As the cheers and chants of tribal songs and chatter filled the streets of downtown Kuala Lumpur during the second installment of the Borneo Native Festival, it was a momentous occasion that brought together hundreds of Borneans in celebration of Kaamatan and Gawai celebrations. Started by Raffy Syazwan, who is Bajau-Suluk descended and tuns the entrepreneurship incubator and community events NGO Sukaseni created the Borneo Native Festival out of his own experience after being unable to return home to celebrate important festivals and celebrations while living and working in Peninsular Malaysia.
“I felt like I needed to do this for my people … and the festival programme aims to empower (native Borneo) culture and highlight the lifestyle of the Malaysian Borneo community, especially to peninsular Malaysia as well as tourist from abroad,” said Raffy, who added that there was a huge demand for the event and he hoped to bring more content and better things to future festivals.
“My favourite memory was seeing the people come together, and social media users saying they were overwhelmed to see their families and community there. There were even kids as young as five, who were at the festival dressed up in their traditional clothes and that was a sign to me that I’ve done my best.” This year’s event had the support of Malaysian government entities like Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.
