Kota Kinabalu: The Kaamatan Festival celebration is being expanded to include not only the Kadazan Dusun Murut Rungus (KDMR) community, but all levels of society, regardless of background.
Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who is also the Chairman of the 2025 State-level Kaamatan Festival Main Organising Committee, said this year’s Kaamatan Festival will open doors to all sections of society, in line with its theme “Kaamatan For All”.
He said in addition to the Sugandoi and Unduk Ngadau competitions, various other contests will also be held, such as cooking, hospitality and handicraft competitions.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});“This time, the Kaamatan Festival is being held not only as a Harvest Festival but also a planting festival, where seven types of increasingly endangered herbal plants will be planted during the festival.
“This activity is one of the efforts to prevent valuable and precious herbal plant species from becoming extinct.
“Besides cultural performances, this Kaamatan Festival is being used as a platform for dialogue, where an Intercultural Dialogue programme will be held to discuss local culture involving foreign countries.
“This dialogue will discuss how we can celebrate together or understand cultures other than our own. Currently, we have held dialogues with Indonesia, Korea and our neighbour the Philippines,” he said.
Dr Jeffrey, who is also State Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister, said this Tuesday after recording a programme with RTM Sabah at the Communications Ministry Integrated Complex here, after chairing the State-level Kaamatan Festival Main Organising Committee meeting.
Meanwhile, a total of 21 participants will compete for the championship titles in the Manangon, Monusuya, Roisol Digital and Face-to-Face Competitions held in conjunction with the 2025 State-Level Kaamatan Festival celebration at Hongkod Koisaan on May 25.
Competition Chairman Rayner F Udong said following a three-day judging process, the organising committee for the Manangon, Monusuya and Roisol competitions had selected 21 participants to advance to the finals, which will be broadcast live on Facebook and TVsabah.
“They consist of 21 participants – seven pupils from Primary Level 1, another seven from Primary Level 2 and seven secondary school students who successfully qualified for the finals after passing the evaluation process.
“Finalists must be accompanied by a teacher from their respective schools and all storytelling video submissions will be shared on Facebook and TVsabah for public viewing.
“Entries for the Manangon, Monusuya and Roisol competitions were submitted in the form of storytelling videos with a duration of 3 to 5 minutes for Primary Level 1 and 1 to 7 minutes for Primary Level 2, which were sent online to the competition committee,” he said.
Rayner added that the closing ceremony is expected to be officiated by Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who is also the Main Chairman of the 2025 State-level Kaamatan Festival Main Committee. He will also present prizes to the winners.
“The champions of the Primary Level 1, Level 2 and Secondary School categories will each receive a cash prize of RM1,000, a trophy, a bouquet of flowers and a certificate of appreciation.
“The first runners-up will receive RM800 along with a trophy, bouquet and certificate, while the second runners-up will take home RM500, a trophy, bouquet and certificate.
“Four consolation prize winners will each receive RM100, a trophy, bouquet and certificate,” he said.
Rayner said the Manangon, Monusuya and Roisol competitions are vital to preserving, developing and mastering mother tongues and various ethnic dialects, serving as a channel to instil love for these languages among the younger generation.
“This initiative also aims to encourage young people to master speaking and writing in the standardised Kadazandusun language, based on the Bundu-Liwan dialect and enriched with other dialects,” he said.
KDCA has collaborated with the Sabah Education Department, institutions of higher learning and the Kadazandusun Language Foundation (KLF) to advance the annual organisation of the Manangon, Monusuya and Roisol Competitions in the Kadazandusun Language in conjunction with the State-level Kaamatan Festival celebrations.
“The Manangon competition has been held since 2018, Monusuya began in 2021 and Roisol was introduced this year.
“In 2023, 2024 and this year, the Education Department has been directly involved. As such, the Sabah Education Director has been appointed as Co-Chairperson in the Implementing Committee meetings, with the Deputy Director also appointed as Co-Deputy Chairperson,” he said.
He added that the Manangon and Monusuya competitions serve as the best and most effective platforms to ensure that ethnic languages, particularly the Dusunik, Murutik and Paitinik (DMP) language families, continue to be preserved and developed to avoid extinction.
The underlying intention of these competitions is to ignite the spirit among Sabah’s indigenous communities to cherish their native languages, while also serving as a platform to share folktales with younger generations, helping them connect with past narratives as part of efforts to preserve and document these traditional stories.
He said the programme also provides an opportunity to discover talent and creativity through authentic storytelling, appreciating folktales, traditional works, original compositions and true stories – all of which support the learning of the mother tongue and help improve the use of correct Kadazandusun grammar.
