Joanna (seated fifth from left) and the coordinators after the meeting.
KOTA KINABALU (April 1): The woman who would be crowned as the next Unduk Ngadau on May 31, this year, will also embrace the role of “Culture, Agritourism and Nature (CAN) ambassador.
Chairperson of the 2022 Sabah-level Unduk Ngadau pageant, Tindarama Joanna Kitingan, said that CAN was a new title that will be introduced in the Unduk Ngadau pageant beginning this year.
“This means she will be carrying out her duties to promote Sabah based on CAN,” said Joanna after chairing the district coordinators meeting.
She added that contestants selected for this year’s State-level Unduk Ngadau pageant will be asked to submit a one-minute video on CAN at their district which will be judged by professional judges and the marks will be added to their overall marks.
“They will speak in their mother tongue but will have subtitles on their video with one page of synopsis. This will bring out their creativity in their presentation in their mother tongue,” she said.
Joanna also urged the local government such as the district office, municipal council and City Hall to create a role of promoter for their Unduk Ngadau winner who can be asked to market their district, town or city for an entire year before the next winner is selected.
“This way, the winner will have a role to play and not just to crown the next Unduk Ngadau pageant winner,” she said.
Joanna who is also the KDCA Woman Council chair, also called on all sub-district and district level coordinators to always uphold the organizing of Unduk Ngadau to empower the young women as did Humidon who empowered herself to be a willing sacrifice for her people.
She added that as coordinators of the Unduk Ngadau pageant at their respective sub-district and district, they are to uphold the dignity of women and to remind the young KDMR (Kadazandusun Murut and Rungus) women to respect their parents, particularly their mothers as she have brought them into the world.
She reminded that the Unduk Ngadau pageant was not merely a beauty contest as it upheld the sacrifice of Huminodun and preserved the KDMR culture.
She then urged the coordinators to help the women crowned as their district and sub-district Unduk Ngadau and to look after them as if they were their own daughter or sister.
Joanna reminded that the Unduk Ngadau contest has been recognized as the oldest cultural pageant in Malaysia and as coordinators, they were responsible to ensuring that their Unduk Ngadau was dressed modestly and elegantly in a classic and practical evening ethnic wear, for example, and not according to the whims of attire designers.
Joanna added that all coordinators have been given the same guidelines and rules for the Unduk Ngadau competition, including the criteria for the evening wear at the State and district levels.
Meanwhile, 14 people, including Joanna and the reigning Unduk Ngadau, Maya Hejnowska, would be making their way up to the summit of Mount Kinabalu this week.
Joanna said that climbing Mt Kinabalu has become a tradition of the Sabah-level Unduk Ngadau pageant since Hosiani Keewon won the State-level Unduk Ngadau pageant in 2018.
Hosiani, who represented Inanam, was the first reigning Sabah-level Unduk Ngadau to reach the summit of Mt Kinabalu, followed by Francisca Ester Nain.