In reply.

Dear xxx :

If Malam Gemilang only meant Malaysian food buffet to you, I don't know how you have the right to be criticising all else.

It was a night to celebrate our independence, you said so yourself, and yet if you went only for the food, where do your loyalties lie? Where do your priorities lie?

If you put Ursula Ball above a celebration of the independence of your country, and couldn't even muster up the effort to dress up for it, tell me, where do you stand on giving out comments about how the night turned out.

The opening video was not meant to be confusing, if you did even mildly listened to what the MCs said. It was meant to showcase our cultural diversity, a mix of what our country has to offer, a mix, a blend, a confusion - in that sense, of the wonders of how we come together as a country.

Non-existent mic problems, my dear friend, is something that is an externality. As students we do not have our own top notch PA systems. We rely on what our tight budget can get us, and for what we had that night, I thought it pretty well.

Yes, your sources were right, it was the FIRST time, for us all to be on stage to sing "Here in my home", but try gathering all those people at one venue at one time. As a student yourself, I'm sure you're aware of what commitments we have to our studies, to our assignments, to our classes. And personally, aside from the forgotten lines, and save my horrendous try at rapping, I'd say we managed to show our unity, as a group of Malaysians, as a group of friends.

Shoddy deco. Again. We were on a tight budget. Unlike ISD decorations, which definitely didn't look like it was their own effort (not a negative comment), ours were at least our own effort, our own hard work. Be supportive of your fellow student friends. Take the time out to appreciate that they spent time working on those decorations amongst the loads of uni works that they had to deal with.

To err is human. To forget lines, when you're a narrator and have an entire story to tell, is normal. Normal narrators do not even appear on stage, and have the entire script right in front of them. Heck, I as the MC couldn't even remember a single line of my own. And Akram took the trouble to memorise 90% of his lines. Does his forgetting one line tarnish his remembering his 100 others? No. But apparently in your eyes, it does.

While it wasn't supposed to be that much of a casual event, it WAS meant to be a comedic Malaysian show. And if you didn't get that, well, you're the one who's lost. Or did you not notice the many comedic acts we put in? Did you not notice the funny acts? And costumes are supposed to complete the act, not make it formal. How else would you play a part of the Sultan if you don't dress up as one? How else would you show support for your fellow mates if you don't even bother to dress formally for a formal event when it's strictly stated that the dress code is formal/traditional?

Curtain failures. If it's one of our worst faults, I must definitely commend Akram for making it hilarious. He definitely turned what could be a panic attack into one of a light mood, one that entertained the crowd - entertainment is called so for a reason.

More so, an event run and managed by a student body, on a tight budget, CANNOT, IN ANY SENSE, be compared to an Olympic event, which would definitely be supported by the government and the country. Try scaling things down a little, to a more sensible scale at least.

And just to be a pest, it was $49. The committee did NOT charge you that extra dollar, just so more people would come. But NO, many did not even bother to show their support for their country. Their reasoning - I spent lots of money during the holidays. I went to the International Ball so I don't have any more money for this. One of these were your own words.

Tell me, how do we shape up and be capable of better when many of you won't even show your support for your friends, lest your country.

My dear friend, before you comment about others, do reflect upon your own actions first.

Do realise that this is not so much of a comeback to your post, but more of a voice for those who worked hard. And more so a reply in the hope that you realise the amount of effort they put into everything and appreciate them for it. You're right in the sense that we can be better, but we've all got to start somewhere. And now, we can learn from our mistakes. =)