Malaysians for Malaysia, a new narrative for Malaysia written by Malaysians celebrating the country’s social and religious diversity, held a Malaysia Day celebration on Saturday, September 15 at D’Polo Café. Prior to this, the same community had presented similar events in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru.
Guest of honour, Wong May Ing, the Executive Councillor for Women and Family Development, Character Development and Social Welfare represented Ahmad Faizal Azumu, Menteri Besar.
Over 500 people of all ethnicities attended the meaningful celebration in multi-hued traditional attire.
“Perak Women for Women Society is very proud to be the joint organiser of this community programme together with Malaysians for Malaysia. The last general election has proved that we can still live together harmoniously and in fact, we have a greater, younger generation who has made that happen. Our get-together here today is to celebrate that harmony that we share,” Sumathi Sivamany, President of Perak Women for Women Society cum head of organising committee for the celebration in Perak, stated.
“Merdeka and Malaysia Day this year are very special to us Malaysians because it’s different. Merdeka, back in the day, we were liberating ourselves from colonial power. Since then, we have had to deal with this regime that has stayed on for over 60 years without much say on our part. When it came to that point where we felt we could no longer stand by, it was so heartening to see Malaysians band together and really show that the power belongs to the people. This is really a celebration about us, regardless of colour, creed, gender, sexual orientation, whatever differences that we may have. A round of applause for ourselves for showing that change can happen without violence and bloodshed,” Yana Rizal, representative of Malaysians for Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), enthused.
“We, Malaysians for Malaysia, really are just a group of people that came together about four years ago. It has been under the leadership of Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir. What we are for is to get Malaysians to really embrace that spirit of togetherness which we sometimes lose in the heat of the moment in certain issues where we may disagree,” Yana added.
“All of us, our responsibility doesn’t end with casting our vote during the general election. In celebrating the New Malaysia, we can also contribute by keeping our area clean and free of disease. Plus, we can play our part in our various fields to strengthen our economy. The state government welcomes viewpoints from Perakeans and we will boost the integration between the people and the state government,” Wong May Ing explained to the media.
Other activities of Malaysians for Malaysia included “A Walk in the Park”, “Walls of Hope” and “Puasa4Malaysia”. For more info, swing by its Facebook page: Malaysians for Malaysia
Mei Kuan
