believed the festival was not only to celebrate the heritage of different countries, but also a platform for cultural exchange.

“Thus, this festival would definitely benefit the people of Sabah through professional cultural dances from different parts of the world at our very own door step,” he said in his speech at the Kota Kinabalu City International Folklore Parade in conjunction with the 11th SIFF here yesterday.

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Sabah International Folklore Festival - Justs can’t help smiling in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Justs Patrius Celms, a first-time visitor from Latvia, finds the friendliness of Sabahans so infectious that he just could not stop smiling since he set foot here.

Justs, 20, who arrived in the city three days ago to take part in the 7th Sabah International Folklore Festival 2012 with his dance troupe, said: “We are truly surprised how well organized the event is, and how kind and humble the people are.

“They smile everywhere, and we just can’t stop smiling.”

Interviewed during the KK City Folklore high-tea ceremony yesterday, Justs said it is his group’s first trip to Sabah though another dance group from Latvia had previously participated in the Festival.

He said they will be presenting five dance performances with different tempos and movements.

He said he is keen to see the performances of other countries, as it is a way to study and learn each other’s culture.

He is also keen to check out local handicrafts, and national costumes during the Festival.

Meanwhile, this is also the first visit by the dance troupe from the Czech Republic, whose journey to Sabah was a long one.

The 21 performers were divided into three groups, with two staying in Kuala Lumpur for eight and 10 days, while another transited at Hong Kong for two days.

The 21 performers are divided into two aged groups for the festival, one being aged 16 to 30, and the other from 30 to 60.

Veronica Hrnkova, 21, said she believes the Folklore Festival here will be one of the best festivals she has ever participated in.

“What we like is that we can compare different groups, different costumes, cultures, food… and everything!” she exclaimed.

Once again, the dancers commented on Sabahans’ friendliness.

“We can compare to Czech, we are a European country, we don’t smile to everyone, here the people are too warm and nice to us,” said Veronica.

“They are all smiling and asking us ‘How are you’ and asking us about our country,” she said as her dance mate Lucie Nepejchalova, 25, acted as her translator.

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Mystical creature is mascot of Sabah International Folklore Festival

KOTA KINABALU: A mystical creature known as “siwat dalan” was yesterday unveiled as a mascot of the Sabah International Folklore Festival (SIFF) 2012, which will take place from July 8 to 17.

According to Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, siwat dalan is the name in Tuaran Dusun dialect of a small creature that is said to kidnap children who are out in the streets.

The creature, which is also known as “kalindahou” in Bahasa Brunei, has huge breasts, and is said to be active in the evening.

She will grab the child and hide him under her breasts, rendering him or her invisible to the naked eye.

Because of this, as evening approaches, parents would warn their children not to play outside as the creature would kidnap them and spirit them away.

Masidi, who officiated at the SIFF 2012 mascot launching ceremony, said that last year, the organizers introduced the “bal-bal” or the Orang Sungai community’s shaman as its mascot and it is joined by siwat dalan this year.

“Our hope is that when we extend the theme to one that is based on legendary and mystical creatures in Sabah, we can one day hold a ghost festival, as books and movies nowadays are mostly based on that theme,” he said.

“Should it materialize, the festival will be more towards mystical creatures based on our culture and not ghosts that are depicted in horror stories.”

Masidi said the Sabah Cultural Board received applications from 72 countries to participate in the SIFF 2012 but due to financial constraints and because the organizer had to choose the countries which can really reflect the variety of cultural performances, only 20 countries were selected.

“Finland and East Timor are among the new countries participating this year,” he said, adding that 12 of the countries had sent their travel itinerary and the first participating country, the Czech Republic, would be arriving on June 30.

“The whole idea actually is, other than just a cultural exchange sort of extravaganza involving many countries in the world, we want to provide people an avenue to visit Sabah and at the same time participate in a cultural activity,” he said.

“I believe the most effective way of selling Sabah is by word of mouth. Those who have come here to experience what Sabah has to offer are the best ambassadors to sell the state to the rest of the world,” he said.

Masidi explained that SIFF is not a competition for the participants although recognition will be awarded to those which the panel of judges deems to have given the best performance.

“Sabah will not be participating because we do not want to be the host and also the winner.

“Sabah is too good (and) it is very difficult to be humble when you are really good and I think we are good,” he said.

“This is not a competition, it is more of a festival. To us, all those who participate are winners because we gain victory through our good relationship with the other countries,” he said, adding that every country has its own culture and therefore no one could claim that their culture is better than others.

Meanwhile, the SIFF 2012 will kick off with a ‘KK City Folklore’ parade on July 10 in conjunction with the city’s 12th anniversary.

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