The King And I
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a ruler King Sandokan - a Monarch who was fair and kind to his people. The country, blessed with its bountiful nature was a prosperous and thriving nation. Countries from afar including Chile send their Ambassadors to the Kingdom as their representatives.
That was the outline of a musical comedy sketch 'The King and I' presented by the Malaysian Embassy at the farewell ceremony of Monsignor Aldo Cavalli, Dean of the Diplomatic Corp at University Santo Thomas, Santiago on 13 December 2007. The president of the Supreme Court and his wife were among the audience that evening which included members of the diplomatic fraternity, professors, lecturers and students of the University.
The audience was brought back to the ancient Kingdom where King Sandokan was holding court in the Balai Rong Seri. The King and Queen made a grand entrance escorted by the Bendahara (Prime Minister), Hulubalangs (warriors) and dayang-dayang with the accompaniments of strains of the Nobat to give drama and authencity to the court scene. The King?s Princess later joined his father by showing off the 'Wau Bulan' that she had just made. The King or rather the audience was then entertained to a display of Silat and Dikir Barat. There were several hilarious moments particularly when the Ambassador of Chile presented his credentials and addressed his Majesty as Mr. King. It was a scene right out of the old movies of the Cathay-Keris Film Production except that it was in living colour.
Embassies that participated in the cultural showcase were India (traditional dances), Indonesia (song performance and poco-poco), Japan (musical group), the Philippines (bamboo dance), Thailand (food carving demonstration), and Vietnam (song performance). The performances were mostly presented by the officials and staffs of the embassies.
The Malaysian Embassy practised their sketch especially the dikir barat for more than a week before the actual show. Ms. Michelle Woo, a Malaysian English teacher in Chile also participated in the performance. The timely arrival of En. Razali Abdul Rahman, Third Secretary and his family of five further reinforced the cast. The spouses Azman Mustafa and Rosman Ghazali performed the silat. Although none of the Malaysians had ever participated in such silat tari or dikir barat before, they have managed to pull it all together and gave an impressive and remarkable show.
The farewell ceremony ended with the children of the Embassies involved presenting flowers to Monsignor Aldo Cavalli, followed by cocktail of all Asian cuisines - a great way of ending an unforgettable evening of cultural extravaganza in Santiago, Chile. It was a fun evening not only for the audience but also for the HBS and LRS that show cased Malaysia?s rich cultural heritage and culture.
As for the King and Queen, like all fairy tales lived happilly ever after........
Embassy of Malaysia
Santiago, Chile
www.kln.gov.my/perwakilan/santiago