THE 8TH MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL GOLD & JEWELLERY FAIR 2011 FROM 22 TILL 25 APRIL 2011 AT KL CONVENTION CENTRE WAS OPENED BY YAM TUNKU DARA TUNKU TAN SRI NAQUIAH TUANKU JAAFAR.
Organised by MIJ Exhibition Sdn Bhd, the 8th edition of this jewellery fair which is not to be confused with the earlier one last month,is now on till Monday 25 April so there is still time today Sunday and tomorrow. Mind you, many of the same old faces and companies that exhibited last month are also showing their bling this time. Perfect if you missed the jewellery fair organised by a different company last month at Mandarin Oriental Grand Ballroom.
BELOW SHOW TUNKU DARA TUNKU TAN SRI NAQUIAH TUANKU JAAFAR OF NEGERI SEMBILAN CUTTING THE RIBBON AND DECLARING THE EXHIBITION OPENED
TUNKU DARA RECEIVING A TOKEN OF APPRECIATION FROM THE MANAGER OF MIJ EXHIBITION.
Datin Sue Day, Tunku Dara's daughter-in-law and her daughter
Michael Mantz and Princess Dr Becky Leogardo
The exhibition hall
Temptations galore
Temptations of the jewelled kind
Temptations of the human kind
But Michael Mantz is above such temptations
Pretty gem
Tiara fit for a princess
Princess Dr Becky Leogardo checking out the bling
In the end, no purchase was done here as hubby Michael Mantz bought a pair of emerald earrings at her favourite jeweller Royal Stones as a gift for Mother's Day on 9 May!
I noticed some of the jewels shown last month are still on sale at this fair. If you had fallen in love with them and didn't have the money then, perhaps you made a killing in the stock market since then and now have the dough so go for it! Life is too short and I sometimes wear rings to bed so I can wake and admire them instantly.
Personally I think the time duration is too near each other and history may repeat itself as the next 2 fairs are in September and October! The Malaysia Jewellery Festival will be from 7 to 10 October 2011 at KL Convention Centre while the one going on right now goes by a different name Malaysia International Gold & Jewellery Fair! Why these two identikit fairs can't have the same name is beyond me! I mean, how many of us know or even bother about the subtle differences in these 2 fairs; can you remember which is Malaysia Jewellery Festival and when is Malaysia International Gold & Jewellery Fair? Don't they all sell jewellery made of silver, gold and platinum? Oh well, I am not the organiser...
In 1997 Datuk Danny Ooi's Malaysia Book of Records granted MIJ Exhibition Sdn Bhd the title of 'Malaysia's Biggest Jewellery Exhibition Organiser' as these fairs have attracted more than 50,000 visitors in the past 10 years.
JEWELLERY JUST GOT CHEAPER!
Is this possible?
Yes, imported bling has just got cheaper, at least in theory! In October 2010 last year ( I know October 2010 HAS to be last year but out of habit I keep repeating the detail!) the Malaysian government announced the waiver of duty on around 300 imported items beginning from January this year and bling is among them.
According to MIJ Exhibition, the tax abolishment has helped exhibitors reduce their costs by some 30% but then again, only God knows if the jewellers are reducing their prices by 30% or continue to sell at their usual prices and make an extra 30% profit! In theory they should reduce their prices by a corresponding 30% but if you are the jeweller, would you? After all, you can claim to have done so and who knows what is the actual cost price of that necklace?
Kee Hua Chee with YAM Tunku Dara Tunku Tan Sri Naquiah Tuanku Jaafar, daughter of the 10th King of Malaysia
Anyway why worry? I buy something, anything, because I love the design and CAN afford the price! Doesn't matter if it is at full retail or discounted. After all, if I don't like something, the seller can slash to 80% and I still won't buy it.
At the launch, Tunku Dara was her usual stylish and elegant self, giving a short and lovely speech. She is from KL Speakers' Club and an expert and experienced public speaker! Her voice was partcularly pleasant to hear as a speech is not about contents but also voice quality, presentation and intonation. The Negri princess spoke on international trade and tax abolishment and toured the 100 stalls for over an hour. She noted by 2020 Malaysia is expecting 36 million tourists and RM 168 billion with 35% coming from shopping.
Lunch for her guests, including me of course, was at Mandarin Oriental Pearl Room. After a slap up meal, we returned to KLCC for more acquisitions!
Tunku Dara Tunku Naquiah with her guests in Pearl Room at Mandarin Oriental
Tunku Dara Tunku Naquiah with friends from the embassies
I wore a denim suit hand sewn with thousands of tiny seed pearls.
I met Tan Sri De Zeti Akhtar Aziz the Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia and congratulated her on being reappointed for another 5 years starting May 2011 as head honcho of Malaysia's central bank. She seemed perturbed and asked REPEATEDLY if I had taken her photo as I was keying in my friend Naimah's handphone. Surely she could tell the difference between taking a photo and keying in a phone number?
I had to reassure her at least four times I was not taking her photos which struck me as odd as why was she scared of me doing so? First, as the most powerful, famous and important money person and banker in Malaysia, her photos are everywhere in the internet and Bank Negara's website. One cannot be Governor of a country's central bank and avoid having her or his photograph published. So the only reason is that she did not want any publicity about her visit to the jewellery fair which is just as strange!
Tan Sri Dr Zeti Aziz is a refined, highly educated and accomplished lady and surely no one can accuse her of impropriety and misbehavior if she was seen at a jewellery fair which is legitimate. Of course if she was visiting a sex fair selling vibrators and sex arousal pills, she would not wish to be photographed but a sex fair would be BANNED in Malaysia so no way can anyone attend a sex fair even if he or she wants to! I also assume her salary is not RM 2,800 and she is free to invest in bonds and shares like everyone else and make or lose money so she should be able to afford at least a few trinkets as I once bought a nice ring for RM 250. Really I was quite startled at the way she kept hounding me if I took her photos and I was on the verge of showing her the contents of my camera to prove I did not!
But she is really nice and quite friendly when I told her how much I admired her father Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz the former vice-chancellor of Universiti Malaya who once advised me to 'always be myself, however colourful or tame'! Tan Sri Zeti seemed amused and repeated that mantra to herself. I also told her I once interviewed her mother Sharifah Azah Aziz. I gave her my name card but she did not give me hers, alas.
THE END
No comments:
Post a Comment