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Entry Date: 21/7/2007 8.45pm Simfoni Putrajaya Orchestra
RTM's Simfoni Putrajaya 2007 orchestra was listed in the Malaysia Book of Records as having the largest congregation of performers in an open venue for a live telecast.
The performance, held in conjunction with the 50th Merdeka celebration, saw 129 home-grown artistes and musicians giving over two hours of live performance of music and songs from the 1950s to the present.
The artistes included Aishah, Andre Goh, David Arumugam, Adibah Noor, Nassier Wahab, Kenny Lee and Shafinaz.
Among the 1,000 guests were New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, Malacca Governor Tun Mohd Khalil Yaacob, Cabinet Ministers, politicians and veteran artistes.
AirAsia X Fly To India
AirAsia X has been granted the rights to enter India, but will only consider plans to fly there next year due to limited aircrafts.
The airline, which is expecting to receive its first leased airplane by August, has made Australia and China its priority following increased demand for low cost air travel from both countries.
AirAsia X is also expecting its 15 all-new Airbus A330 by late next year and has a wish to fly to London with the first aircraft received.
AirAsia X is owned by Fly Asian Express (FAX), a company controlled by AirAsia founder Datuk Tony Fernandes, and has a 30-year license to use the AirAsia brand and facilities.
2nd Daily Flight To Shenzen
Malaysia's low cost airline AirAsia may receive approval for a second daily service to Shenzen as early as September from the Chinese authorities.
After the official launch of AirAsia's KL-Shenzen flight here that the route recorded close to 90 percent load with more than 5,000 seats snapped up in the first week when it opened for sale last June.
With a 15 million population, Shenzen has the reputation of being the shopping haven in China besides being that country's first special economic zone.
MAS Check In Online
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) passengers can book seats, get tickets and check in from ther home or office once it upgrades its passenger services system at a cost of RM200 million.
By September, the airline will be electronic ticketing (eTicketing) capable, meaning customers can print their tickets and make changes to their travel itinerary online, without having to go to the ticketing offices or travel agents.
Check in will also be easier as passengers will just have to show their e-ticket numbers as an identification. There will be no more problems over misplaced, damaged or forgotten tickets.
MAS' move towards eTicketing is on track with the successful system cutover to the new SITA Departure Control System (DCS) for its 16 domestic stations including the KL International Airport.
The DCS, which is more user friendly and automated, will also enable the national carrier to enhance its passenger check in and boarding process, he added.
Archipelago Craft Promotions
An exhibition on the crafts unique to the Malay archipelago, especially crafts from Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, is to be held at the Craft Complex here from July 26.
The five day event themed `Craft - A Heritage of the Archipelago' is the fifth edition of the Archipelago Craft Promotions organised through Kraftangan Malaysia by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage (KEKKWA).
About 160 craftsmen are participating in the event. Apart from craft, culture and arts promotion, visitors will be entertained with fashion and cultural shows.
The exhibition is open to the public from 9.30 am to 7 pm throughout the five days.
Broadband Internet Access
The national high-speed broadband implementation plan is targeting 50% of Malaysian households to have broadband Internet access by 2010.
Currently, only 12% of the 5.5 million households that had online access were broadband users.
The plan is also expected to help increase by 0.5% to 4% the gross domestic product of the country, which stood at RM548.4bil last year.
New LRT Lines Approved
The Transport Ministry has approved the proposed alignment for the new light rail transit (LRT) line in the Klang Valley.
The Government had proposed the construction of a new LRT line between Kota Damansara and Cheras.
It had also proposed extensions to the existing Kelana Jaya (formerly Putra-LRT) Line from Kelana Jaya to USJ and the Ampang (formerly Star-LRT) Line from Sri Petaling to Bukit Jalil and Puchong.
Putrajaya Treasure Hunt
If you want to explore Putrajaya in a fun way, take part in the Putrajaya Treasure Hunt.
The Putrajaya Treasure Hunt has been around since 2001 and this year's event will be held on July 29.
Registration for the hunt is now open and you can sign up under two different categories.
The Open Category invites the participation of the public with a minimum of two and a maximum of four in each car. A total of 140 cars can be registered under this category with participants paying RM70 each.
The Closed Category is for civil servants, Putrajaya residents and students from institutions of higher learning. Sixty cars have been allocated for this category with a fee of RM50 for each participant.
The mechanics of the hunt are for participants to solve riddles and look for treasures while sticking to routes mapped out for travel within Putrajaya. The hunt is estimated to take a few hours.
Cash prizes totaling RM30,000 will be given away while lucky draw winners will receive Kriss motorcycles, Plasma TVs and hotel vouchers.
