A Dismal Affair

I recently attended the "Asian Affair" evening and I was very annoyed with the way in which it was handled. If that evening was in any way typical of the wax the Cultural Affairs dept of the Students Association run this sort of function, then I suggest that they are grossly inept.

I have nothing but praise for the performances of the Asian students but it seemed to me they played a relatively minor part in the evening's entertainment. The rest consisted of an apparently irrelevant fashion show, which displayed nothing, as far as I could see, of Asian culture, religion, tradition or lifestyle, and a lot of standing about after the food was served.

What annoyed me in particular was our Cultural Affairs officer Mary McCallum. For a person who belongs to Christian clubs, and who professes to actually be a Christian, she showed complete insensitivity toward another culture and way of life with her somewhat ponderous, condescending and patronising remarks while compelling the show.

Her rather silly asides brought forth angry glares and shudders from among the audience, not the least being the Indonesian Ambassador.

All in all the evening was badly organised and sloppily run, not really value for the three dollars I had to pay. Ms McCallum appeared to have done no preparation at all. Also, the rather good Gamelan musical group were not given a chance to really show their talent. The film however, was good.