Showing posts with label diplomatic reception. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diplomatic reception. Show all posts

ASEAN Day Dinner Reception in Wellington New Zealand

Happy ASEAN DAY!

Are you familiar with ASEAN, Association of South East Asian Nations?
It  comprises 10 Member States, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. It is surely one of the leading regional organization in South East Asian region.


 

This regional platform was established on August 8, 1967, so this year we are celebrating the 55th anniversary of the ASEAN.


In Wellington, there are six ASEAN member states’ missions, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The ASEAN Head of Missions, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, established ASEAN Committee in Wellington and us, at the technical level, established the Working Group, or famously known as the TWG.

the members of ASEAN TWG in Wellington taking pictures the ASEAN Way

So for the celebration  of the ASEAN Day 2022, Indonesia, as the ACW Chair for July - December 2022 period, organized the preparation of the dinner reception. It was celebrated on the 8th of August in Wellington, New Zealand. This year, we have the Embassy of the Thailand as the venue. 

As the guest of honor, Minister for Pacific People and Associate Minister for Foreign Affairs, Honorable Aupito Sio came and joined us that night. We welcomed him to the venue as he came right on time, while other guests joining us slightly late. We had around 60 guests representing the counterparts from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ASEAN Dialogue Partners, community leaders, academics and more. 

Head of Missions of ASEAN in Wellington posed with Minister Sio ASEAN Way

It was truly a celebration of friendship, collaboration and optimism for our future. It’s heartwarming to have friendly conversations with the big family of ASEAN and friends in Wellington, along side delectable signature food and joyful performances.




In the beginning, opening speeches were given by Ambassador Fientje Maritje Suebu of Indonesia as well as Minister Aupito Sio, followed by toasts.



It was also amazing to see Tari Joged Bumbung performed by mba Putuevie from Mekar Bhuana Bali, Indonesia, jazzy tunes from Umar Zakaria and Laura Munan from Malaysia, Praewa Kalasin Silk dance from Thailand, as well as Elian Pagalilawan and Becka Tiangson, the tenor and the pianist from the Philippines. 



Not to mention the food! From Indonesia, we brought salad pengantin, Indonesian salad with peanut, chilli and dried shrimps paste, and lapis legit or the layer cakes. Super yum!



Salad Pengantin from Indonesia


We also decorated 6 tables in the venue with the touch of each of ASEAN Member States missions in Wellington. For Indonesia, we use the combination of Ulos from North Sumatera, Songket Palembang from South Sumatera and Barong from Bali.



I proudly wear my red kebaya encim, adorned with Burung Hong or the hong bird and flowers, along with Songket Bali and Tais for my sash that night ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ. 

All in all, it was a successful event and a memorable night.
I hope everyone had a great time amidst the cold, freezing weather in Wellington ๐Ÿ™
Long live ASEAN!












Tapis and Songket at Indonesian Diplomatic Reception



The harmonious melody from kolintang, one of Indonesian tradisional musical instruments, filled the UN Delegates Dining Room on the 4th floor of the UN Headquarters in New York. 

Angin Mamiri, one of the traditional songs from Sulawesi, welcomed and serenaded the guests that night.

One by one, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers, Ambassadors, and other distinguished guests joined us that night for our national day reception.

Yup, we had our annual reception for the 71st anniversary of the Indonesia's independence on the third week of September. 

Hosted by H.E. Retno L.P. Marsudi, our Minister for Foreign Affairs, this annual event was convened on the margins of the High Level Week of   UN General Assembly 71st Session. Although the independence day was celebrated on August 17, but here in New York City we held the reception during the September session on the UN GA in order to welcome more dignitaries and VVIPs.

But this year is super special indeed.

Why?








Because we have H.E. Jusuf Kalla, the Vice President of Indonesia and Madame Mufidah Kalla, his spouse, as our guests of honor.

Moreover, we also have the official launch of the campaign for Indonesia's candidature for the Non-Permanent Member of the UN Security Council for 2019-2020.

We also held the reception on the 4th floor of the UN Headquarters, slightly different from the usual venue of the meeting hall at our Permanent Mission.










Hours before the reception, my colleagues and I were rushingly preparing the UN Delegates Dining Room.
As always, we bring the taste of Indonesia to the UN
Tapis and songket were chosen as the main traditional fabrics we used for decoration that night. We mixed it with tenun Troso and loro blonyo, the famous Javanese couple in wooden form.


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We adorned the room with more songket, tapis and tenun all over the place.
We were surely having fun decorating the room with Tapis and Songket at Indonesian Diplomatic Reception.
Welcoming board, bar table, guest book corner, columns, souvenir bags corner.
Simply everywhere :).
Colorful Sundanese paper umbrella also brighten up the room.



We used many gawangan, the tradional wooden fabric holder, to showcase those variety of songket, tapis and tenun being displayed.

Tapis from Lampung, adorning one of the corners of the room

As for me, I was proudly wearing my Tapis Lampung in gold and black, coupled with france lace kebaya in turquoise and gold. 




Then around 6.30, guests were arriving.
Minister Retno, adorned in black kebaya top and black-and-white batik skirt, welcomed our guests, while being accompanied by H.E. Dian Triansyah Djani, our Ambassador/Permanent Representative.

Minister Retno and Ambassador Djani welcoming guests

At 7.15, after the arrival of our Guests of Honor, H,E, Mr, Jusuf Kalla and his spouse, Minister Retno opened the reception with short remarks. She officially launched the campaign for Indonesia's candidature for the UN Security Council Non-Permanent Member year 2019-2020 as well. Our Vice President stroke the gong  as the symbol of that official launch. We sincerely hope we have all the supports from our fellow friends and states.



And the night continued with happy chats and friendly gathering amidst 
good food and some traditional performances. Various choices of hot and cold hors d'oeuvre as well as Asian corner with sate, Mongolian beef and dumplings were served.  

The food for that night..Various hors d'ouvre for our guests





For sure, we have some Indonesian traditional performances for our distinguished guests, gracefully performed by Saung Budaya, a special group preserving Indonesian traditional dances and cultural performances based in New York City. Tari Piring from West Sumatera and Tari Bajidor Kahot from West Java got a great applause from our guests that night. 

Tari Piring, Bajidor kahot and Kolintang from Indonesia


Then Pingkan Indonesia, a kolintang group from New Jersey, also performed some numbers of Indonesian songs and cotton field.

I helped presenting those dances and kolintang performance as the MC that night :).
Something that I haven't been doing for quite some times but always happy to do so.




We surely were blessed with the presence of many friends and distinguished guests that night. It was packed and looked like everyone had a great time. Many of the guests asked about the performances as well as Tapis and songket being displayed that night

some of the guests


We closed the night with some photo sessions and wefie.
It was a great night indeed.








Have you been to a diplomatic reception before?