Malaysian Charity Bazaar Opening Speech

Malaysian Charity Bazaar Opening Speech

by Mr. Yubazlan Yusof Charge d'Affaires a.i.

held on 26th of May 2012

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dobrodosli!

I will begin my speech with a quote from Dalai Lama: “I think that this is the first time I am meeting most of you. But to me, whether it is an old friend or new friend, there is not much difference anyway, because I always believe we are the same; we are all human beings. Of course, there may be differences in our cultural background or our way of life, there may be also differences in our faith, or skin color, but we are all human beings. Whenever I meet people, I always have the feeling that I am encountering another human being, just like myself. I find it much easier to communicate with others on that level. If we emphasize on specific characteristics, like I am Tibetan, or I am Buddhist, then there are always differences. If we can leave the differences aside, I think we can easily communicate, exchange ideas, and share experiences.”

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Although I have been living in Serbia for several months, I can see similarities between Malaysia and Serbia. In fact, the warm hospitality of Serbians is unique to the region, and very much similar to Malaysia. As mentioned by Anthony de Mello “We see people and things not as they are but as we are”.

Malaysia is a country that respects religious freedom and prides itself on religious moderation. That has been our recipe for harmony and success over more than half century of independence. The motto of Malaysia is – “Unity is strength”. That very unity is the foundation of this prosperous country, where any description begins with the prefix “multi”. Malays make up 50.4 percent of the population, Chinese 23.7 percent, Indigenous 11.0 percent, Indian 7.1 percent and others 7.8%.  Malaysia is truly multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious society, which is not so much different from Serbia.

The diversity in the Serbian culture inherited from the olden times also resembles Malaysian culture, which is reflected in its language, music, food and much more. From the video showcases, audience could deduce that the arrival of different civilizations from east and west has shaped Malaysia into a multicultural country, a unique truly Asia nation, the same way Serbia’s unique geo-strategic position between eastern and western cultural influences formed its unique cultural identity.

Since Malaysia is a country known for its cultural heritage and tradition and food is the pearl of the Malaysian cultural treasury, our dear guests will have a unique opportunity to sample the finest of Malaysian cuisine. As a part of our cultural programme, it is our honour to present you Malaysian traditional dance performances and Malaysian batik parade. Our guests will also be entertained by other cultural troupes that were so kind to join Malaysian Charity Bazaar.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hope that today’s event could bring us together for a common cause of charity. This event is a part of our public diplomacy efforts – social and cultural diplomacy, which is an integral part of being members of the diplomatic community abroad.

The profit made from selling food at this event and all the money received from selling raffle tickets will be donated to the Home for Abandoned Children “Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj” and charity organizations in Serbia. At the same time I would also like to invite our dear guests who joined us on this beautiful day to feel free to make donation to our charity box.

Before I end my speech I would like to thank our sponsors, for it also due to them that this event has been made possible or else it would have been on a far smaller scale. I would also like to say a big thank you to the donors, vendors, diplomatic communities, government department and agencies (especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia) for without your support and active participation we would not have been able to run this bazaar smoothly and efficiently.

With that, it is my honour and a great pleasure to welcome you to the first Malaysian Charity Bazaar 2012.  Let’s go celebrate the values of true spirit of unity. Let’s build the bonds of friendship and goodness through cooperation and mutual respect.

Thank you all for being with us, joining us, and supporting our beginnings.

Prijatno!

Govor povodom svecanog otvaranja Malezijskog dobrotvornog bazara

govor drzao: Mr. Yubazlan Yusof Charge d'Affaires a.i.

26-og maja 2012

Vase Ekselencije,

Uvazeni gosti ,

Dame i gospodo,

Dobrodosli!

Citiracu Dalaj Lamu… ‘’Mislim da je ovo prvi put da se srecem sa vecinom vas. Ali za mene, bilo da je u pitanju stari ili novi prijatelj, tu nema puno razlike, jer sam uvek verovao da smo svi mi isti; svi smo ljudi. Naravno, možemo se razlikovati po kulturoloskom identitu ili po nacinu zivota, možemo se razlikovati i po religiji, boji koze, ali mi smo svi i dalje ljudi. Kadgod nekog sretnem, uvek imam osecaj da srecem drugo ljudsko bice, bas kao sto sam i ja. Smatram da je mnogo lakse komunicirati sa drugima na tom nivou. Ako naglasavamo neke nase specificnosti, kao ja sam Tibetanac ili ja sam Budista, onda ce razlike uvek i postojati. Ukoliko ih ostavimo po strani, uveren sam da možemo da lako komuniciramo, razmenjujemo ideje i iskustva”.

