Inaugural Borneo tribal music fest set for staging in Sibu this September

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Abdul Karim (centre) joins (from third left) Ling, Gan, Ting and Hii in a group photo with the performers.

SIBU (June 24): The Borneo Tribal Music Festival (BTMF) will be staged here for the first time, from Sept 23 to 24.

According to Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, the event is expected to host more than 10 performers from Sarawak and outside Malaysia.

In this regard, he was pleased that Sibu had come up with another homegrown event and would not want to be left behind in the music-festival segment of tourism.

“I am certainly pleased to see another potential signature event, besides the Borneo Cultural Festival (BCF), Sibu International Dance Festival (SIDF) and Sibu International Base Jump.

“This (BTMF) is an inaugural event; we’ll see how it goes. Being an inaugural show, of course there are limitations, but we hope that the first one for Sibu would be a very good one,” he said in a press conference here today.

Abdul Karim also pointed out that it would take a while to develop the BTMF into a signature event, depending on the organiser and those supporting the event.

“If it’s successful, of course we’d want it to be hosted again next year.

“As much as I love music, I would like this kind of thing to be held every year,” he said.

The minister also expressed hope for the festival to establish itself as a premier event in Central Sarawak and later on, to begin drawing more visitors to this region.

Abdul Karim, who is also the state Minister for Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development, said the multiplying effect of such event would boost the local economy.

In this sense, he disclosed that the number of visitors’ arrivals to Sarawak recorded from January to May this year was at 439,150, versus 56,278 visitors reported in the same period last year – translating to a jump of 680 per cent.

“For foreigners’ arrivals from January to May in 2021, we only managed to bring in 9,108, but this year, during the same period, we welcomed 43,404. That’s a jump of 376 per cent.

“For domestic tourists (from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah) from January to May last year, there were 47,170 visitors; this year, during the same period, there were 395,746.

“That’s a jump of 738 per cent,” he pointed out.

Abdul Karim also said in terms of tourism receipts registered from January to May last year, the amount was RM130 million; in the same period this year, the number reached RM1.001 billion.

“I believe people can feel it; the hotels, the restaurants, people are coming in, which means things are getting back to normal, and are picking up.”

Adding on, he said there would be more events coming up in Sarawak such as the Borneo Jazz Festival, Kuching Marathon, Miri Marathon, and also Miss Tourism International in Lundu.

Meanwhile, BTMF director Wilfrid Gan said the festival would take place at the Rejang Esplanade, going on from 5pm to 11pm each day.

He said coinciding with the first day of the festival, there would be a Borneo Ethnic Music Exchange Conference (BEMEC) to be held at the Regalia Room of Kingwood Hotel here, running from 9am until 4pm.

Those attending the press conference were Sibu MP Oscar Ling, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak Hii Chang Kee, and Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Clarence Ting.