Mooncake Festival 2007

The mooncake festival 2007 falls on a weekday, 25th of September. To give a chance for both local and foreign student a chance to enjoy the mooncake festival without going back home, the Rotaract Club of Curtin Sarawak hosted a Mooncake celebration on the 22nd of September (Saturday) . The organizing committee consisted of OC Rtr Esther Liaw, vice-OC Rtr Shuy Wan zhi, Rtr Siew Chen Mei, Rtr Amir Arrifin, Rtr Chang Shay Speare and Rtr. Ng Jou Wen.

The event started around 6:30 at night when the receptionist at the registration booth was amazed by the number of participants (both members and non-members) flowing in. Initially, the Organizing team was busy with the decorating of the venue but when it comes to hanging and lighting lanterns, seems like EVERYONE is willing to lend a helping hand.

For this special occassion, we have readied some special games such as the first game of newspaper hitting. (note: this game is most popular among chinese primary school students, if you don't know the game, you should have been here for the gruelling practise! Cause apparently those in the picture shown below, didn't! Haha...).

All smiles for the losing team of newspaper game

The losing team was then 'forced' to do a re-enactment of a chinese folk lore of Chang Er. Eventhough the story can be easily googled, this re-enactment is one in a million for the role of Chang Er (supposedly a beautiful woman) was taken by none other than our vice president Ian Tan!!! Nice job, Ian. (Pst.. lucky we don't have a video crew... YET). Other than that game, we also have a cordial game of passing the lanterns.

A game of passing the latterns.

Durian mooncake, jelly mooncake, custard mooncake, green bean mooncake, shanghai mooncake, etc etc

And those unlucky enough to be caught with a burnt lantern (there was a lot of cheating, you can guess )was given a special privilege to walk the catwalk as a mooncake model!! (*whistle *hootcalls)

Models preparing to showcase their mooncakes.

After dinner and mooncake, each person was given different colours of lotus flowers and were guided down a lit walkway leading to Curtin's mosquitoes infested lake to release the lotus flower. As each person was given a lantern and sparkler, the child inside was given full rein and well... crazy is not the ONLY word that came to mind.

Pres. William next to the newly released lotus floating in the lake.





have a fun filled midautumn festival, everyone!

After much photo taking, screaming, laughing and 'socializing' around, the event officially comes to an end at 9:30 and everyone was given free lanterns and a complimentary leftovers. (LOL)


The 'happy' and 'contented' faces of the participants


Note: Too much mosquitoe coils can bring about ecstasy and hallucination (oops)

Now, these are the happy and contented ones...

Interota assembly 2006

On the 30th of June 2006, Rotaract Club of Curtin University of Technology Sarawak organized their very first Interota assembly which lasted for 3 days 2 nights boasting of a total of 58 participants with participants from Interact club of Chung Hua, Lutong, St. Columbus, St. Joseph, Riam, and Rotaract Club of UCS Sibu and Swinburne Kuching under the guidance of then President Bay Yeo Yang Sheng. Thanks to the help of Dato Lau Siu Wai and Curtin University of Technology, the event was able to be held smoothly within the University’s compound and the new Curtin Villa. Each participant was given a room equipped with air condition and a shared sitting room with a functioning television.
On the first day upon arrival, all the participants registered themselves at Curtin Villa and were given a name tag, t shirt and a pillow and blanket. After been given thirty minutes of rest, everybody was bundled up and driven to Taman Selera for an ice breaking ceremony. Perhaps it was the lazy breeze, or perhaps it was the beautiful view but everyone warmed up to each other really fast. The participants were distributed to a few groups and were given a task to perfect within 3 days and that is to make a really memorable and special group cheer to portray the image of their group.
On the second day, participants were given a brief tour of the University before the main opening ceremony officiated by Dato Lau Siu Wai and Dean Ruth Marquis who cut the string which unfolds the banner of the Interota assembly.



Dato Lau officiating the event.

President Bay Yeo Yang Sheng giving an opening ceremony speech

Dato Lau Siu Wai and Dean Ruth marquis was awarded a t-shirt and a banner.

After the opening ceremony, the morning was mostly filled with seminars about Interact/Rotaract/Rotary Club and how to work as a team in the club given by fellow Rotarians. But all work and no play make Jack a dull boy, so for the second half of the afternoon, we all played water war which surprisingly lasted for a full hour and a half.

PP David giving a talk about the importance of teamwork in a club.

Group photo

Dato Lau Siu Wai giving a talk about the secret of success. (from an uneducated boy to a student to a small time thief to head of a mafia group to a developer to a successful datuk... his stories are true hard core experiences hoping to reach out to the younger generation about hardship and determination)

Motivational talk is nothing without enthusiasm.




PP Jack and his group of ‘angels’


F4!! hehe...(from left, lau sie hung, siew chan mei, me and maxsim)

‘We are going to be the winners!!’ A resounding group cheer!

During the night time, it was a great time for relaxation… since that night was also coincidental night for one of the match of World Cup, we all settle down for a nice BBQ and tv time while some had asked permission to spend the night at kopitiam, watching the World Cup tournament.

Lighting up the fire for the BBQ.







Piggyback races!

Morning workouts... hey ho...hey ho...

The third day which was also the last day, we have another big activity waiting in line for us – wall painting of the old folk’s home’s living room which I was in charged of. While some are stationed to paint the wall, others were assigned to clean the garden and sweep the drains of the old folk’s home. Halfway through, as we were rounding up everyone for a break, we found some students missing. Worried, we scanned through the old folk’s home only to find this loving picture of them entertaining the old folks!

Eh..eh...How to paint?

President Bay Yeo Yang Sheng making sure everyone was ok.

Charity starts at the home... of the old folk's... so, paint, everyone paint!

