Regatta Lepa Semporna 2012

Every year in April there is a water festival held in Semporna, a small town in the eastern coast of Sabah, called Regatta Lepa Semporna. This year it is held from 20 - 22 April 2012. I briefly visited the town on the 21st to see the festival for the first time and hoping to see something nice and interesting.

d'event

The festival is celebrated by the Bajau Laut ethnic community, the major dwellers in Semporna. The Bajau Laut people are seafarers at heart and well known for their lepa, which is the traditional single-mast sailing boat used in their daily lives. With the change of time, the lepa might not be used in the same way as it used to be but with the commencement of the 19th year of this festival this year, the lepas will never be forgotten for yet another year as the symbol of pride of the Bajau people and a cultural heritage. 

The one hour drive from Tawau to Semporna in the early morning ( I started at 6.30 am) was really refreshing with the cool breeze and the endless healthy sights of the lush blues and greens of the vast sky, oil palm plantations and the forest. At about 10-15 km more to arrive Semporna town, I could see some colourful flags hanging by the roads, as if signalling to the visitors that their destination is already near. Later, I found out that the flags were the same as the sails on the lepas.

colourful greetings

Upon arriving, traffic policemen and policewomen were already seen guiding the traffic, the crowd was still okay I guess but it was starting to get busy...afterall, there's a large area of street bazaar nearby, and so the town was already bustling with trading activities.

to the main attraction

I made my way through the lively market, and since I wasn't actually sure where was the actual spot for the festival's activity ( I didn't even know what were the activities, since there's no information like flyers or schedules of that sort shown anywhere other than the festival's banners), I just followed the crowd and took my time capturing snapshots. From Causeway Bridge (Jambatan Causeway) I could see some wooden buildings built above the water, thus creating that 'floating' look, it's actually an inn, together with a floating restaurant and Semporna Ocean Tourism Center. From the tourism center, I could see the lepas parked in one line on the waters, and enjoyed the view of the sea and Semporna town from that distance.

the lepas in line with water villages in the background view

As I walked further up, I came to the exhibition site where there were booths from several agencies, NGOs and local product companies showcasing the local food and agro products. Also participating, several colleges and institutions of higher learning promoting their academic packages.

exhibition booths

At a jetty, behind the Seafest Hotel, there seemed to be some sort of ceremony. Red carpets on the floor...that means VVIPs on the field. Oh, so it's the main event of the day, the lepas that I saw earlier were parading into the bay until in front of the jetty where a grand stand full of important people sat. It was such a pretty sight with various colours and the atmosphere was heaten up by the sound of traditional music.

coming in with style

And right in front of the stand, there were several lepas of bigger size and grandier decorations. They were the contenders of 'Lepa Cantik', a competition to select the best and most beautiful lepa. The crowd was spectacular, it was so full of people until the very edge of the port, fortunately no one accidentally fell into the water...haha. However, even so, I managed to ease little by little in the crowd until I get a much better view of what's going on at the front.

lively lepas

All the lepas were representatives from villages around the coast of Semporna, and also from some agencies and societies. From what I could see, on each lepa there's a traditional dancer, dancing along traditional music played by a group of musicians inside the boat. There were men, women and even children. All participated with big and proud smiles on their faces.

traditional dancers on each lepa

The winners of Lepa Cantik were presented with mock cheques by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah, TYT Tun Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Juhar Haji Mahiruddin, accompanied by the Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd. Shafie Hj. Apdal, who's also the MP of Semporna.

serious contenders...top prize winner on the left

the lepa leaders in full traditional attire

The awards were also given to winners of other competition that was held perhaps on the previous days such as the tug of war and boat race. After the ceremony, I went back to Tawau, although there's another major and grand event that would be happening that night at the stadium, for several reasons (read: bajet jalan-jalan versi sebelum gaji..hehe). Anyway, it was a nice experience having to see a cultural event of a different community and to be in such a colourful atmosphere. Hopefully, if I have the chance to go again next year, I could plan better to see more of this event. Till then.

lepa, lepa everywhere