Sarawak may look at licensing Rainforest World Music Festival events to be held outside State

Sharzede and Zainal at a press conference at Damai Beach Resort on June 29, 2024. Photo credit: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB)

By Shikin Louis & Marlynda Meraw

KUCHING, June 30: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chief executive officer Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor has clarified that Sarawak is open to proposals to hold Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) events in other places.

She was responding to a reporter’s query on whether the annual festival would be moved to Thailand after Malaysian music legend Dato Zainal Abidin recently suggested a future collaboration between RWMF and Thailand’s music festivals.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘to move’. That’s not the (correct) word.

“But what is important is to tell people that if this (RWMF) is so successful, we can have another RWMF event in other places if they invite us—just like the Tomorrowland event,” she said when met by reporters at Damai Beach Resort here today.

Sharzede clarified that in the event that there is a possibility for RWMF to be hosted in Thailand, that does not mean that it will stop being held in its home venue of Sarawak.

“The iconic event is always here (in Sarawak). It’s the licence that you’re looking at, making sure you have a rainforest (RWMF) in Thailand, Vietnam, etc.

“However, it will always be Sarawak’s star (brand). We created it and we want it to be showcased as a Sarawak event but to have a ‘licensing’ or ‘franchising’ (agreement), that means you are really promoting and branding our RWMF further beyond our shores,” she added.

Yesterday (June 29), Zainal during a press conference, suggested a future collaboration between Thailand’s music festival organisers and Sarawak’s RWMF, stating that the RWMF could be organised by the Thailand government for a change.

“Definitely I would like to have a collaboration between Thai music festival organisers and the RWMF—we combine (them) together.

“Probably in the near future, we can have this festival (RWMF) to be moved to Thailand and organised by the Thailand government. It will be a very good collaboration and at the same time, we have greater impact on environmental conservation,” he said.

Following this, Sharzede who was present at the press conference yesterday, commented that such a proposal is ‘interesting’ but to realise it would need a lot of planning. — DayakDaily