The 52nd Independence Day Celebration was held at the Official Residence of the Ambassador of Malaysia, Conakry on 31st August 2009. About 180 guests were invited to the celebration which begin at 6.30 p.m. and ended at 9.30p.m. Since this year Independence Day falls in the fasting Month of Ramadhan Al-Mubarak, the celebration was done in an elaborated manner which included breaking-fast, Maghrib and Isha’ and followed by Terawih prayers. The celebration began with the speech made by His Excellency Dato’ Wan Jaafar Wan Mahamud, Ambassador of Malaysia. The response on his speech was made by His Excellency Alexandre Cece LOUA, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who represented the Government of the Republic of Guinea. During the course of his speech, His Excellency Dato’ Ambassador thanked all invited guests for their presence in this auspicious occasion which was celebrated simultaneously throughout Malaysia. He was also happy to see so many invited guests were presence despite it being in the month of Ramadan. This demonstrates the continued bonds of friendship that have been firmly established between Malaysia and her friends. According to His Excellency Dato’ Ambassador this year’s Independence Day celebration theme was 1 Malaysia: People First, Performance Now. The theme was chosen by our new Prime Minister as his guide and goal for his premiership to bring Malaysia to greater heights and forge a new level of nationhood out of the various races that comprise the land. His Excellency Dato’ Ambassador stressed that despite the last 52 years of Independence, relative peace and prosperity, Malaysia has miles to go before it can call itself a truly nation united. His Excellency Dato’ Ambassador also spoke on Malaysia’s current relations with the Republic of Guinea whereby he mentioned that both maintained excellent bilateral relations in the spirit of South-South Cooperation and Islamic brotherhood. This was clearly translated amongst others our active promotion of the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) and higher education. According to His Excellency Dato’ Ambassador as of this year 74 Guinean officials have participated in various courses offered under the MTCP which aimed at enhancing human resources capacity in developing countries. The same applies to education. This year fourteen Guinean students have been sponsored and admitted into our prestigious International Islamic University and mostly with scholarships offered by Yayasan Al-Bukhary. This is not to mention those who went on private funding to Limkokwing University Creative Technology, Multimedia Univeristy, Kolej Damansara Utama and Sunway College. In addition to that, the Yayasan Al-Bukhary plans to award two scholarships to the Guinea students to study in various management and economic fields at its newly established University in Alor Setar, Kedah. According to His Excellency Dato’ the offering of two scholarships for Guinean students to study at Al-Bukhary University in Kedah was the first ever made.
His Excellency Alexandre Cece LOUA in his response thanked His Excellency Dato’ Ambassador for inviting him to our 52nd Anniversary of Malaysian Independence. He congratulated His Majesty Yang di Pertuan Agong of Malaysia for the auspicious day on behalf of President Captain Dadis Moussa CAMARA as well as to the Government of Malaysia. According to the Minister, Guinea and Malaysia has forged strong bilateral relations since both established our Missions in the respective countries. These relations have been nurtured especially since both are the members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference and committed to South-South Cooperation. The Foreign Minister also congratulated us for having a new and dynamic Prime Minister and wished him a success in his endeavour to bring the nation to the greater heights and unity. As of previous years, His Excellency Dato’ Ambassador and His Excellency Minister of Foreign Affairs offered the toast to the respective Head of State, His Majesty Yang di Pertuan Agong of Malaysia and President Captain Moussa Dadis CAMARA. After the speeches made, the Foreign Minister, Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry, Madam Marie Agnesse TOURE and all resident ambassadors, Heads of International Organisations, Charge d’Affaires a.i. who attended with the exceptions of few who were on leave and had prior commitments were invited to break their fast. Those Muslim guests were also invited to perform ‘solat Maghrib, Isha and Terawih’ which had been prepared and led by our staff as the Imam.
The invited guests who attended the celebration were given the opportunity to taste the Malaysian famous drink prepared during Ramadan, “the sweet syrup drink”, the various Malaysian cakes or kuih raya, dates, fruits, Nasi Minyak with gravy. The guests seemed to enjoy and the food received a tremendous response as many of the invited guests who were fasting felt relief as they could not only savour our delicious food but they were more at ease when these guests could also performed the Maghrib, Insha and Terawih prayers. In fact, during the course of the prayers, His Excellency Dato’ Ambassador and Datin provided extra food for them to eat despite the official celebration ended at 8.30 p.m. The Saudi Arabian Charge d’Affaires a.i. who was present was very happy because he had not only managed to celebrate our Independence Day but to perform the “wajib” or compulsory cause those were the said prayers. The same applies to many others who thanked us for providing such a venue and hospitality.