Raya Malaysia Baru

If memory serves, I went to Tun M's Hari Raya open house at Sri Perdana in the final year of his premiership. For some reason, the Hari Raya open house shifted to PWTC starting Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Najib followed suit. A very basic affair, with no 'wet' food. Usually lemang with serunding, and biscuits and cakes for dessert. Probably to avoid oily stains on the carpet. But then, memang potong stim. So for years and years, I didn't attend the federal government's open houses. Partly cause it's BN and partly cause of the sucky food.



With the birth of Malaysia Baru, Tun M's first open house was held at Sri Perdana! Full circle. Who would want to miss such a historic moment? Hehe. Mum, SK, SK's ex-colleague (who is having a mid-life sexuality crisis), and I arrived there before 10 AM. Thank goodness we managed to park not too far from the main entrance. Being the prime minister's official residence, the place was under the jurisdiction of the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959. Our umbrellas had to be left at the security checkpoint and we had to go through a metal detector.





Plenty of people had arrived before us, and we slowly snaked into the main pavilion. Most of the area was dedicated for tables and chairs, and all the food stalls were placed on the edges. Excellent variety of food, with each stall operated by different vendors. Food was piled high, and was definitely enough to satiate the visitors. I had my fill of rendang, satay, and  nasi briyani. Didn't really need to go for a second round. Due to the long line, we did not shake hands with Tun M. On our way out, we lined up for exit door gifts which was couple of boxes of biscuits. Spotted VIPs like Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Azmin Ali, and A. Kadir Jasin.



Took a while for all the curry to be digested. But when it did, we decided for something 'lighter' at PuTien, One Utama. Our dinner guest was Gratitude. We also spent some time Starbucks, but he later left to have a private chat with TZ. While shopping, we bumped into DanielH at H&M. He also tagged along for a while. Been a long time since we met up. Early next morning, we would be heading to Genting with Gratitude.