Its already end of July which means we only have 1 month and 1 week before Merdeka. When you're living away from home, being able to celebrate it with other Malaysian makes it more sentimental. Although there are some Msian or ex-Msian who thinks that they're better than everybody else and to those people, plse F-off. The problem however is usually there's nothing much being done to get all Malaysian for a get-together. Yeah sometimes we organise a party for friends but tht's about it. Party for friends/people that we already know. I mean, we have a Consulate here but what do they do? Nada! Nothing! Takde apa2! Maybe last year they did something although Im not sure who actually organised it. I do know that there was a celebration at a hotel in LA (too far esp at night!).
Yup, im so pissed that the Consulate is not doing anything at all unless you go to them. Even that, doesnt guarantee any result. Let me give you an example. It's advisable for Malaysian to register themselves at the Consulate. It should be as easy as filling up an online form with your name, address, phone number and contact name and numbers in Malaysia. But Nooooooooooooooooo. You have to send in the bloody form! Come on! Are we still living in the 80s or something? Why do they have to make things so difficult? Because of that, I havent registered yet nor have I registered our marriage with them.
And have any of you guys go to their website? Here is the link. Just go there and see it for yourself. Personally I think as the website of Malaysian Consulate in LA, the quality just sucks. Its nothing more than a bulletin with most of the 'information' comes in the form of links to other websites. Who the hell is the designer and webmaster? How much did they pay that person/company to design and run it? And soalan cepumas (golden question) would be, what is the purpose and/or duty of a Consulate General? What do you think? Should they come out and make the effort to reach out to Malaysian living in the states that they 'service' or should we all have to go to them?
19 comments:
Good questions.
Am sure they themselves do not know how to answer.
Any way...it is good that you and your fellow Malaysian friends still think of Merdeka day.
You have a great weekend ahead now.
Cheers.
wakakaka soklan cepu emas mesti di jwb oiii hahaha
Forget about the malaysian consulate... Kita buat party sendiri aje lah... Lagi best, kan..??
ooooo
We used to have so much fun during Merdeka celebration, a garden party, nyanyi lagu Negaraku, BBQ, satay, all the malaysian food that u can eat at the Consulate's house.
That was in the mid 90s, i guess things changed.
I used to stay in Torrance, CA.
panas..panas..ur soklan cepumas..and i strongly agree with u. i pon sebenarnye ade terpikir soklan ni..
suppose these so called officers shud always be easily reached by us to cater any problem arise & welfare of any person who lived abroad.
no doubt that the initiating of any celebration pertaining to M'sian culture also part of their duties too..they shud be more proactive & creative in term of that..but also depends on budget that govt willing to give, i guess.
on top of all,i strongly recommend that this CG must have the right qualities and MUST like to meet people type. not simply any officers who just sit on their comfy couch in the cosy office and reluctant to meet people.
p/s-points to ponder...who shud be blamed? the appointed CG or the authorized people who appoints the CG?
*sigh*
Farina,
You have to send the form by snail mail?? It should be online, for God's sake! I think by doing it online all they need from you is only your Name, Malaysian IC#, USaddress, MalaysianAddress, US social-security# and contact#. Why didn't they think about getting all the important data.. after all they're your reps there kan?
I've been to the Malaysian Consulate in LA once. Kalau tak silap in 1986 or 1987 for the Hari Raya thing. Met a few fellow Malaysians there. Took pix with Dato' Shake (the Paris-based singer tu la). Other than that, I can't remember any details of the gathering...
Maybe you should bring this matter up to them. I know a Malaysian working there dulu... nama Yati ke if I'm not mistaken. She was married to an African American... Big-sized.. I forgot his name.. was it 'David'? Anyway, one day the wife boiled telur masin and left it on the table.
Being 'David', he came back one day, peel the telur masin and plop that one whole egg into his mouth! And he got the shock of his life.. LOL!
It was hillarious, especially when it was told by 'David' himself..
Eh .. melalut pulak Kak Ja ni... hehe..
Farina,
I agree they could do something like a small makan-makan and I am sure it is refundable like Menteri Besar buat open house every hari raya. At least LA office ada website, yang kat D.C tak ada langsung. I have to register at DC office when I apply for my new passport. Do you think they will let us have the list of all the malaysian registered with them?
Hi Kak Farina,
it's an annual thing for the MSD officer (she's based in LA) to come over to Colorado sometimes in August and we would organize Merdeka celebration for Malaysians around Golden, Denver and Boulder. I remember one year (when I was a freshman I think), the Consulate-General based in LA also flew over.
