KOTA BELUD: The annual Tamu Besar (big market) here drew a big crowd despite the massive flooding that occurred just a week ago.
The two–day event over the weekend attracted thousands of visitors including tourists.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan who is Kota Belud Member of Parliament, said the event continued to be held despite changing times in the modern world.
"We continue to hold Tamu Besar Kota Belud every year where tamu everywhere has become synonymous with the daily lives of Sabahans despite the State progressing like the rest of the world.
"It was not easy to organise this event due to the catastrophic floods but we still went ahead because it is our tradition and it strengthens the unity of the diverse people,” he said during the launching ceremony here.
Being a platform to sell local goods, Abdul Rahman said the event was an opportunity for the Kota Belud community to promote its farm and fishery products.
He said despite being small businesses, local entrepreneurs or sellers should ensure their produce was of good quality so that one day they could reach overseas markets.
Abdul Rahman said the recent flood here were the worst in 57 years here and following that he had approved RM70 million to deepen the rivers here as a long-term measure.
The immediate step was to look at suitable disaster management to learn about the climate a few days before severe weather hits like a typhoon so that the district was better prepared.
“We will also look into the standard operating procedure for flood management in Kota Belud particularly,” he added.