Free YoUr MiNd…

Started from a group of miles-away-from-home undergraduate in the National University of Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur Campus, Secretariat of 28^th Pesta Tanglung UKM need no further detailed introduction, having overcome all the uncertainties and obstacles in the course of 28 years since 1980.

It was during the mid-autumn festival, or simply well-known as the moon-cake festival amongst us Malaysian that a group of Chinese undergraduates gathered at their campus to celebrate the moon-cake festival. The gathering saw them eating their all-time favorite moon-cake, chit-chatting, watching the bright moon as they drowning into old-time stories. It was exactly a great time that they enjoyed so much, like a great antidote to their home-sickness, perfectly lifted their mood to stay temporarily stress-free from their heavily tasked study life.

Apparently this gathering played a more vital role that it set the momentum that thrill in their vein when they realized that they could use this gathering as a platform to do something more meaningful, that is, to promote the uniqueness in the Tiong Hua Culture.

While all of them have this clear vision in their mind, they have came to agree on the objectives and visions of the secretariat, namely The Secretariat of Pesta Tanglung UKM.

Secretariat of Pesta Tanglung moved its activities back to the main campus, which was situated in Bangi the next year and it somehow managed to break into the popular The Hall of Chancellor Tun Abdul Razak(DECTAR) the 3^rd year since it was formed. It switched from merely being a gathering amongst the Chinese community into what we call ‘Stage Performance Night’ nowadays, where performances and plays on Chinese traditional culture were seen on the stage, wholly carried out by the group of enthusiastic undergraduates themselves. While it might seem meaningless for undergraduates to have performances in the university, however, it meant a huge breakthrough as we are talking about Chinese performances in the forbidden fortress of the campus.

The Secretariat of Pesta Tanlung UKM had grown from strength to strength as the committee was beginning to gain approval and support from the Chinese community, not only within the campus, but also received huge receptions from the public. Since the huge breakthrough, the Secretariat had begun to attract attentions from everywhere, and its reputation had been growing as they kept on gaining recognition from the society. The positive reinforcement had prompted the secretariat to improve, and they had succeeded in meeting the expectations set upon them each year, albeit they had to overcome challenges and obstacles along the road to glorious triumphs. In year 2005, calling the 26^th year of the secretariat, a new concept was dictated as the committee in that year decided to draw another sensational attempt to take themselves to a yet-to-be-achieved level. “Cultural Carnival” was realistically held at the Multipurpose Hall of MPKj, in which 8 thousands of people were attracted to the carnival. The Cultural Carnival was an attempt made by the committee with their ambitious aim being elevating the reputation of the National University of Malaysia and the reputation of The Secretariat of Pesta Tanglung UKM, nevertheless, the very pure objective of this committee was preserved as the Cultural Carnival also served the purpose of further promote and elevate the uniqueness of Tiong Hua Culture.

In year 2007, in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2007 and “Malaysiaku Gemilang”, the Secretariat of Pesta Tanglung UKM was chosen by the Ministry of Higher Education as a participating event to celebrate the memorable 50^th Independence Day anniversary. This marked another breathtaking success to the Secretariat as the ministry had chosen them based on their past record and also had to hold off challenges from other organizations from local universities around

Malaysia

. Expectations were double-folded with the inclusion into such a sensational program, the”National-Day Celebration Month”

In their efforts to match the newly bestowed status, the Secretariat, now in its 28^th year, will then organize a “Karnival Kebudayaan@Kegemilangan 50” to celebrate the national day, on 8^th Sept 2007 to 9^th Sept 2007. The event will take place at the Multipurpose Hall of MPKj, from 4pm to 11pm. Based on the convincing record in the past 2 years, the Secretariat has set a stiff challenge for themselves, aiming to attract 20 thousands of people from all angle this time. Audiences shall find themselves inside a carnival constructed of mouth-watering local foods and beverages, attractive yet priced reasonably souvenirs and gifts, the number of stalls reckoned so far should hit the figure of 50, apparently matching the 50^th year of our independence. Apart from the stalls, audiences from all races are welcome to experience the sensation “lantern parade” which will see people holding lantern and our beloved country flag, parading around the town of

Kajang

together with the guest of honor, the Honorable Datuk Ong Tee Keat, Deputy Minister of Higher Education. Book worms around the city, you shall be thrilled to learn that there will also be a book fair, with special rate for normal items, attractive isn’t it? The magic of the carnival does not stop here! There will be a exhibition on ‘morality’, with the role of each of the ‘8 morality’ being dissected to display their role in ensuring a safe, harmonious environment for the rock-solid foundation of our nationhood to further strive into a more prosper and prominent status.

