Body praised for dragon boat race success

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Musa (right) and Goh holding the trophy while Wong (sixth right), Chua (fifth left), Shim (fourth right) and others look on.

Musa (right) and Goh holding the trophy while Wong (sixth right), Chua (fifth left), Shim (fourth right) and others look on.

KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has commended the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) for making the Sabah FCAS International Dragon Boat Race an increasingly successful event.

Musa has also agreed to attend the opening ceremony and prize presentation on May 22, which will be officiated by the Head of State Tun Datuk Seri Panglima (Dr) Juhar Datuk Mahiruddin.

He hoped that the dragon boat race would become an annual event for Sabah as well as a tourist attraction for the State.

Musa said this during a courtesy call by the FCAS committee led by president Datuk Seri TC Goh at his official residence at Sri Gaya here yesterday.

Also present were FCAS vice-president cum organising chairlady Datuk Susan Wong Siew Guen, vice-president Datuk Chua Soon Ping, vice president Lee Hing Boo, vice-president Dennis Gan, vice-president Datuk Agnes Shim, secretary general Datuk Yong Soo Pin, treasurer general Fung Chun Fatt and others.

Meanwhile, Goh said 112 teams would be competing in the dragon boat race this year.

He said the quality of the race would be higher than the year before especially with more participation from international teams including China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei.

In addition, Goh was confident that this year’s event would see overwhelming response from the public as the dragon boat race had drawn more than 10,000 spectators in previous years.

On another note, he thanked the State Government for its support in sponsoring RM150,000 for the event through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment.

He said the Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Teo Chee Kang had also facilitated RM10,000 in sponsorship for the event.

Goh said the budget for the dragon boat race was approximately RM500,000, adding that the remaining funds were raised from individual and corporate sponsorships.

The FCAS committee was delighted that the Chief Minister had agreed to attend the opening ceremony and prize presentation as the latter’s attendance would be a recognition and encouragement for the dragon boat race organised by the federation.

The public are urged to witness the exciting line-up of dragon boat races at Likas Bay starting 7am this weekend on May 21 and 22.