Sunday, August 31, 2008

Happy Merdeka 51st Birthday Malaysia!!!




Above: Iban National Costume, one of the ethnic costumes of Malaysia...

Above: I love the new Malaysian Airline tagline...: "More than just an airline code;MH is Malaysian Hospitality"...cool heh??



Above: Bringing a little bit of Penang hawker fare to Sydney .....

Above: Someone whom obviously loves his country alot:)
More Pix on my Online Photo Album at the Right Hand Side...

Happy 51st Merdeka Day Malaysia!! Today marks the 51st Anniversary of Independence Day for Malaysia (Malaysia gained its independence in 1957). I spent it at the Malaysia Fest at Darling Harbour(or as it is also known:M-Fest)...apparently its held annually but i only knew about it this year......
It was a fantastic way to spend the Merdeka Day Independence and I thoroughly enjoyed it...there was fantastic Malay, Indian, and Chinese Dance as well as a fashion show showcasing the myriad of traditional costumes found in Malaysia...(personally, i found the highlights to be the Indian dance and the traditional costume fashion show;)
The food was ok, but then again, nothing beats the good ol' fare you can find back home in Malaysia, not least its culinary capital of Penang (my hometown,hehe)...

So...Happy Merdeka Day Malaysia!!!~~~

Update 9/9/08: Anwar Ibrahim of the Pakatan Rakyat (Malaysian Opposition Alliance) has won the by-election at Permatang Pauh....this has catapulted him back into Malaysia's parliament and also paves the way for him to set up a new government (if it happens, it'd be the first time that Malaysia has had a change of government since gaining its independence in 1957!) . He'd have to persuade around 30 odd legislators to defect from the ruling Barisan Nasional alliance coalition to the Opposition by September 16 (his set date to form a new government). He has already declared that if he were to become the next PM, he would dismantle the NEP policy (the preferential treatment for majority muslim malays policy in force since the early 70s) and set up a new system based on needs and merit covering all races...hoorah...long overdue. I hope he wins...but even if not, its fine too, just means that the opposition gets more time to practice governing the five important states they currently already hold;)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anwar even got elected to a seat in Penang, will be interesting to see whether, or when he can topple the government. Or even if the government decides to go all out to stop him. That could get messy, not to mention embarassing.

This may well be a 'fork in the road' time for Malaysia, whether the BN continues its one party rule by any means necessary, or if they go off into the unknown, possibly brighter future.

hcpen said...

aimlesswanderer: Yep, i agree with ya..hope anwar gets the numbers he so desperately needs..

Anonymous said...

His self imposed deadline for toppling the government is approaching really fast, and if he doesn't make it he could lose all his momentum, which would probably leave Malaysia in the good ol BN's not so capable hands.

If he does manage to become PM I hope he gets rid of the dinosaur era ISA sooner rather than later. There will be a vast number of things he will need to deal with, it will be a huge challenge.

hcpen said...

aimlesswanderer: yeah, but he wouldn't lose momentum just bcos he doesn't become PM on Sept 16th..it was a difficult deadline to meet anyway in the 1st place..;)