KOTA KINABALU: This year’s Kaamatan will present a huge challenge and opportunity for Sabah’s creative industry to demonstrate its technical and creative capabilities.
State Kaamatan Main Organising Committee Chairman Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitinga said the committee is calling on creative talents in the state to come forward and collaborate with the committee to make this year’s event a success.
“As the committee chairman, I would like to personally invite them to support our technical and broadcasting committees so that we can begin the process of identifying creative talents and developing the industry in Sabah,” he said.
Kitingan assured industry players that the GRS government was aware of the slow development of the creative industry in Sabah and the lack of opportunities for talented individuals to advance within the industry locally.
“There is also a significant disparity in the attitude of the industry players in the peninsular towards the Borneo States.
“I am thankful to our very own filmmaker and writer Nadira Ilana for bringing this issue to our attention and I believe it was a timely reminder to stop the brain drain of creative and talented Sabahans.
“The Sabah government will look into the matter and take steps to ensure more opportunities are made available to our own people,” he said.
Pointing to neighbours Sarawak as an example, Kitingan said the time has come for Sabah to also build its own broadcasting capabilities and creative industry.
He said he has always believed that Sabah should have its own television station and has been advocating for it since the 1980s.
He believed the time has never been more opportune than now especially because Sabahans are more than capable of producing their own content that is more suitable and identifiable with the local audience.
“Sabahans are a talented lot. We have talented people in all of these fields – design, music, publishing, architecture, film and video, crafts, visual arts, fashion, TV and radio, advertising, literature, computer games, the performing arts.
“Many of them have already made a name for themselves through other mediums, especially the social media. However, the vast majority of them remain undiscovered.
“I believe that given the right opportunity, this industry has the potential to generate wealth and create job through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property,” he said.
Kitingan said as chairman of this year’s Kaamatan, he is eager to discover hidden gems among Sabahans and urged industry players to contact the committee as soon as possible.
“This year, Kaamatan will go international. Hence, it would be a great opportunity for Sabah to show the world our artistic talents,” he said.-pr/BNN
