Malaysian Embassy Celebrates 58th National Day With 350 Guests In Beijing

By Tan Chiew Ting BEIJING, Sept 18 (Bernama) -- The Embassy of Malaysia on Thursday hosted a reception to celebrate three occasions namely the 58th National Day, 52nd Malaysia Day and 82nd Malaysian Armed Forces Day. More than 350 guests were invited to celebrate the event, including 20 ambassadors namely from the European Union, Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Switzerland, Turkey as well as 150 military officers. Malaysia's Ambassador to China Zainuddin Yahya and his wife Fairos Ishak as well as embassy staff welcomed the guests in the two-hour gathering. The event was started with national anthem 'Negaraku' being played and the guests proposed a toast to the health and wellbeing of Malaysia's King Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah. The toast was led by Zainuddin, Malaysia's Defence Attache in Beijing, First Admiral Zualkafly Haji Ahmad, Director General Department of Asian Affairs of China's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Kong Xuanyou. The guests was served with popular Malaysian cuisines namely satay, nasi impit, rendang, rojak, local fruits including the king of fruits, durian. A local Chinese learning Bahasa Melayu at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Wang Jialu (she) said attending the reception was an eye-opener for her on Malaysian cultures. "Malaysian foods are delicious but I'm not used to it coz it's spicy. The foods were so tasty especially satay served with onions, cucumber and rice," she said, who also has a Malay name of Aleeya. Wang said she will depart to Kuala Lumpur end of this month to further improve her Malay language at University Malaya and hope to better understand the local cultures. "The first thing I want to try when reaching Malaysia is to have my own baju kurung (Malay traditional attire for female). I really love the outfit because it looks simple and elegant," she said. --BERNAMA