NOTTINGHAM MALAYSIAN GAMES 2023: HOW TO ELEVATE A THRIVING COMMUNITY IN THE MIDST OF IGNORANCE

NOTTINGHAM MALAYSIAN GAMES 2023: HOW TO ELEVATE A THRIVING COMMUNITY IN THE MIDST OF IGNORANCE

by Vinay Patel

A 36-year old nationwide event, steeped in tradition and perhaps the most overlooked occasion in the student calendar. The Nottingham Malaysian Games (NMG) ensures that The Times’ description of the University of Nottingham being “Britain’s first truly global university”, remains applicable to this day. Impact’s Vinay Patel managed to have a chat with a few members of UoN’s Malaysian Society, who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to put together one of the biggest events of the year.

The event was established in 1985 and will celebrate its 36th anniversary this year, excluding the two years in which NMG could not go ahead due to the pandemic. Sports secretary George Yong delved deeper into the event’s history: “[NMG] started off with a few universities and it has already developed into a competition involving even more major universities, with a huge Malaysian community.” He goes on to say that they “wanted to let people fully immerse themselves into Malaysian culture”.

While the event made a massive comeback last year, Malaysian Society president, Nadhirah, saw no reason to downplay its historical popularity: “It’s been popular for quite a while because in the early 2000s to 2010s, prominent Malaysian individuals, as well as government officials, came over to spectate and give speeches during the closing ceremony”.

When asked what makes the NMG so unique, Nadhirah suggested that it’s “specific to Malaysians” and that its culture “is quite unique in the sense that we all love food and we all love sport”.

NMG is held in conjunction with the Malaysian Food Festival and the president feels that “combining the energy” of these two events, is a big selling point for Malaysians across the UK, whose total attendance was around 5000 last year. The 2022 edition of NMG was presented with an SU Activities Award for ‘Best Event’ and vice president Alyssa Avian believes that “it just goes to show how big we are”, in spite of the event not “gain[ing] much attention outside of the society”.

It’s only fitting that such a nationwide event involves some of Malaysia’s traditional games, with George likening captainball to the more familiar sport in the West: Netball. He didn’t shy away from offering a brief overview either: “There are two benches and you have to pass the ball around and past the opposing player on the bench to gain a point”. Seems straightforward enough, right?

George spoke about the variety of sports on offer at NMG, including those that challenge the mind as well as the body, such as congkak, batu seremban, and dam haji (checkers). He goes on to explain that “obviously we wanted to broaden [the range of sports] which will increase the accessibility of the games as a whole, allowing everyone to take part regardless of ability.” Nadhirah adds that “the idea of having both mentally stimulating and physically intense sports is very Malaysian.”

NMG is a huge testament to the thriving Malaysian community that has existed for decades here in Nottingham. When asked about the importance of community, Nadhirah revealed her experience as a transfer student: “I transferred last year and the Malaysian Society really helped me get over homesickness and our motto is that it’s a home away from home and that’s really true to me.” It was one of the reasons she ran for president in the first place. She shares that the opportunity “to be able to cultivate that feeling for the freshers this year is really important to me.”

As previously mentioned, the Malaysian community remains strong outside of Nottingham and Nadhirah speaks of the enormity of NMG, expressing excitement on behalf of those participating or simply spectating.

Including the Malaysian Food Festival certainly helps boost the sense of community around NMG and Alyssa was able to elaborate further on this: “When we host the food festival in conjunction [with NMG], people come from all over the UK, so it’s very important. There are some traditional foods that Malaysians are unable to cook themselves, so to have all of the vendors available in one spot is kind of nice and I think it reflects our country”. Night markets are extremely common in every day (or night, rather) Malaysia and Alyssia believes that they will provide a “homely feel” to the event as a whole.

In the past, the university was not involved in planning or supporting NMG, and that unfortunately hasn’t changed. Sports secretary Brandon Lee believes it’s “quite a big achievement to successfully host this big event on our own”. While he notes the difficulties in seeking out external support, he did not hesitate to thank last year’s committee for their tips and pointers.

Despite being a student-led society, Malaysian Society does not receive any funding from the university for NMG and has to pay approximately £7000 to rent out DRSV for the day, without the option of a student discount. Most of their funding comes from ticket sales and Nadhirah described a drawn-out summer that was spent trying to chase down sponsors: “It genuinely could not be done without [ticket sales and sponsors] and other Malaysians”.

Everyone agreed that they would greatly appreciate more support from the university, with George adding that NMG could increase its international recognition, as well as expand the Malaysian community. Given that around 12,000 Malaysians study in the UK and 4000 studying here at the University of Nottingham, we were taken aback by the university’s lack of support for one of its cornerstone communities.

By the time you’ve read this, the Nottingham Malaysian Games will have already taken place but I’m hoping that this insight into this fantastic event, and society as a whole, has inspired you to seek out everything that Nottingham has to offer.