Malaysia Festival 2012

Every year, I try to show my support to the hardworking committee members of Malaysia Festival or MFest. Well, haha, okay, support for the food and also certain friends. This year's committee are a fortunate bunch, as they had awesome weather for the event, which in turn resulted in a very encouraging crowd at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour.

Some of my friends, like Eugene here, is part of a committee that sacrifices time from studies and rest.

Quality control time for Eugene? Haha, sharing a light banter with the owner of Jackie M Restaurant in Concord, Jackie.

Every year, I never fail to get my serving of char kuey teow from Jackie. I love their char kuey teow. This year, I even printed off a voucher she shared to redeem a bowl of bubur chacha.

My other friends queued at other stalls to grab other Malaysian delicacies like satay, nasi lemak and nasi ayam penyet.

Of course, a stop by the PappaRoti stall to say hi to Junda is a must!

There never is a moment during my time at the event that I am 'free'. My friends always complain that I am too busy saying hi to other friends that I coincidentally meet at the event.

I guess when the sun is directly above you at midday, it does get a little hard to withstand. 

And this year's entertainment did not fail to stand out!

Personally, I feel that there is more variety in the food and performances this year. The only negative for me was the female emcee. Kudos to the 2012 committee!

Malaysia Festival 2011

Malaysia Festival two-thousand-eleven, a taste of cultural heaven.


Enlivened by the colours of the Malaysian flag, this year's logo symbolises Malaysia’s favourite drink – the Teh Tarik! The flow of the tea takes the form of iconic landmarks across Sydney and Malaysia, expressing the idea of pouring and sharing the vibrant Malaysian culture with the Australian community.

This would be my eighth M-Fest and my good friend, Logann (the Chief Executive Producer of the event), promises it to be the best. Well, judging from this year's website, it certainly does look like it will be the best!

Organised by the Malaysian student community in Sydney, it will be held at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, like it has for the past years. This year marks the 21st year of M-Fest and I am looking forward to the cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs Alvin Quah and Billy Law of MasterChef fame.

The event will see 15 of Sydney’s best Malaysian restaurants, including Kopitiam, Mamak, Café Kasturi, Jimmy’s Recipe, Aseana Food Village, Chinta Ria, PappaRoti, Jackie M and Abang Sam, serving traditional Malaysian favourites like the roti, nasi lemak and laksa.

Performances at the event range from traditional Malay, Chinese and Indian dances to today’s celebrated music. This year’s line-up features Malaysian artistes by invitation. Perhaps the most exciting bit about M-Fest is the raffle prize draw with many attractive prizes to be won. And of course, it includes the much wanted return MAS ticket to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Other prizes include food vouchers from M-Fest sponsor restaurants and food hampers.

Hopefully, I would be able to meet some old friends there, as well, as I have managed to in the past.

Only one week to go, people! Sunday, October 9, 2011 will be the day! Come along to this FREE event!

Last year, first time

As most of you know, this is my fourth year in Sydney. It also means that I would have attended four MFests, which I have. But this year, it was different. I was not only there at Tumbalong Park as a spectator - I was there not only to watch other people perform on stage, to eat the delicious Malaysian food or to pour words of encouragement and gratitude to the student committee members. This year, I was there as a volunteer myself. Yes, after four years (and not to mention after graduating from uni), I have decided to re-live the feelings of being part of a group of enthusiastic youngsters who have just started the 2nd decade of their lives.

What to do? Siapa panggil I kenal committee member semua? I know so many of them even though I'm not part of the committee! Actually, I know more people outside of my own uni's comittee. Jenny and Miow were the presidents of MASA and SUAMS respectively. Nic was the sports direcotor of SUAMS. And from them, I got to know Joy, June, Jolyn, Julian, Diane, Yamud, Salina, Sunny, Michelle and Bernard. Superb (and hyper crazy) lovelies, they are...

As a volunteer of MFest, I chose to be part of the marketing crew. My job: to walk from Darling Harbour up Liverpool Street to Hyde Park and proceed to Market City. We were extremely lucky that day as we had terrific weather after an entire week of rain and wind. We had the sun, the blue sky. It was perfect and it was the first time in several years that MFest was blessed with such fine weather.

I thought we looked real snazzy in our bright orange T-shirts. They made us stand out in the crowd. Sara and Yona, my coursemates also made it there.


Sara brought containers and a big bag to bring some food home to eat for her next few dinners and lunches. So smart! Unfortunately, Vim couldn't make it this year. I was rather disappointed as we meet only once a year at MFest. I guess the next time I'd meet him would be at his engagement party or maybe his wedding. Hehehehehe.... But, I did manage to meet up with juniors from primary and high school: Jack Phin


and Wei Sheong:


Our history dates back to when they were in primary 1 and I, in primary 5. I used to be the prefect in charge of their class... goodness...

And surprise of all surprises, someone who knows me from primary school 'found' me! Kok Kit, who found me familiar struck a conversation with me during a break from rehearsing his Chinese fan dance. Both of us got so excited when we found out that we studied in SKTD! He was in the same class as my second cousin, Stephanie Hiew Ting Ting, Petra's sister, Elizabeth and also knew Weng Onn. So cool!! Amazing that he could still recognise me. Thank you yea, Kok Kit... feels nice to have another Desarian nearby...

At the end of the day, I pulled Jona backstage to help me take a group photo with the dancers.


These blokes are really friendly, especially Edison. He even asked me for my number and e-mail! Wah.....

Although I was dead tired after that, I went with Angeline to Jenny's place to continue thinking of steps for our Chinese fan and ribbon dance. So 'kan lek' hor? Sigh, what to do? They gave us only 3 weeks to come up with a dance from scratch leh. No music, costumes, nothing. This experience I will share in my next post. =)