Apologies and congratulations - Festival of Diversity III
I have to say, never have I been so happy to be wrong as I did yesterday night. If you didn’t know, yesterday night the Malaysian Student Society of Cardiff University (MSSCF) held the 3rd Edition of the Festival of Diversity, our very own brand of Malaysian night.
The second Festival of Diversity (FOD) was held a year ago, and as I was in the Executive Committee of the MSSCF, I was heavily involved in organising as well as performing in it. And without appearing to masuk bakul, angkat sendiri, by all accounts last year’s FOD was a resounding success. Not only did we manage to obtain a ‘full house’, we also managed to attract a lot of non-Malaysians (about 40% of the audience) as well as delivering a great cultural play.
Thus, those involved with this year’s FOD had high standards to attain to. And I am first to admit that I am one of those that doubted them, from the organisers, to the directors, to the actors and performers. It is no secret numerous problems cropped up leading to yesterday night. It came to a point that I thought FOD III was just a case of damage limitation. Indeed, I feared the worst.
And like I said earlier, I was so happy that I was proved wrong. The event concluded without a hitch. It is a testament to the strength of those involved in being able to overcome the numerous problems and achieving what they did last night. I was especially proud of the actors as within 3 short weeks, they have ventured leaps and bounds from the expressionless robots that they were into natural, believable and most of all, entertaining, thespians that performed in front of an appreciative audience last night.
And if I may, I wish to single out two actors specifically for special praise. It is not my intention to slight the others who have all performed well, but just an expression of opinion as to which two have performed best.
Firstly, Lip Sing (sorry, I have no idea how to spell his name). He had two substantial parts, the more memorable of which is his rendition of King Kayangan in the Puteri Santubong legend. He made the part his, and in doing so, he left the audience in stitches.
And secondly, Rashdan, playing the show’s main character, village chief Pak Kassim. Natural, funny and extremely entertaining, Rashdan is simply wonderful. One of the strengths of the show is his ability to interact with the numerous characters in the play with such believable chemistry. The thunderous applause he received from the audience at the end of the play was richly deserved. He was not originally scheduled to play the role and was a substitute for someone else about a month ago, yet if this is a case of patah tumbuh, hilang berganti, then I’m truly grateful that the patah broke and the hilang lost. The play would not have worked as well as it did if Rashdan did not carry it upon his shoulders.
In any event, I would like to apologise to those involved in the FOD III for having doubted them. You all have proved me wrong, and let me communicate to you my heartiest of congratulations for a truly entertaining evening.
