Malaysia ― In the midst of the pandemic, it is refreshing to hear some good news. Recently Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, the Sultan of Johor thanked two popular and internationally recognised Malaysian talents for putting the Johor state on the world map.
Last weekend in a Facebook post, the sultan praised two successful Johoreans for making it big on the global entertainment stage.
According to Hype.my, the two individuals are none other than 34-year-old Hong Kong singer-songwriter Gin Lee and 35-year-old US-based comedian and actor Ronny Chieng.
According to Sultan Ibrahim, at just 18 years old, Gin Lee became the champion at Malaysia’s Universal Music songwriting competition before debuting her Mandarin album “ONE & ONLY” on 29 Dec 2009.
Following that, Lee moved to Hong Kong to be a Cantopop singer and had won several awards including the Best Female Singer award at the 2020 AIM Chinese Music Awards since then.
Lee recently performed with Jacky Cheung, who is one of Hong Kong’s Four Heavenly Kings. They sang a duet “Let the Street Lights Rest When the Sun Rises” at the Miss Hong Kong 2021 pageant.
In his post, Sultan Ibrahim highlighted Ronny Chieng’s remarkable accomplishment from starring in the hit film Crazy Rich Asians together with fellow Malaysians Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh and Henry Golding for acting in Marvel’s Shang-Chi that is scheduled to be released in Malaysian cinemas next month.
“He has clearly not forgotten his roots as seen in a Malaysia Day promo video for “Shang Chi”, where he flaunted his Malaysian passport and spoke fluent Malay by saying “Johor Bahru kampung saya. Saya anak Malaysia,”” the monarch’s caption read.
Chieng kickstarted his career as a standup comedian in university, where he performed alongside Trevor Noah, who now hosts “The Daily Show”. Chieng later proceeded to become a senior correspondent on the news satire programme.
“I’d like to thank them for bringing glory to Johor in their own way and wish them continuous success. I believe Johor has many talents who have yet to be discovered and nurtured. Let them be an example and inspiration of what Johor can achieve, and also spur our own local arts and entertainment scene to greater heights,” remarked Sultan Ibrahim on his official Facebook page. /TISG