[00:00:00] Patrick Kiely: So good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon your Excellency. Thank you for taking time out of a varied and very interesting itinerary to join us today. So my name is Patrick Kiely of Flux Learning and Cork Creative. And this is a very much a first for us. This is our first recording of a podcast in front of the live audience.

So bear with us. I expect technical trouble and this is definitely the first podcast where we’ve had a gracious host, the ambassador, his Excellency here today, the Malaysian Ambassador. So without further ado, let’s commence the recording. Let’s commence the podcast. So you’re very welcome to this episode of Cork Creative, your Excellency.

There’s a wonderful buzz around the place, and thanks for joining us and with our first question today, I suppose. What was your first impression of Ireland when you arrived, and what’s your first impression of Dunmanway when you arrived yesterday?

[00:00:55] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Thank you, Patrick Kiely from, Cork Creative.

Thank you the audience, for the live, podcast this morning or this afternoon. First of all, allow me to take this opportunity before I answer your question to thank Cork Creative for the opportunity given to me and my team. I would like to especially mention to the Dunmanway Feel the Force Festival, organiser for inviting us.

For the very first time, and this is only the second edition. So of course that’s always a opportunity for us to collaborate, in the years ahead. Not only to celebrate Star Wars fans, but also to, to actually highlight the unity in diversity. We don’t only see Star Wars fans, during the weekend, we see all the cosplay players here, and that’s good.

That’s what Malaysia is also all about. Well, I have to answer your question first because as I said yesterday, when you give the microphone to an ambassador, we always, I told you this as well, if I don’t stick to my script, that’s a difficulty that for me to stop talking. So thank you for the good, first question and I see Nuri back there, sorry. Nuri special mention to Nuri Albakriry, our chef, local chef here in Dunmanway, who has been instrumental in starting this, Dunmanway Feel the Force festival. His wife, Carolyn, I’m sure she’s also there somewhere. And, well, back to your question, I arrived back in October, 2023.

I remember it was raining that morning. It was six o’clock in the morning. Being from a very tropical country, Malaysia, after 14 hours of journey arriving in a cold morning, I was quite afraid, to be honest. It was my first assignment as an ambassador. Prior to this, I have just come and I knew that I have a boss.

Here I’m becoming the boss, but the warm hospitality, the warm welcome that I receive at the airport and subsequently at the hotel where I’m staying for the next couple of days before moving to the official residence, make me feel at home, you know, instantaneously. I feel that Ireland will be my home for the next three years.

And because of the warm hospitality of the Irish people, which is similar to Malaysian people as well, we are very friendly people back in Malaysia. And, that’s what makes me feel at home. Dunmanway is my first time arriving here yesterday. Same thing. It was pouring heavily, you know, coming from Dublin to Dunmanway took us three and a half hours.

It was raining all the way until about five minutes entering into Dunmanway city limit. Thank God we brought the sun to you guys. I can’t promise that I won’t bring back the sun to Dublin because I would love to have the sun in Dublin as well. But, yeah, that’s my first impression. Dunmanway has been, of course different from Dublin.

Sure. From the hustle bustle of the, city. I love it here so far. I’m staying at one of the Air Bnbs here. I just spoke to Nuri and his friends from Leeds. You know, how wonderful, the landlord and, his wife has been. Similarly, I mean, we share a lot of similarity. Sure.

And, so far , I’m enjoying Dunmanway, I will be coming back. I, told my family, I had a conversation with them last night . To my family-we have got to come back because now I’m here for work. You know, you might see that I’m enjoying my day, but it’s actually, it’s working since yesterday.

So, yeah. I love Ireland. I love Dunmanway. I would love to have the opportunity to actually see the rural island, places.

[00:04:36] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid (2): Yeah.

[00:04:37] Patrick Kiely: There’s a lot to take in Ireland as well. Yeah. And particularly in the rural areas because of the rich heritage in terms of the famine and the revolutionary period as well.

But I suppose, can you let us know, I suppose, what aspects of Irish culture you found particularly interesting and entertaining when you arrived here

[00:04:55] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Before I came here. As I said, I came here in October, 2023 and we have the Malaysian, your Ambassador in Kuala Lump at that time. Or even until today, her Excellency Orla Tunney, she’s from Dublin.

