SIBU: Deputy chairman of Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) Daniel Ngieng wants the people here to turn public parks into dance parks.
Speaking yesterday at a welcoming lunch for 1,000 folk dancers in 53 troupes that gathered here for the Sarawak–Sabah Mass Folk Dance Integration, he said this was what the council’s tourism project at the upgraded Lake Garden in Oya Road had tried to achieve to draw visitors.
He said an open-air stage had been erected, and for groups promoting folk dances, he wanted them to use the facilities at Lake Garden and those in other public parks.
“As life improves in Malaysia, people turn from their struggle for basic needs to art and cultural activities.”
Ngieng, who represented Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh at the function, noted this had caused folk dance organisations to mushroom in the last decade, and in Sibu, folk dancing had also become a popular past time.
Ngieng said besides the Lake Garden, people had also gone to enjoy Sibu Gateway and Rejang Esplanade.
Ngieng said he had been to Han Zhou and was impressed by people socialising in public parks as they gathered for chess, wushu and folk dances.
He wanted Sibu public parks to be alive in the same way.
“Improvement of life does not mean only economic development and higher pay. It must include the various aspects of life; the cultural aspect is one.”
The organising chairwoman Ivy Su said folk dances in Malaysia were promoted by non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“They pool their resources to learn from scrap, and today they perform professionally.”
Chairman of SUPP Lanang Road Service Centre Oliver Kuo praised the folk dancers for striving for perfection.
He said the art of dancing knows no boundaries and it had led to global goodwill.