Dr Rundi (second right) beating a gong to open the Nanyang Wushu Festival witnessed by Song (second left) and others. — Photo by Irene C
KUCHING: Martial arts can inculcate discipline in students learning it.
Assistant Minister of Youth Development (Rural) Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said highly disciplined exponents will lift the standard and quality of martial arts in the state.
“We want to continuously improve our standard to compete with other exponents from all over the world, and this needs high discipline from our exponents,” he said at the opening of Nanyang Wushu Festival 2014 on Saturday night.
Thus, he urged students to not only learn martial arts but also to give high commitment in their respective martial arts, not just Wushu.
On wushu, he said it has become very popular of late and not just among the Chinese community but also among the Dayak community. Sarawak is also leading in wushu in Malaysia.
It is a great way for Dayak students to learn about Chinese culture, he said.
Dr Rundi added that as the festival is held over three weeks this month, parents will get to know what wushu is about and witness how discipline is instilled in their children through the martial art.
High levels of discipline will also ensure that the martial art learned is not abused, he said.
Meanwhile, Nanyang Wushu Federation of Sarawak Grandmaster and chairman Prof Datuk Seri Dr Song Swee Hee said the federation will continue to organise a series of wushu and cultural events for 2014.
The events aimed at promoting and preserving the Malaysian culture to the public, especially to the younger generation.
“We also hope to attract more young people to participate in our activities as they are our leaders of tomorrow. The federation is a non-profit organisation for youth development through wushu and cultural activities,” said Song.
“We hope to groom potential young wushu exponents who can compete in international Wushu and kung-fu championships.”