 She introduced me to the Gaelic games and it just so happened that a week before I arrived here…. Actually Kuala Lumpur hosted the Asian Gaelic games . Where we bring all the Irish community in Asia to come to Kuala Lumpur and play two days of championship for Gaelic football as well as hurling and camogie.

And, I find the games very interesting. It’s fast pace. I’ve never been, introduced to such a game. What truly amazed me is not so much of the fast pace of the game. Yeah. I love the games, don’t get me wrong, but what truly amazed me is that when she told me that it’s being played by normal people.

I mean the amateurs, it is amateur. I don’t see them as amateur because they played at such a, you know, high….

[00:05:52] Patrick Kiely: They play a high level. Yeah.

[00:05:53] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: High, high skills. That’s the thing that I’m truly amazed because how you bring the community together. This is something that we can learn back home.

I know that, we will talk more about that later. But, apart from that, I was surprised also with the language. I’ve never thought that Ireland would have a language, which is, well, it’s nowhere close to English. You know, phonetically, it’s just like when I’m trying to learn the French, I try to help my son learning the Gaelic because he goes to normal school.

 I don’t send him to a private school or international school here. And, to teach my son Gaelic is, wow, it’s difficult, but I love it. I mean, it’s something, something which, I find it most interesting.

[00:06:41] Patrick Kiely: Yep. You’ve shared a fond memory of teaching your son Gaelic. Are there any other fond memories or experiences that you’ve had since you’ve arrived in Ireland that you’d like to share with the audience?

[00:06:52] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Well, fond memories, I’m into my second year here, if I would have to choose one. it’s gonna be difficult. I mean, it has been a memorable experience for me ever since, the day that I arrive. But if Iever have to, I mean, as I said, I enjoy the country.

[00:07:08] Patrick Kiely: Sure.

[00:07:09] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: I enjoy driving.

I know that my team doesn’t like me driving on my own. My team doesn’t allow me to walk, freely. They are worried that something will happen to me, but I told them I’m a normal person. My security at the embassy, who is actually Irish, when he saw me walking from my residence to the office.

He told my team, please tell your ambassador. Don’t walk on your own. But as I said, the memorable thing is that when you walk, enjoy the seaside or coastal region, you know, as well as the rolling greens, hills and abundance trees. That’s what I like about this country. I mean, who would have thought for us coming from another region when we see all the economics data that Ireland has?

We would have thought you guys would have something similar to what Kuala Lumpur has. You know, tall buildings. But it’s certainly different. I mean, when I arrive here, mean, I can see how you still value the history. You still have so much places that,

[00:08:13] Patrick Kiely: Yeah,

[00:08:14] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: we are going back to nature.

I mean, that’s why I love, and my other fond memory, if I have to choose, is that, last year, my daughter met her soulmate in Dublin. They never knew each other. He is Irish/Kosova. They met in Dublin while she was, visiting me last March. They got married, last July. Yeah, I’m not that young. So, yeah.

That, that would be the fond memories. If I were to have to choose.

[00:08:44] Patrick Kiely: That’s a great memory, and it speaks to the multiculturalism of Ireland, that, such a meeting could happen.

[00:08:49] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: That means I will have to stay here, even after… long after I’ve completed my tenure in Ireland.

Ireland will always be my home because my daughter after marrying, her husband now, she’s still, working in Saudi.

But, her contract with her university will complete or will end soon. And she will be joining me in Dublin. But of course, I hope in a different home.

[00:09:14] Patrick Kiely: So we spoke a little of the cultural similarities between Ireland and Malaysia.

I suppose. How did Ireland or how has Ireland-Malaysian relations evolved over the last couple of decades?

[00:09:24] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Alright, well, yeah, as I said earlier, I mean, we are geographically very much further apart, but to be honest, with everybody, I feel that we have different religion, we have different race.

But we are of the same more. The Irish and Malaysians are very warm people, very hospitable. And when we look at the, evolution of Malaysian-Ireland relations over the past few decades. We have officially… our diplomatic, ties begin in 1963 when Malaysia was formed. We got our independence way earlier, but it was only Malaya then from the British, in 1957.

