This year's Hari Raya Aidilfitri falls on a day before National Day - The day Singapore gained independence in 1965. In line with with the NDP spirit, my family and I wore red outfits during on the first day of Hari Raya.
Outfit Of The Day
Cobalt Blue Eyewear: Polaroid Peplum Kurung : Tailor Made Yellow Patent Top Handle Bag: Carlo Rino, Poise Polish Bag
Traditional Doko Necklace: Raffiey Nasir, fashion designer
Black Patent Wedges: Century Square
A traditional Malay necklace called Doko - which I bought at the Expo Raya 2013 from famous fashion designer, Raffiey Nasir.
If you're a Malay teenager or in your 20s (early and late) you've probably heard of these songs which was written by the malay boys under the void decks. I guess, the most prominent one you've heard of is... Apit? Rings a bell? I really wonder how his songs got so famous. Funny thing is, WHO IS THIS GUY? Have you ever wondered? Well, I have.
If you've never heard of the songs, listen to this. One of my favourites :)
I heard he's from a local band named Baronbros but really, if I were to see him outside I wouldn't even know that he's the guy who sang all this really touching songs.
I even tried looking for him on Facebook, but there's 16271911 Apits around. Uh....
This guy has so much potential and talent. Why isn't he a singer? Why isn't he performing for all the shows on Suria? Why do I have to watch people like Aliff Aziz on TV (eww...) and not people like him? Why isn't the mainstream media paying attention to people like him who has grown famous with the help of Youtube? Don't you find it interesting?
It really makes me wonder. Well, it's just a random thought.
If you like and his songs, LIKE Baronbros on Facebook. :)
Last week, Kasturi invited us to her house for Diwali. For me it's my first time ever doing Diwali visiting so we weren't sure of what to wear. Since we didn't have any indian traditional costume, I suggested to Farah that we should wear our traditional costumes out of respect. Hahaha so... yes we went in our baju kurung. IT WAS REALLY WARM.
Plus, how often do I get to wear my traditional costume? You know how proud I am of being a malay right? :P
Actually turns out Kasturi didn't really mind if we wore normal clothes. I still think it won't be nice cus she dressed up when she tagged along for our Hari Raya visiting.
You know, my friendship with Kasturi is really a very eye opening one. Since secondary school, I've always mixed around more with my Chinese friends, but I've never been close to anyone who's Indian. Mainly because there's also not many indians in my class? So when I got to know Kasturi, it's really interesting because I realised that the Malay and Indian culture has it's similarities.
Maybe you know about this, but I recently found out that Indians also have their "kueh" for Diwali too and it's VERY SIMILAR to the ones we have for Hari Raya.
Take this Muruku for example. I know this is an indian snack, but we malays love this too! Yes, even I have this for Hari Raya. :)
PINEAPPLE TARTS. Actually, I realised that even the Chinese have these for their CNY festivals. These are home made btw. :)
Some kuih made of coconut. :)
Kasturi's newly painted wall. :)
FOOD!!
Homemade Briyani yo!! :P
Picture before the meal. :P
I think the problem with Singapore is that eventhough we are a multi racial country, we don't often really get to know people of other races. Being acquaintance/"friends" and being good friends with someone of a different race is very different. Being good friends with someone of a different race will allow you to learn so much about the person's culture and religion. It's extremely interesting. :)
I had a great time. Thank you Kasturi for inviting us over!
Last week, on the 7th december 2009, I commemorated my own
"I'm proud to be a Malay" Day.
I wore my Malay traditional costume to school,
yes, all the way to Dover.
I'm sick and tired of hearing people say,
"I'm embarassed to be a Malay".
I'm really sick of it.
If you're a Malay and all you can do is to be
embarassed of your own race,you should kick yourself in the balls.
If there's Malay blood in you, and your IC states that you're a Malay,
you jolly well accept the fact that you're a Malay.
People look down on us, they say we Malays are stupid.
People say, we won't succeed.
SO IF YOU'RE SO EMBARASSED,
then prove it to everyone that they are wrong.
No point being embarassed, cos no matter how much you feel ashamed,
it won't change the fact that you're a Malay boy/girl.
& that day, there was a Malaysian guy on twitter
who was asking why I only tweet in English and not Malay.
He said something like I was "speaking omputeh",
which means, I speak in English.
Oh please, doesn't mean if I always tweet in English means that
I do not know how to communicate in Malay. I LOVE OUR MALAY LANGUAGE.
Its a beautiful languange and I bet most of you will agree that
it's one of the easiest subjects to pass in primary and sec school.
Even the government encourages us to be bilingual.
I was looking around facebook and I found this photo of a friend.
I bet you can sense how proud she is to don the silat uniform.
We should follow her example.
We Malays should stop looking down on each other.
Its time to work together, show everyone else that we too can succeed.
Show them that we are proud to be Malays.
If you are proud to be a Malay, why not wear our traditional costume for a day?
After that, take photos of yourself and blog about how you feel.
Or, maybe simply blog about how you feel to me a Malay.
And after that, send me your permalink via email @
rynaque@gmail.com
I'll gladly feature you in my blog :). ♥
But if you choose not to heed my advice,
and still continue to be embarassed,
I can only say one thing,
the phrase "Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia" by Hang Tuah,
just won't be valid anymore if this keeps up.
Thanks to Syafinah for allowing me to use her photo.