Now, our pulse shall be set to beat faster as we will also witness long hours of magnificent shows and performances, some constructed from the traditional Tiong Hua Culture performances, some from the modern-day performances that have the essence of old-day preserved, the contents of the series of shows are sure to take your heartbeat to electrifying pace! 

Notably, there will be some fantastic prizes up for grabs during the carnival as well! Game stalls will be set up there, with great prizes to be won! apart from game stalls, there will be a “guess-the-correct-number-of-shirt” competition, in which audiences are pleaded to submit the guesses on the number of T-shirts stuffed into a Perodua Kancil, the winner shall become the lucky winner to a tempting grand prize! Competitions and lucky draws are also another attractions that draw people to the carnival, at least this has been the case for the previous year, probably due to the prospect of taking home great prizes, and we see no difference this year, as there will also be a “lantern making” competition, and also “photography” competition as well, for more information on the competition, kindly contact NEOH KEAN MING @ 012- 9784282, or LEE KHAI WAN @ 012- 5301668. The Secretariat of Pesta Tanglung UKM are calling for people around the world to come and experience the “Karnival Kebudayaan@Kegemilangan 50”, a carnival that you wouldn’t want to miss out! This year, the Sponsors for the event are: MAXIS HOTLINK, GOLD GOH PERFERCT POINT, SYNERGY MOTION SPORTS, the Official Beverage: ZHENG GREEN TEA, Official Media Partner: CHINA PRESS, NAN YANG SIANG PAU, Official Radio Station: Star FM 988. For more information, kindly logon to www.pestatanglungukm.com, or contact NEOH KEAN MING @ 012-9784282, LEE KHAI WAN @ 012-5301668, NG PEK HERN @ 012 -5166239

Been living like a dead lately, after the memorable week has gone away i welcome back the normal life. Was at a lost at first but before long i knew what i had to do for the week as i was facing the dead line as i preparing for the presentation for the thesis. Busy-ing with the presentation never seemed to be able to drain my mind away as i didnt find myself drowned into doing it with full heart as well.

What was i thinking? its about future, the near future.

Time is ticking as we speak, and the d-day was approaching like a  moving train, i’d to admit that i found it more difficult to breathe as day goes by… and i found myself getting more stucked and drowned, until the vibrator of my phone started to work its work on one occasion in a hot afternoon…

The call was an expected call, since the month of May, and it had been disappointing one all these whiles, not until this one that confirmed with me that the hope had been re-installed. Was only a brief phone call but it carried a huge weightage in it as the dead fire was lighted again, just like Pippin lighting the fire on the citadel in Minas Tirith, hope was revived and motivation was again gushing all over my veins…

And this is exactly when i said" i am back"

It has been a fairly long time since the last time i wrote something to reflect what i am feeling deep inside me.

Well, not that there’s nothing worth to be noted but just that, could not really get the time out to do such a thing that i have indulged into it since a year ago.

Another silly cause is that my computer is heavily infected with these hazardous virus, be it trojan or wat-ever-u-can-name-it term, what i know is that my computer efficiency is ingeniusly reduced by these chaotic thingy.

Hmm… at this very moment, even my body has switched to play host to some strain of flu virus, i dare say that. Feeling uncomfortable since i woke up early in the morning, and has since beginning to feel the rise in body temperature, despite very minute influctuations, but nevertheless still not difficult to tell.

Stepping into month August, be specific, i should say mid-August. This is the so called 7th week into the new semester, i couldnt recall what i was doing two years ago when i was just a fresh first year by that time, but i am pretty sure i’d remember every events that have taken place in this semester. Trips were made from Bangi to PutraJaya, from Bangi to KualaLumpur, from Bangi to SubangJaya, from Bangi to Puchong, even from Bangi to Sepang and Seremban, and there were many many more ‘from Bangi to…’ if i were to list down every details. Of course this is not a semester only about driving distances, it is also about a semester that seen many many more good things, and also things that bemused me, things that were amusing, in short, this semester is the most ‘mixed’ i have ever experience in life! Thinking bout the excitement that i have had so far, it reminds me of how different the next semester will be when the curtain eventually comes shutting down after month September.

Everything has been MORE THAN WORDS, and i dare say that it has become an OBSESSION that i would not want to lose away, to anyone, to anything.

Tomorrow, will always be a better day because i belive that i have the attitude to make it a better day!