Kota Kinabalu- State-level Unduk Ngadau Pageant Organising Chairperson Jornah Mozihim said all 36 contestants in the State-level Unduk Ngadau beauty pageant spoke in their own dialect when they introduced themselves at the start of the event on May 31.
She said this was part of the rules and regulations governing the annual contest.
"We have the Kadazan, Dusun, Rungus, Tatana, Lundayeh, Murut, Lotud dialects and so on. All of them did well in their respective dialects during the introduction time," she said.
Jornah, who is Assistant Minister of Community Development and Consumer Affairs, said, however, that the contestants were at liberty to use any language of their choice during the Question and Answer session.
She was responding to Cash President Datuk Patrick Sindu who lamented that the contestants spoke in Bahasa instead of Kadazandusun.
However, Jornah concurred with Patrick on the inappropriateness of staging the Poco-Poco dance as part of the Kaamatan Festival celebration.
She said the line dance, where people dance in a line formation and in unison, originated from America, the Poco-Poco is an Indonesian version accompanied by Dangdut music.
"During the Harvest Festival, our age-old traditional dances of the Kadazandusun-Murut (KDM) community should take centrestage. We should not try to incorporate any dance that is alien to the spirit of the festivities as doing so might cause the celebration to lose its intrinsic value," she said.
Jornah felt there was nothing wrong in doing the dance off-stage as a form of exercise for enjoyment or socialising at community gatherings where everybody takes to the floor.
"From my observation, people at large love to perform the line dance, irrespective of age and the nature of the occasion."
In this respect, she suggested that Sabah have its own version of the line dance for recreation "so that we are not seen to be aping something that has its origin in a neighbouring country."
"I am sure our talented Sabahan artistes and dance choreographers can come up with a suitable line dance that reflects Sabah and its people."
Jornah also said she was not surprised by the inclusion of a lion dance performance in the Kaamatan Festival celebration organised by Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK).
"Kota Kinabalu is a predominantly Chinese area, yet the people want to celebrate Kaamatan with the KDM community.
It`s all right. In my opinion, it is still within the context of the 2007 State-level Kaamatan celebration theme `Harmony in Cultural Diversity`.
"While we (KDMs) appreciate and uphold our own culture, we, at the same time, show high regard for other local cultures."
Source: www.dailyexpress.com (11 Juni 2007)