By ALWIN LAWRENCE
MUKAH: As has always been for the past years, Kaul festival continues to mesmerise with its steep culture, rituals and colours and people of the Melanau ethnic group.
More than that though, with changing trend and modern forces at play, the festival has drawn wider audiences, thanks to the borderless access of information in the digital era.
This year the festival has helped to increase the country’s economy tremendously, especially that of the local community.
This is proven by the increasing number of tourists coming into Mukah and staying in homestays, such as the one operated by Diana Rose, 54, called Lamin Dana.
“This year’s festival brought in locals and foreigners, which has made it a very encouraging year for us in Lamin Dana, as we have received tourists from not only Sarawak but also China, Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, and Japan,” she said when met by Suara Sarawak.
She added, “This shows that our Melanau culture is gaining more and more acceptance. Foreign media attended past festivals and it’s been featured in AirAsia’s travel magazine for the month of April.
“Because of this, press from all over have come here to witness and experience this festival.”
Diana started up the homestay in 1998 and discovered that after a couple of years as more and more people have become more aware of Kaul, her homestay is always fully-booked as the festival approaches.
“I hope that we can maintain this level of success. The younger generation will surely take over one day, so we are making efforts to recruit them to educate them on Kaul.
“The ones that we have previously recruited were children a while back and for now, we will provide them with opportunities to do what we have done.
“For the five years that I’ve been in Mukah, it has been my duty to discover youths who love the culture and customs of the Melanau people, including Lamin Dana,” she said happily.
Hundreds of children have been trained through a programme set up by Lamin Dana, as they have a special package for students to instil cultural values not just to Melanau children, but to children of all races, she said.
“This includes those from Peninsular Malaysia as every year, we get visits from them. Last year we received visitors from Cempaka International Kuala Lumpur, students from Europe, local students, and students from polytechnics all over the nation, including students from Yayasan Sarawak.
“We are planning to enter the Brunei market, especially Brunei International School,” she said.
