By Nurfaizah Aqilah
GOMBAK, 15 December 2019 – After seven years of remaining silence since 2012, Malaysia emerged fourth place in Global Ummatic Festival 2019 for cultural performances last Thursday (12 December).
It was the first time Malaysia became one of the finalists of that grand annual international festival of IIUM.
Malaysia was represented by IIUM students from Ikatan Anak-Anak Sabah (IKAS) who were sponsored by Hidayah Centre Foundation and Momogun Muslim Society.
The cultural performances also received cooperation from other Malaysian students, International Office of IIUM and IIUM Kenyalang Union (IKON) from Sarawak.
Malaysia has 14 states and each state represents different cultures and the country has more than 40 different tribes. For this very first time, Malaysia displayed different side of the country, which is a cultural performance from Sabah.
It was the contemporary hat dance and tribe warrior dance from one of the Sabah tribes called Dusun.
The performances that they showed touched the audiences’ heart, especially the song that they sang at the end of their performance which is Adam by Faizal Tahir.
It was a song that tells people all around the world to practise and observe unity of the people regardless of skin colour, race and religion. At that moment, the darkness in IIUM Cultural Centre (ICC) Hall disappeared with a flash of light from all the audience as a symbol of support and unity of the IIUM community.
One of the audiences, Nur Safiah Saipul in her response said, “It was a very touching and heartwarming performance that I shed my tears. Thank you Malaysia, IKAS and also to people who are involved in this performance.”
It was a great success for Malaysia and also a memorable achievement for Ikatan Anak-Anak Sabah (IKAS) as the first Malaysia’s representative at the international festival at the same time bringing success for Malaysia.
Junaidy Abidin, the programme manager for Malaysia’s representative said: “For Malaysia, from the performers, to the exhibitors, to the supporters, for us to actually come together to do this, is to me, the most memorable achievement this year.
Malaysians who are fans of Ummatic Fest can finally feel the excitement to cheer for their country together during the cultural performance, something that many have not witnessed for so many years.”
Malaysia won fourth place for the cultural demonstration after defeating eight other countries, a few of them have won before. Indonesia won first place, followed by Somalia at second place, Singapore at third place, and Bangladesh, fifth place. ***
