Speech for Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun

Event: Heritage Walk

Date: 19 Aug 2017 (Saturday)

Time: 9am

Venue: Pasar Seni, Kuala Lumpur

Key Message: Knowledge of our heritage fosters national unity, harmony

Point 1: Chinese have contributed immensely towards national economic and social development

Point 2:  Negaraku celebrates Malaysia as a secular nation

(Salutations)

Good morning fellow Malaysians.

Representatives from our valuable partner, Fujifilm Malaysia

Renowned photographers:

• Mr Arthur Tang
• Mr Khong Miaw Leong

Honourable leaders and members of the Selangor & Kuala Lumpur Photographic Society

Leaders and members of the Malaysian Women Tourist Guide Association

Photography enthusiasts

Respected Members of the Media

This building that we are gathered at, Pasar Seni, was original built in 1888 by the British in colonial Malaya. It was a wet market for Kuala Lumpur citizens and tin miners, and today, it stands adjacent to Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock who is a great Malaysian patriot, and one of the founding father of Malaysia. Cheng Lock, as a nationalist, founded the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) in 1957 to secure for the Chinese a political voice in government that lasted until today, as well as the inalienable right to become citizens of Malaysia.

Therefore, the Blossom Arts Festival Malaysia (BAFM) 2017 Heritage Walk today has great significance for us all as Malaysians. It will take us through time to learn of the important historical locations of the Chinese social-economic activities in Kuala Lumpur during the colonial times. We will also learn how the early settlers preserved their heritage through establishment of clan associations, and temples.

The theme of this Heritage walk is “A Photographic Social Cultural Journey” in conjunction with National Day. It is the initiative of our hardworking leader, Dr Tee Ching Seng aided by the Selangor & Kuala Lumpur Photographic Society. Dr Tee, we thank you for your exemplary voluntarism – sacrificing time and energy for this initiative and other programmes in BAFM 2017. Let’s give him a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen.

The objective of the Heritage Walk is to draw photography enthusiasts to stroll through historical Kuala Lumpur locations, to record the unique landscapes which underwent the test of time without sacrificing its cultural and historical values. We are fortunate that many photographers had for decades recorded the transformation of our National capital into the modern metropolis of today. These photographs help us appreciate how development had not only transformed the landscapes but our lives. We have a hogher standard of living because the Barisan Nasional government had focused on development since Independence. Therefore, these photographers too deserve our vote of thanks, and today, we have two with us, Mr Arthur Tang and Mr Khong Miaw Leong.

Our Heritage Walk will be led by professional tour guides from the Malaysian Women Tourist Guide Association. It begins here at Pasar Seni and will snake through to Kasturi Walk, Sin Sze Si Ya Temple which is one of the oldest Taoist temples in the Klang Valley, old shophouses featuring jewellery and pawn trades as well as flea and street markets at Petaling Street.

Learning and appreciation of the early Chinese contribution to development of Malaysia gives this community a sense of its roots in the country that they now call “Negaraku” (My Homeland). Our successful assimilation with Indian migrants, local Malays and other ethnic groups, has fostered multi-ethnic unity that laid the foundation of our secular nation.

Enjoy your Heritage Walk experience. Thank you. 

-MCA online-