Festival Permainan Malaysia promotes spirit of togetherness - Nancy

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- The “Festival Permainan Malaysia @ Kuala Lumpur 2022” (FPM@KL2022) can help revive and promote the spirit of togetherness among the multi-racial and multi-religious community in Malaysia.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the festival was in line with the National Culture Policy’s aim to strengthen unity and national identity.

“FPM@KL is an annual event on the tourism calendar held at the state level as a cultural tourism product.

“It aims to revive and promote the uniqueness of Malaysian traditional arts through traditional games in the metropolitan city,” she said in her speech at the launching ceremony of the festival here today.

Her speech text was read out by the ministry’s deputy secretary-general (management) Norazman Othman.

Nancy said Malaysia is rich in unique and interesting cultural heritage, including traditional games that resulted from the assimilation of various races in the country.

“These traditional games consist of porch games such as batu seremban, congkak, tutup botol and dam aji as well as court games like galah panjang, ketinting, gasing and konda-kondi.

“Most of these games are played in groups, thus creating social interaction that strengthens the bond between community members, and at the same time help create a balance between physical and mental health,” she said.

However, Nancy said, today’s technological advancement has brought people to the realm of virtual communication.

“This resulted in the development of various online games or e-games or e-sports that are becoming popular among young people, and this phenomenon needs to be managed well,” she added.

A total of 1,368 participants took part in the three-day programme managed by the National Department of Culture and Arts (JKKN) Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur City Hall, which began yesterday.

-- BERNAMA