But it was in 1963 when we formed Malaysia together, Malaya, together with, Sabah and Sarawak formed Malaysia. That’s when our diplomatic ties was established. And, since then, our ties have grown from strength to strength. For many years, Malaysia has been the only ASEAN country that has diplomatic presence in Dublin.

Believe it or not. Of course this year we just received, the Philippines Ambassador. Sure. and we will soon receive the Vietnamese ambassador as well. But the fact that we are the only Assia in the last two, three decades means that we do trust Ireland as our important partner in the EU.

And, your embassy was also established, similar to ours in the early 2000s, and when we look at bilateral trade, it has grown. Almost 60% last year. From, 3.5 billion euro in 2023. To 5.6 billion euro last year. And the good thing is, we don’t impose tariff on you, despite the fact that, we have a large trade deficit with Ireladn, believe it or not, you know, of the 5.6 billion of our trade, Malaysia only exports about.

Not even 0.6 billion not even 600 million goes to Ireland. So that means that five billions of the total trade is actually items that we import from Ireland. We believe this could further increase because there’s always, opportunity for us to increasetrade to Ireland, especially in food products.

Environmentally friendly building materials, solar panels including apparels. And when we look at the exchange of visits. It has been quiet for before I arrive, but I’m glad to share that since my arrival, we have three high level visits. We have our speaker visiting your country last year.

And, one, minister at minister level, our Minister of Higher Education visited Dublin last year. And, one chief minister of state, which is equivalent to your medium level here. Sure. You know. And we do hope that at the same time, we also had the first bilateral or political consultations between Malaysia and Ireland last year.

And, Dublin is supposed to host the second consultation next year. So I do believe that this will grow strength to strength in the years ahead.

[00:12:29] Patrick Kiely: It’s great to hear about those growing ties, but I mean, I think, and speaking for myself, I think not all of us are as familiar with Malaysia as we should be.

So for those who are uninitiated, how would you describe Malaysia to someone who may be considering visiting there from Ireland?

[00:12:43] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Oh, well, if I were to describe one word, Malaysia, truly Asia Meaning that we have everything. You don’t have to go to any Asian countries to, to experience different culture, different places. Why we have that tagline is actually being, many countries are jealous of that because we came up with that. You know, if you go to many of the Asian countries, we have so many, most of them are multicultural.

But why Malaysia is such a special thing because you get all the major ethnic in Malaysia.

You got the Malays, which is, where my roots are.

We got the Chinese, we got the Indians as well. And of course, if you go to Sahan, we have more than a hundred different ethnicities, the native people. And, culturally we are diverse. There’s a lot of places that you can visit. There’s a rainforest, and if you love the beaches, you know, if you love Ireland,we have abundance of them. And the good thing is that the Euro currency is now very much stronger compared to our Malaysian ringgit. It used to be only one to four. Now it’s one to five. So you have, five times, you know, purchasing power if you come to our country. Food is about one to one is about the same, but just imagine with, with, $2 or two euros.

What you can get here is actually, you can get 10 euros worth of items if you go to Malaysia. I know the difficulty is the flights, we don’t have direct flights at the moment, but the good thing is if you book to any of these Middle East countries, like the transit is always either in UAE or Qatar.

Sure. They have a good, you know, a good package where during transit you can also visit those countries. Yeah. I’m doing, my Qataris and my Emirates ambassadors a favor here promoting their countries, but all because I want you guys to come to our countries. Yeah. Malaysia is very much, hospitable, similar to Irish.

You will feel at home, except that I know that you want sun. But you’ll get more than sun if you go to Malaysia. It’s quite, hot.

[00:14:47] Patrick Kiely: I think you can all agree folks that’s a fairly compelling pitch to go to Malaysia. Yes, indeed. to switch track for a second, the recent collaboration between, Malaysian universities and Irish universities and with Malaysian students in Ireland, can you speak a little bit to that please?

