Michelle Yeoh to promote ‘Mari Membaca 1Malaysia’ programme

KUALA LUMPUR: Come next month, fans of international actress Datuk Michelle Yeoh are in for a treat.

Datuk Michelle Yeoh

The celebrity will make her way to the National Library to promote the ‘Mari Membaca 1Malaysia’ programme.

Information Communication and Culture Deputy Minister Senator Heng Seai Kie said the celebrity would arrive in

the country on April 17 and initiate reading campaigns to target those in the Tionghua community.

“We need a personality who can portray a healthy image and inspire Malaysia’s multi-racial community, in line with the 1Malaysia concept for these campaigns,” she said at a news conference on the programme, which also received support from the Xiang Lian Youth Association, at the minstry here yesterday.

Heng said the ministry previously appointed the nation’s first astronaut, Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha, as an icon for the programme which had made an impact on Malay students.

She said the ministry had identified another icon from the Indian community to help encourage reading habits in the group.

She said, in conjunction with the programme, reading materials comprising books in  Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and English would be handed over to 1,000 secondary schools nationwide.

The ‘Mari Membaca 1Malaysia’ programme, to be held on April 23 at the library, is a continuation of that launched by Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim on March 2. — Bernama