Group photo 2

As the night draws near, you could feel the excitement in the air as well as heavy preparation. Several students are seen running out of their room with a hair dryer, hushed whispers and clothes in their hands. It is none other than the much awaited INSTALLATION NIGHT where unlike previous years we are going to crown a Mr. and Miss Interact. Hehe… that would really get the students perked up. During the installation night, everyone arrived looking their very best with no hint of exhaustion from the morning’s work out. The whole place was packed to the brim with Rotarians and Interactors till we had to order another extra table for them. The night was a beautiful night indeed where Rotaract Club of Curtin University of Sarawak installed their new BOD;crowned Gabriel from SMK Lutong as Mr Interactor and Donna also from SMK Lutong as Miss Interactor ; watched some really entertaining sketches and performances by the various participants and the most memorable event? AG Bong singing duet with our mc of the day.

AG Bong singing his heart out.

A performance by the SMK Lutong students. (Music: The Lion sleeps tonight)

Everyone having a generally good time dancing and cheering.

Rotarians and The new and outgoing BOD.

Special thanks to now outgoing President Bay Yeo Yang Sheng for the meticulous planning and undertaking of the 2006 Interota Assembly; it was a huge success! and thank you to the rest of the Rotaractors for staying back to lend a hand, you know who you are... Rotaractor Siew Chan Mei, Rotaractor Lau Sie Hung, Rotaractor Pierre Yam, Rotaractor Duncan and Rotaractor Leong Chau Siong. Please excuse this late publication and we hope to host this event again this year. Hope to see you there!

Ryla camp at Kuching

RYLA was held on 1st December 2006 to 4th December 2006. It lasted for 4 days 3 nights at Sarawak Cultural Village, Kuching. RYLA stands for Rotary Youth and Leader Awards. We have the chance to meet interactors and rotaractors from Sarawak, Brunei and Labuan. We were lucky enough been sponsor rm 400 for this camp by Rotarians Miri.

Here goes the fun moment in RYLA…

Before we reached Sarawak Cultural Village, all of us are asked to gather at Telang Usan Hotel, and then from there, we started our journey.

Group photo at Telang Usan Hotel

Representatives from Rotaract Curtin:
L-R: Rotaractor SieHung, Rotaractor Violet, Rotaractor Emmeline and the only guy Rotaractor Ian.


Upon arrival at Sarawak Cultural Village around 3:30pm

As we thought this is a camp, so we need to set up our own tent and stay inside a tent. But to our surprise, we were lucky enough that we don’t to have to sleep inside tent. Girls were accommodated at Ibans long house and boys in Bidayuh house. We were expecting our accommodation is going to layback from the outlook of the houses BUT it turns out to be quite modern. There were refrigerator, fan, bathroom, cabinet, dining table and hanger to hang your cloth.


Exterior of Bidayuh House


Interior of Iban longhouse

There are around 60++ of interactors and rotaractors. We are divided into 5 teams which our group names are based on flower name. Sakura, Guns and Roses, Orchid la, Ixora, Frangipanny appeared to be the group names.

We learned quite lotz from this camp. It teaches us on how to be a future leader, other than having class on leadership, we have learned cultural dances, songs and music from staff of Sarawak Cultural Village.



Ice-breaking session

On the second day is the opening ceremony


Representatives from Rotaract Curtin welcoming the VIP



Opening ceremony where the VIP beats the gong three times.

Group photo session


The most exciting part is the outdoor activity. We get the chance to play acid river, number games and walking through some paths blindfolded. The fun part is the acid river, 9 people standing on a piece of plank thats extended over 2 logs at the start and end. Two people at the front and back need to carry the plank alone with the help of rest using rope to balance the plank to carry on to the other end. Imagine 9 people on the plank which cant really fit all of us, we heard ‘crack’ sound and the plank start shaking…



A short performing of traditional dance which we learned the night before. Everyone looks blur when ask to perform because everyone hasn’t mastered the step.


Lastly, all of us received the RYLA certificate as an appreciation of participating and our farewell BBQ dinner as well as group presentation after the BBQ. None of us wish to go home as it is really so much fun during that 4 days 3 night.


It’s goodbye time, it’s sad to leave but still times need to go on. We collecting our RYLA certificates and a shoot with the organizing person Mr.Panai

PDK KIDS y'all!!

On the 14th of April 2007, the rotaracters of Curtin Miri had the best day ever! No no no, not because we had free movie and free mcD but it was because we got a chance to see the special kids from the PDK center smile!

The purpose of the outing on that day was to show that the Rotaracters cared for the society!

So the plan of that day was that each Rotaracter took care of at least ONE child. Without any hesitation or whatsoever, everyone agreed to take ONE child under their watchful eyes to care for.

On that day, there were about 20 kids and 2 teachers. The kids, they had the term "special", and spending the whole day with them showed us that they were indeed special and that they could have fun like any normal child.

We started off our journey from curtin to parkson at about around 1100hrs. The Curtin Bus went to the PDK center to pick up the kids and the teachers. In the bus were several Rotaracters, while the others went to parkson in their own car and waited for the arrival of the kids.

When they arrived, Rotaracters helped the kids get down the bus. We went to the Cineplex where we got our movie passes and then some kids asked for popcorn and softdrinks and whoever they were assigned to had to get them what they wanted.

The movie that they watched was MR BEAN. They had so much fun and the theatre was filled with their laughter! It was a joy to hear them having so much fun.

After the movie, the kids headed off to Curtin where they had a Computer Session in one of the Computer Labs in Curtin and also not forgetting lunch from MCDONALD and MILO! After the computer session they had a game session where they played musical chairs!

The whole event ended at about 1630hrs.

Below are some pics. No caption will be added, let the picture speak for themselves :-)