THIS YEAR'S NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATION TO BE SCALED DOWN

KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 (Bernama) -- This year's National Day celebrations,
especially the Merdeka (independence) parade on the morning of Aug 31, will be
scaled down because it falls during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The celebrations to commemorate the nation's independence would continue but
it would be toned down, said Information, Communications and Culture Minister
Dr Rais Yatim.

"I would be holding a meeting with all relevant parties end of the month to
decide on the theme, scope and participation of the Merdeka celebrations.

"We also intend to highlight non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in this
year's celebrations to reflect the 1Malaysia policy," he told reporters after
meeting the NGOs involved in arts and culture near here Monday.

He also said that the Information Department would come up with a mechanism
to collect feedbacks from the public on national matters.

"We are thinking of introducing a system either through the short messaging
system (SMS), emails or even digital polling as long as the feedback is true and
fair," he said.

Rais also said all broadcasters, both radio and television, were required to
allocate two minutes of their airtime to show or publicise the concept of
self-resilience.

This was contained in the broadcasting licence approved by the government
but "the problem now is enforcement", he said.

"They can use their own version as long as it can build one's
self-resilience. We will give appropriate time for all television and radio
stations to meet the requirement," he said.

Earlier, he called on all arts and culture activists including filmmakers to
give special focus on highlighting the 1Malaysia concept.

"We need to realise this concept. It is not wrong for the Malays to have
conversation with the Chinese, not wrong if the Malays speak Chinese or the
other way round. We want our citizens to live in harmony.

"The ministry will do whatever we can to help realise this concept.
1Malaysia safeguards the rights of the Malays and also the non-Malays. This
concept of for all Malaysians," he said.
-- BERNAMA