Sarawakians invited to finale of Festival Danau Sentarum-Betung Kerihun 2017
KUCHING: Sarawakians are invited to visit Lanjak, Kapuas Hulu in Indonesia, which is about 40 minutes drive from Lubok Antu, for the finale of the Festival Danau Sentarum-Betung Kerihun 2017 from tomorrow (Oct 25) until this Saturday.
Indonesian consul general in Kuching, Jahar Gultom said access will be relaxed for Sarawakians entering from Indonesia’s entry point in Badau to visit the festival, such as allowing them to enter using identification card ( IC) instead of passport.
“They can leave their IC at Badau border gate, and they will be issued with pass, but only if they come for the festival,” he told a press conference yesterday, after chairing a joint meeting to coordinate final preparations for the festival, at a hotel here.
He believes the similarities in culture between Ibans of Sarawak and Dayaks in Kapuas Hulu will be an added attraction for Sarawakians to visit the festival, apart from witnessing and participating in the many exciting activities.
The activities include ethnic music festival featuring sape, a ‘gasing’ competition, blowpipe competition, sampan rowing competition, traditional dish cooking competition and a cultural carnival featuring traditional games.
There is also a 68km cycling event across the Heart of Borneo, starting from Badau to Kedungkang and then to Lanjak on Saturday morning.
On the final night (this Saturday night), there will be performances from specially invited Indonesian popular singers Zaskia Gotik and Nugie.
Those coming for the festival can also take a boat ride along Danau Sentarum to enjoy its natural beauty.
“We expect some 6,000 domestic and foreign visitors to this carnival, including about 1,000 from Sarawak. We hope from events like this, we can encourage more cooperation from both Sarawak and West Kalimantan to promote tourism especially the travel agencies to come up with tour packages to places of interests in both sides,” he said.
Danau Sentarum and Betung Kerihun are two national parks in the regency of Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan.
Both these national parks are under the Heart of Borneo, a natural conservation area which also includes Brunei and the regions of Sarawak and Sabah.
It was also announced at the press conference that the number of Sarawakians visiting Kapuas Hulu through Badau had increased yearly, with statistics showing 8,000 Sarawakians passing through Badau last year.
The visit to Kapuas Hulu is said not only for tourism purposes, but also for business as some Sarawakians go there to look for Sultan fish and also to buy cultural items.
Activities for the Festival Danau Sentarum-Betung Kerihun 2017 had actually started since May, and almost 550 people from Sarawak had come for some activities in August.
It was also revealed that 13 longhouse chiefs from Lubok Antu were invited for the festival’s finale.