Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah speaks at the dinner. – Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING (May 26): This year’s edition of the Borneo Jazz Festival will be organised by the Miri City Council (MCC), revealed Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He said MCC mayor Adam Yii and his team will be heading to the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia to learn on how to organise a jazz festival.
The Java Jazz Festival is the largest jazz festival in Southeast Asia, he added.
“For this year’s Borneo Jazz Festival, I think it’s time to let Miri City to organise it. All this while it has been organised by Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), so I think it is high time for us to outsource it to the Mirians and we can nurture them.
“That is why for (MCC to) get to know all these, they are also going to Jakarta to see how a Jazz festival is organised, and hopefully we will have many more interesting musical events in Sarawak apart from the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF),” said Abdul Karim.
He said this at an appreciation dinner organised by The Generations at Urban Residences here tonight.
The dinner was held in conjunction with the success of The Generations’ ‘Creative Unique Sarawak 2023’ event held in February this year.
Having pointed out that his Ministry is giving a lot of emphasis on musical events in the state, Abdul Karim also said he will also be tagging along to the Java Jazz Festival to explore on how the organisers there manage the event.
“Probably if we are able to tie some kind of understanding, maybe some of the bands that are performing at Java Jazz Festival – we hope to be able to bring some of them for the Borneo Jazz Festival as well as Kuching Jazz Festival,” he said.