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Malaysia Travel Guide

Kuching to kick off Visit Sarawak Campaign as it rings in New Year

Sarawak will usher in the New Year with a countdown celebration and the launching of its Visit Sarawak campaign.

Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said thousands of people were expected to attend the event at the Kuching Waterfront on Dec 31.

“There will be a lot of activities starting from 5pm until midnight, including cultural performances and a concert by national and local artistes.

“Simultaneously, we will launch the Visit Sarawak campaign, which is very important in our effort to bring in more tourists, starting from next year,” he told a press conference here on Thursday (Dec 20).

Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah pointing to the “Sarawak: More to Discover” tagline for the Visit Sarawak campaign which starts next year. – Photo credit: ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE / THE STAR

Read full article here…

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Cuisine in Melaka

GOODBYE 2014, WELCOME 2015

In a few hours, we will say goodbye to 2014 and welcome in the New Year 2015.

It has been a bad year for MALAYSIA as many unpredicted events occurred that affected MALAYSIA and Malaysians in general. 3 air disasters within one year are very bad. Started with the disappearance of MH 370, the shooting down of MH 17 and days before the end of 2014, we got the bad news of AirAsia plane going down in the Java sea due to a severe storm.

We were struck by landslides in Cameron highlands and before we know it, floods submerged Kelantan, Trengganu, Pahang, Perak and Johor. More than 250,000 people had to be evacuated from rising flood waters. Emergency supplies failed to reach the flood victims on time due to flooded roads, damaged roads, lack of power supply and clean water.

We hope 2015 will bring good news to MALAYSIA and Malaysians. Let the rain wash away our bad luck of 2014 so that we can start the New Year clean in our thoughts and action. Bless us in prosperity, harmony, and live together with tolerance and forgiveness.

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Cuisine in Melaka

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014 and HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

In a few days time, 2013 will end and we will usher in the New Year of 2014. We want to send our greetings to everyone for ushering 2014.

May 2014 bring us joy, happiness, health and peace to all Malaysians and our fellow humans around the world.

Also, by the end of January 2014, all Chinese around the world will usher in the Year of the Horse.

May the Horse gallops in prosperity, wealth and happiness for everyone.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014 and QONG XI FA CAI in the YEAR OF THE HORSE.

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Tourism Malaysia

New Year Resolutions Part 1

December 30, 2011 at 2:00 pm

As we bid goodbye to 2011, the Malaysia.com team enlisted the help of Julie Woon and Megan Tan, the two lovely emcees for Mystical Eve 2011, to pose some New Year related questions, especially about the ever famous New Year Resolutions. They gamely took the challenge and asked some typical Malaysians. The following is the first five questions we posed and the respective answers by the interviewees.

Julie Woon with Judith Flora. It’s wedding bells hopefully for Judith next year!

Interviewees
JF: Judith Flora, Orchan
DL: Dennis Lau
R: Roshan
AO: Andy Ong
SY: Su Yi
AZ: Adam Zain
JA: Jern Ai
BL: Barbara Lam
SC: Su Ci
LT: Lyn Tan

Dennis Lau shares his thoughts on New Years. He’ll be performing at ENCORP Strand this New Year’s Eve


Do you bother to celebrate New Year’s eve?

JF: I do as I always give thanks to God for having led me through a journey of twelve months where most people are not able to make it.
DL: Actually, I do bother to celebrate as I feel it is always good to be able to celebrate it with your special someone
R: My mum was born on the 31st December, so we do have a party for her. But it is usually a party for close friends and relatives.
AO: Yes I do!
SY: Not as gung-ho as I used to be
AZ: Depends on the definition of celebrating. I very much prefer a more intimate get together of close friends at any one of our places to chill and have a good time.
JA: I haven’t celebrated for the past 3 years as I have been in Melbourne. Everyone goes back to spend time with THEIR families over Christmas and New Years. But if I was back in KL, yeah… I would totally celebrate New Year’s eve!
BL: Yes
SC: Not really the big grand type of celebration but something small and cosy with people that matter most is enough.
LT: Absofreakin’lutely! Anybody would love to embrace a new beginning. Fittest time for festal cheer!

Where will you be this New Year’s eve?
JF: This year I will be in Malaysia at The Strand in Kota Damansara to celebrate New Year with my friends
DL: I would be performing at 2 shows; one is in The Strand at Kota Damansara for a New Year’s Eve countdown show and then I will rush over to headline a White Party NYE show @ Cyberview Lodge.
R: I will be at home with my mum and my family members!
AO: Most probably I will be at a friend’s bar.
SY: No solid plans at the moment
AZ: Probably working with the 8TV Quickie guys.
JA: In Melbourne. Having a super low-key (as in stay home and watch movies) New Year’s eve. Although after answering all these questions, it’s REALLY making me feel like I Should go out and party!
BL: No real plans at the moment
SC: Not too sure just yet. Heard there’s a plan for a secret-no-cameras-allowed-type-of-lingerie-party in the making though… :p
LT: Hmm.. nothing is set in stone just yet. Probably a get together at a friend’s crib or a pool party.

