DAP Raya Open House 2009

I love Open House. :)

I think we should trademark it before our neighbouring countries steal it like they stole our food. Heheh! Just kidding!

I went to DAP Raya Open House at Dewan MPAJ, Kampung Cheras Baru last Sunday with my friend, Ben.

It was small compared to the PM open house (but of course!) but it was not less "meriah"

Greeting everyone at the entrance of the hall were a pair of rockets dressed in traditonal Malay costume. How cute! :)

Since the queue to the food was very VERY long, I spent most of my time there people watching and phototaking. :)

The arrival of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim - Selangor MB. He was presented with a silat demo.

More pictures. The politicians were more than willing to pose for the cameras. There was a bunch of paparazzi there. So I just joined in the fun. :)

See how many politicians can you identify/ name from the pic.

YB Lim Guan Eng gave a speech at the event. It was raining cats and dogs outside. I think lightning must have tripped with electric switch, causing a brief blackout right before YB Lim was about to speak!

There was thunder when he spoke, adding much drama to his fiery speech. Heheh!

I was also plesantly surprise when I saw a bunch of Malays handing in their membership forms to join DAP! Wow! Some Malays are starting to dissociate themselves from UMNO....:)

Video of DAP Open House.

Check out the highlights - arrival of YB Lim Guan Eng, CM of Penang and Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Selangor's Menteri Besar.

Check out the rush for satay too....It was hottest item in the menu of the day. They were snapped up as soon as new batch arrived. The satay must be very good...Too bad I didn't get any to eat. They were gone before I could say "competent, accountable & transparent!" :)

ENJOY!

Lim Guan Eng's Fiery Speech

Not rain, Not Storm. Not even a blackout could stop this man!

He touched current issues from the rape of the Penans, Vision 2020 to corruption. I love the way he cleverly slipped "1Malaysia" into his speech! Thumbs up!

He capped his speech with a pantun, I could not make out what he was saying even though I watched the video a few time. Help anyone?

You can read more about the DAP Open House do here too.

http://teresakok.com/2009/09/29/cawangan-ahli-melayu-kedua-ditubuhkan-di-ampang-dalam-majlis-sambutan-aidilfitri-kebangsaan-dap/#more-4109

Tun Dr. Mahathir & Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah's Raya Open House 2009

I am really impressed! I think Dr. M is probably the first Malaysian politician figure who extended his Raya Open House invitation by FACEBOOK!

I have to salute Dr. M for being the pioneer! LOL! He is still keeping abreast with IT technology....Even my mom and dad are not that into the computer stuff like this! Heheh!

Julie, Carrie and I reached his residence in the posh housing area - The Mines, Seri Kembangan around 4:00pm last Saturday. The guests were still making beelines to wish "Selamat Hari Raya" to our former PM.

As a precaution for H1N1, every guest was required to sanitised their hands before meeting Dr. M and wife.

They looked like a cute old couple! Macam bersandang pulak!

Dr Mahathir was dressed in a lilac baju Melayu, and his wife, in a floral light blue baju kurung. They were all smiles and looking great!

Look at the amount of people who came for the food! :P

We were treated with satay, lemang, noodles, pasembor....Yum!

My plate...See how little I eat. :)

Biskut Raya....Delicious!

Ice cream no more. Too bad we didn't manage to get the free ice cream. :(

Before we left, we also took photo with Dr. M's daughter, Marina M. I can't post it here. Shy! ;)

Dr. M being interviewed by Trans Corp.

I think Trans Corp is an Indonesian TV channel. The interview was barely audible. So, I have no idea what was talked about. :(

After the interview, Dr. M returned to his home and Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah followed suit.

The open house was officially over!

Here are some clips I took at Dr. M's Raya Open House. What gracious hosts they were!

They sat there receiving guests the whole day long! I'm sure they were pretty tired after the whole day smiling and "salam" with all visitors. Heheh!

THANK YOU SO MUCH, DR. M & DR. SITI HASMAH!

Soundtrack - Selamat Berhari Raya by Dayang Nurfaizah & Jaclyn Victor.

Arthur's Day @ Kuala Lumpur Malaysia feat. The Black Eyed Peas

It was a good night. Everybody gotta (sic) feeling that it was going to be a good good night that night! At it was. Except for the opening acts! (Insert yawn here!)

