Bidayuh’s sacred Mount Sadong to be conserved

SERIAN: The Bidayuh here are urged to emulate their brethren in Bau in conserving their ancestral hills and mountains while allowing visitors to visit these places.

In making this call, Infrastructure Development and Communication Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong said Mount Sadong — the ancestral home of the Bukar Bidayuh community here — would be promoted as a tourism spot.

“In Bau District, they have Bung Jagoi, Dorod Singai and Bung Bratak which are well known and receiving visitors almost every week. But in Serian, we are yet to have a similar one like theirs,” he said in announcing a grant to start the conservation and promotion of Mount Sadong at the Gawai Nyara Mari Sawa (Gawai countdown dinner) at Balu Gambang, Kampung Taee on Sunday night.

The 1,800-metre Mount Sadong is a cultural heritage and pride to the Bukar people, a sub-dialect Bidayuh group in the Serian Division.

It also serves as water catchment area particularly for the villages of Tarat, Kakeng, Jenan, Bantang, Lanchang, Taee, Baru and Bunga.

So sacred is the mountain to the Bukar Bidayuhs that 1,000 people staged a protest in 2013 following encroachment by a company.

A local band immortalised the mountain by recording a song called Darud Sadong.

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Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival looks to push filmmaking beyond just being a hobby

KOTA KINABALU: Filmmaking is still ‘green’ in Sabah as most of the people here are either doing it as a hobby or merely shooting wedding ceremonies.

But the Sabah Film Academy wants to push that hobby to the next level, said Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) coordinator David Ngui.

The Sabah Film Academy was created three years ago as one of the components of KKIFF to identify young raw talents in Sabah, he said when met during the ‘Sabah Film Academy –Master Class with the Mentors’ at The Sabah Society in Damai, Luyang yesterday.

The mentors class starting from May 31 to June 6 was conducted by Rick Minnich from USA who now lives in Germany, Jeffri Yusof from Malaysia, Larry Johnson from USA and Thomas Robert from France.

“I notice in Sabah, there are a lot of raw talents, I think some of them are really good but I think they are probably lacking in skill, experience, exposure and self-confidence. And we want to lead them to a different level.

“And throughout a lot of conversation I had with these filmmakers, we felt that what they need is one little push to get them to have the right attitude and mentality to go in the industry because film industry is quite competitive.

“I find that filmmakers in Sabah are still doing it as hobby,” noted David.

He hoped that could be changed through the Sabah Film Academy which mirrored the Asean Film Festival in Busan, South Korea.

David, who is an alumni of the Asean Film Festival, said the programme had successfully trained young filmmakers in creating a network and he hoped to impart that to the Sabah Film Academy.

“The aim of the Sabah Film Academy is to create a platform, training and education programme to train young filmmakers from Sabah with the support of international mentors,” he said.

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Kaamatan ends on a high note

KOTA KINABALU: Traditional activities and sports were among the main highlights of the month-long annual Kaamatan or harvest festival held over the weekend.

While activities such as “tumutu” or pounding padi to momolastic (shooting with slingshot/catapult) were just part of the natives’ everyday lives in the olden days, it has now been incorporated in the state level harvest festival as part of the traditional sports competition this year.

Sabah Sports Board chairman Datuk Louis Rampas in a press conference on Friday said that the traditional sports were part of the Kadazandusun (KDM) community’s culture and needed to be introduced to more people.

“These are great activities not only for the KDMs to make a living, it also encourages good sportsmanship between people,” he said.

“That is why we need to have more traditional games and activities especially in cultural events such as the Kaamatan festival so that it will not go extinct,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman when launching the traditional sports at the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) in conjunction with the harvest festival on May 30 threw a spear with a banana as a bull’s eye to mark the start of the competition.

The “manandus” or spear throwing is part of the 11 games including “monungkava kalabau” or lassoing a buffalo, “mangapui” or lighting fire, “monopuk” or shooting with blowpipe, “mipulos” or arm wrestling, “rampanau” or walking on stilts, and “migazat” or tug-of-war opened for public for participation.

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Kaamatan reflects racial harmony, unity

PENAMPANG: The cooperation, participation and commitment of all races and ethnic groups in making the Kaamatan Festival a success, not only enhances unity, but also enable them understand the heritage and treasures of other races, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said today.

He said although the festival was traditionally celebrated by the Kadazan, Dusun and Murut communities, people of other races also joined in the celebration, hence displaying the racial harmony that existed in the state.

“This is proof of our success in living together and is the best example of the plural society in Sabah who have all the while live together in peace and harmony.

“Apart from that, efforts like this are also good for Sabah tourism. Tourists can see the spirit of togetherness among us, despite our different cultural and religious background,” he said at the closing of the state-level harvest Festival here yesterday.

The closing ceremony was officiated by the Yang Dipertua of Sabah Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.

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Unduk Ngadau not the only focus of Kaamatan

KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said Sabah’s annual Kaamatan festival is not just about the Unduk Ngadau pageant.

He said much of the rich cultural heritage of the KadazandusunMurut was celebrated during month-long festivities and the pageant was just one part of the many programmes and activities showcased during the celebration.

Musa said many people assumed the Unduk Ngadau, or harvest queen contest was the main reason why the festival was introduced.

“I disagree when some say the Kaamatan festival only focused on the Unduk Ngadau pageant. There are many other aspects of the KDM culture highlighted during this celebration such as its historical significance, the music, the dances, the costumes and the cuisines,” he said during the closing ceremony of the state-level Kaamatan Festival at KDCA on Sunday.

Nevertheless, he said there was nothing wrong in highlighting the Unduk Ngadau contest as the contestants were not only attractive but multi-talented.

“The Unduk Ngadau pageant is part and parcel of the Kaamatan celebration,” he said while adding that not having it could be likened to ‘Sebuah taman, tidak akan berseri tanpa bunganya’ (A garden will not be beautiful without flowers).

He said the contest was among the many traditions that was unique and special to Sabah.

Apparently, there were inquiries not only from Malaysians but from foreigners about the significance of the Kaamatan festival including what the Unduk Ngadau was about and why the contest had evolved from a cultural event into something that was commercialised to the extent that even the traditional costumes were modified for “creative purposes”.

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