[00:15:02] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Alright. As I said, our diplomatic relations officially is only in 1963 and we established our embassy here only in 2001. But, we do have our Malaysian hall. Which house our students back then. In the sixties. So even before we had our embassy for 40 years, the Malaysian Hall in Leeson Park in Dublin has been there. There’s one Malaysians actually who owns the house in 1960. He came here to actually to study, but when he left, he donated the house. He bought, he got the house from the local here in the sixties and he donated the house to our higher education. We thank him for that. And as I said, education and student exchange program has been a vital part of the strong partnership between Malaysia and Ireland

We used to have about 5,000 Malaysian students annually coming to Ireland. Believe it or not, that 5,000 solely in medicine. They don’t study any… we don’t send any students for other purpose except for medicine. But we stopped that just right before COVID because the cost has been increasing and I think housing still, an issue for our students, to come here.

But I would also like to share that because of that, we managed to bring your college to Malaysia. And if here in Ireland, RCSI and UCD, they’re competing to get students, believe it or not, in Malaysia, we got them to join hands to establish a college. We call it the RUMC. You know, R stands for R-C-S-I-U stands for UCD.

They collaborate together and they have a big campus in Penang. And, every year we send about, we still send about 930 students in RUMC program, whereby they spend, two years here in, in Dublin. They can choose either to have their first two years in RCSI or UCD and, the remaining three years in Malaysia.

So, yeah. Very good, collaboration with Malaysia and Ireland in terms of, education. Of course I can go on and on about the recent collaboration.

[00:17:01] Patrick Kiely: What advice would you give to young people looking to maybe study in Malaysia or young Malaysians looking to study in Ireland?

[00:17:07] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Alright, but before I go to that, just want to add one more. The recent collaboration, I would like to thank both the UniSHAMS which is, the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah International Islamic University in Quatar, which had just signed an MOU with a memorandum of understanding with Dublin based Innoglobal Technology, which will pay the way for collaboration, between the two institutions, including in areas such as, technical and, vocational studies, green tech and renewable energy.

And, coming back to your question, what advice would I give to, students, either Malaysians coming to Ireland or Irish students going to Malaysia? I was a student abroad as well. Maybe I wish that they sent me to Ireland to become doctors, but then again, if I’m, I become a doctor, then I wouldn’t be here today.

I love what… they actually, the government sent me to the US. Fast forward to 2025, if I received the same scholarship, I will still take up that scholarship and goes to the US. Things are different now, but my advice to all our students, in Ireland is try to embrace the cultural differences.

Sure. As I see there’s, that we are so much similar.

We have to project unity in diversity

[00:18:16] Patrick Kiely: For sure.

[00:18:17] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: And apart from prioritizing academic excellence, academic success, I think they, what our students should look for is to actively seek connections. Make friends with the locals Irish and, be open to new experiences.

And same goes to Irish students who are looking to study abroad. I know that, there has not been any history with, for many Irish students going to our region, especially in Malaysia. But, try to seek the experience there because, as I said, one Euro equivalent to five Malaysian ringgit.

You know, you get a lot more. And, most of our colleges back home, they’re all…majority have on-campus accommodation and on campus accommodation, is only about 200 ringgit per month. If we translate that into Euro, it’s only 40 euro per month for your students to pay. So this is…

[00:19:08] Patrick Kiely: Another compelling proposition folks.

[00:19:10] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: So please come to Malaysia.

You can discuss with me, can reach my team. You know, for more information, we do have our education at Attaché in London who would be glad to actually provide all the detailed information about the options to study in Malaysia.

[00:19:24] Patrick Kiely: Changing tack again and apologies for the whiplash to the audience and to the ambassador, but it’s something you have an opportunity to experience this weekend as the Malaysian cuisine.

Yeah. And I suppose it’s incredibly diverse. Do you have a particular favorite dish that you’d like to recommend to the audience and to the audience of the podcast?

[00:19:42] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Well, yeah. This is something that we are totally different when it comes to food, because most of the food, back home is rather spicy compared to, the kind of food that we are having, here.

Not to say that we don’t… we do love our fish and chips. We do have one of the most famous fish and chips, one that has been in Kajohn. He’s a former chef working in Ireland, believe it or not the UK sorry, my friend from Leeds. But, if I were to recommend one, I would recommend Nazi Lemak.

