This year’s KL Fest to include Ramadan-based activities

The organisers of the Kuala Lumpur Festival are targeting one million visitors for the month-long event that will end on July 31. The festival attracted 900,000 visitors last year.


Into its seventh chapter, the annual KL Fest will see a total of 86 activities, including performing arts, visual arts, heritage, literature and language, traditional games, recreation and traditional food, among others. According to National Department for Culture and Arts (JKKN) director-general Datuk Norliza Rofli, the difference in this year’s KL Fest will be the inclusion of the Ramadan Festival.

Activities galore: Norliza holding up a publicity leaflet on the launch of the Kuala Lumpur Festival.

“Since Ramadan will be starting in July, we have planned to have a few Ramadan-based activities in our festival including a bubur lambuk cooking competition that will be organised by Menara Kuala Lumpur on July 14,” she said.

The festival will also include pre-Merdeka celebrations such as the launch of Kibar Jalur Gemilang on July 17 in Brickfields and July 18 in Petaling Street. This will be organised by the Prime Minister’s office. “I am really looking forward to the Ramadan celebrations as this will be the first year we are including it in KL Fest. “It will be a great chance to share the spirit of Ramadan with non-Muslims from within Malaysia as well as tourists. “There will also be a mass breaking of fast at Menara KL and Padang Merbok where everyone can get a better understanding of Ramadan,” she added.

The KL Fest is organised by the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry, Tourism Malaysia, Information Communi-cations and Culture Ministry through JKKN. The purpose of the annual festival is to give tourists a chance to immerse themselves in the beauty of Malaysian culture as well as introduce them to art centres, tourist hotspots and recreational spots in Kuala Lumpur. “Seeing that July has the highest number of tourists in Malaysia, we organise all these different events to encourage tourists to keep coming back to Malaysia,” added Norliza.

The festival will also be catering to the younger crowd by featuring more contemporary performances in addition to the existing traditional performances. Over the years, the festival has seen an increase in visitors as well as sponsors. “The support from non-governmental agencies who have come forward to be a part of the festival this year has been very positive. Companies like Naza World, F&N Fruit Tree and Red Box have come on board as sponsors for KL Fest 2012,” said Norliza.

The theme for this year’s festival is Di Sini Semaraknya Seni! (Where the Arts Come Alive!). The launching ceremony was held at Panggung Sari, Istana Budaya at 8.30pm on June 30.
For details on KL Fest and a full list of the events, log on to http://www.klfestival.org.my/ or call KL Fest at 03-2052 3605/ 07/ 09, e-mail secretariat.klfest@gmail.com or ‘like’ the Facebook pages of ‘Urusetia KLfest’ or ‘Sahabat Budaya JKKN’.
-thestar online.