Sabariah paints the railing during the gotong royong and beautification programme for Kampung Masjid, Bintangor, and Bandarshah waterfront yesterday.
KUCHING: Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) wants the city to be dynamic, liveable and a preferred city to stay in.
DBKU Datuk Bandar Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Abang Julai said the commission wants to see that Kuching City as not only interesting, cheerful and full of energy with its dynamic, active and healthy city residents, but also shine in its economy and social aspects.
“To achieve this, DBKU has prepared an integrated corporate planning involving all citizens.
“That is why, every beginning of the year, DBKU will have its own agenda which is a platform and collaboration with the public particularly on 3Ps (Public, People and Private companies) where community, corporate/private and government agencies are involved.
“All these three sectors will organise varieties of programmes and for 2019, we will focus on heritage,” said Abang Abdul Wahap, when officiating at a gotong royong and beautification programme for Kampung Masjid, Bintangor, and Bandarshah here and to present the Jasmine plant to the community of Satok, here yesterday.
The programme was part of DBKU’s CBS (Clean, Beautiful and Safe) plan to beautify the landscape of Kuching City.
The plan also aims at promoting the Malay villages in the city especially in Satok area, so that they will be part of the tourists attractions for Visit Malaysia Year 2019.
He said the government, in particular DBKU, wants to revive the heritage which has been left by the previous generations, so that the present generations would be able to appreciate them.
“We feel that through cultural heritage practices, we will be able to strengthen and defend the national integration and the spirit of unity among the people.
“DBKU feels that there is a necessity to revive back the heritage that has been left by our ancestors, that suit our theme for next year, to empower our community towards Kuching City and a City of Heritage,” he said.
He disclosed that DBKU would organise a 7-day cultural festival from March 25-31, 2019 at the Kuching Waterfront in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia Year.
Among the programmes planned are roadshows on unity, heritage, apart from exhibitions by government agencies and the private sector.
“We hope that the local communities will be able to protect and preserve our environment, working hand-in-hand with each other to make Kuching City to be more green, beautiful and contribute less to carbon emission and to make Kuching City a healthy city,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy State Secretary Datu Sabariah Putit who also spoke, said that the Malay villages in and around Satok area have been named Kampung Heritage.
“It is an initiative of Sarawak State Government to turn the area into a tourist destination.
“Kampung Heritage is one of four components in Old Kuching Heritage named by the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, among the initiatives under Sarawak Digital Economy Strategy for 2018-2022.
“It is also part of the initiatives of the State Government to make Kuching City a historical city which is acknowledged by the world and becomes the catalyst to uplift the tourism sector,” she said.
She added Sarawak and Kuching for instance, has many potentials especially among the villages in the city.
“We have plenty of valuable treasures which we didn’t really look after. Take for example, among the Malay community, they are known for their ‘Keringkam’ (traditional Malay embroideries with gold or silver thread), which we don’t have that many who can make them, but now at Centexs, we train about 23 students to make Keringkam, so that it would not become extinct, and we can bring Keringkam to the world,” she said.