25 Malaysian students were chosen as winners of the Haiku Contest
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 25 school students across Malaysia were selected as winners of the 17th World Children’s Haiku Contest 2021-2022 Malaysian Chapter.
The winners consisted of five JAL grand prize recipients and 20 JAL prizes, selected from 307 Malaysian children aged 15 and under from 17 schools across the country who submitted Haiku in Bahasa Malaysia themed “City” with creative hand-drawn artwork.
They brought home certificates, medals and souvenirs from the JAL Foundation and Japan Airlines Kuala Lumpur.
Speaking at the prize-giving ceremony held at his residence here on Thursday, Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia Takahashi Katsuhiko hoped the contest would spark interest among the young winners in Japanese culture and forge lasting understanding between the people of the two countries.
“One of the important duties as an Ambassador to Malaysia is to encourage fellow Malaysians to learn more about Japan.
“I will be happy if you become more interested in Japan by winning this Haiku Contest. I will be even more happy if you start learning Japanese, for example, start attending Japanese self-defense classes, watch more Japanese anime or start doing anything related with Japan. I also hope you will visit Japan one day,” he said.
The ambassador said Malaysians can also look at Japan as a good option to further their studies in the future through Malaysia’s Look East Policy or the Japanese Government Scholarship program.
Started in 1990, the World Children’s Haiku Contest is held twice a year organized by the JAL Foundation.
The 17th edition of the contest which took place from 1 Nov 2021 to 28 Feb 2022, was attended by 17,699 children from 49 countries and regions around the world.
Its organization in Malaysia is also to fill events in conjunction with celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Look East Policy.
The Malaysia Chapter Haiku Contest is organized by JAL Corporation and sponsored by Japan Airlines Kuala Lumpur and has the support of the Ministry of Education, the Embassy of Japan in Malaysia and the Japan Foundation.
Also present at the ceremony was the Vice President and Regional Manager of Japan Airlines Malaysia Sakaguchi Tomohiro and the Head of the Malaysia-Japan Research Center at Universiti Malaya Dr Jamila Mohd who was also the competition judge.