Radio celebrity Roshan posing with Julie

What is your most funniest New Year resolution and why?
JF: To be able to meet my boyfriend’s best and funniest friend. This is because he makes me laugh a lot whenever I chat with him
DL: That I am able to perform with Michael Jackson in year 2010 but unfortunately he passed on before the year ended.
R: Wow.. that has to be the one… where I promised myself that I would stop swearing! I’m glad to say that it lasted only for 3 hours!
AO: To watch less TV. It is funny because I just ended up watching more downloaded TV shows!
SY: One year, my friends and I had written down a To-do list which consisted of about 20 plus things to accomplish together that year. We only managed to cross 2 out. It has been 3 years since and the list is still stuck onto the door of my friend’s place
AZ: I’m sure at one point I had ‘to improve my memory’. Unfortunately, I forgot to work on it for the year.
JA: I wanted to take more videos of life around me! But everyone is camera-shy and accuses me of getting footage for blackmail or embarrassing wedding videos. Another one is to be more independent. But then the next day, there was this giant spider in my house and I was screaming for someone to “GETITGETITGETITGETIT!”. New Year resolution FAIL.
BL: I will stop replying with K, LOL to my friends’ texts because I do not want them to reply me with that too. LOL!
SC: To lose weight. I think it is self explanatory why it is funny. Who am I kidding? I have weighed the same since 10 years ago. Even if it changes, it only goes up, never down, :p
LT: Spend less time on the Internet. It is like a prison without bars and a porn magazine lying on the floor… such is the internet.

Everyone, it’s Andy!


What is your most horrible New Year’s experience?

JF: Celebrating New Year after our late mum had passed away the previous year. We had no celebrations but we were full of sorrows.
DL: Not that I can remember of at the moment
R: To be honest, I cannot seem to recall any (thank God!). But I do remember this one time when I suffered from indigestion. It was not that bad but it did put a halt to me celebrating New Year’s (for about 15 minutes!)
AO: Getting stuck alone in my car after work with a bladder that is about to explode right after the countdown.
SY: Walking from Bukit Bintang to KLCC on a 4-inch stiletto heels. It was fun at the moment, but I could not feel my toes after that.
AZ: I remember wanting to spend my NYE with my best friend. Everything seemed set and good to go. However, my father had other plans and insisted that the entire family go back to my grandparents’ place since apparently my grandparents really wanted all their grandchildren to celebrate with them. I love my grandparents but they fell asleep by 10pm.
JA: I do not have one really. It is either quite fun and upbeat or super low-key (like not do anything at all). I guess I prefer the former.
BL: Getting lost in the crowed and being stranded in KL for 2 hours.
SC: None too horrible that it is unforgettable?
LT: There was one year where I fell terribly ill, so I was just stuck in bed sleeping through the New Year. That was horrific.

Su Yi is such a sport to answer our little questions

Do you have any New Year celebration rituals?
JF: I don’t but the only thing that I do is give thanks to God through prayers
DL: Just pray for a better year and better health!
R: Nope!
AO: Nothing special besides the usual countdown.
SY: Watching the firework displays!
AZ: Not really. But I was always fascinated by how my Spanish friend used to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Custom dictates that at the stroke of midnight, one must eat a single grape every time the chime strikes, i.e. twelve grapes for the twelve chimes representing midnight. It was the most peculiar and anti-climactic thing I have ever seen.
JA: If I am back in Malaysia, my family will always head out for a big night with their friends and their families. We will go to a nice restaurant, preferably with dancing and live music and PAR-TAY the night away!!
BL: No
SC: Nope. Just try to enter the New Year with a positive attitude for the first 5 minutes to set the ‘pace’ for the year. Hahaha…
LT: Watching fireworks. I’d feel incomplete and out of spunk if I missed it.

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Categories
Cuisine in Melaka

PULAU MELAKA PROJECT REVIVED

Monday January 3, 2011

MALACCA: It was a good start to the New Year for the state when the RM1.46bil Pulau Melaka twin reclaimed island project was revived after a decade of financial and legal woes.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the state would start work on the abandoned project, off the coast of Bandar Hilir by September.

Among the works included are resolving issues faced by some 1,009 buyers who were left in a lurch when the project was abandoned several times since its launch in the mid-1996.

Beauty nearly wasted: A bird’s-eye view of the abandoned Pulau Melaka, off the straits of Malacca. The multi-billion ringgit project will finally resume by September this year.

The state took possession of the island project from the developers and won the case at the Court of Appeal on Dec 28.

“The state can finally proceed with reviving the project as those involved in the case will not appeal to the Federal Court,” he told reporters after a ceremony marking the state’s possession on the island here yesterday.

He said the project involved the construction of some 400 commercial shop lots comprising a total of 1,534 units.

Most of the development work on the island have been completed with 521 units completed out of the 612 under Phase I.

Another 598 units have been completed out of 726 units under Phase II, Mohd Ali said, adding that there were 160 units yet to be developed under Phase III.

He said the island would be managed by the State Economic Development Corporation and Chief Minister Incorporated with main contractors Kejuruteraan Asas Sdn Bhd completing work for the sewage treatment system.

The state would meet the affected buyers next month over the issue, Mohd Ali said.

“They can opt to continue with the purchase of their units or alternatively offer them to the state,” he added.

Covering some 40ha, the project was launched in mid-1996 by Pulau Berkembar Sdn Bhd Talam Bhd, a subsidiary of Talam Corporation Sdn Bhd but was abandoned in the late 1990s following the global economic down turn.