It’s a highly recommended dish, for anyone visiting Malaysia. And it’s often considered, national dish and truth of Malaysian cuisine. It is a fragrant coconut rice. Spicy Sambal. Sambal is a spicy, cream. It has a diverse ingredients. We have… normally you can either eat it with rendang, chicken or beef and even squid.

And, why do I recommend this? Is that, last year, this dish together with two other, Malaysian cuisine. Namely the roti which is something similar to paratha. Okay. You know, as well as teh tarik is a pulled tea. You know, you make, milk tea. And you pulled it. For those who have visited . I’m not good at doing it.

I can’t really give you a demonstration on that. But, these three dishes, what I would recommend, because following our submission to UNESCO in March, 2023, Nasi lemak together with these two other dish has been included in UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. So, yeah, it’s original Malaysias. you might see that, many other countries will claim that it’s just, but, UNESCO has, said that this is Malaysias.

And I, I would recommend that, for those wanting this, try to taste this. We do have this, being, offered by some of our restaurants, locally in Ireland.

[00:21:37] Patrick Kiely: Sure. I suppose, are there Malaysian restaurants and cultural events in Ireland that you’d recommend for the audience here and the audience of the podcast to attend?

[00:21:44] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Alright. This is a question that I always get from many people. I always tell them, and my answer will always be the same when asked about this. The best place to get the best Malaysian food is my house. Yeah.

[00:21:59] Patrick Kiely: It’s an open invitation everybody.

[00:22:02] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: When I was first, asked to come here, for us Malaysian investors, similar to many other countries we are allowed to bring a personal chef.

To help us, promote our culinary overseas. And my personal chef is somebody who is extraordinary because, in most cases you don’t bring an owner of a restaurant. Because no owner of the restaurant will leave the restaurant. They’re making money, he’s making money back home. The only reason why he’s following me is because we went to the high school together.

I went to military school. So the born of the brotherhood. So when I called him, he says that he will come over. Right. But coming back to your question, apart from, my house, we have a number of, restaurants, which I should mention here in Dublin, as well as across, Ireland. Which people can get, an authentic nation food. If in Dublin, for fine dining, you can have the Langkawi Restaurant in Baggot Street, Dublin 4.

And, for street food, you can have it in Capel Street and eating in Parnell Street. ET was here yesterday. And, in Cork we have, the Malay Kitchen. Malay Kitchen is here today. And then in Galway we have Mama Rich. Wicklow: Tapau House. The one in Wicklow was here yesterday and then in Roscommon or Carrick-on-Shannon, we have My Kitchen by Sham and I think of all, My Kitchen by Sham is probably the most famous one because Chef Sham always appears in local RTE channels involving life demonstration on Malaysian, cuisine. He also works quite closely with Uhhi market. Ah, okay. So, yeah, those are the restaurants and when it comes to cultural events for those who are adventurous enough

We do have numbers of our programs, cultural programs, which is open to public.

[00:23:53] Patrick Kiely: Sure.

[00:23:53] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: In fact, next week if you guys are in Dublin, we are having our Eid Adha celebration.

So normally we will have at least three festivities that is open to the public, not only Malaysians in Ireland, but also to the locals and just browse through our Facebook. Because what we have during those days is, an open house where it’s similar to the celebration that we have back home.

Yeah. Just imagine Christmas. You open your house to everybody, not just your family. That’s how we celebrate festivities at home. And, similar here. And this is why I said if you want to taste Malaysian food, you can come to our event because it is prepared by my chef for next week.

It’s prepared by my chef as well as we have collaboration with the local chef, the Malaysian chef locally. So yeah, just glance through our Facebook or any of our social media acts as well, Embassy Malaysia in Dublin. And, you can see, we will from time to time post, any cultural events that, you can come and join and taste some of our food.

[00:24:57] Patrick Kiely: How does Malaysia use culture, art, and cuisine then to build relationships and friendships around the world, do you think?

[00:25:02] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Well, this is only in recent years that we, because traditionally embassies, we do things very formal. You know. We don’t really delve into public . Diplomacy, we don’t do culture.

