2006 Sarawak Traditional Sports Carnival

Y.B. Datin Hajah Fatimah Abdullah officiating the 2006 Sarawak Traditional Sports Carnival

The
2006 Sarawak Traditional Sports Carnival was held in Mukah from the
11th-12th of November 2006 at the Dataran Pehin Setia Raja and was
organised by the Ministry of Social Development and Urbanisation
Sarawak (KPSU) with the cooperation of the Mukah Resident’s Office, the
Sarawak Gasing Association and the Kuching Wau Association.

By
definition, traditional sports in Sarawak refer to activities that have
sporting characteristics, which are historically related towards the
multicultural races of Sarawak. In 1996, the Sports Division of the
KPSU realised that there was very little awareness about traditional
sports. From their point of view, traditional sports was a vital
activity that would be able to encourage unity, with people from all
races coming together to participate and share their knowledge about
their sports with each other.

Hence, the first-ever Sarawak
Traditional Sports Carnival was held in Kuching in 1996, subsequently
becoming a yearly event in Kuching. However, from 2001 onwards, KPSU
decided to allow other towns to host the carnival so as to ensure that
people all over Sarawak would be exposed to it, these being Kapit,
Miri, Sri Aman, Sarikei and Tebedu.
The objectives of the sports carnival are as follows:

1. To ensure that traditional sports are not ignored by modernisation
2. To popularise Sarawak’s traditional sports amongst the local people
3. To display Sarawak’s traditional sports amongst tourists
4. To become aware of the importance of preserving traditional sports as a cultural heritage
5. To promote a healthy attitude of sportsmanship amongst the competitors
6. To discover new talents within traditional sports as a means of preparation for competitions at a higher level
7. To display the skills of producing traditional sporting equipment
8. To collect data and conduct research that is related towards the types of traditional sports for future reference
9. To develop the infrastructure of each type of traditional sports

11
contingents representing the various divisions of Sarawak (Kuching,
Samarahan, Sri Aman, Sibu, Miri, Limbang, Sarikei, Kapit, Bintulu,
Mukah and Betong) as well as specially invited contingents from the
Royal Malaysia Police Force (PDRM) and the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM)
participated in this year’s sports carnival, coming to a total of 13
contingents with 53 participants per contingent. Participants were
selected from the winners or runner-ups of traditional sports’
competitions or traditional sports’ programmes that were held at the
local community or village level.

It was compulsory for the contingents to participate in all the sports that were being competed, as listed below:

1. Sepak-Raga Bulatan
2. Sepak Bulu Ayam (Tating)
3. Tug-of-war
4. Blowpipe
5. Batak Lampong
6. Payu Orang Ulu (Wrestling)
7. Gasing
8. Badang Sarawak
9. Wau Making and Flying Competition

These
traditional sports were selected by the KPSU for the 2006 carnival so
as to ensure that the sports were given an equal footing in terms of
competition time, presenting a balanced reflection of the various
cultures within Sarawak.

Point for each sport was allocated
according to the placing of the contingents during the respective
competitions, with the first, second and third placed winners being
awarded 3 points, 2 points or 1 point respectively. Overall, the
Limbang contingent emerged as the champions with 23 points whereas the
Samarahan and PDRM contingents reached joint second place with 17
points each while the third place went to Mukah with a total of 14
points. The winners were rewarded with trophies, commemorative towels
and cash prizes that amounted to RM 10 thousand.

In his
closing speech, Y.B. Dato’ Sri William Mawan ak Ikom said that
traditional sports must be given the chance to become as popular other
sports in order to preserve Sarawak’s culture as well as providing a
means for both the young and old to participate in recreational
activities.
As for next year, the 2007 Sarawak Traditional Sports Carnival will be held during September in Betong.

Rakan Sarawak News –


Sepak raga bulatan in motion	Team spirit through tug-of-war

Men taking part in the blowpipe competition	Deciding who is stronger through 'batak lampong'

Payu Telanga/Payu Bah: the ultimate in traditional wrestling	Skills and techniques are put to the test in the gasing competition