By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, March 8: Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng lauded the council’s women staff for playing important roles to ensure that the council remains one of the best local authorities, not just in Sarawak or Malaysia, but in Asia.
He hoped that their skills and knowledge could raise MBKS’ standards—in serving the residents within the council’s jurisdiction even better, improving satisfaction for services rendered and giving a good image of the government.
“It is heartening to see so many MBKS women with different skills and knowledge. All your hard work and dedication are the reasons why we are able to keep Kuching South clean, vibrant, and a healthy city.
“As one of the city councils in Sarawak, we need to portray a good image and be a good example to other councils,” he said before presenting prizes to the winners of the MBKS Ladies Traditional Costumes competition which was held in conjunction with International Women’s Day at the council’s auditorium here today.
Meanwhile, on the competition, Wee said that Sarawak is blessed with various cultures and the competition sought to showcase and celebrate Sarawak’s beautiful and diverse cultures.
He pointed out that the people of Sarawak come from different ethnic backgrounds and have distinct sets of traditional attire that reflect their cultures.
“All the multi-ethnic traditional clothes of Malaysia, especially Sarawak, are multi-coloured, bespoke of their culture, and radiating vibrancy, and we would like to see cultural attire continue to grow in popularity,” he pointed out.
“Showing casing our cultural attire is also a great example to our younger generation to show them that our culture is not something that is reserved for museums and archives; instead, it is living and breathing.
“Through wearing and showcasing cultural fashions, we are paying homage to our ancestors while adapting and carrying it forward with us into the future,” he said.
The overall competition winner out of 24 contestants was Susan Lancaster, who wore a ‘Ngepan Iban’ or traditional Iban women’s attire. She won a cash prize of RM800 and a trophy.
The first runner-up was Marina Ahen who wore traditional Melanau attire. She won a cash prize of RM600 with a trophy. The second runner-up was Dolly Charles Saches who wore traditional Bidayuh attire. She won a cash prize of RM500 and a trophy. — DayakDaily
