THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE GEORGE TOWN LITERARY FESTIVAL 2018

SPEECH BY CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG
AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE GEORGE TOWN LITERARY FESTIVAL 2018

23 November 2018 | Cheah Kongsi

 

YB Yeoh Soon Hin
EXCO for Tourism Development, Heritage, Arts & Culture

Her Excellency Vicki Treadell
British High Commissioner of Malaysia

HE Karin Mössenlechner
Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Malaysia

Mr Ashwin Gunasekeran
Chief Executive Officer of Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB)

Ms Bernice Chauly
Festival Director of George Town Literary Festival

Dato’ Anwar Fazal
GTLF 2018 Keynote Speaker

Ms Florence Lambert
Head of Arts and Creative Industries at The British Council

Mr Koichi Horikawa
Director of the Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur

Distinguished guests

Members of the media

Ladies and gentlemen

Good evening.

First of all, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the distinguished guests, writers, moderators and performers who have travelled from all over the world to Penang to be a part of our literary festival. Welcome and Selamat Datang to Pulau Pinang.

It gives me a great privilege to launch the inaugural George Town Literary Festival this year and we in Penang are very honoured to host the country’s first state-funded literary festival with the theme “The State of Freedom”.

On behalf of the Penang State Government, it is an honour to have you all here to George Town, Penang – a place of heritage as it is of history. Our beautiful venue tonight – Cheah Kongsi was formed in 1810 and one of the oldest Hokkien Clan Houses in this country.

As we all know, this festival has gone a long way in establishing itself as the platform for authors, poets, publishers, readers, and book lovers to share their works, exchange ideas, and discuss literary works. Under the direction of Festival Director, Bernice Chauly and the support of the Penang State Government, GTLF has over the past 8 years welcomed over 300 writers since its inaugural edition in 2011.

This year I am told that there are 100 speakers from 25 countries! Congratulations to Bernice and the production team at Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) for making this year’s GTLF the largest edition yet.

GTLF holds the distinction of being Penang’s only literary festival and the largest literary festival in Malaysia.

In March this year, the GTLF was awarded the International Excellence Awards 2018 for Literary Festival at The London Book Fair. To date, the GTLF is the only literary festival in Southeast Asia to be given this honour.

Famous writers have written about Penang over the different eras, but it is the stories that have come out of this landscape, spurred out of the imaginations and pens of writers, that resonate with us. The one Penang story that deeply resonates in the heart of all who call Penang home is the story of Penang as the land of the free.

As a state, Penang has always championed freedom. This festival was known as “one of the last bastions of freedom of speech and expression in the country”.

In 2016, the Malaysian satirical comic artist Zunar was arrested for his exhibition critiquing the previous corrupt regime. It was at this festival that he was arrested. The festival and the Penang State Government banded together to protest his arrest and the following year, GTLF headlined Zunar.

It is only befitting that this year’s theme is “The State of Freedom”. In 2008, there was a change of government in Penang and we were one of three states in Malaysia to be governed by opposition governments.

This year on May 9, Malaysians came together to rid a corrupt regime that ruled our nation for 60 years. And we hope that our spirit of freedom and equality will be one shared by all Malaysians.

The GTLF has always been political, just like Penang. The issues discussed at the festival have always mirrored events that take place not just in Malaysia but also around the world. We have had some of the brightest minds and most articulate and passionate voices in the literary and journalistic worlds come together to engage in topics and themes that are crucial to the world we live in.

This world-class festival, which encourages discourse from the public in the spirit of freedom of expression, is only possible in Penang because of the state government’s commitment to championing the arts, culture and community engagement.

I would like to thank and congratulate Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau for producing this excellent festival.

To Bernice, thank you for your commitment to GTLF and to Penang. You have put Penang on the world map and have created one of Malaysia’s finest arts and cultural events. I wish you all the best in your future undertakings, and I hope that one day you will write a great novel with Penang at the heart of it.

Last but not least, I hope all of you will have a great time at the George Town Literary Festival and I hope you will indulge in the many wonderful experiences that Penang has to offer.

Thank you.