By Ling Hui and Nur Ashikin Louis
DARO, Aug 14: The Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts (MTCP) Sarawak will look into adding the Daro Festival to the State tourism calendar.
Its Minister, Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, said he wished to see the festival be held as a State tourism event for years to come.
“In terms of funding, the festival’s organisation will be arranged through the ministry.
“The ministry will channel the funds, and this will involve the district office and people’s representatives, and then we can plan some interesting activities for this festival in the times to come,” he said when officiating at the 2022 Daro Festival broadcast on Sarawak Public Communications Unit’s (Ukas) Facebook livestream today.
Meanwhile, Daro assemblyman Safiee Ahmad, during his speech earlier, stated that his team has planned to have the Daro Festival to be included under MTCP by next year so that it can be implemented in a better and more significant way.
“I have visited several stalls yesterday (Aug 13) and some operators have informed me that they were able to earn sales revenue of about RM4,000 per day. So overall, I can say that there is almost RM1 million in economic spin-off from the Daro Festival.
“This does not yet include other businesses in Daro where hotels are fully booked, and coffee shops are so crowded that you must queue up first before entering. So those who benefited are none other than the Daro community itself,” he said.
The Daro Festival commenced on Aug 5 with 159 stalls operating at Tapak Pesta Daro.
It is held annually to commemorate the recognition of Daro as a district in Sarawak, apart from celebrating the contribution, teamwork, and unity of various communities in Daro.
Amongst those present were Chief Political Secretary to Premier Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman; Igan MP Ahmad Johnie Zawawi; Balingian assemblyman Abdul Yakub Arbi, Tellian assemblyman Royston Valentine and Mukah Resident Kueh Lei Poh. — DayakDaily
