Tawau holds International Cultural Festival

TAWAU: This year’s sixth Tawau International Cultural Festival (FKAT), themed ‘Kebudayaan Untuk Kedamaian Serantau’ (Culture For Regional Peace), is held from March 15 to 20.

Tawau Municipal Council (TMC) president Alijus Sipil yesterday said various events would be held including the FKAT summit on March 20 at TMC Square, in front of the council building.

He said the launching was expected to be done by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Aman on Sunday night.

Alijus said a total of 28 ethnic groups from Tawau and three from neighbouring countries, namely Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines would be performing their unique cultural performances with each ethnic group sending between 25 to 30 participants.

About 50,000 visitors are expected to be present during the opening night.

He said while the theme of the festival was fixed, the concept selected for this year was ‘Sulam Budaya’ (Embroidery Culture) which aimed to show every ethnic handicraft to youths who had forgotten the ethnic handicraft ‘treasure’.

Besides a parade, other exciting events will be held including exhibition of every ethnic group and performances starting today at the Sabindo Plaza open area.

Alijus said this year would see local artistes Salmah Mentor, Kumpulan Lawak Zero and Hafiz AF performing.

He said among the new things introduced this year would be an arena-shaped stage for visitors to see the performances closer, and four LED screens.

There would be another new program this year, the exchange of information on culture and knowledge among the participants, especially the international participants apart from promoting tourism at international level.

Alijus reminded the public that there would be rehearsals on March 16 to 18 at 7pm and Jalan Persekutuan in front of the Tawau High Court and TMC would be closed to motorists.