M'sia puts in 'pasar malam' effort at World Expo!!! by
Wong Teck Chi
Jul 5, 10
COMMENT
The World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, running from May 1 to Oct 31, is the largest ever. About 100 million visitors are expected to visit the expo, making it the most visited in history.Over 190 countries and more than 50 international organisations are participating, but it's unfortunate that other countries are taking it far more seriously than we are - competing to present their nations in the best possible light.
The Malaysia Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo lacks conceptual depth, vision and imagination, and has failed to impress visitors despite exhibiting a wide range of products and content.
Still, the traditional Minangkabau design of the pavilion does make it stand out among other South East Asian countries' pavilions.
But the eagerness of the Tourism Ministry to promote as many tourism spots as possible has resulted in the exhibit lacking focus as a whole.Visitors entering the pavilion will first see the traditional costumes of each ethnicity, followed by a Petronas Twin Towers stand, tropical rain forests and historical monuments from Penang and Malacca.
The pavilion also features beaches, islands, golf courses and a section on Formula 1 racing.Although its theme is 'One Malaysia, City Harmonious Living', the ministry has failed in developing it by not explaining the multi-ethnic characteristics of Malaysia in depth.
Disappointingly, the exhibits are too superficial and not linked to each other.
Even the Malay, Chinese, Indian and Kadazan traditional costumes at the pavilion entrance have no information or explanation for the visitors, who are mainly made up of Chinese citizens.Accompanied by a few posters and brief notes, the introduction of world cultural heritage sites and Baba Nyonya culture in the two strait states is also boring and uninspiring.In contrast, many countries such as Saudi Arabia, Monaco have used advanced multimedia technology and even 3D movies as big as four basketball courts to introduce their own countries.
Some countries such as Israel have used internet technology to allow the visitors to talk with their citizens, making the experience more interactive and interesting.Other countries also brought in their national treasures - some being displayed abroad for the first time.
France brought in seven renowned paintings while Denmark displayed its famed 'Little Mermaid' statue.In return, their pavilions attracted huge crowds and visitors often needed to queue for two or three hours to enter.
In fact, the most popular ones like the Saudi Arabia and Japan pavilions had visitors queuing for over six hours to get in.
Improving the experience
Some visitors to the Malaysia pavilion believed that the experience could be improved if there was more imagination and depth in presenting the exhibits.
The Baba Nyonya culture exhibit could have been enlivened with descriptions of their lifestyle in depth, perhaps explained by a real Baba or Nyonya, in costume.The pavilion did have a Malay to demonstrate the unique Batik technique.
However, not being able to communicate in Chinese meant that most of the visitors - who were of course from China - were pretty much left in the dark save for a brief introductory note out front.In contrast, other countries like Finland, Germany and Saudi Arabia had fluent Chinese speaking staff.
To make matters worse at the Malaysia exhibit, the Chinese volunteers employed by the Ministry seem to lack direction and did not fulfill their responsibilities well. Indeed some seemed more absorbed in their handphones than the visitors.
Another disappointment is the pavilion, as some Malaysian tourists pointed out, is that it resembled a 'pasar malam' to promote commercial products.
Most of the space was used to promote commercial products like massage machines, coco drinks, tongkat ali coffee, furniture, paintings, and even palm oil and timber.
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Comments 1 to 17 of 17
abdullah badwi ng yen yen is so crap...... no innovation in her ministry..... for a chinese cant she understand that you need mandarin speaking staff to converse with the locals... bodoh betul la nyonya ni..!!
35 minutes ago · Report
abdullah badwi ng yen yen is so crap...... no innovation in her ministry..... for a chinese cant she understand that you need mandarin speaking staff to converse with the locals... bodoh betul la nyonya ni..!!
35 minutes ago · Report
Rakyat Malaysia Aiya, you cannot say like that one. What other countries do, we not necessary need to follow one. Why should we follow what other country do ah? We do it our unique way mah...
1 hours ago · Report
Alexander Yuan Xjin Kai I was there. And I agree whatever Wong said in this article. While our neighbours promote their culture and country, Malaysia is more like a hypermarket. And the food they serve there - it is airline food reheated inside a microwave at ridiculous prices (example, RM 10 for two sticks of satay). If you still insist of going there after reading this article, be my guest and go see it yourself. Then you will know whether the Ministry of Tourism is doing their jobs or not.
4 hours ago · Report
DontPlayGod I'm thinking of visiting the WTF in early October, when the crowd will be much thinner, and entrance to pavilions will not be too much of a hassle and easier. It is rather unfortunate that our pavilion did not place Malaysian staff who are proficient in Mandarin, not that we lack mandarin speakers in our country.
4 hours ago · Report
WHC Don't look far...compare with Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia expo hall... I would say, we are not even 1/10 near them in concept, design, originality, etc. Don't even mentioned about the food they sell there... I think MAS in-flight food is far better...
4 hours ago · Report
Alfred Adaikalaraj This is the result of the very original "Otak Udang" of Malaysia on display!
6 hours ago · Report
Upyes Nobody in BN and nothing they do can be taken seriously anymore. Just assume you're dealing with fully armed and dangerous primates recently escaped from the monkey house - and you'll know exactly how to deal with BN.
6 hours ago · Report
Seah Hong Yee I think in all fairness, we should not compare ourselves with Japan, Korea or the Saudis. However, we do need to compare ourselves with other countries with similar size of economy and budget. Take Finland, Czech Republic and Hungary for instance all 3 of these have a rather creative pavilion, nothing fancy but definitely reflect the national character of those countries. Take Czech for instance, the displays are creative and reflect its achievements. All these 3 countries has a national budget and GDP roughtly the size of Malaysia.
7 hours ago · Report
barking Dog Thank you, Malaysiakini for taking up my earlier suggestion of going there personally and doing an independent non-biased report. Now Malaysians know exactly what is happening there.
7 hours ago · Report
tanlei With a culture of 'tidak apa' (could't care less) and 'lebih kurang' (ok lah mediocrity) that pervades Malaysian life we are in a denial mode if we think we compete globally when and where it counts. 'Malaysia Boleh' has become a joke, an antithesis in the pursuit of excellence.
8 hours ago · Report
neoh koon eng Fair comment, I have visited the Malaysian pavilion, a huge disappointment, the Indonesian one was so much better. Our national forests were depicted by bad copies of fake trees with stuffed toy orang utans in it. On the day I visited the screen showing the Sepang race course was flickering and not working properly. The writer of the article was absolutely right about it being like pasar malam.
8 hours ago · Report
lim chong leong RM35 million and we can only come up with a pasar malam. You want multimedia computer graphics? Ng Yen Yen say, "sorry, another RM100million direct nego please." Otherwise we just sell some orang asli baskets and batik shirts, and that too possibly made in Indonesia.
8 hours ago · Report
TEOH KHENG SIONG Good topic , anyway pasar malam is one of the unit charateristic of malaysia i guess. So there is nothing wrong to put a night market there :)
8 hours ago · Report
Gordon Gecko When you have a Pasar Malam stall run by an "ah soh" named Ah Yen, what do you expect?
8 hours ago · Report
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