Malaysian Mission In New York Celebrates National Day

By Manik Mehta NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia' permanent mission to the United Nations in New York hosted a reception on Wednesday evening to celebrate the country's 58th National Day. The stream of guests was greeted by Malaysian permanent representative to the UN, Ramlan Ibrahim and his deputy Raja Reza Raja Zaib Shah, together with their spouses who all stood at the entrance of the mission as the guests entered the banquet hall. Because of the holidays in the month of August, when many of the guests were not in town, the mission decided not to celebrate Merdeka Day on Aug 31 but on Sept 16, which was also Malaysia Day. While the guests helped themselves to the buffet spread of Malaysian delicacies, they were also treated to colourful Malaysian dances performed by some of the Malaysian staff and families after weeks of practice and rehearsals to perfect themselves for the reception. "You would think that the dancers were professionals judging by the way they were performing," said James McCleod, a guest, who together with his female companion joined the Malaysian dancers as they performed on the makeshift stage. The mission staff and the large gathering of guests went into a moment of silence as news spread that the most important guest of the event had arrived - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was accompanied by his wife Ban Soon-taek. Ramlan welcomed Ban and his wife, and escorted them around, with some of the guests trying to pose with the Secretary-General for a group picture or taking pictures of both the special guests. Although Ban and his wife stayed for 10 to 15 minutes before they rushed to another engagement, it was enough to prompt people to speculate about their second appearance at the Malaysian mission in a matter of one week. Ban had attended a reception jointly hosted, also at the Malaysian mission, to celebrate ASEAN Day on Sept 9, and they proffered all kinds of explanation for the Secretary-General's second visit to the Malaysian mission. Ban's presence at the reception was also unique for another reason - he had not attended any Malaysian National Day reception held annually in the past. One ASEAN diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity, surmised that it might have had something to do with Malaysia chairing the ASEAN group this year. But Ramlan told Bernama that he was "very pleased" with the UN Secretary- General's appearance. "It is an honour..." he said. The heads of Malaysian agencies in New York as well as representatives of the Malaysian community were also present. Judy Cheng-Hopkins, former Assistant Secretary-General who headed the UN Peace Building Forces, was also spotted among the guests. Cheng-Hopkins, a Malaysian who hails from Malaysia's northern state Penang, played an important role in overseeing and managing the UN's peace-building operations in a number of places around the world. "I do enjoy coming to Malaysian events whenever I can. Today's occasion (Malaysia's National Day celebration) is important for every Malaysian," she said. --BERNAMA