Corn Festival a distinct feature of Kota Marudu
New Starits Times (10 Nov 2012)

KOTA MARUDU: The annual Corn Festival, which has become a feature of the district since 2001, is being held for two days, until tomorrow, at the Kota Marudu Community Hall.

The festival is for the 12th time to celebrate corn as an important agricultural product of the district, as well as to promote other agricultural activities which have contributed to the income of farmers in Kota Marudu.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, who is the Kota Marudu Member of Parliament, will launch the festival on Sunday.

"We welcome visitors from near and far to spend this weekend in Kota Marudu for the Pesta Jagung," said Ongkili  who initiated the festival as part of the 1 District, 1 Product campaign.

The festival is supported by the state Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry and the state Youth and Sports Ministry. The activities held are designed for public participation.

They include corn-based dish cooking competition, cultural shows, the Corn Queen beauty pageant, drawing and reading contest, corn-themed craft competition, lantern competition and traditional sports such as tug-of-war.

Ongkili will also launch the Sabah-level the 1Malaysia Innovation Catalysts or "i-CATS", a young volunteer initiative under the Malaysian Innovation Foundation (YIM).

Several booths have been set up to showcase products and services which involved the participation of federal and state government agencies, as well as the private sector.

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation is also participating in the exhibition through its 10 agencies; Sirim, CyberSecurity Malaysia, Technology Park Malaysia, .myDomain Registry, National Science Centre, the Chemistry Department, Nuclear Malaysia, Malaysian Meteorology Department, Remote Sensing Malaysia Agency and YIM.

In 2009, the Corn Festival made it into the Malaysia Book of Records for a successful attempt to grill 5,000 corn at one go and in 2010 a record was created for the largest simultaneous corn eating activity involving 2010 cobs of corn.