Lantern Festival

Bright night: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor holding lanterns at Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur last night after the launch of the 1Malaysia Lantern Festival Kuala Lumpur 2009 at the Central Market. Joining them is Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen (in green). The festival is set to get a boost with annual funding from the Government.

KUALA LUMPUR: The 1Malaysia Lantern Festival will be made an annual event and promoted as one of the country’s tourism products, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Prime Minister said that by organizing this event, “we do not only accept the diversity of our multi-racial society but also celebrate the uniqueness of Malaysia.”

Speaking at the 1Malaysia Lantern Festival held at Central Market here last night, he said the event was in line with the 1Malaysia concept and expressed hope it would be seen as another brick built upon national unity towards the concept.

Najib also announced an annual allocation of RM250,000 to more than 100 Chinese non-governmental organizations which took part in the Lantern Festival.

He said such a cultural event was a heritage the country could boast to foreign visitors.

“There are so much Malaysia can offer to the world - its tradition, culture, customs, cuisine, its natural beauty and warm hospitality.

“We are the window to the rest of Asia and we have to be famous not just for our shopping, eco-tourism but for our unique way of life as well,” he said.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said the allocation announced by Najib would be made available by Tourism Malaysia to promote the Lantern Festival event in Kuala Lumpur for the next four years.

“We managed to attract more than 30,000 tourists to this year’s event and we hope that 100,000 tourists will be visiting our country each year specially for this event. The Lantern festival is a great event as it has the participatory factor which the tourists enjoy and will pull the crowd in,” she said.

After his speech, Najib cut a giant 1Malaysia mooncake which weighed 80kg.

He and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor joined in the latern procession, walking to the iconic Petaling Street carrying a lantern each.

Earlier, a giant lantern several metres high in the form of the 1Malaysia logo was lit by Dr Ng, accompanied by drum beats representing the various races.

The festival was organised by the Tourism Ministry with the co-operation of Kuala Lumpur City Hall and 100 non-governmental organizations.

Adapted from The Star Online Newspaper, 27 09 2009