Kota Kinabalu: The Kalimaran Festival 2024 is postponed to June as Ramadan and Hari Raya falls on March and April while May is reserved for Kaamatan.
Festival founder Datuk Rubin Balang said this is also because the Sabah Cultural Board (SCB) has yet to receive funding for the event.
“I hope all quarters understand the true vision and mission of organising the festival,” he said in a statement.
Rubin warned Murut ethnic group activists not to be racist in the matter of organising the festival.
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“This includes Melalap Assemblyman Datuk Peter Anthony, as long as he cooperates with the SCB and Sabah’s Murut tribe associations, especially the Murut Timugon who are the majority sub-ethnic in Melalap,” he said.
He said the objective of the event is to motivate the present and future Murut generations.
“That’s why when organising the festival, officials are those knowledgeable about Murut cultural customs except for those involved in additional side entertainment events organised by the SCB.
“The festival is organised to bring together and foster the cooperation of the Murut tribe so that the culture and customs are not lost over time but rather preserved, maintained and developed from generation to generation forever.
“This is in addition to extending good relations to any other tribe regardless of religion and customs and subsequently help the government attract tourists from abroad to visit Malaysia,” he said.
In 2003, former CM Tan Sri Musa Aman allocated RM200,000 to organise the festival in a grand manner.
The Muruts during the British colonial period celebrated the Panawari and Injawari festivals which took the name of the month of January.
The Sabah Murut Association (SMA) later decided to rename it as the Kalimaran Festival which encompasses all of the tribe’s cultural customs.
SMA organised the first Kalimaran Festival in 2018 in several Murut majority districts which was also sponsored by former PM Najib Razak.
In 2022, the festival was organised in Kemabong, Tenom, officiated by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan with financial support approved by CM Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
“The following year, the festival was organised at the Murut SBC cultural centre in Kg Pulong, Tenom, also sponsored by Hajiji.
“We thank him for his generosity and kindness to attend the event and even officiate it,” Rubin said.
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