Malaysian Students In Sydney For Good

This was my second post as PopIN’s PopMuda.

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Away from polarising politicians back home, Malaysian students in Sydney thrive on being simply of one race: Malaysian race. That was one of the most important things I learnt while in Sydney for four years.

Today, I want to share with you some of the interesting things our students there do for fun:

Malaysia Fest (MFest)
Undoubtedly the oldest and biggest Malaysian cultural festival organised by students—in Australia, if not the world. MFest showcases the best of Malaysia with the classic combo of cultural stage shows and stalls of authentic goodies. Months before the event, the students start choreographing and rehearsing the performances . Every year the committee tries to outdo the last year’s, and MFest 2009 headed by Jenny Tan is the grandest yet, with guest performances by One Buck Short, Reza Salleh, Liyana Fizi and Rashdan Harith. In 2010, MFest will be in its 20th year.

Photo credits: Kamal Hadi

With Love, Down Under (WLDU)
WLDU is a charity organisation based in Sydney, but with members from all over Australia and Malaysia. The idea was concocted by Erina Zahara Ellias as a way for the students to give to society during uni holidays. Two events have been organised so far: a dinner in Malaysia and the WLDU Charity Gig in UNSW featuring Flop Poppy. In two years, they have managed to collect RM 42,000 for PERNIM and Pertubuhan Penyayang ar-Raudhah. WLDU plans to branch into other charities in the future, especially environmental causes.

Photo credits: Andrialis Abdul Rahman

TONG
Combining art exhibitions and impromptu concerts, TONG is the flagship annual event led by Tasniim Abd Rahman and Persatuan Pelajar Melayu Sydney (PPMS). Every year, Malaysia Hall is turned into a gallery featuring eclectic artworks from arts and design students. It is apt then that the name was derived from the act of throwing all artistic “junk” in one space. The last TONG was given the theme “junkies in rubik.kubik”.

Photo credits: Andrialis Abdul Rahman

Malam Gema Merdeka (MGM)
Starting as a modest dinner to celebrate Hari Merdeka, MGM has transformed in the last three years into a full-blown musical theatre under its masterminds from Malaysian Students’ Council of Australia (MASCA) NSW, Najmuddin Mohd Aminuddin and Nik Arif Izani. Attended by the Malaysian High Commissioner and consuls from various countries, MGM features spectacular performances with elaborate dances and costumes. It is usually held on the Merdeka eve and ends with Merdeka shouts.

Love the Person NeXT to You
This charity project was started by Muhammad Hafiz Samsudin and Baiti Aziz, who are representatives of Act of Random Kindness (ARK). With a couple of other friends, they distribute free clothes, books, food and whatever they can spare to the homeless and other needy people around the Newtown area. The free stuff are donated by students, especially those who are leaving for good. They look forward to continue their efforts in Malaysia when they get back after graduation soon.

All these projects are organised 100% by students, and they would be glad for any support they can get, especially in financial sponsorship. Are you from a company or GLC looking to give some corporate social responsibility? You can contact these events on their website to give them a much-needed boost.

Malaysia Fest 2009 Poster Revealed! Evolution of MFest Posters

Malaysia Fest 2009 (MFest), a cultural festival run by Malaysian students in Sydney, had just revealed their promotional poster last week:

MFest 2009: Our Culture, Our Essence

Which is the best damn MFest poster I’ve ever seen so far. Credits go to designer Azlan Ab. Malek and the Marketing Executive Producer (EP) Sabrina Hanim.

Things have not always been this awesome for MFest. However, the renaissance in the quality of marketing and promotion in MFest can be attributed to Sunny Tan, who was the Marketing EP in 2006.

This was the poster back then in 2006, when yours truly was just a lowly minion, a Marketing Director under Sunny’s department:

MFest 2006: One Festival, Many Faces, A World of Excitement

Laugh all you want, haha. I myself feel like crying with shame every time I see this poster resurface. It was cobbled together with whatever Photoshop skills that I had to hastily acquire.

I was immensely proud of the five hand-drawn caricatures, though. They were the mascots for that year’s MFest, and we dubbed them “the patungs” (dolls). They were supposed to represent the different races in Malaysia: Malays, Chinese, Indians, the indigenous and Azan Azlan. It was very hard for me to choose a favourite from the five! (it was the guy on extreme right).

The “words in the middle” was a genius idea by Sunny, they were supposed to be things that you could look forward to in MFest 2006. I adapted the concept of tag clouds, which was very new at that time.

Next year, I succeeded Sunny as the Marketing EP, and commissioned Joshua Soo for this poster:

MFest 2007: A Rainbow of Cultures

Marked improvement, don’t you think? I particularly love the colour scheme (“Rainbow of Cultures”! tee hee) and that hornbill humping the hibiscus. We dubbed that mascot Horny Bill. Suffice to say, the whole team that year was a bunch of horny buggers.

In 2008, my protégé Shaheera Djafar took over the department while I move up the ranks, and this must have been our tipping point. The terrific duo of Sabrina Hanim and Azlan Malek joined the department and produced this beaut:

MFest 2008: A Cultural Connection

The background painting was procured at Central Market KL: the Malay-ish hibiscus, Indian earring and Chinese cheongsam. There was this running joke among us that the lady in the painting is actually a cross-dressing dude since we couldn’t see her hair bunched up in a bun.

My favourite part of this: the red “FREE ADMISSION” stamp. Nothing like saying “FREE!” to get the Malaysians’ attentions.

There you go, see how far we’ve come. This year we’ll continue keeping it real.

Malaysia Fest: still the original, still the best.

More info on Malaysia Fest on their website and Facebook group. RSVP to MFest 2009: Our Culture, Our Essence here.

Zurairi AR was on board the Malaysia Fest committee from 2006 to 2008. However, he had sold his soul to MFest somewhere around the end of 2006 and continues to serve the wonderful event.

4 Chords to Save the World

Sydney comics Axis of Awesome have proven that you essentially only need 4 chords in order to make a hit, and made a video to prove it:

Most of the songs might not be familiar to you if you don’t follow Australian music, but the point should be obvious.

When I first learnt how to play guitar, we used to talk about the chords (F-C-Am-G), which were called “chord kapak” or something, which refers to the “kapak rock” scene in Malaysia. Those chords are featured heavily in a lot of rock songs. I imagine the 4 chords above has the same progression.

[via Neatorama]

Sunny, They Ripped Us Off!

Hey Sydneysiders! Especially the oldies.

Does this look familiar?

No? How about I refresh your memory:

That was the logo of Malaysia Fest 2006, which was the brainchild of the Marketing Executive Producer that year, Sunny Tan and me, who was his director at that time. The logo has since been used as Malaysia Fest’s corporate logo for 2 years already.

The above logo, which is for the City of Stories workshop looks frighteningly similar.

Say Sunny, want to bring them to court? Haha.

[British Council Malaysia, via KLue]

Get Ready for the Emo Bus Again!

Just one word: Soundwave.

I’ll let this poster speaks for itself (click for high-res):

Bloodhound Gang? uurrgghhh

Last.fm entry here. My post on 2008’s Soundwave Festival, which was totally awesome by the way, here.