Greeting

「你好!多謝你邀請我上來你的節目,我很期待與你分享一些有關馬來西亞的事情。」

駐香港及澳門馬來西亞總領事葉威信認為馬來西亞是一個具有多元文化,種族,宗教的國家。馬來西亞人口超過3000萬,包含多個種族,例如馬來西亞人,華人,印度人等等,馬來人大約佔 50%、華人大約佔領25%、印度人大約佔7%,還有其他的民族,是一個非常多元化的社會。包含了不同文化、不同食物,是一個很有趣的國家!

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

因為馬來西亞包含了不同文化,因次馬來西亞有很多獨特文化和節日。在這一集文化花園,總領事為我們介紹了馬來西亞兩個活動。

第一個是熱帶雨林世界音樂節,於每年7月10-12日在馬來西亞西部舉行,展示馬來西亞獨特的音樂。為期三天的音樂節向世界展示出馬來西亞獨有的文化,旅遊,食物。

第二個是位於檳城的喬治市藝術節,這個活動的成立是為了慶祝檳城成為世界文化遺產,讓旅客了解更多關於關於檳城的資訊。檳城和香港有很多共同之處,例如很多香港人都曾經有到訪過檳城旅遊,很多檳城人亦有到香港工作,近年亦有一些香港人到當地置業,不少人視檳城為第二個家。

在2020年,馬來西亞政府準備推廣更多活動給予遊客,因此將會有更多不同具有獨特文化的節日。

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

總領事是馬來西亞華人,他很喜歡香港。他成長時經常看香港90年代的電影,因此認為香港帶給他小時候與家人一同看電影美好的童年回憶。總領事在今年三月來到香港,現在已經來了七至八個月。對上一次他來香港時還是一個小朋友,這一次來已經37歲了!和其他總領事一樣,他相信大家都認為能夠來到香港工作感到很愉快。他又認他笑說希望把「唔好急最緊要快.」這一句說話成為他的座右銘。

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 唔好急最緊要快. 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

總領事介紹了馬來西亞國花的來源,在馬來西亞獨立後的一年,國家希望以一種花代表國家,當時東馬來西亞選擇了玫瑰花,而西馬來西亞則選擇了茉莉花。最後政府選擇了朱槿花為國花,朱槿花的五片花瓣分別代表了馬來西亞的五個國家原則,分別是信奉上蒼、忠於君國、維護憲法、尊崇法治和培養德行。

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?

由於馬來西亞是一個多元種族的國家,因此有很多不同的俚語。領事教了我們一句俚語 『JOM』。意思是「一起去吧!」這句俚語反映了馬來西亞人不拘小節比較隨意的性格。當你和朋友準備去吃晚飯時,其中一位朋友提議了一間餐廳,其他人就可以說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

多謝你邀請我來這個節目,晚安,再見!多謝收聽!

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