Chinese festival highlights Sabah's racial harmony

Jan 25, 2016
By Olivia Miwil
olivia@nst.com.my
Pictures by Lano Lan

KOTA KINABALU: The annual Chinese New Year Assembly of Dragons, Unicorns and Lions festival on Saturday showcased the multiracial community in Sabah.

This year, the kompang joined the usual drums, cymbals and gongs in the one-day festival held at the Likas Sports Complex here.

About 10,000 people were dazzled by the lion dance troupe as they performed the magunatip or bamboo dance,

The event was organised by the United Sabah Chinese Communities Association Kota Kinabalu.
Its president John Lim YU Sin, said the inclusion of the kompang and the bamboo dance was to promote unity and acceptance among the people in Sabah.

"For almost 30 years, the committee has been trying to make the festival more creative to ensure that Chinese culture, customs and traditions will be passed down to the next generation.

"We have participants between the age of 5 and 80," he said aside from the Chinese community, other races also took part in the performances.

Lim thanked the state government for its RM30,000 annual contribution and hoped to have the programme enlisted as part of Visit Malaysia Year 2017.

Another highlight of the event was the cultural village, which featured cuisine, culture, pottery, poetry and practices of the Hakka, Hainan, Yongchun and other Chinese ethnic groups.

Three mascots resembling Sun Wukong or Monkey king, a character from the Chinese classical novel Journey to the west, welcomed guest of honor Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, who said: "Our diversity is not an excuse for us to look for differences.

"Let us leverage on our diversity and turn this into a form of strength to shape a progressive and developed state."

Present were state Special Tasks Minister Datuk Teo Chee Kang, City Hall director-general Datuk Yeoh Boon Hai, China's Consul-General Chen Pei Jie and Chinese Association leaders.





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