Ik Pahon (second right) places a bead necklace as a welcoming gesture to a puppeteer while others look on.
KUCHING: The 2nd Rainforest World Puppet Carnival being held here will hopefully enhance the development of arts and works of puppeteers in Malaysia.
Permanent secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture,Youth and Sports Datu
Ik Pahon Joyik said the ministry had been entrusted to develop those arts and also the local puppeteers.
“We do have these art performances in Malaysia but there is a lack of promotion. For this, the ministry is supportive of what have been done to bring these unique arts to our hometown Kuching.
“Forty-three professional pupeteers from 17 countries are participating this time. It is being held at the Old Courthouse. There are also workshops to be held,” he said in his welcoming speech before opening the carnival, which runs from Nov 4 to 11 at Plaza Merdeka here.
“Those interested, please come along as it is free-of- charge event. Bring your children along and I am sure they will enjoy the performances,” he said.
Ik Pahon said this is the seond time the carnival is held here. The first one was held in 2015.
He said the inaugural carnival attracted only 15 puppeteers from 10 countries but through words of mouth more puppeteers from New Zealand, Argentina, Japan, Finland, China, Kazakhstan, India, Belgium, Russia, Tunisia, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Ireland, France, Poland and host Malaysia are coming this time.
Earlier, a representative of the carnival organisers and supporters, Gerald Goh, said the objective of the carnival is to provide a platform for local enthusiasts to learn from the puppeteers so they could create their own signature puppet show one day.
The free puppet show and workshops will be held at Sarawak Tourism Complex (Old Courthouse) from Nov 5-10 and the closing ceremony will be on Nov 11 at the Kuching Waterfront.
World Puppet Carnival executive director Rob Petrovic from the Czech Republic was also present at the press conference.