Greeting

「你好!多谢你邀请我上来你的节目,我很期待与你分享一些有关马来西亚的事情。」

驻香港及澳门马来西亚总领事叶威信认为马来西亚是一个具有多元文化,种族,宗教的国家。马来西亚人口超过3000万,包含多个种族,例如马来西亚人,华人,印度人等等,马来人大约占 50%、华人大约占领25%、印度人大约占7%,还有其他的民族,是一个非常多元化的社会。包含了不同文化、不同食物,是一个很有趣的国家!

Good evening to your listeners and Serina, thank you for having me on your show. I look forward to sharing something about Malaysia with you this evening.

As you know in Malaysia, we are very lucky because it is a very multicultural, multi-ethnic and a multi religious country. The population of this country are a bit over 30 million. Now we have Malays, the ethnic Chinese, ethnic Indians. The Malays made up about just over 50%, the Chinese about 25%, the ethnic Indians maybe 7%, and there are still quite a large number of percentages left, so that’s made up of other groups, other indigenous groups, other nationalities, so it is a very diverse country, very rich sociality. And it contain lots of cultures, lots of different types of food, so it’s a very exciting country of many different things.

1. Unique Festival and Culture in Malaysia

因为马来西亚包含了不同文化,因次马来西亚有很多独特文化和节日。在这一集文化花园,总领事为我们介绍了马来西亚两个活动。

第一个是热带雨林世界音乐节,于每年7月10-12日在马来西亚西部举行,展示马来西亚独特的音乐。为期三天的音乐节向世界展示出马来西亚独有的文化,旅游,食物。

第二个是位于槟城的乔治市艺术节,这个活动的成立是为了庆祝槟城成为世界文化遗产,让旅客了解更多关于关于槟城的资讯。槟城和香港有很多共同之处,例如很多香港人都曾经有到访过槟城旅游,很多槟城人亦有到香港工作,近年亦有一些香港人到当地置业,不少人视槟城为第二个家。

在2020年,马来西亚政府准备推广更多活动给予游客,因此将会有更多不同具有独特文化的节日。

As I was mentioning just now, because we have so many cultures, religions and races, we have many different religious and cultural festivals. I think for the benefit of your listeners, maybe today I will just talk about two. I will talk about one which is in Sarawak, east Malaysia. And then later I will talk about one on the other side, in west Malaysia, in Penang.

So the one in Sarawak is the International World Music Festival. It held annually in 10-12 July. So it’s a very exciting International Music Festival which tries to bring in all different types of music from around the world to Sarawak for 3 days of performances, and of course it will showcases Malaysians’ music together with Malaysian culture, tourism, food. For this particular festival, it held in Sarawak annually.

The other one, for example is the international George Town festival in Penang. It is in 11 - 26 July next year. It kinds of a celebration of Penang being a UNESCO Heritage Site. It gives advantages to foreign travellers and tourists to experience everything that Malaysia had to offer. So the George Town Festival promotes Penang as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Penang and Hong Kong have a lot of close infinity, a lot of HongKongers have visit Penang in the past. A lot of Malaysians from Penang who have moved and worked in Hong Kong for a very long time. A lot of HongKongers of course they have bought houses in Malaysia. Many of them seen Penang as a second home.

In next year 2020, the government is promoting that year as a special year of tourism. So there will be many extra attractive programs.

2. Is there any culture in Hong Kong that you like

总领事是马来西亚华人,他很喜欢香港。他成长时经常看香港90年代的电影,因此认为香港带给他小时候与家人一同看电影美好的童年回忆。总领事在今年三月来到香港,现在已经来了七至八个月。对上一次他来香港时还是一个小朋友,这一次来已经37岁了!和其他总领事一样,他相信大家都认为能够来到香港工作感到很愉快。他又认他笑说希望把「唔好急最紧要快.」这一句说话成为他的座右铭。

I am ethnic Chinese. When I was growing up, I was explored to a lot of Hong Kong culture and I still remain a big fan of Hong Kong cinema especially Hong Kong films from the late 90s. It brings back a lot of memories from my childhood as I remember watching these movies with my family. So it’s good memories! I came to Hong Kong in March, I have been here for 7-8 months. The last time I’ve been to Hong Kong I was a small child, and the next time I am 37 years old so it has been a very long time. Hong Kong is a very vibrant city. Just like the other Consul General, we all provide services for our citizens and I am sure they share the same sentiment as I that if you get a posting order to come to Hong Kong, the only feeling you get is you will be very delighted. There is something very funny not long after I arrived, my deputy consul- general said something to me which is 唔好急最紧要快. I really caught on and it is a motto that I am going to implement in my office.

3. Is there any flowers that can represent Malaysia

总领事介绍了马来西亚国花的来源,在马来西亚独立后的一年,国家希望以一种花代表国家,当时东马来西亚选择了玫瑰花,而西马来西亚则选择了茉莉花。最后政府选择了朱槿花为国花,朱槿花的五片花瓣分别代表了马来西亚的五个国家原则,分别是信奉上苍、忠于君国、维护宪法、尊崇法治和培养德行。

In Malaysia, our national flower is Hibiscus. There is an interesting story behind that. We got our independence in 1957, a year after that, the government started to think we need a national flower. They have shortlisted 7 flowers. East Malaysia had chosen roses while west Malaysia had chosen Jasmine. At the end of the day, the government chose the Hibiscus as the national flower. Red hibiscus is very famous and can be commonly found in Malaysia and the 5 petals has come to represent the five national principles of the country including ‘BELIEF IN GOD’, ‘LOYALTY TO KING AND COUNTRY’, ‘THE SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION’, ‘THE RULE OF LAW’ and ‘COURTESY AND MORALITY’.

4. Can you teach as some trendy slangs in Malay language?

由于马来西亚是一个多元种族的国家,因此有很多不同的俚语。领事教了我们一句俚语 『JOM』。意思是「一起去吧!」这句俚语反映了马来西亚人不拘小节比较随意的性格。当你和朋友准备去吃晚饭时,其中一位朋友提议了一间餐厅,其他人就可以说JOM!

There are many slangs as there are so many culture in this city. Maybe I just share one. You can use in many contexts which is ‘Jom’. It means let’s do it. This slang kinds of reflect Malaysia’s culture because Malaysian are very easy going, sometimes they go with the flow. You can use this slang when you have a group of party and you guys don’t know where to eat, so one person said let’s go to this restaurant, and others may said ‘Jom’.

5. Complimentary Close

多谢你邀请我来这个节目,晚安,再见!多谢收听!

Thank you for having me on the show. Good evening! Bye bye. Thank you for listening.

Dr Serina Ha & Consul General of Malaysia in HK