Fatimah (centre) in a photocall with guests during the Pesta Kaul Dalat.
MUKAH (March 17): The ‘Pesta Kaul Dalat’, a Melanau Dalat cultural festival will be documented as a museum product at the Melanau Heritage Gallery in Dalat, upon completion of the second section of the building.
Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said the culture documentation seeks to preserve the intangible cultural heritage of the Melanau, particularly the customs, traditions and beliefs of the Melanau Dalat community.
“Kaul festival has been celebrated by the Melanau ethnic group since 400 years ago and we want the celebration to live on, for the younger generation,” she said during the closing of Kaul Kampung Sungai Ud Dalat at Kampung Sungai Ud community hall on Wed (March 15).
Cultural heritage preservation, she said, is essential as it keeps the artifacts and the traditions of a community intact against social shifts and changes in cultural practices.
“Cultures may change through time, and some beliefs may have changed too, but the cultural heritage ought not to be simply forgotten as these customs and cultures represent our identity and should be preserved for the reference of the younger generations.
While there is a need for the Melanau community to uphold their traditional culture, Fatimah believed that they should also move forward to become a developed nation, along with the other races in the country.
On a separate note, the Dalat assemblywoman disclosed that the administrative division may need to be subdivided to cater to the large number of villages in the constituency.
This is to ensure fair distribution of development, but some village areas which are inter-related in terms of sociocultural, as such may merge under one administrative division, she pointed out.
During the event, Fatimah presented a minor rural project (MRP) grant of RM5,000 to the Village Security and Development Committee of Kampung Sungai Ud, Dalat for the running of the Pesta Kaul Dalat.
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