‘Grander Pakan Fest sign of better economic status among locals’
PAKAN: The staging of Pakan Fest, which gets grander each year since its inception about 20 years ago, reflects the tremendous improvement in the social economic status of the local folk.
Meluan assemblyman Rolland Duat attributes the large turnout throughout the nine- day festival to good road connectivity and improvement in the living standard of the people.
“The implementation of basic infrastructure, especially roads and bridges, has helped facilitate farming activities, gradually improving the people’s living standards.
“The people are now able to afford cars or four-wheel drive vehicles (4WDs), which enable them to move around more conveniently.
“I believe this is the reason for the huge crowd here tonight,” he said in officiating at the closing of this year’s festival on Saturday.
He added that although the drop in the prices of cash crops such as pepper appeared to have minimal impact on local farmers, he called upon them to diversify their crops and equip themselves with knowledge on information and communications technology ( ICT) to enable active participation in e-commerce or digital economy.
Rolland also contributed RM20,000 to Sarakup Indu Dayak Sarawak ( SIDS) Pakan branch for their efforts in staging the nine- day festival, which kicked off on Aug 18.
The highlight of the closing ceremony was the ‘ Kumang Pesta Pakan’ beauty pageant, which attracted nine contestants from across Sarikei Division.
Terina Roza, 20, from Julau was crowned the winner, with Imau Tedong and Syafiqah Empul placing first and second runner-up, respectively.
Earlier that day, Rolland was invited to fl ag off a convoy heading to the Rentap Memorial Tomb at Bukit Sibau near here.
The group, involving about 40 4WDs and 20 high-powered motorcycles, later proceeded to Ulu Skrang where they spent the night before returning here yesterday morning.
Deputy Sarikei Resident Abang Mohd Porkan Abang Budiman, Pakan District Officer Seruji Ludin and Julau police chief DSP Bidol Noyeng were among those present at the event.