Abdul Karim holds the festival logo while Harry (seated left), Zabariah (seated second left), Ting (seated second right) and the organising committee members give their thumbs-up to the event.
MIRI: The organising committee of Borneo Cultural & Food Festival (BCFF) 2017 paid a courtesy visit on Minister of Tourism,Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah in Kuching recently.
The group was led by president of Sarawak Chinese Association (SCA), Ting Pang Soon.
Organising chairman Harry Lee informed Karim that the cultural and food festival endorsed by Sarawak Information Centre is organised by SCA.
The event will be held at Boulevard open parking space from Nov 27 to Dec 3 this year.
The visit was made to invite Karim to the event as a special guest.
“Karim told us that Miri is located strategically for the event as it is next door to Brunei Darussalam. He wanted us to give more attention to promotion as publicity is the tool for success of an event,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Harry said Karim had suggested more interactive side activities such as photo booth.
“He wanted us to make it an annual festival or on a small scale but held monthly or weekly.”
CEO of Islamic Information Centre (SIC), Zabariah Matali joined those making the courtesy visit, saying the event showcases unity among ethnic communities in Sarawak.
As the city is the gateway to Sabah and Brunei, Zabariah hopes the event gets the support of people in Sabah and Brunei. Miri needs more signature events to pull in the crowds.
Five ethnic associations here comprising Malay Association Miri, Dayak Association Miri (DAM), Federation of Orang Ulu Association of Sarawak of Malaysia (Forum), Sikh Association Miri and Indian Association Miri are supporting the 10-day festival.
A list of programmes was drawn up for the festival namely street dance, Borneo Mandarin Singing Contest, performance from Silver City Music Records Enterprise, Borneo National Dance Contest, Cheongsam Costume Contest, street musical performance & singing competition, body building contest, Miss Model Recycle Clothing Contest and others.
The competition is offering RM1,000 cash for ‘The Best Decorated Stall’ followed by RM500 (second) and RM300 (third).