I-Magzz Part 2, Issue 2 Volume IV | Page 24

MY VISIT TO MELAKA During the last school holidays, we went to Malacca to do our research. Luckily, Farid our team member, resides in Malacca. We stayed at his house and did our research for a week. There were over 25 interesting places to visit at Malacca including the famous A’Famosa. Our motive is to observe what how the culture and ethnics stands there. This charming city is a UNESCO world heritage site, with a rich trading history and multicultural heritage. Melaka is a rewarding town to explore and is about two hours from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city. Culture plays a huge part in this state as it varies from lots of different ethnics comprising of Malays, A population of Portuguese descent, who speak a Portuguese Creole, are the descendants of colonists from the 16th and 17th centuries. Some of them still reside here at the Portuguese Square. There is also a sizeable number of Sikhs residing in Malacca, and Sikhs from Malacca and abroad congregate in the Gurdwara (Sikh temple) situated in Jalan Temenggong during the last weekend of May, to commemorate the death of its former priest, Sant Baba Sohan Singh Ji, who was elevated to a saint upon passing away. Some of the places we visited were the famous A’Famosa, St. John’s Fort and the Portuguese Square. We also visited the Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum and the Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum. These multi-cultural, ancient, historic yet wonderful places not only serve as a major tourist attraction, but, also represents Malacca as a whole. As an example, the tough standing A’Famosa was made by the Portugese army fleet as a fortress in 1511 when the Portuguese invaded and conquered Malacca. Still today, the 500 year old fortress still stands tall and although Malaysians would also hate the fact that these Europeans tried to take away the the land most precious to them, yet they conserved and renovated the building, singing as an act of mutual respect to the Portuguese. This shows that multi-cultural groups in Malacca cooperate and respect each other peacefully and live in harmony. While enjoying traditional food made by Farid’s mother, we ought to come back home the day after to complete our research. - Muhammad Wafie bin Sarbini The beautiful city of Melaka CRYING FOR HELP We're not talking about strays, who wander off with no way to go, we're not talking about beggars, who sit and wait and hoping sympathy from other people. It's about the common group of people, where their lives were normal and meaningful, until where evil temptations drive them to the path of destruction, as they ruin their lives afraid to cry for help. We came here for one reason : We can not take much more of this, we're making ourselves heard. – Kasyfil Iman PAGE 20