Sunday, September 6, 2009

Merdeka @ Wellington

A small group of Malaysians and friends celebrate the 52nd Merdeka Day with a pot luck dinner and cultural show at the Johnsonville Community Centre last night.

We were a bit apprehensive of attending because the same function last year was a near disaster! Extending the Malaysian's "everyone are welcome!" spirit, more than 300 turn up and the rest is history ;)

This time round, kudos to the organising committee; only invited guests need attend AND table numbers were allocated to all the guests... the event ran like clock work! Why, they even "staggered" the food and table numbers calling to make sure everyone get a share! Well done guys! Even our Singaporean friends were impressed! Ha ha ha...

I had my little Canon G9 point and shoot with me and I recorded all the cultural dances in video, the pictures you see below are "grabs" from the video itself.

A classical Joget Melayu performed by the WMSO students member, love their moves!





Malaysian students performing the Java Dance.





















A classical Chinese Fan Dance performed by members of Asian Fusion





Caroline Chin performed faultlessly in a classical Indian dance, Bharata Natyam together with Geeta.



In true multi cultural spirit, member from Asian Fusion did their version of Latin Conga dance.




Asia Fusion member line dancing to the tune of Madu Dan Racun, a very popular Malay song indeed! Some of the ladies cannot resists but to join in!



Finally a Joget Lembak for everyone who wanted to join in. Even our High Commissioner Dato Hasnudin Hamzah!




Happy Birthday Malaysia!

4 comments:

Dayandra Hettige said...

This was a very impressive and great effort by all involved, all who participated and the sponsors. Definitely the bar has been raised for Malaysian functions. Looking forward for more classy events and fun days.

Dayandra

Unknown said...

It was a huge learning curve for the NZMS Merdeka Celebrations 09 Organising Committee from what we did last year. Whilst the enthusiasm of the new '08 NZMS Committee paid off very well last year, with a tsunami of people and food, it could have been better managed. As a result, this year's event proceeded like clock work with minimal or no disruptions. The MCs' could have delivered and engaged better with the people, but this being their first event in English, butterflies were to be expected. I would think it was a learning curve for them as well. As for my fellow Committee Members, I think we pulled it off fabulously especially without having to do a dry run a few days ahead. Gratitude goes to all the volunteers who turned up and worked tirelessly; to those non-members who assisted us behind the scenes regularly; and family as well as partners of the Committee Members for your patience, kindness and of course putting up with the late nights the members had to put up in the last week and not forgetting the sponsors. There is no doubt in my mind that the guests were very pleased with the entertainment and enjoyed the celebrations.

Sham Panchacharan

heather said...

I watched all the videos with great interest.The Joget Melayu was very impressive. I particularly liked the colourful costumes..a welcome change from our dull winter colours.
The Java Dance reminds me of the traditional Samoan dance called the "sa sa" .
The fan dance must be the same sort of dance they do in Chinese operas.Very graceful.
I like the Asian Fusion.Very enthusiastic ..as well as the line dancing . ha ha. I didn`t see you up there dancing, You could have let someone else take some shots while you did a few Michael Jackson moves.(moonwalking)LOL

Anonymous said...

mak datin sedar sikit, dah tua, nak tayang body plak ya, muka dah kerepot