BEP was flown in to Malaysia for Arthur's Day - a worldwide celebration for the 250th anniversary of the Guinness brewing company. The events also took place in other cities like Dublin, Lagos, New York and Yaoundé. Kuala Lumpur is the ONLY city in ASIA selected for Arthur's Day! Yay! Malaysia Boleh! :P

We were there for The Black Eyed Peas (BEP) and we didn't care for the rest of the opening acts.

Let's skip all the bangra/ hip hop wannabes and go to the best part....

The BEP show kicked off with Let's Get It Started! How apt! Heheh!

It was the 4th visit from BEP to Malaysia. I think should be the 5th for Fergie because I won a dinner date with her when she was known as Stacy Ferguson during her Wild Orchid promo visit to KL.

BEP rocked the house with the latest hits from their latest album The E.N.D. - Meet Me Halfway, Boom Boom Pow, Imma be and Rock That Man....

All the parental guidance words like mother-effer were self-censored. :)

They slipped in older hits like Shut Up and Don't Phunk With My Heart much to the crowd's delight!

I was hoping that they would sing Request Line but tough chance...Macy Gray was not in the house! LOL!

The dancers were fantastic - the can transform themselves into load speakers! LOL! Too bad I don't have the pics.

will.i.am also showcased his DJ-ing talent by spinning some Top 40 remixes half way through the BEP show.

Fergie thanked her fans for supporting her solo career by presenting her solo hit - Big Girls Don't Cry. The audience sang along! It was beautiful. :)

Fergie with her freaky long nailed hands during Boom boom powperformance. But that's not even close in term of fierceness compared to Beyonce's robo hand. :)

The heat and humidity got the best of Fergie. She looked like a cat had just peed on her. LOL!

I love the cool inflatable robots on the stage. Very futuristic, eh?

The BEP performance was highly energetic!

They professed that they love MALAYSIA and KUALA LUMPUR...and CAN'T WAIT TO COME BACK HERE AGAIN!!!!! Yes...They said that and I got it on video. :)

BEP closed their performance with their current #1 hit on BillBoard - I Gotta Feeling.

Despite the lack of "shooting opportunity", I managed to get these two amazing shots during Where Is The Love? performance.

will.i.am and Taboo coming together...;)

And they MADE LOVE. Awwwwww......

The celebration ended with a toast TO ARTHUR! and a spectacular firework show. Check out the video.

ENJOY!

It was the hottest concert so far this year for me. But wait....Sasha Fierce is coming soon....(Insert excited squeal here!)

PM's Raya Open House Part 3 - Entertainment Time

After Makan and Salam...I stayed on at Dato' Sri Najib's Raya Open House. Let's check out the entertainment...

As mentioned earlier, there were two stages - one outside the house (for orang awam) and one in the house (for VIPs). No prize for guessing where I was at.

The line up of artistes would do an RTM producer proud - three colours. :) Malay, Chinese and Indian. :)

This is Dia Fadila. She sang a few Hari Raya songs and have tendency to grab little girls to be brought up the stage. Heheh!

I noticed she has very weird eyebrows. They're like thick moustache growing on her forehead. Time to visit the eyebrow stylist...LOL!

This is Mirwana. Not to be mistaken with Nirvana. :)

They didn't perform any nasyid or religious songs but some raya songs.

From what I gathered, they all have full time jobs and singing is just part of their interests.

Lagu raya pun nak goreng ke? Heheh!

Very peculiar way of singing, eh?

Faizal Tahir used to be in this group before going pop-rock. Do you think any of the group member are as handsome as Faizal Tahir? LOL!

We cannot escape from these two comedians whenever there is a goverment or RTM function. Angeline Tan (representing the Chinese) & Sathiya (representing the Indisns). Of course there were Malay comedians as well but I am too lazy to post their pictures here. :)

Angeline is sweet and has an infectious laugh. Can't say the same to the rest of the emcees though.

This is MK. Not sure what MK stands for. Could be Muthu Kumaran. Or Muzaffar Kaisar. :) I don't really know. He sang a couple of Indian songs. Like Dia, he also have tendency to grab the audience to dance with him on stage. Check out the video later

Iqwal. A young singer who looks like a love child of Michael Jackson from this angle. Heheh! Check out the nose!

