KOTA KINABALU: Youth organisation Undi Sabah calls for better practices in the annual Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan event to ensure the safety of participants.
“We believe the Unduk Ngadau should be about memorialising the legacy of Huminodun and not a platform for individuals with self-interests. Undi Sabah also calls for better practices from the Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan organising committee to ensure a safe space to empower young women to become cultural ambassadors as the Unduk Ngadau was originally intended,” they said in a press statement on Thursday.
Following sexual harassment allegations related to the Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan 2021, Undi Sabah expressed disappointment in the lack of support offered to the participant of the recently-concluded Borderless Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan (UNK) event, who lodged the police report.
Referring to an earlier press statement by the organising chairperson of the Borderless UNK 2021 and the alleged perpetrator himself, Undi Sabah found those statements to be dissatisfying and distasteful.
“There is no accountability from the organisers, no mention of retribution for the alleged perpetrator and zero remorse from the latter. Meanwhile, the UNK participant who lodged the report continues to be discredited by the public and was even named by the alleged perpetrator.
“Undi Sabah extends our solidarity to the survivor, who has bravely blown the whistle on exploitation of young women in an event that is supposed to honour the history and culture of the Kadazandusun, Murut and Rungus people. We are not confident that this was an isolated incident and we stand in solidarity with other young women who have suffered in silence for years,” the statement further read.
Earlier, Borderless UNK organising chairperson in a press statement lamented the sexual harassment scandal surrounding this year’s Unduk Ngadau event, as they had been hit by the controversy “without any prior knowledge.”
“How this incident could have happened was beyond our control. We were not aware nor informed of the whereabouts of this contestant when this incident had happened according to the date and time of the reports,” she said.
Undi Sabah founding member and researcher Auzellea Mozihim opined that men who sponsor the Unduk Ngadau event should not be allowed into the organising committee, going so far as to suggest that the organising chairperson should be firm not to accept any person, especially men, that was appointed by the main organising committee to be a committee member.
The background of a male member of the committee or any male sponsor should be heavily vetted to avoid a man of questionable character being in the committee, said Auzellea.
“Male sponsors should not be involved in organising the Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan as that is how exploitation can occur,” she elaborated.