PUBLIC SPEAKING

TITLE : MALAYSIAN HOLIDAY

A very good morning I bid to the Mr. Chairman, the respectful honorable judges, the
accurate time keepers, my fellow contestants, ladies and gentlemen. I am pleased and
honored to stand here in this public speaking competition.On this fine morning, I would like
to talk about Malaysian holidays.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our country of Malaysia is the home of people of different cultures and ethnic groups. The
majority of Malaysians are Malays. Besides Malays, there are Chinese, Indians, and so on.
We live here peacefully without wars amongst ourselves.
But, there had been some disturbing talk some time ago about the necessity to do
something about Malaysia having too many holidays. I say disturbing because who has
heard of having too many holidays? We have got along all these years celebrating every
festival that is on the calendar and still managing to keep up with the work that has to be
done.
Ladies and gentlemen,
To students, a public holiday means having fun and relaxing. We students will get tired of
school if holidays didnt exist. Spending our time on a holiday also means we could spend
some time with our family. A five-day school week gives us less time to hang around with our
families. During the weekends, our time is usually spent in shopping malls with either our
family or buddies.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Holidays always related to the festivals. Am I right?
On Hari Raya, Malay kids would be excited to have duit raya. My past years of going
around the village have passed, leaving good memories such as being chased by a goat
with my cousins. When I turned ten, I felt awkward being around little kids while collecting
the duit raya. This year I spent my time at my grandparents house with my siblings and my
12 years cousins. I felt bored, having the urge to go back home and listen to head-banging
music. These days, teens dont have the spirit of a get-together. To me, its dj vu every
year.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Chinese celebrate a lot of festivals. There is a list of the celebrations, but Im going to
talk about two only. Im not sure what they celebrate on the Moon cake festival, but what I
know is that there are loads of moon cakes. The most obvious and marking the first day of
the New Year of the Chinese calendar, is Chinese New Year. Lion dance and parades are
held, full of excitement. The same goes for Deepavali, a festival of light and celebrated by
Hindus all around the world.
Ladies and gentlemen,

Of all the holidays in Malaysia, there is one celebration that most of the citizens watch or
attend. Merdeka is the word that people cheer to at the stroke of midnight of 31 st August of
every year. Celebrated at landmarks such as Dataran Merdeka, and many more in the
Wilayah Persekutuan.
Well, I have arrived at the end of my speech, and I would like to thank all for lending your
ears and sharing your time with me on this wonderful day.