But over the years, I will see that culture, arts, and especially food, has become more and more important in making friends around the world, you know, because, we are a really diverse country. I mean, as I said, we are multiracial, we have indigenous communities. And, that makes our, culture incredibly rich when we share with the world.

Where the true festivals, I mean, similar to Irish. I mean, St. Patrick’s Day is not only in Ireland. For sure. St. Patrick’s Days is about sharing with the world. The same with us. So when we share our culture with the world whether through festivals, traditional dancers, or music people get real sense of who we are.

We are actually similar to Irish. We are very warm, inclusive, and always open to learning. About others too. So our artists and performers in recent years have traveled, a lot and take part in international event. Unfortunately for our embassy in Dublin, we don’t receive them that much because, as I said, it has been, our focus has always been, students, academic exchange.

But, this, I see this will change over the years. And Malaysian Food, as I said, is one of our biggest ambassadors. Everyone who tries Nasi Lemak, as I mentioned just now or satay or Laksa, you know, usually they will fall in love with it. I know it’s a bit spicy, but, that’s where spicy food, when you eat teh tarik you will not feel that spicy anymore.

That’s why the combination is as such.

That’s an important message for my kids, I think.

[00:26:43] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: And the other thing is, you can either… teh tarik is because it has milk. So actually it’s the milk effect.

[00:26:49] Patrick Kiely: Yeah.

[00:26:50] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: I shouldn’t be saying it because this would mean that I’m promoting the food from other countries.

But if you eat Korean food is very spicy. It’s spicier than Malaysian actually, malaysian food. But the best way to address that, right after you eat the Korean food, you drink milk. You won’t feel that spiciness. Okay. You know, so yeah, milk will go long way, but only if you are lactose, you’re not having problem with lactose intolerance.

Yeah.

[00:27:18] Patrick Kiely: There’s a marketing opportunity there for Dairy Gold and for Clona, I think. How is the, you spoke briefly about it, but how do you think the role of cultural diplomacy has changed over the years? Yeah. And has social media impacted on that, do you think?

[00:27:32] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Well, as I said, the role of cultural diplomacy has, has changed over the years.

When I first joined the ministry as a diplomat it’s totally different. I mean, it’s… you see people in… I wouldn’t be here wearing this, to be honest, if this were 30 years ago. You know, but. I’m proud to wear this jacket because it’s from Nuri’s clan, the Tuscan West Cork clan. You would see me in a, you know, James Bond kind of attire rather if it’s 20 years ago.

But, today, you see, we try to get close to people. I mean, yeah, this is where diplomacy is. You know, I see that, cultural diplomacy will become more important in the years ahead for sure. In a world where politics can sometimes divide us. But culture, food, will bring us together. It has a unique ability to bring everyone together.

We see how it’s done here. I mean, Star Wars, who would have thought that, you know, when we watched the movie in the seventies, I remember I, I was growing up. Now people know how old I am. When we watched Star Wars those days, it has that message. Right? I mean, you have different creatures in Star Wars.

But, unfortunately we spoke about this as well. They all speak some language, even though I couldn’t understand Pescan language, I couldn’t understand the Wookiee language. But, we all try to, you know, to unite the people, against the dark forces. You know, so we are also seeing, when we talk about, cultural diplomacy we are seeing younger people nowadays engaging with culture in new and creative ways

Through digital platforms mostly.

And social media even in films and gaming. Yeah, that opens up exciting/ opportunity, possibilities of how we can tell and share our stories, and, connect with audiences who may never set food in our own country. And, through that platform, we hope that people, as I said, Malaysia truly Asia, but we also have a catchy phrase, which many countries in Asia are rather being jealous of us because we say “To know Malaysia is to love Malaysia”.

And you can only, with the advent of technology, with social media you can actually disseminate this. Sure. And, at the end of the day, it’s all about building bridges, quietly, steadily and with heart, you know, and I believe those bridges through the cultural diplomacy will be even more essential in the years ahead.

[00:29:57] Patrick Kiely: And to be quite parochial for a second, if, when you return to Malaysia, is there something in particular from Ireland you’d like to bring?