The prize-giving ceremony will be held the same day as the hunt at the Conference Hall of the PJC Complex at 8pm.
The closing date for entries is July 25. Participants can contact Fuad Dahlan (03-7877 5531) for the Open Category or Azmi Ahmad (03-8887 7076) for the Closed Category.
KL Tower International Jump
About 100 international BASE jumpers are expected to demonstrate their extreme skydiving skills during the KL Tower International Jump to be held at the Tower from Aug 24 to 26.
The International Jump would be the culmination of a series of jumps held at various towers in the country, especially Menara Pelita, Sarawak (Aug 8), Menara Tun Mustapha, Sabah (Aug 11-12), Menara Alor Star (Aug 16-17), Menara Komtar (Aug 19) and Menara TM (Aug 26).
BASE jumping which is the acronym for (Buildings, Antennas, Span and Earth) is not for the faint-hearted as it requires exceptional skills due to the height factor. Skydivers taking part in BASE jumping are required to have done a minimum of 150 free fall exercises to qualify.
In a normal free fall exercise, the safety margin is 800 metres for a jumper to deploy the chute but in this case, they will not have such luxury as the KL Tower stands at a height of 421 metres and the jump takes place from just above the observation deck of the Tower which is slightly more than 300 metres.
Apart from the jump, KL Tower will also be organising the KL International Towerthon on Oct 28.
The race which will be a severe test to the physical, mental and endurance level of runners comprises a 800m uphill run that leads to 2,058 steps of running and climbing.
RapidKL Contests
Rapid KL bus commuters stand to win cash prizes when they participate in Rapid KL’s Naik Bas Rapid KL, Simpan Tiket dan Boleh Menang or You can win when you use Rapid KL buses and keep the tickets campaign.
The campaign began on July 1 and will end on Aug 31. There will be one round of selection for the July Campaign and another for the Aug Campaign, for which there will be cash prizes of RM8,888, RM3,888, and RM1,888 for the first, second and third place winners respectively.
There will also be five consolation prizes of Rapid KL Monthly Travel Card worth RM80 each.
The mechanics of the campaign is simple. You just need to keep your daily bus tickets for July and August. All tickets bought from the local bus, trunk bus and city bus services, including the Semua RM4 ticket, Sepadu RM7 ticket, Ekspress RM5 ticket and concession RM3 and RM6 tickets, are eligible for this campaign.
You are advised to keep your July and August tickets properly, and to ensure that each ticket is original, clear and legible.
For details, call the Rapid KL hotline at 03-7625 6999 (from 7am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am to 5pm on Saturday), or visit www.rapidkl.com.my for the terms and conditions of the campaign.
Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race
Top drivers from Australia, Japan and Europe are expected to participate in this year's Petronas Primax 3 Merdeka Millennium Endurance (MME) race held at the Sepang Circuit in conjunction with the National Day celebrations.
A maximum of 77 cars would be starting the race, which would be flagged off at 11am on Aug 25 and must complete 12 hours of non-stop racing around the 5.543km track with three drivers allocated for each team, he added.
The MME which was inaugurated in 2000 with 52 cars competing, is an eagerly awaited event by the international motorsports fraternity.
In 2000, Tommy Lee, Karamjit Singh and Jimmy Low in a Petronas EON Racing Team became the overall winners.
Last year, Malaysian top driver Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel won his second MME overall title with partners from Proton R3 Racing Team, Faidzil Alang and Australian Damien French.
He clinched the first title in 2005 with partners from Amprex R3 Racing, Genji Hashimoto and Australian Tony Riccirdello.
The official qualifying session for the race would be held on Aug 24.
KL-Singapore Bullet Train
The Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister's Department is in the final stage of evaluating the proposed RM8 billion bullet train project between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
YTL, a public-listed conglomerate, had proposed to develop and finance the project which could cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to merely 90 minutes instead of the current eight hours.
YTL conducted a feasibility study and had submitted its findings to the government for consideration. If the project receives the government nod, it would be implemented under the Private Financing Initiative.
Check-in At KL Sentral
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) will have 10 new check-in desks at the Kuala Lumpur City Air Terminal (KL CAT) at KL Sentral by July 23.
This will extend from three to 43 the number of airlines based at KLIA's main terminal which can offer the same check-in facilities at the city centre.
Currently only Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Royal Brunei Airlines offer city check-in service at KL CAT.
The 10 AirportConnect CUTE (Common Use Terminal Equipment) check-in desks will be installed by global IT firm SITA.
Tiffany's 2nd Outlet
Tiffany & Co, one of America's leading jewellery stores, has announced that it was planning to open a new store in Kuala Lumpur in September this year.
