The Comic Fiesta committee could read like a One Malaysia ad. Here you have a bunch of youths, all below 30, who gather together to organise an event, every year, without fail, from start to finish. It’s a testament to what they say youths cannot do: Organise a successful event without any “adult” to guide them.
This year, Comic Fiesta the event, will be 9 years old. From an event with only a few hundred attendees to an event with a region-wide reach, charting its history with numbers alone would inspire wonders. Last year, we had around 8,000 attendees. This included the committee, helpers, sponsors and the attendees. We had people from all over ASEAN and quite a few cosplayers and visitors from the Middle East, Australia and if I remember, Canada.
The committee though, was, and is wholly, and completely Malaysian. So are the helpers. Ironically, it is the cultures of those who had “colonised” us which brings us together. We’re fans of Japanese anime and English-language comics, just to name a few interests.
Don’t believe me? This is our very long 2009 Committee picture (some people, including me, missing cause the line was so damn long XD). This is the gang in 2008. And lest you think that it is only the Committee that is multiracial, we’ll never forget our helpers and volunteers (2008 photo cause I can’t seem to find the 2009 photos).
How ironic that it is the culture of what some would call the “colonisers” that bring us together. But you know what? Every year, whenever I head to Comic Fiesta, I discover not only do the doujinka/self-published/fan creators make excellent fan works, they also make pretty awesome original art. And badges. And hats. Did I mention cookies too? Not only that, even our off-shoot IRC channel’s a poster child for 1Malaysia (though considering the jokes we make about said project…).
1Malaysia’s already here. And it’s taking over your world. So watch out, Malaysia.
PS: In case you can’t tell, I lost my train of thought and this has become a… ramble. 😛