[00:30:03] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: When I first reached here, people always ask me, you need to experience Guinness. The thing is in Malaysia we do have similarities. We hang out in Kedai Mamak we call it Kedai Mamak. Here, people hang out in pubs.

Something that I would love to bring back is the pub culture, not the drinking part of it, but where the community actually come together, tell stories. Yeah. You know, play fiddle during those days. Those are the … which I think is, which bring the community closer. Yeah. And it’s something that we, over the years, we do have such culture during those days.

It became, you know, slowly with the advent of technology we forgot about that. But thank God, I mean, here you can still see those culture thriving in, especially in rural areas. I mean, one of the Netflix or the Hollywood movie, I can’t remember the title, but it’s…. The Banshees of Inisherin.

That’s the culture that I think we should cherish because when the community comes together. And have that kind of, you know, I know that the negative part, I’m not saying about the negative part, maybe about the homicides in that movie. Not the negative part, but how people comes together in, in a place for everybody. That’s something that I would like for us to bring back.

[00:31:23] Patrick Kiely: Sure.

[00:31:23] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: I’m not saying that we don’t have that culture days, but, this is something that we have to bring back. And, of course, the other thing is how we should you … you see, when I first arrived here, I thought that I wouldn’t enjoy sightseeing or the hiking part of it, but, perhaps in Malaysia it’s difficult because of the weather. Yeah. But we need to bring those … like, how the Irish always, cherish the nice weather. Every time there’s sunshine outside, you bring your family, come together and have a nice walk. It’s something that I hope that, our community will also be able to do.

[00:31:59] Patrick Kiely: And you spoke, about Nuri earlier and I think the event and all of the fantastic things he’s created is a testimony to his creativity and what he’s brought to Feel the Force and what he’s brought to Dunmanway. I mean, how does the embassy view the role of such cultural exchanges in strengthening Malaysia Ireland relations?

[00:32:18] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Alright, thank you. That’s a good question. I didn’t know about Nuri until the Irish Times published an article about him, last year, if I’m not mistaken, it’s about January or February, something like that. And immediately when I saw that I posted, or I shared that post in our social media, congratulating him for the excellent work that he’s done.

I know it has nothing got to do with Malaysia at that point, except that he’s Malaysian.

But that creativity, like you said, yeah, I mean, cosplay I wouldn’t think that he’s a chef. You know, could probably be an engineer. For sure. But a chef, making, you know, cosplay not only the costumes, but also all the props.

And I think we can work together, I mean, as much as we help him to connect him with the the right organisation back home that could collaborate on certain programmes or initiatives, the dissemination of talents that we have abroad, with the right institutions back home.

This is something that the embassy would play a role in for sure. You know, I know that there’s nothing much that we can do because, traditionally that’s not what we do. Sure. but we can work together. I mean, had I not known or approached Nuri,, we wouldn’t have brought Malaysia to the galaxy far away and in Dunmanway, and today we are here.

We are glad to not only to promote Malaysia, but also promote the city Dunmanway to the locals back home.

And, we can help each other, you know, us disseminating all this information through social media. As I said, social media has a broad reach and, it is through such collaboration that we will be able to disseminate all this information working hand in hand.

[00:34:04] Patrick Kiely: I suppose in Ireland, the diaspora is key to what we do and it’s, you mentioned Patrick’s Day and we have, it’s a way of activating the Irish diaspora. Is that something that you think that the Malaysian embassies and the Malaysian s embassy in Ireland will do more in the future to activate the diaspora and people like Nuri and showcase their creativity more?

[00:34:22] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Certainly. I mean, before my arrival here, we don’t…. I’m not saying that my predecessor, that hasn’t done so. My predecessor may have done so, but during those days, the social media usage is not as what it is now.

[00:34:37] Patrick Kiely: Sure.

[00:34:37] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Right. If you look 10 years back, the social media outreach, perhaps only through Facebook.

Not more than that. But now, I mean, everything. I mean, you have TikTok, you have everything. Yeah. So what we have been using is that we use the social media since my arrival, I’ve had engagement with our nation’s diaspora, not only in Dublin. But we went from city to city. We were in Cork twice already since my arrival, last year and, earlier this year.