Haih, Kak Farina,
Malaysia boleh ma...Gets on your nerves, huh, when they have that tidak-apa-thy attitude?
Hello kak Farina,
huh? hantar borang macam tu? very nineteen-eighty lah.
Anyway, don't worry lah. Just make your own party, gather as many Malaysian as you can. It is going to be equally, if not much more, fun.
Have a nice day.
Farina I am so with you on this. I remember the years I was in NY I even contacted the consulate about Merderka celebration get together hoping that I can attend and they told me its just for invited guest only. Can you belive that!!! I guess we are nothing to them. Sad isn't it. Macam ni how to be a proud Malaysian :(
I know what you are talking about dear! it is so frustrating when I have to deal with them .. especially when i was living in Cali! .. They really need to be more helpful in helping malaysians living abroad .. but unfortunately it is NOT the case :(
Farina, no need to b@?#ch on the consulate. How much taxes do you pay to malaysian government anyway to make them serve you? Maybe get together with friends is better. Or if you really need to have consulate go to you, organise your own event. Ask not what your country do for you but what you do to your country.
Malaysia boleh!
Salam Princess,
Had a look at the consulate's site. Yucks! And from my experience, yup, only a handful of people at our consulates know or care about Malaysians wherever that place be lah!
About registering your marriage, have seen too many problems arising from not doing so. Perhaps, you may want to think about it again.
NW, yes the Msian that i kno here in SoCal are pretty proud Msian. ;)
Dayang, kamek tok nang masih menunggu soalan ya di jawab.
Cath, gamaknya memang sendiri buat as usual. so whts ur plan?
Kina, welcome to my blog. Oh tht sounded so much fun. I guess orang dulu dgn orang sekarang macam langit and bumi. :P
Een, ur right. they must be the type of ppl yg like to meet other ppl instead of sitting in their offices. sometimes tak boleh nak salahkan who appointed them since how would u kno who's gonna perform and do their duty and who's just pretending?
Kak Ja, ya kena guna snail mail. bab ss no tu takyahlah. they dont need tht info but the rest tu enoughlah so if anything bad happens (nauzubillah), they can be the middle person to ppl back home. Abt bringing up the matter to them, actually i did. im stil waiting for their reply. :P
Yatie, DC takde website ke? sheesh. I dont think they can give out the list of other msian but they can make the website interactive where msian who registered can get to kno each other. kan senang camtu?
Becky, thanks for dropping a comment. ;) they went to CO? every year? isnt tht weird?
Daphne, u knowlah my nerves ni memang easily touched. lol.
Akmal, itu yg buat malas tu sbb nak kena mail in. even then who knows if theyr gonna do anything w tht info? bab merdeka tu, memang buat sendiri ajelah.
Gert, they actually told u tht its for invited guest only? tht sucks! i wonder who paid the bill? and yet here we are, still a proud Msian despite some gov officials tidak apa attitude.
Envy, so u have 1st hand experience dealing w them ya? i really dont understand those ppl. its like they themselves are not proud to be Msian.
Anon, i have every right to bitch abt it. i dont know who u are but u sounded like ur either 1 of them or close to 1 of them.
And ur wrong. im not asking anything fr the gov of Msia. wht im asking is for those ppl yg diamanahkan by the Msian gov to do their job! How would u like if ur HR co (if ur working) dont respond to ur request or claims or such? its the same here. and next time maybe u shud read other ppl's comments here abt their experience.
CA, sedihkan their website? tsk tsk. i really wanna kno whc consulate gets the thumbs up. Abt registering, its not easy to go to LA just to register. im thinking tht i might be better doing it when i go home.
Dear Farina, I am sorry to hear that your consulate has failed you babe! The Spore embassy here in brussels too is not very active into reaching for its own people. Thus many of us do our own thing and the only official Sporean club they hv, u need to PAY to be a member, cheap nevermind but very expensive and everytime they organise something we hv to pay to participate! How ridiculous right, aiyah, despite all that babe, i hope u will hv a good merdeka this year anyways ; )
Mush, for us pulak theyr a few msian associations, 3 tht i know of and 1 tht we'r a member of and yes they all have yearly fees. takkan lah nak join all group and pay diff fees kan? eh takkan dah bayar fees stil kena bayar participation fee jugak? nampak gaya memang kena stick to pot luck among frens ajelah.
aisehman, why la subang? i live exactly there laa...
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