By Martin Yee
KUCHING: Kuching may be a charming city but truth be told, it is a hive of activity only during the day but quiet descends on much of it, even the main streets at the heart of the city, at night.
The lack of vibrancy at the city centre is what strikes tourists or visitors to Sarawak usually at night as they usually stay at the city centre where the main hotels are.
The impression one gets is that the city does not have much to offer to even the local population at night.
Even at the Kuching Waterfront where the main activities, both during the day and night, take place is not as vibrant as what you would experience in Penang and Kuala Lumpur.
Only once in a while when there are events organised does the place come alive but it is not a throughout the year thing that can light up the city.
Local residents tend to move to the suburbs for their night life in search of food and entertainment.
When we compare Kuching to a city like Penang it seems we are years behind in the promotion of city for an energetic nightlife.
Penang for example, which is known as the “city that never sleeps” befits the moniker as their various attractions at night give them an aura of a global city with its food delights such as hawker stalls, cultural places where the visitors can go at night and the night market.
Along the seafront it is bustling with cafes or restaurants all of which are usually teeming with people.
They also have their “hidden bars” where there are large crowds at night.
They also have their lively night market throughout the week something like our Sunday Market when it was held even at night years ago at the Satok area.
Sarawak is not short of attractive events supported by the government such as the famous World Rainforest Music Festival that is a main draw for tourists to the state and many musical, sports events, the Kuching Festival and the October held WhatAboutKuching or WAK Festival.
However these events are not held throughout the year.
According to a local businessman in the travel business, there should be activities organised throughout the year to make the city a lively one especially at night instead of being dead in the heart of the city.
“People have moved to the suburbs where the nightlife is but the heart of the city is where the visitors are based, hence this is where the commercial and supporting tourism trade should be based.
“We have no activities organised in the heart of the City or the tourism belt throughout the year so there is no vibrancy felt at night.
“It needs funding of course whether we can take pains to make it more attractive,.
“If there are activities in the centre of town like the Padang Sentral or Waterfront the people will move to the town centre area.
“Kuching is a charming city and the city centre is the heartbeat of the city where there should be more activities going on.
“For a start we should take the cue from other cities like Penang for example who are more relaxed on their restrictions on food and drinks for example.”
The city council, he said, should look into this as Kuching aspires to be a global city.
In the same breath he credited government agencies for good work in making Kuching a clean and well kept city with not much traffic problems or crime.
However to make Kuching more attractive to tourists there is a need to make it more exciting.
It must add to the creative and cultural aspect by giving more creative outlet to youths who are willing to contribute to society with their organising of events of various types which include entertainment to add some colour and excitement to the heart of the city throughout the year.
He said the WhataboutKuchig or WAK community is one group that can create and organise activities throughout the year.
These groups of local people – mostly youth can come forward to help but their main drawback is a lack of financial support and even private sector sponsorship is lacking.
The businessman who used to organise events said local organisers are discouraged by the high cost of say renting the Padang Merdeka and that it will do a world of good if a token sum is charged to organise events to make it viable.
Also unlike say Kuala Lumpur there is a lack of big sponsors and big corporationswho can sponsor say RM10 million or more over there while in Sarawak those who are willing to sponsor mostly give small amounts or sponsor in kind.
Also he said another way they can draw big crowds is by organising events that cater to all races as very often we tend to focus on certain communities for example the Mooncake Festival or Dayak communities or other communities.
“It should be general or “mutli-culturalcentric” and not confined to one community.”
Kuching he said is already a nice city with its various attractions but tthat it must embrace the new standard where the city can be made more vibrant especially at night.