The size of the store located at the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, a luxury retail centre, will be about 1,700 square feet, according to Tiffany.
The new store will be Tiffany's second in the Malaysian capital after the opening of its first store at the Suria Kuala Lumpur City Centre.
The store will be featuring signature details of the jeweller's famous New York flagship store.
Put Your Face On Stamps
Pos Malaysia Berhad has introduced a personalised stamp service so that you can send invitation cards with stamps bearing photographs of yourself with your loved one or your children.
The target market of the Setemku service are couples planning to marry as they can paste the personalised stamps on their wedding invitation and reply cards; celebrities, high-end customers and clubs.
The stamps can also be kept as souvenirs. There are four basic designs available:
Basically, all you need to do is select which package you want, submit photos, complete an order form, and that's it.
Your image or photos will then be placed in the panel next to the designs so it ends up looking like a double stamp.
These images together with the base stamp will form a valid postage stamp.
There are three packages: Emerald, Diamond and Ruby, and each package starts from RM500.
For the Emerald package, you get 34 stamp sheets of 30 sen stamps each; the Diamond package gives you 12 sheets of 30 sen stamps each and 13 sheets of 50 sen stamps each; and the Ruby package gives you 20 sheetlets of 50 sen stamps each or 400 stamps.
Additional stamp sheets are available at RM13 and RM22 for 20 30 sen and 50 sen stamps respectively.
It will take about seven days for the stamps to be printed.
You're are advised to book earlier for bulk purchases or when celebrating special occasions to allow ample time for delivery.
Bear in mind that this doesn't give you the licence to put anyone's face on the stamps as you will need authorisation letters.
Setemku is already available for orders.
For more information go to www.posonline.com.my.
The Lake Gardens Upgrade
The Federal Territories Ministry and Kuala Lumpur City Hall would be conducting a study to ascertain better ways to upgrade and extend Kuala Lumpur’s oldest public park - the Lake Gardens.
Built in the 1880s, the Lake Gardens is undoubtedly the most popular park in the city and the ministry is hoping to start work as soon as possible.
There are also plans to upgrade other parks in the city like the parks in Kepong, Titiwangsa and other areas to ensure the parks are more people friendly and family orientated.
Selangor Science Park 2
The Selangor Science Park 2 (Taman Sains Selangor 2) is to be developed at the Bukit Baja industrial area.
The park's infrastructure was expected to be ready in 18 months. It would be developed on a 400 hectare site with focus on the high technology industry.
It will be developed in three phases. First phase will be industrial development with the rest comprising housing and commercial development.
The area has the advantage of being close to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and port area with easy access for industrial activities.
The Selangor Science Park 2 project will cost RM270 million including construction of an elevated junction. It will be developed by state government subsidiary Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS).
The Selangor Science Park 2 project followed the success of Selangor Science Park 1 in Damansara which had been fully developed and met encouraging response from investors.
Putrajaya Goes Digital
A variety of e-services will soon be available via the Putrajaya Corporation (PJC) portal. The PPjOnline facility will allow members of the public to perform several functions at the click of a mouse while lounging in the comfort of their homes.
Services offered online at www.ppj.gov.my will be e-Pemajuan, e-Aduan, e-Kompaun, e-Lesen, e-Sewa, e-Cukai, e-Tempahan and e-Perjawatan.
The e-services will be available from July 1.
SMART Tunnel Ready
The SMART Tunnel flood channel component is ready to help divert 90% of the city's floods.
With the SMART tunnel flood channel component now operational, 90% of the floodwaters can be diverted away from the usual flood-prone areas such as Masjid Jamek and Dataran Merdeka.
The floodwaters would be diverted to water retention ponds in Kampung Berembang (near Jalan Ampang) and Taman Desa (Jalan Klang Lama) and slowly be dispersed into rivers after a flood.
The Kampung Berembang pond can hold a capacity of 600,000 cubic metres of floodwaters, while the Taman Desa pond 1.4 million cubic metres. The SMART Tunnel can divert 1 million cubic metres of floodwaters.
Arabian Nights Festival
Several concerts and gala dinners will be held during the Ziryab International Music and Arts Festival, the first of its kind to be held in Malaysia.
Several well known artistes from the two countries like Marwan Khoury, Haifa Wehbe, Sobhi & Friends, Toni Qattan, Myriam Fares and El Funuon Group are set to perform and the festival is expected to attract tourists from West Asian countries.
The festival themed "Arabian Nights, Mediterranean Sensation" is being held in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2007 and Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka celebrations.
The one-month festival comprises three key events -- Ziryab Grand Premiere (gala dinner and concert on July 24 and 26), Ziryab Pop Opera & Cultural gala dinner and concert (Aug 6 and 8), and Ziryab Glam (gala dinner and concert on Aug 29 and 31).