Here's a Malay divo - Nassier Wahab who has not aged abit since his appearence in the Malay pop scene since the late 80's.

He did two songs. A raya song and a cha cha number called "Kasih"

Another divo...a popular Chinese singer for RTM variety programs, Kelvin Lau.

Kelvin looked smart in his Baju Melayu. He sang a Malay raya song and the theme song from the Shanghai Bund TV series.

And Kelvin brought the rain too...LOL! Kidding!

These are Kelvin's platform shoes. I think he managed to add a couple of inches to his height....

The one that got away.....

I only managed to snap a pic of Jaclyn Victor's behind. She was rushing to perform at the VIP stage. The A-list artistes like Jaclyn Victor and Jamal Abdillah were reserved for the VIP stage up there. This is totally unfair! :(

After seeing the pictures, let's watch the performances of the artistes.

Watch out for Iqwal and his three African dancers, doing an Indian number. Very 1Malaysia 1World!

ENJOY!

This is the final post from Dato' Sr Najib's Raya Open House. Hope you enjoyed reading the posts. Comments are always welcome.

CANON Photo Marathon 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009 12:14 PM

From: "charlene_chan@cmm.canon.com.my"

To: runwitme@gmail.com

Hi Mr/Ms runwitme

Your registration for the Canon PhotoMarathon 2009 is successful.

Venue: Sunway Lagoon (Elephant Walk)

Date: 10th October 2009

Time : 7am

See you there!!

- Canon Marketing (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.

p/s: No. You don't have to run 42.195km with your camera.

More details below.

http://www.canon-asia.com/photomarathon2009/malaysia/index.html

PM's Raya Open House Part 2 - Salam Time

Salam 1Malaysia taking over Salam Aidil Fitri? :P

No trip to Seri Perdana on a Raya morning is complete until you shake the Prime Minister's hand to wish him "Selamat Hari Raya".

In that process you have to shake ALL of the jemaah menteris' hands....whether you like it or not! LOL!

The queue is usually long but I arrived early remember?

So, after filling up my stomach, I marched to the the PM's house. I was within the first 50 orang awam to be in line. These are the people arrived who earlier than me....

The door to the residence only opened at 11:00am. But when they said 11:00am, it actually meant 11:30am or later-lah.

Kesian aku tengok budak nih! Penat menunggu! Heheh!

While waiting I took some pictures of the kids around the area.

This one looked so cute with her head scarf! But she ripped it off her head afterwards much to the mother's dismay. Can't blame the little girl! The weather was really H.O.T!

The line was moving! Yay!

As a precaution for H1N1, we were all sprayed with handsanitisers at the entrance to the residence.

I got my hand squirted with the clear germkiller gel 3 times!!! If that's not an overkill, I don't know what is. LOL!

I joked that they should provide the hand sanitiser after and not before shaking the "dirty hands" of politicians! Nobody dared to laugh. Oops! Bad joke!

FYI, most hand sanitiser are alcohol based. Are they halal to use? Most sanitizers contain 60 percent to 90 percent alcohol (commonly ethyl or isopropyl alcohol) -- a stronger concentration than most hard liquors.

Even a small dose can be dangerous if ingested, leading to dizziness, slurred speech, headaches, and even brain damage or fatalities in extreme cases.

I dunno what the ulamaks have to say about this. I can't comment much on this since I am non Muslim.

I didn't take any pictures because the guard said no photo. So, I just hung my camera on my neck and let the video mode ran. See who you can spot me shaking hands with! Some of the heads were chopped off. LOL! :)

And all the germkiller hand sanitiser that they squired on my hands became useless when one Dr. Ng Yen Yen sneezed on me! She said something about my magnetic power. I have no idea what to say but, "Bless You and OK" :)

ENJOY!

We were presented with a goodie bag on our way out from the house.

What's in the Goodie Bag?

Dengan Ingatan Tulus Ikhlas dari Dato' Sri Najib & Datin Seri Rosmah...

1 X Dodol

2 X Kuih Bahulu

2 X Kuih Bangkit

I realised something very peculiar on my out. As I was heading back to the food area it struck me that the only people who I saw wearing the 1Malaysia T-Shirts were the foreign workers of the catering services.

How ironic! :)

The makan continued....with entertainment this time.

Coming next...the amazing photos and snippets of entertainment from the stage.