Abang Johari gets formal invite to officiate at ATA event
KUCHING: A delegation led by Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah yesterday paid a courtesy call on Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg at the latter’s office in the State Legislative Assembly ( DUN) building here.
The aim of the visit was to extend a formal invitation to Abang Johari to officiate at the 23rd Asian Television Awards (ATA) scheduled to take place on Jan 12 at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching ( BCCK).
The delegation comprised among others Asian Television Awards Sdn Bhd director Koh Jik Seng, permanent secretary to the ministry Hii Chang Kee and event advisor Sim Kiang Chiok.
Kuching City will be hosting this extravagant event that would be watched by potentially two billion viewers as it would be broadcast l ive across 22 countries. The hosts at this year’s event include the legendary former MTV Asia VJs May Wan and Choy Wan together with Adrian Jalaludin, Wallace Ang and Mark Zambrano.
ATA is held to give recognition to excellence in programming, production and performance with a total of 42 categories being offered.
Launched in 1996, ATV is Asian TV industry’ s most significant and celebrated event and represents the industry’s foremost recognition to independant production houses in Asia.
For the event in Kuching, it will be held from Jan 11-13 and features a gala dinner on the first day, while the live show with red carpet and awards presentation will be held on the second day, to be followed by a public concert on the third day.
A long list of Asian celebrities and high- profile inf luencers are expected to grace the event, including Malaysian actor/singer Alvin Chong and Indonesian singer Via Valen, who sang the theme song in the recently concluded Asian Games.