Dame i gospodo,

Iako zivim u Srbiji svega nekoliko meseci, vidim slicnosti izmedju Malezije i Srbije. Srpska gostoprimljivost je, zapravo, jedinstvena u regionu i veoma slicna malezijskoj. Kao sto je Antoni de Melo znao da kaze ’’Ljude i stvari vidimo ne kakve su nego kakvi smo mi’’.

Malezija je drzava koja postuje slobodu veroispovesti i ponosi se religioznom umerenoscu. To je bio nas recept za harmoniju i uspeh tokom vise od pola veka malezijske nezavisnosti. Moto Malezije je ‘’Jedinstvo je snaga’’. To jedinstvo je ugradjeno u temelje ove napredne zemlje, u kojoj svaki opis pocinje sa prefiksom ‘’multi’’. Malajci cine 50.4 procenta stanovnistva Malezije, 23.7 procenata stanovnistva je poreklom iz Kine, 11 procenata su starosedeoci, nesto vise od 7 procenata stanovnistva vodi poreklo iz Indije, dok 7.8 procenata pripada drugim etnickim grupama. Malezija je zaista multi-etnicko, multi-kulturalno i multi-religijsko drustvo i po tome je slicna Srbiji.  

Raznolikost srpske kulture odslikava njeno istorijsko nasledje, sto je slicno kao u slucaju Malezije, gde se istorijsko nasedje odslikava u kulturi, jeziku, muzici, hrani i mnogo cemu drugom. Gledajuci nase promotivne filmove, pubilka ce moci da otkrije kako je dolazak razlicitih civilizacija sa zapada i istoka oblikovao Maleziju kao mulitkulturnu drzavu, jedinstvenu azijsku naciju, na isti nacin na koji je jedinstveni geo-strateski položaj Srbije, koji je omogucio delovanje i istocnih i zapadnih kulturnih uticaja, formirao njen jedinstveni kulturoloski identitet.

Posto je Malezija drzava poznata po svom kulturnom nasledju i tradiciji, a malezijska kuhinja predstavlja biser malezijske kulturne riznice, nasi dragi gosti ce danas imati jedinstvenu priliku da probaju najbolje specijalitete tradicionalne malezijske kuhinje. Kao deo naseg kulturnog programa, cast mi je takodje i da Vam predstavim malezijske tradicionalne narodne igre i modnu reviju malezijskog batika (umetnost slikanja na svili). Naši gosti ce takodje moci da vide i nastupe drugih izvodjaca koji su bili ljubazni da dodju i nastupaju na Malezijskom dobrotvronom bazaru.

Dame i gospodo,

Nadam se da bi danasnji dogadjaj mogao da nas okupi oko zajednickog cilja – humanosti. Ovaj dogadjaj predstavlja nas napor ulozen u javnu diplomatiju – drustveno-kulturnu diplomatiju koja predstavlja integralni deo oblasti delovanja diplomtskog kora u inostranstvu.

Dobit ostvarena od prodaje hrane i srecki sa Malezijskog dobrotvornog bazara ce biti donirana Domu za decu bez roditeljskog staranja “Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj” i dobortvornim organizacijama u Srbiji. Voleo bih da pozovem nace drage goste da ovog divnog dana daju svoj prilog nasem dobrotvornom fondu.

Pre nego sto privedem ovaj govor kraju, zeleo bih da se zahvalim nasim sponzorima koji su omogucili organizaciju ovog dogadjaja i bez kojih bi ovaj bazar bio organizovan daleko skromnije. Takodje, voleo bih da se zahvalim donatorima, dobavljacima, clanovima diplomatskog kora, vladinim institucijama i agencijama (narocito Ministarstvu spoljnih poslova Republike Srbije) jer bez njihove podrske ovaj bazar ne bi mogao da bude organizovan ni izbliza ovako glatko i efikasno.

Cast mi je i veliko zadovoljstvo da vam ovim pozelim dobrodoslicu na prvi Malezijski dobrotvorni bazar 2012. Hajde da proslavimo istinski duh jedinstva. Hajde da izgradimo veze prijateljstva i dobrote kroz saradnju i medjusobno uvazavanje.

Hvala Vam sto ste dosli, pridruzili i  podrzali nase pocetke.

Prijatno!