My Brother’s “Kami Anak Malaysia” Entry

My younger brother and a couple of his friends entered the Kami Anak Malaysia video contest, which was held by Tourism Malaysia and the Ministry of Education. His group from SMK Putrajaya Precinct 9 (2) won the 2nd prize (it was the third place actually).

The grand prize (1st place) was won by SMK Sultanah Asma, a premier non-SBP all-girls boarding school from Alor Setar. I told my brother earlier on, that there is no way that his group can beat a boarding school in these competitions.

It’s not necessarily because of they produce better quality entries. It’s just the way the system work.

I went to a premier boarding school too, so I know full well how it goes. Against a boarding school, especially a famous one, a public school has almost no chance of winning. The world is unfair, like.

This is because the ministry prefers the boarding school to win. By winning, it’s a solid proof that the boarding school system works, and the ministry is doing a good job. Can you imagine how shoddy the ministry’s image will be if a public school can easily beat an elite school?

In any case, I am proud of his work and his steadfast effort to prove me wrong. Well, he did win an iPod Shuffle.

He said he wanted to make more films as he gets older. So, I’ll give him a start by putting his winning entry here:

Putrajaya’s Floria Festival 2009 is Back!

One thing I love about living in Putrajaya is that there are always things happening around, This weekend and the week after this belong to the very impressive Floria, a floral and garden festival not unlike the Chelsea Flower Show in London or closer in spirit, Floriade in Canberra.

The poster says Friday - Sunday 9-12 pm. It's actually 12 am.

On behalf of the people of Putrajaya, I’d love to extend my invitation to this festival, especially to the ladies and photographers who’d definitely enjoy the floral showcase. There are corporate gardens with gorgeous and colourful landscaping, dominated mostly by seasoned participant MARDI and giant Sime Darby. Other big participants include Kementerian Wilayah Persekutuan, DBKL and Perbadanan Putrajaya.

MARDI's Corporate Showcase: Celebration of Colours

Sime Darby's Corporate Showcase: Forest & Palm Plantation

One can also see some landscaping done by students, as there are two areas for universities and schools. Among participating universities are Lim Kok Wing University, UiTM and UPM. A huge tent has been set to house some indoor exhibitions and outside it, you can take a ride in a hot-air balloon during weekends. Besides the floral exhibitions, there are numbers of stalls selling plants, arts and crafts and of course food.

Lim Kok Wing's Showcase

So what are you waiting for? Entrance is completely free (unlike Floriade). To get the most out of it, I’d suggest coming early since the condition of flowers will obviously deteriorate in Malaysian abusive weather towards the end.

While you’re at it, why not take the chance to use the excellent bus service in Putrajaya? If you park your cars in Putrajaya Sentral, you only need to pay 50 cents for a direct-to-festival Nadiputra bus. Much better than tearing your hair out finding parking spaces.

You can get more info about Floria here. More teaser (amateur) photos by me here.

Kementerian Wilayah Persekutuan Showcase

Estrella’s “Stay” Shot in Precinct 2, Putrajaya

I was directed to this nice new video of “Stay”, from Estrella’s debut eponymous album through Nora’s tweet:

I won’t talk much about how sweet frontwoman Liyana is, since I’m sure a lot of guys are already slobbering over her. (This reminded me about how shy and bashful she got during the KAMI The Gig final concert when every horny guys and rempits who have probably never got their hands on women started wolf-whistling, asking her to marry them and the lot.)

Instead, I want to talk about the location of the video: it’s Precinct 2, Putrajaya! To be exact, it was in Persiaran Perdana, or The Boulevard as we Putrajaya homies call it. Talk about representin’, yo!

View Larger Map

The Boulevard is well-known for its long stretch from Dataran Putra (where Masjid Putra is located) to Dataran Gemilang (near the Putrajaya Convention Centre). Along the stretch is to me the showcase of the best modern Malaysian architecture. A number of ministry complex are situated along it, and all of them possess different architectural themes in each block. Among the more striking buildings are the Ministry of Finance (the building in the background of the video above), Palace of Justice and Perbadanan Putrajaya complex with its metal arch (a hang-out favourite among youths).

This caught my eye a few weeks ago:

The Court wants you to do your job.

Buat Kerja!

You..you mean, we haven’t been doing our job before this?