PENAMPANG: Residents residing in Kampung Koidupan, which is located next to the famous Hongkod Koisaan or KDCA grounds, are raising concerns over unsupervised activities and traffic as well as the “uncontrolled” Kaamatan celebrations there.
Kaamatan celebrations at the said venue, which hosts the main and biggest Harvest Festival in the State annually, started as early as May 14, two weeks before the actual grand Kaamatan Festival on May 30 and 31.
Stalls offering food, alcoholic beverages and karaoke started operating weeks before, where people would come by the hundreds on a daily basis throughout the said period.
While they have nothing against celebrating the annual festival with such grandeur, the residents are concerned with the unsupervised activities there.
They complained about excessively loud music and karaoke played daily from around 4pm until 8am to 9am the following day.
“The loud music would continue non-stop throughout the night and we are talking about more than 20 stalls simultaneously playing different music, different songs, all at high volumes, every day, throughout the night up until morning. Some of us have difficulty sleeping. When the rest of us are getting up to prepare our children for school and ourselves for work, they are still belting out songs of all sorts.
“They don’t even bother lowering the volumes past midnight. So imagine having to sleep through such noise on a daily basis for weeks. I pity my fellow residents who have small children and infants,” said one of the residents, who refused to be identified.
Another major concern is the uncontrolled traffic, as patrons would deliberately park along both sides of the already narrow kampung road, causing massive traffic congestions.
The narrow road which is supposed to be a dual lane was made smaller due to the deliberate parking of vehicles on both sides of the road, resulting in traffic from opposite directions to clash.
A resident relayed an event where there was a fire at the kampung during similar celebrations three years ago and cars were parked along both sides of the narrow road.
“The fire engine could not enter through the said road and had to find alternative routes. It took them 40 minutes to finally get to the house, which were already burnt down.
“Our lives and properties are being put at risk in cases of emergency, because no one bothers to control the traffic during this period. Traffic police and RELA personnel are only assigned on May 30 and 31 during the actual celebrations. But who will do that during that two weeks leading up to the event? Who will be responsible should anything happen?”
More than one residents had complained of facing difficulty trying to get home, due to the congested road, as well as irresponsible patrons who would simply park their vehicles in front of the residents’ gates, blocking entrance to some of the residents’ homes.
One of the residents relayed an incident where they could not enter their own house upon arriving at about 9pm, where more than one car was already parked blocking their way, without so much as leaving their contact numbers.
“We had to park our car in the said car’s way, so we left our contact number for the person to call. We ended up having to wait up until 2.30am for the person to call, and we still have to go to work the following day,” said the resident.
Residents also reported that there had been instances where matters regarding traffic got out of hand, resulting in aggressive behaviours by drunk car owners, to the point of damaging vehicles of those they wished to vent their anger.
“Every year, there would be smashed windscreens, terribly scratched side doors, crashed side mirrors of vehicles. It has become a normalcy for Kaamatan year after year,” said a resident who had been residing there all her life.
The residents had also tried to seek the help of police by calling the Penampang police station to help control the excessively loud music from the grounds, especially after midnight and during weekdays.
But they were told by the police that the authority could not do anything, “because it’s Kaamatan.”
“How do we even call this a Kaamatan ‘celebration’? The songs they belt out are not even related to culture or the festival. They are songs of sorts, similar to those in pubs and cheap karaoke outlets,” said one resident.
Residents are urging the relevant authorities, especially organisers of the festival to take responsibility of the matter and provide necessary control and supervision throughout the said period, and not just during the celebration’s finale on May 30 and 31.
“Even if they wish to allow patrons to park their vehicles along our roads, at least assign someone to control the traffic. No one is doing this right now and often people take matters into their hands.
“Somebody should do something instead of simply ignoring the long-existing problems at the cost of the residents’ safety and peace,” said a resident.