PENANG HILL FESTIVAL 2022

 SPEECH BY THE CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG YAB TUAN CHOW KON YEOW FOR PENANG HILL FESTIVAL 2022

 

6 August 2022

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Yang Berhormat Lim Guan Eng

ADUN Air Putih & Former Chairman of Penang Hill Corporation

YB Jason Ong Khan Lee
ADUN Kebun Bunga

YB Joseph Ng Soon Siang
ADUN Air Itam

Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Cheok Lay Leng

General Manager of Penang Hill Corporation

Penang Hill Corporation Board Members

Heads of Department

 

Media Friends

 

Ladies & Gentlemen

It gives me great honour to be here with all of you this evening for the Penang Hill Festival 2022 organised by Penang Hill Corporation. The annual Penang Hill Festival has become one of Penang’s iconic events and I am truly glad that the festival has returned this year after a two-year long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The three-day long carnival on the hill is packed with various activities suited for both our young and old. This is in line with our goal for visitors to “See the Nature, Feel the History” of Penang Hill. The festival will certainly enrich participants and visitors with the diverse biodiversity and timeless heritage of Penang Hill, through programmes like nature walks, informative exhibitions to panel discussion with experts. There are truly many treasures to be discovered on the Great Hill.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Penang Hill certainly carries a lot of secrets and fascinations with it. We have unique biodiversity on the hill such as the Vampire Crab, Dusky Langur, Slipper Orchid, Damar Minyak and many more.

Some of this precious biodiversity on the hill are native to Penang! Not only that, Penang Hill also marks significant historical and cultural importance.

As the Malay saying goes “Tak kenal maka tak cinta”. I cannot agree more with this wise proverb. Hence, it is important to share Penang Hill’s uniqueness and to educate the public that Penang Hill is more than just a scenic spot.

This is where Penang Hill Festival plays an important role in generating such awareness. We hope that more people especially the younger generations will get to know and love Penang Hill.

This is in line with the LovePenang campaign by the Penang State Government which calls for empathy and harmonious living in striving to move forward for a brighter and better future ahead. We must preserve our priceless cultural assets to ensure our life-long traditions do not fade into obscurity.

We must love our environment and play our part in combating climate change. Truly, this can be achieved only if we all embrace love for our community. To our visitors from abroad, we also urge you to get to know Penang and fall in love with Penang because we are truly special.

Ladies & gentlemen,

I understand that we have the Music on the Hill – East meets West coming right up with a line of unique performances by the local talents of Penang. We are happy to see our local talents shine and we hope that the local creative industry will also flourish in the state. Let us all show more love and support to our local artists.  

In conclusion, I would like to congratulate PHC for successfully organising the Penang Hill Festival 2022 and I applaud the management and your team for upholding the values of Penang2030 to make Penang a better place to live, work and play, besides being a model state for the country.

Once again, a warm welcome to the festival. Sit back, relax and enjoy music on the hill accompanied by the natural sounds of nature.  

Thank you.