Malaysian students at various universities in Qatar holding their national flag during a function to celebrate the National Day of Malaysia at the Embassy of Malaysia in Doha, on Friday. Pics: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, and some of his Cabinet ministers are most likely to visit Qatar in December this year.
Malaysians from all over Qatar thronged Malaysian Embassy to show their patriotism to their motherland by marking National Day on Friday.
Addressing the gathering, Mohamad Shahir Sabarudin, Charge d’Affaires at the Embassy of Malaysia in Qatar, highlighted that the Prime Minister of Malaysia and few other cabinet ministers are expecting to visit Qatar in the fourth quarter of this year.
Later talking to The Peninsula, Mohd Syatir Talib, First Secretary (Information) at the Embassy of Malaysia, said that most likely Prime Minister of Malaysia would visit Qatar in December this year.
The National Day 2019 celebration at the embassy began with the hoisting of the Jalur Gemilang (national flag) and singing of the national anthem, ‘Negaraku’. This was followed by the oath-taking (ikrar) ceremony, speech by Mohamad Shahir Sabarudin, Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of Malaysia, Qatar and ended with a dinner.
The National Day celebration in Qatar kicked-off a day earlier (in August 2019) with Sayangi Malaysiaku ride event for Malaysian community residing in the country. The event was organised annually for like-minded people whom we shared motorcycling as a passion, and to fire up the spirit of patriotism in a 80km ride from Doha to Dukhan. Some 50 riders took part in Sayangi Malaysiaku (Love Malaysia) ride.
The Charge d’Affaires on Thursday flagged off a group of bikers who are on ride to show Malaysian communities’ patriotism towards their motherland. Mohamad Shahir said the theme for this year’s National Day is ‘Sayangi Malaysiaku: Malaysia Bersih’ which means ‘Love Malaysia: A Clean Malaysia’. This year’s stress is the importance of unity and patriotism for the well-being of the people.
Shahir emphasised that Malaysian expatriates should always abide by the local rules and regulations and make their country proud. “All Malaysians are urged to be thankful for the freedom, peace and unity that they are enjoying both in Malaysia and Qatar.”
Mohamad Shahir Sabarudin, also touched on the tourism sector in which he updated that Qatar Airways will launch its inaugural flight to Langkawi on October 15, 2019.
This is the third gateway to Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur and Penang. To further promote Malaysia and Langkawi tourism, Malaysian Embassy in Qatar with the cooperation of Qatar Airways will bring a cultural troupe from Malaysia to perform at Hamad international Airport prior to the inaugural flight departure to Langkawi. He further mentioned that the embassy and tourism department in Malaysia have also outlined few events to further promote visit Malaysia 2020 to the Qataris and expatriates residing in the country.
Commenting on bilateral cooperation, Mohamad Shahir explained that the bilateral ties have further blossomed beyond the political sphere and into other areas of cooperation such as trade and investment, higher education, legal and judicial cooperation, culture and tourism.
He also commented that the visits of high level officials between Malaysia and Qatar have further given positive results where both countries agreed to establish a High Level Committee (HLC) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a mechanism to monitor the implementation of follow up actions to be taken on the agreements reached by the supreme leaders of both countries. He said that both countries also agreed to hold the second meeting of the Joint Trade Committee (JTC) in Kuala Lumpur this year.