And this is where we get to know, all the Malaysians, especially those who have special talents like Nuri. And, I know that, as I said, we can’t do much if we look at our budget alone because we are not a big embassy. We are not a country which can lavishly spend money for local talents abroad.

But what we can do is that, like when I first met Nuri, we sent a report back home. Seeing that we have such a talent, not only for Nuri but also for all our other talents. We send report back home and then we do hope that we can connect them with some universities.

We do have universities coming here, from Malaysia and, we can certainly, you know, connect them. Yeah. That’s where the role of the embassy as a bridge. For our local people here. Not only for the Malaysians, but also we try to, talk to the local Irish as well, whom we think that, can play a role in strengthening our ties.

Sure. You know, Malaysia Ireland ties?

[00:36:07] Patrick Kiely: When you speak to future collaborations, what opportunities do you think exist for collaborative projects between Malaysian creatives abroad and local Irish artists or local Irish institutions?

[00:36:17] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Alright we have the UITM which is University Technology Mara, coming later this year.

They are having collaboration. They’re meeting with DCU, Dublin College and then, they’re also meeting with Trinity College. And of course, it’s not for me to decide what sort of specific collaboration when we have a specific proposal. If Nuri would like for us to connect him with specific agencies back home, with specific proposal, we can certainly play that role. And if you ask me what sort of specific areas that we can look in, I would see that Malaysian films, I would love to bring the cinematography between both countries. I mean, the Irish film industry also is different, very much different from the UK. It is something that we can collaborate on, just to, you know, to exchange, culture practices

[00:37:07] Patrick Kiely: For sure.

[00:37:08] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: As I say, I’m approaching my second year. Normally, we don’t stay that long because unfortunately, Ireland is such a well sought post by many of our diplomats. That’s for good reason, meaning that the country’s good.

Everybody wants to come here. So when you reach a certain period, lobbying must have started back home to replace me. But I hope that I can at least, before I go, at least I can, leave something which is impactful for my predecessor to, or for my successor to take on. Sure. And, film is something that we could collaborate, creative industry is something that we can also work with for sure. Sure. We have people like Nuri, not only Nuri, but many others. We have artists, painters, as well. And this is something that, we can bridge them with, any interested parties in Malaysia, sure.

[00:38:01] Patrick Kiely: And it’s interesting that you mentioned cinematography when there’s increasingly a more diverse and decentralized studio system in Ireland.

You have the West Cork studio and you have other opportunities now as well. So there’s a rich possibilities in the cinematographer space for sure. Yeah. Excellent. So we’re coming to the close of our podcast. I’m going to leave the last word to the ambassador. All I can say is thank you very much for taking the time to join us today.

Thank you. The conversation was very welcome and thank you for taking the time. Thank you all for being the audience and your Excellency you may close.

[00:38:36] Wan Aznainizam Yusri Wan Abdul Rashid: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Patrick Kiely from Cork Creative for the opportunity given. Thank you Nuri AlAlbakriri and Caroline for making this a reality for me. Without all the parties here, I don’t think I’d be here today.

And, what I would like to say to all my Irish friends, Malaysia is open, welcoming, and ready to be discovered by you guys, you know, whether you’re thinking about visiting, studying, or doing business. Just learning about each other, you know? Another culture certainly has something, for everyone.

And, we are country, as I said earlier, we are country that celebrates diversity. Our people, our food, our languages, our tradition, all coexisting in a way that, uniquely Malaysian. We share many similarities like Ireland. It is a place where modern cities sits alongside ancient rainforests.

Where street food rivals a five star Michelin restaurant, you know, and where you’re just, likely to hear laughter in cafe as you are in classroom or boardroom doing business. So more than anything we value connection and friendship. I do hope that, we could see more Irish travelers, tourists coming to Malaysia in the years ahead, the number has been increasing.

We are reaching way beyond, the numbers that we have reached prior to COVID. So, whether it is your first time hearing Malaysia today. Or you have already visited us. I would like to invite you to come over and come back again to Malaysia and experience it for yourself. You’ll be both welcome, trust me, and with that, as we would say, terima kasih.

Thank you, go raibh maith agat.