Kota Kinabalu: Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology Datuk Dr Arifin Arif hopes the effort to make Kota Kinabalu a City of Literature can be realized in the near future.
He said Kota Kinabalu deserves this recognition as it has met the necessary criteria in the field of literature.
Currently, there are only 59 Cities of Literature in the world, and he hopes Kota Kinabalu would become the 60th, making it the first in Malaysia.
“We applied for this in January through the City Hall (DBKK) with the support of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), Badan Bahasa Sabah (Bahasa), and the Sabah Development Studies Institute (IDS),” he said.
He hopes for approval as there are only two months left. “If unsuccessful, we will have to wait another two years for the next opportunity as applications are only accepted once every two years.”
He said that Kota Kinabalu has met the prerequisites, including infrastructure such as libraries, universities, and literary activities.
“Once approved, this will contribute to the tourism sector in Sabah, especially in literature, knowledge, and culture, and will connect us with the other 59 Cities of Literature worldwide,” he added.
He made these remarks after officiating the Northern Sabah Literary and Creative Writers’ Night Award at the Shangri-La Hotel on Dec 27.
In addition, Ariffin said that more than 20 registered and active writers’ associations in Sabah would receive funding from the state government next year.
Each association will receive RM10,000 to support various activities, particularly in producing more books and literary works.
“This allocation is expected to be split into two parts: one for the association’s activities, and the rest for book publishing, such as poetry, short story anthologies, or other literary works,” he said.
“This will ensure that more books are published each year in Sabah, especially works by local writers, which will further strengthen the writing and literary field in the region.
