The second George Town Festival, an annual arts and cultural event to celebrate the listing of George Town as a Unesco World Heritage site, is in need for RM4 million to meet its budget.

The month-long celebration, initiated by the Paktan Rakyat-ruled Penang government, has invited international celebrities, including fashion designer Zang Toi, shoemaker Jimmy Choo, Asian supermodel Ling Tan and dancer Akram Khan, to showcase their work.

During i NONE ts debut last year, the festival attracted an overall audience of over 600,000 people and tourists from over 42 countries.

However, George Town Festival director Joe Sidek (left) revealed that no federal agency, including the Malaysian Tourism Board, will support the current event.

Joe said this is "a bit embarrassing", especially when the private sector and even the US Embassy have backed the event, which will be held throughout July, he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

"I personally met with the Malaysian Tourism Board and (Tourism Minister) Ng Yen Yen," said Joe, claiming that both had rejected his proposals.

"The festival does not belong to (Penang Chief Minister) Lim Guan Eng or Ng, it belongs to the Penang people. It is not about politics, it is about arts and culture. We hope the federal agencies will come forward.”

NONE Lim (with tie) , who was at the press conference, said the state government welcomes support from any quarter, including the federal government.

"But we tried (to approach the federal government) through Joe without much success. If (the proposal) comes from me, it would be even more difficult," he said.

Joe said the Penang government has increased its allocation for the event from RM400,000 last year to RM1.2 million.

"The RM1.2 million was well spent because everything was done by open tender," Lim noted.

The Pakatan state government has frequently claimed that George Town has been unfairly deprived of federal funding, although it is jointly listed with Malacca as a World Heritage site.

While the BN-controlled Malacca government has received RM30 million, the RM25 million allocation for Penang to develop its heritage facilities has been channelled to the federal government's investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

‘Better choice for funding’

Joe also compared the event with Kuala Lumpur International Arts Festival, which the federal government has organised over the last four years but which, according to him, has failed to attract attention.

"If you all don't know about the event, something must be wrong about the publicity or the event itself," he told Malaysiakini .

He said the George Town Festival has proven to be a feasible cultural event because it had made a profit of RM26,000 last year, despite limited resources.

Therefore, it is NONE a better choice for federal funding support, he asserted.

Others at the press conference were Choo, Singaporean actress Tan Kheng Hua - famous for her role as Margaret Phua in Singapore sitcom Phua Chu Kang - and Saw Teong Hin, the director of local movie Puteri Gunung Ledang .