KUCHING: Sarawak aspires to be a leading venue for mega concerts in the region but must first upgrade its infrastructure and increase venue capacity, says Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He stated that Sarawak’s unique attractions and growing ambition made it well-suited to host large-scale entertainment events.
“Personally, I really want to see Sarawak become a hotspot for mega concerts.
“It’s just that presently we might not have the venues. Our present venue, Sarawak Stadium would only be able to cater for about 20,000 people. The maximum would be 30,000.
“That’s the place where we have our Borneo Sonic Music Festival and as for our indoor stadium (Stadium Perpaduan), it can only accommodate 4,000 to 5,000 people,” he said.
He relayed this at a press conference during the ‘Rainforest Youth Summit 2025 (RAYS2025) Living Landscape: Shaping a Sustainable Future’ at Hikmah Exchange Event Centre (HEEC) here today (June 18).
Karim added that infrastructure development in the state is actively underway Sarawak is now building a new extension of Borneo Convention Centre (BCCK) which is expected to be completed in two years.
“This facility will be able to accommodate up to 10,000 people and is seen as an important step towards strengthening the entertainment and tourism sectors.
“In addition, I am very pleased to see the state government’s effort to establish its own airline, which is expected to begin operation by the end of next year.
“With our own flight routes, we can attract more international destinations and make it easier for tourists to come directly to Sarawak,” he said.
“This move is regarded as a crucial strategy to promote entertainment events, including international concerts,” Karim added.
For example, he said, if Sarawak were to host a concert featuring artists from Korea, the organisers could directly target audiences from that country.
However, he pointed out that organising mega concert requires very high investment, and therefore the capacity of event venues also plays a key role in ensuring a profitable return.
“If we have a stadium with a seating capacity of 60,000 to 70,000, hence ticket sales might cover the organising costs. But as it stands, we have to balance all these considerations,” he said.
Aside from economic and logistical aspects, he emphasised that every music event approval is assessed from various perspectives, including inclusivity and fairness for all segments of society.
“Music is not just for youths or women. That’s why we also organise retro concerts for those in their 40s and 50s. I want to see fairness in terms of age, whether they’re in their 20s, 30s, 60s or 70s. As long as everyone is happy, we are happy too,” he quipped.