Performing alongside the foreigners will be local songbirds Khadijah Ibrahim, Sheila Majid, Ning Baizura, Mawi, Camelia, Noryn Aziz, and Indonesian diva Kris Dayanti.
Concert tickets are priced from RM100 to RM350 while gala dinner tables are available from RM5,000 to RM25,000.
For details, contact RPE at 03-2031 6606 or TicketCharge at 03-2241 9999.
Malaysia 24-hour Walk
The 4th Malaysia International 24-hour Walk 2007 event is going to be held on Aug 11. The Dataran Merdeka is its venue where participants would need to walk around the Sultan Abdul Samad building measuring a length of 625.5m.
Early bird registrants comprised of 116 locals and 20 foreigners from 13 countries such as Netherlands, Belarus, Germany, France and Switzerland. The closing date would be on July 31.
Participants would be controlled at 400 to ensure there is enough room for the walkers when they race around the building complex.
A RM10,000 first prize awaits individual winners of both categories while team champion would get RM4,000 cash.
Protect Public Parks
Kuala Lumpur City Hall spends a whopping RM15mil a year to maintain and upgrade its 14 public parks in Kuala Lumpur.
The staggering amount includes costs spent to repair vandalised park equipment like swings, slides, benches and jogging tracks.
So, the Rakan Park (Friends of the Park) programme was launched recently at the Hibiscus Park in Taman Tasik Perdana.
The programme involves getting communities together to carry out healthy and meaningful activities at all public parks in the city.
Apart from Rakan Park, Kuala Lumpur City Hall is also introducing an activity called Bicara Taman (Park Discourse) to encourage city folks to pick up knowledge and tips on tree planting, learning about plant species and even hold meetings, talks and seminars at parks in their neighbourhood.
To encourage city folks to embrace nature, City Hall is also planning to introduce One-Stop Plant Centres at all its parks in Kuala Lumpur where the public can get plants and gardening products like pots and fertilisers.
Urumqi - KL Flights
Tourism Malaysia is working with travel agents in Malaysia and China to resume chartered flights between Urumqi and Kuala Lumpur.
Urumqi is the capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China.
Chartered flights were established last year between Urumqi and Kuala Lumpur through cooperation between a Malaysian travel agency, Malaysia-Beijing Travel Services Sdn Bhd (MasBe), and a travel agency in Xinjiang but they were discontinued due to low loads.
Statistics of the Malaysian Tourism Ministry show that 900,000 Malaysians visited China and 440,000 Chinese visited Malaysia last year.
The New Public Park
The 188.93ha public park, equivalent to the size of about 300 football fields, will be in Bukit Kiara.
The biggest park in the country will be bounded by Taman Lembah Kiara in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, the KL Golf and Country Club, the Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club and Sri Hartamas, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting yesterday.
The park is our own version of London’s Hyde Park or New York’s Central Park. The park will reflect Malaysia’s identity.
It will be a sprawling green lung recreational park for city folks to relax in and enjoy Mother Nature.
The park would have various facilities, including jogging and bicycle paths, and space for people to have picnics or camp and courts for various sports like basketball.
Caravan Of Tea Leaves
In yet another event to add to the festivities of the 50th National Day celebrations, a caravan of 50 horses will cart 50 tonnes of tea leaves overland from Yunnan, China, to Terengganu and make its way to Kuala Lumpur.
The two-month journey, which will pass through several Asean countries, begins in September and is scheduled to reach the capital in November.
Dubbed as the Tea and Horse Caravan Road, the event is organised by Tea & Horse Caravan Sdn Bhd with the cooperation of the Palace of the Golden Horses Hotel. The 50 horses in the caravan represent the 50 years of Malaysia's independence.
Called "ChamaXindao" in Mandarin, the event, which symbolises the economic relations between Malaysia and China, would also herald Visit Malaysia Year 2007 and Visit Terengganu Year 2008.
Malaysian traditional performances, tourism products and handicraft would be shown to the public at various places where the caravan breaks journey.
After passing through Yunnan, the caravan would break journey in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand before heading to Terengganu and later to Kuala Lumpur.
KL - Madrid Direct Flight
Travel agencies in Spain want Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to revive its direct flight between Kuala Lumpur and Madrid to make it easier for Spanish tourists to visit Malaysia.
MAS stopped its KL - Madrid flight last year as part of its restructuring exercise to restore the company's financial position.
At present, tourists from Spain coming to Malaysia have to transit in major cities like Paris, Rome, Munich, Zurich and London which take longer hours, besides sometimes face the problem of limited seats.
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