“Friends have come from afar, …"

(Picture taken from Beijing Olympics official website)

A chanting troupe intoned the Confucian proverb "Friends have come from afar, how happy we are" as China greeted the world with a spectacular opening of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing tonight.
President Hu Jintao officially declared the Games open at the “Bird’s Nest” stadium in front of 90,000 spectators and a worldwide television audience of up to four billion.
The opening ceremony, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Zhang Yimou, saw a parade of 5,000 cheerful competitors from 204 nations, most in their national costumes.
Malaysian Chef-de-mission and two-time Olympian Ho Koh Chye led the Malaysian contingent with cyclist Mohd Azizul Hasni Awang proudly carrying the Jalur Gemilang. The Malaysian contingent looked resplendent in their yellow-and-gold attire – the men in baju Melayu and women in baju kebaya.
With a 33-strong contingent, Malaysia are competing in nine sports – archery, aquatics, badminton, cycling, taekwondo, sailing, shooting, track and field and weighlifting.
Malaysia were the 10th contingent to marched into the stadium after Madagascar. The order for the march past was based on the number of strokes written for the names of the participating countries in simplified Chinese character.
The ceremony caps seven years of work that reshaped the Chinese capital and set the seal on an economic boom that has seen China and its 1.3 billion people emerge as a new superpower.
The extravaganza, cramming 5,000 years of history into one evening, avoided many of the clichéd images of China – no pandas, no red lanterns and no dragon dances.
But the magic was not lost with some 15,000 performers and 29,000 colourful fireworks giving the Games, held every four years, a glittering start.
China did not take astrological chances, opening the Games at the auspicious moment of eight o’clock on the eight month of 2008.

Footnote: *While 204 countries are participating in the Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), says Brunei Darussalam did not register any athletes for competition.

A friendly advice ...

For someone in a hot seat, my colleague Zul S, knows too well that the country’s political temperature can easily rise with an impeding by-election in the northern state of Penang.

He is concern that things could get of out hands if the competing parties resort to overzealous campaigning in Permatang Pauh.
“Please tell your political friends to campaign with decorum,” he said as I told him that I have found new vigour to blog, mostly about friendship, communication, journalism and Bernama.
As Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the General News Service, Zul oversees Bernama’s reporting coverage of the upcoming election – the first since last March general elections.
Nominations will be held on August 16 while polling is on August 26.
The parliamentary seat fell vacant following the resignation of Parti Keadilan Rakyat President Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail on July 31.
“The MPs (Members of Parliament) can be friendly among themselves when they are outside the august ‘dewan’.
“But once they get inside they can become the worst of enemies,” said Zul, a seasoned journalist when it comes to covering elections.

Happy Birthday ASEAN ...

As we celebrate the 41st anniversary of ASEAN today, I recalled meeting ASEAN Secretary-General Dr Surin Pitsuwan at a media forum in Bangkok in March.
In his keynote address, he cited the ASEAN Charter and underlined the crucial importance of a sense of ownership of and belonging to ASEAN of all its peoples.
“ASEAN is not an organization of leaders of the nations, but of all their peoples.
“The media as popular communication channel can help ASEAN to reach out to the 567 million people of ASEAN…The media can serve as a platform for social dialogue to create just and equitable society,” he said.
“How do we bring the sense of care and compassion and concern to the people of ASEAN?, if the media, if the journalists, if the people in the profession of the Fourth Estate are not inducted into this process of community building.
I remember him saying that the media can help “by paying attention to what ASEAN is doing, by being more critical to what ASEAN is doing, by being more proactive in advising, in giving us your ideas, your fears, your doubts, and your hopes about ASEAN”.
“How many columnists, how many journalists, how many TV broadcasters, who are really prepared to dialogue, to discuss, to exchange on the issues of the wider community of ASEAN?
Dr Surin went on to quote novelist Arthur Miller who once said “the newspaper is a nation talking to itself”.
“Think about that “the newspaper is a nation talking to itself”. Meaning if you are really free as a newspaper then all the problems of your society must be registered on the page of your newspaper because you bring all the problems on the page, because you have the right to question “what’s going on in society?”, because you have the right to contribute for the betterment of the society, of yours. A newspaper is a nation talking to itself.”